Digital TV Bill

Degag

Hello, i got a letter today from a large satellite tv company containing my bill for the month, however also contained was a bill for Box Office events dating back to January 2007 of just over €32. Now, i have no idea if i paid for them at the time or not (perhaps not, but not purposely so the charge may be correct) but surely they can not come back with a bill for services rendered nearly 3 years ago.

I rang them and asked them why they are charging me for something three years later and they said at the time my Digital box was not connected to a phone line and they basically said they didn't know i ordered it! My arguement was they obviously knew i ordered it as they authorised a signal to be sent to my Digital box. However while yer man was sympathetic, he told me there was nothing he could do, and the best thing i could do was go on their website and send some sort of report to Customer Relations.

Now, i don't really have a problem with paying the 32 euro if i owe it but it irks me that they can't manage their accounts properly and i get this on top of my usual bill (€80) coming up to Christmas. I'm going to check my online banking (if it goes back that far) as i have a sneaking suspicion that i may have paid it. But basically my question is: Is there any law against this and do i have any comeback?

Thanks for any replies.

(I'm not sure if i can name the company in question but it should be fairly obvious i guess!)

Sponge Bob

SKY is it ?? where is the digibox you had in early 2007 right now ??

Degag

Sponge Bob wrote: »

SKY is it ?? where is the digibox you had in early 2007 right now ??

Yes. in the same place it always was.

Irishdudedave

Sky box office events can be ordered without authorization over the phone line... I'm assuming this is what happened in 2007... Now however the phone line connected is working and as such when the box phoned home to sky it informed them that these charges were outstanding. Sky then added the charges to your account as they are perfectly entitled to do.

Your argument that they knew you ordered it because they authorized the signal is not the case. The box authorized you to view it on the assumption that the box would be able to report the purchase via the phone line at a later date. All sky boxes allow this type of ordering up to a value of €50 I think.

merc998

Thats terrible i know i would'nt be happy with that either.I got sky installed a few weeks ago and have had a few arguments with them about billing and instalations problems already pain in the backside.I dont think they can do that personally i wouldnt pay it and i would contest it!!!

Degag

merc998 wrote: »

Thats terrible i know i would'nt be happy with that either.I got sky installed a few weeks ago and have had a few arguments with them about billing and instalations problems already pain in the backside.I dont think they can do that personally i wouldnt pay it and i would contest it!!!

Well, i will be contesting it. I may be wrong but i just don't think it's right that this happen... i forgot to say i've ordered plenty of events since then over the phone and been charged. I shall be saying that if the charges aren't dropped i'll be moving to one of their competitors - in the nicest way possible...

I still have a sneaking suspicion that there is a law that you can't be charged for goods or services after a certain lenght of time.... if anyone could confirm this i would be grateful.:)

jhegarty

Degag wrote: »

I rang them and asked them why they are charging me for something three years later and they said at the time my Digital box was not connected to a phone line and they basically said they didn't know i ordered it! My arguement was they obviously knew i ordered it as they authorised a signal to be sent to my Digital box.

Your wrong there.

Your digibox can authorise a limit without contacting Sky. In this case it processed the €32 it's self , but it couldn't bill until the next time it checked-in with Sky.

Sponge Bob

If the OP was billed for events since..because the phone line was plugged in...then they lost it. They cannot 'find' these events form 2007 now. Too far back.

If they do this to all their 500,000 Irish customers Sky will make a very handy €15m by christmas all the same.

cgarvey

Sponge Bob wrote: »

If the OP was billed for events since..because the phone line was plugged in...then they lost it.

He ordered over the phone, not via the box, I presume, so they knew nothing of the old orders until the next time the box phoned home.

OP, if you consumed the services, you have to pay. Simple as. Yes the timing is a bit off, but
A) You could have/should have checked that you were being billed properly for the services (would you not have noticed if the bill was under by 30 quid?)
It's a feature (the small credit / pre-auth on your Sky card), as described above, which is meant as a measure of convenience.

With the timing of it, perhaps Sky would agree to put it off until after Christmas, or split it over 2 months. That's as about as reasonable as I'd expect them to be. Refusing to pay them, is not reasonable (assuming you did avail of the services). Moving to another provider is a complete over-reaction!