have i just been scammed?

paddlepop

We just got a house call from a Sky Agent (Livewire). He offered us a very good deal. A second box for 1 year free, 1 month free rental on our current package for a 30 euro install fee. We took it and we had to sign some paperwork and gave him a cheque (we werent happy with cash as we can always cancel the chq) He gave us his card and a mobile number.
We just want to know have we been had? In order to get the offer we had to call sky up to cancel the current package and he is going to open up a new one for us. Getting a little worried now.

norbert64

No, we've had a similar caller ourselves a while back.

It seems legit.
It's just the same ole ''cancel your account, re-sign with sky under another name trick.
You can pretty much do it yourself, but I guess having an agent/house caller to look after it for you, may have it's benefits. :cool:
It's more or less like you went into DID, or Currys/PC World and signed up with sky through them.
It's all the same 3rd party agent process I imagine.

Regarding the 2nd box, best case scenario is you will get multiroom free for the year.
Worst case scenario, he might have meant you'll get a second box hooked up to use as a free to air receiver. That's still quite good in itself though.

swoofer

when you rang sky to cancel did you say it was on agents instructions and how much did you write check for? ring back sky and they will know if the promotion is valid? what is livewire?

JDxtra

It's bordering on fraud. He's signing you up as a new customer when you are already a customer. He just made €65 to €135+ out of you. You could have earned this for yourself if you cancelled and ordered through Fatcheese.ie (also involves lying to Sky).

It's good at least that you cancelled yourself with Sky. He is under NO obligation to cancel your existing subscription and many of these guys don't. Some people end up with two seperate direct debits coming out of their accounts.

watty

same ole ''cancel your account, re-sign with sky under another name trick.

It's not legitimate. The Sky is defrauded by getting existing customers to sign as new ones. If the proportion was high enough it would increase "apparent" churn and that would put up prices for everyone.

You may not have been scammed, but Sky has.

paddlepop

we wrote a chq for 30 euro. Thats who we made the chq out to. No other monies are due thats it. We did a search for sky agents and Livewire is listed there. He didnt seem dodgey at all and knew his stuff (i quizzed him on a few things) He did write on the paperwork Multi room free for 1 year so i made sure thats the deal we were getting.
I have done a bit of searching and it does seem like just an agent trying to make a buck i guess. He asked me to call sky and to say we were moving house to stop them from trying to keep us. then he re-opened in husbands name... i will call sky and see if they can offer us the same deal i guess??

JDxtra

Sky will pay him for signing a new customer up. And it will be a lot more than €30.

t c

Its a new contract and just another way for Sky to keep your account longer.
You would have signed for a minimum of a year, so if you were half way through your old contract, ie, six months, they now have you for another 12 months, an extra six months.

They are obviously a bit worried with the amount of people leaving and going FTA or Freesat so they try anything to tie you in. Just threaten to cancel and see what they offer, but again, a new contract.

Phone companies etc seem to do the same type of thing. Offer you something you think is better or you need and then re-sign you for another 12 months.

St Senan

GBCULLEN wrote: »

what is livewire?

A sales crowd from Kildare probably working under Digital Direct/Electroplus a bigger sales crowd from Dublin also working on a SKY pyramid sales.

St Senan

paddlepop wrote: »

we wrote a chq for 30 euro. Thats who we made the chq out to. No other monies are due thats it. We did a search for sky agents and Livewire is listed there. He didnt seem dodgey at all and knew his stuff (i quizzed him on a few things) He did write on the paperwork Multi room free for 1 year so i made sure thats the deal we were getting.
I have done a bit of searching and it does seem like just an agent trying to make a buck i guess. He asked me to call sky and to say we were moving house to stop them from trying to keep us. then he re-opened in husbands name... i will call sky and see if they can offer us the same deal i guess??

I would, Why should this guy make bigger bucks from lying to you he is a sales rep for a contract Sales company he don't work for Sky. Tomorrow he might be going door to door selling BB. As a previous poster said He just made €65 to €135+ out of you.

campo

scaller wrote: »

I would, Why should this guy make bigger bucks from lying to you he is a sales rep for a contract Sales company he don't work for Sky. Tomorrow he might be going door to door selling BB. As a previous poster said He just made €65 to €135+ out of you.

I had a guy last week call to me to sell me
Sky TV and also at the same time Magnet phone and BB anyone else come across this I thought it was very strange and told him had no interest

paddlepop

thank you for all your advice. I rang him today and told him we need more time to think about it. Might call sky and see what offer they can give us to stay as we are out of contract and also call UPC as they have a great offer on now with bb, home phone and TV (although we used to be with them and the experience wasnt good )
I was more worried that he was posing as a Sky agent and was running away with the 30 euros. But now i see it is definitely scamming Sky.

Cantona's Collars

Strange how this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056363663&page=7 advocates threatening to cancel your Sky sub in order to get a deal yet if a rep or reseller advocates doing similar they get criticised,if I thought I'd get a better deal from a service provider as a new customer I'd do the same.
Technically it is dishonest to do it but it seems everyone is at it.Service call from Sky €100,cancel and sign up under a new name you get brand new gear and a warranty for less than a third of the price.
These reps are out to make some money-no worse than anyone else so if the money is being paid to them to sign up new customers then they'll find new ones,doesn't matter if they are in the same house as an existing customer who suddenly decides to cancel.
People complain about Sky being a massive money grabbing machine yet get on the moral high ground when someone pulls a stroke on them to get the best deal,I've a feeling that Sky are choosing to turn a blind eye to this pretty rampant practice in the knowledge they are going to keep customers for at least another 12 months due to them signing up again in new names.

watty

"threatening to cancel your Sky sub" and being prepared to do it and have only FTA TV, and accepting a special offer isn't fraud. Sky only make special offers to some. Others they accept the cancellation.

Simply cancelling and pretending to be someone else to get a special offer is Fraud. If caught you are at least liable for the difference. It's a civil contract also so apart from Criminal Fraud, you can be sued. That has no definite tariff unlike criminal cases.

By all means threaten to cancel (and be prepared to do it). That's not wrong. Signing up subsequently and denying you are a past customer is wrong, it's fraud.

Sky don't turn a blind eye as it costs them money.