Sky cancellation sting...

ondablade

Hi all. After God knows how long (10+ years?) I cancelled Sky TV last week and installed a combination satellite and Saorview box - only to be get hit with the sting in the tail.

That they apply a 31 day notice period.

PAyment for e.g. the remainder of the month might be acceptable, but by chance I cancelled a few days after the last SO payment fell due. Which means in effect that they now want to charge me for two months of unused service - that they are applying a two months penalty charge for cancellation.

I could raise the question of how in heaven this sort of opportunist practice is legal (or is it?), but instead after phoning in the cancellation (that was how i found out about the 31 days) i stopped the standing order.

I got this mealy mouthed letter this morning which talks about my requesting a cancellation of the service, but doesn't even confirm that the cancellation is in progress. It meanwhile demands that a new standing order be set up, or they will send a paper bill and add a €5 administration charge.

I've meanwhile had the it seems standard call offering upgrades and so so on to stay which was refused. Based on previous experience some years ago of trying to cancel a sub for my geriatric parents with dementia - they were in their 90s and wholly incapable of dealing with it, yet Sky in the end after multiple contacts and correspondence still forced one of them try to speak to them on the phone before they would act - it's likely to go on for a bit.

Can anybody say how it's likely to shake out if I simply sit tight and ignore the what amounts to predatory carry on that can only drive customers away? It's incredible after all these years that they should seek to do so, but can or are they likely to try to enforce the notice period?

ian

swoofer

yes

twinklerunner

ondablade wrote: »

Hi all. After God knows how long (10+ years?) I cancelled Sky TV last week and installed a combination satellite and Saorview box - only to be get hit with the sting in the tail.

That they apply a 31 day notice period.

PAyment for e.g. the remainder of the month might be acceptable, but by chance I cancelled a few days after the last SO payment fell due. Which means in effect that they now want to charge me for two months of unused service - that they are applying a two months penalty charge for cancellation.

I could raise the question of how in heaven this sort of opportunist practice is legal (or is it?), but instead after phoning in the cancellation (that was how i found out about the 31 days) i stopped the standing order.

I got this mealy mouthed letter this morning which talks about my requesting a cancellation of the service, but doesn't even confirm that the cancellation is in progress. It meanwhile demands that a new standing order be set up, or they will send a paper bill and add a €5 administration charge.

I've meanwhile had the it seems standard call offering upgrades and so so on to stay which was refused. Based on previous experience some years ago of trying to cancel a sub for my geriatric parents with dementia - they were in their 90s and wholly incapable of dealing with it, yet Sky in the end after multiple contacts and correspondence still forced one of them try to speak to them on the phone before they would act - it's likely to go on for a bit.

Can anybody say how it's likely to shake out if I simply sit tight and ignore the what amounts to predatory carry on that can only drive customers away? It's incredible after all these years that they should seek to do so, but can or are they likely to try to enforce the notice period?

ian

There is no sting, that's how it works.

ondablade

Sounds like we'll have to agree to disagree. The above is anyway a personal view.

Since when though is it reasonable to charge for almost two months while delivering no service? After more than ten years as a customer?

It feels very much like a sting when this sort of thing emerges from the woodwork (fine print?) when a person eventually cancels.

Especially on top of the sort of service problems and bureaucratic minefield mentioned above.

What casual user of a service like this either has the time to spend hours trawling through fine print written by a lawyer and designed to extract the last Euro, or approaches life from the dog eat dog point of view that suggests that anything goes/it's always the customer's fault if it's somewhere in the agreement.

Why should it be necessary to do so?

whitebriar

They don't charge you for 31 days of unused service if you whip out the combo box ,stick the sky box back in and watch the 31 days of service you're contractually obligated to pay for prior to implementing the switch off you requested.

ondablade

Nobody is arguing about what their paper says. I'm not clear why you seem hell bent on painting the scenario in that light....

The objection relates to the 31 days. As before we don't all spend our lives stuck in the detail of our TV paperwork - especially not when they were set up more than ten years ago.

When the decision is made to move we want to move, and don't expect to find ourselves entangled in this sort of thing. Hence my outrage.

What's reasonable is what's fair to both parties - and that implies a decent balance between customer and and service provider needs. There's no obvious reason why a TV service provider should need (those of a certain minset will of course seek whatever they can get away with) an extended notice period - it's not like termination requires significant involvement on their part.

I've already made clear I'd happily accept a reasonable notice period. Like say a month.

The 31 days however is however pretty clearly pitched to spill over into triggering a second month's additional commitment, which in my personal view is excessive and opportunistic.

If for some reason you feel it's not, then as above we've just got to agree to disagree. Better still show me why it's reasonable...

muffler

ondablade wrote: »

I've already made clear I'd happily accept a reasonable notice period. Like say a month.

But it is a month. I cant see why you're complaining.

And it doesnt take hours to read what you referred to as "the small print". Most people would locate the section in the T & C's in relation to cancelling within a minute and a further half minute or less of reading will tell you that you need to give one months notice. This notice of cancelling applies to ALL Sky customers and not just you so Im lost as to how you feel you are being selectively victimised in some way or other.

Maybe Im reading your first post incorrectly but you seem to have said that you contacted Sky and cancelled yet further on in the thread you claim to know nothing about having to to notify them of cancelling. Also it would appear that you decided to cancel the Sky sub and then set about cancelling the direct debit/standing order before they could take the money to cover the cancellation period. During this cancellation period you still retain full service so I cant see a problem

The Cush

ondablade wrote: »

That they apply a 31 day notice period.

PAyment for e.g. the remainder of the month might be acceptable, but by chance I cancelled a few days after the last SO payment fell due. Which means in effect that they now want to charge me for two months of unused service - that they are applying a two months penalty charge for cancellation.

I haven't been a Sky subscriber for a long time but I believe it's 31 days from the time you call to cancel, so as you cancelled a few days after your last payment fell due you'll only have to pay for a few days over your next payment due date and there is no second month's additional commitment.

Kristopherus

The Cush wrote: »

I haven't been a Sky subscriber for a long time but I believe it's 31 days from the time you call to cancel, so as you cancelled a few days after your last payment fell due you'll only have to pay for a few days over your next payment due date and there is no second month's additional commitment.

They do apply the 30/31 days now & have done for the past 1-3 years. However, when the OP signed up, you could ring up today and tell them to cut you off in 30 mins if you wished. The OP could very well be in the same contract that he stared out on, so he could easily tell Sky take a hike. I had Sky from the mid 90s until 2010 & cancelled via email, to be cut off at my choice of date. I was subsequently bombarded with come-back offers for the following 18 months.

The Cush

Kristopherus wrote: »

They do apply the 30/31 days now & have done for the past 1-3 years. However, when the OP signed up, you could ring up today and tell them to cut you off in 30 mins if you wished. The OP could very well be in the same contract that he stared out on, so he could easily tell Sky take a hike.

If I remember correctly when I cancelled in the mid 2000s I was switched-off the same or next day.

Wouldn't any changes to T&Cs apply to all customers no matter when they signed up?

Kristopherus

The Cush wrote: »

If I remember correctly when I cancelled in the mid 2000s I was switched the same or next day.

Wouldn't any changes to T&Cs apply to all customers no matter when they signed up?

They would apply only if Sky notified them.I cannot recall any such notification in the 15 years I was with them. Which is why I would say the OP may very well be able to tell Sky to take a hike.

ondablade

Ta guys, some useful thoughts there. The contract has run from day one uninterrupted so far as I can recall - there's only been a couple of changes to the list packages taken.

The two months payment question arose because we were on a direct debit, and the contract was cancelled just after a payment was taken. Meaning that 31 days advised by the call centre would have just extended past the date the next SO payment fell due. Which has always been a full month payment.

As before (while i'm not sure why notice is necessary given that cancellation involves no obvious lead time or cost for the service provider) I actually wouldn't be so bothered about a month. I did complain about the matter of two months to the girl who took the notification of the cancellation, and made it clear that I understood the 31 days would result in two months payments being taken. She made no effort to suggest otherwise - but maybe she wasn't on the ball.

mad muffin

The Lannisters always pay their debts!

muffler

ondablade wrote: »

The two months payment question arose because we were on a direct debit, and the contract was cancelled just after a payment was taken. Meaning that 31 days advised by the call centre would have just extended past the date the next SO payment fell due. Which has always been a full month payment.

Sky will only charge you for the days that you have the use of their service. For example if you cancelled 3 days after a payment was made then you will be charged for those 3 days and the 1 month cancellation period only. There is absolutely no way that you will have to pay for 2 full months.

By stopping the direct debit I dont know how you can rectify this now. Id suggest you ring them again to get it sorted.

ondablade

We pay our bills too - and nobody is arguing about what is/isn't on the paper....

Presuming that it is a case of just being charged pro rata plus 30 days we have no problem - but that doesn't fit with the response from the call centre when we cancelled.

Hopefully it was an oversight. I'll call again to check it out more specifically....

ondablade

OK. Called Sky again. Good news. Spoke to a very clear and straight up guy - a different experience to last week.

You are correct Muffler. It wasn't communicated last week, but he said that they only charge 31 days pro rata. That the possibility of the 31 days interacting with a fixed standing order debit to create an effective notice period of two months does not arise.

Since most of the 31 days notice period was already paid by the debit taken just before the cancellation, final settlement of the account was just a matter of paying pro rata for the additional five days to top up the paid notice to 31 days from the date of cancellation. Which he calculated at €5.65, and which is now paid.

I asked about the 31 days notice period, he said it's been in use for so far as he knows at least 5 years - but didn't check it out definitively.

They could by the way if preferred have issued a final paper invoice to close off the account for an additional admin charge of €5 plus the €5.65 due.

Thanks for your help - great to get that one off the table without unpleasantness....

bappelbe

I also cancelled during the week, they offered me discounts etc and a €50 credit on account with no contract so I took that and will cancel in a week or so and end up not paying anything - €50 is more than 31 days on my package.

The guy in sky confirmed that that I can do this, infact he was the one who suggested it

zg3409

Just be aware if you have not cancelled then it can be a pain to get through to the right department and actually get them to "agree" to cancel you. The number is also a premium number so the longer they keep you the more it costs.

The best discounts are had when they ring you back after you have given notice, not when you ring them.

ondablade

Ta ZG. Hopefully it's put to bed - in that the guy mentioned above was 100% explict and I've had a letter referring to my 'request to cancel'. (note the fudging of the line so that I'm led to think it's cancelled while they are still open to refuse to accept it)

Hopefully, because as in the opening post I spent weeks trying to get a simple change to my very elderly parent's account a few years ago - writing or agreeing stuff with a service person seemed to count for nothing. They kept coming back with letters refusing what was clearly requested/already agreed, different staff kept on contradicting each other, supervisors wouldn't make a call or conflicted each other.... As above I in the end was under protest forced to bring my early 90s and totally unable to cope Mother with dementia to the phone before they would accept an instruction.

TBH I hate this kind of stuff - far better that suff is handled in an up front manner, and with minimal bureaucracy....

whirlpool

You give 31 days notice, you pay for only 31 days, no more. The end.