Alisonsvilla wrote on Nov 30^th, 2009 at 5:49pm:


A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!


After trawling through here for most of the afternoon-I emailed customer services and used most of the names mentioned here-and also sent an email to andrew griffiths.

At just after 9am this morning I got a phone call to my mobile from jacqueline craig. They have cancelled my subscription and will pick up the equipment next week. That's the £209 and the outstanding £35.



Talk talk gets installed tomorrow-so hopefully all is well that ends well

I comp-lained by email, here is the reply I received. 

"Thank you for your recent email regarding the use of 0844 numbers when contacting our Sky contact centres.

National rate numbers mean that customers pay the same rate - no matter where they are phoning from within the UK.

Sky invests £250 million a year on customer service and, unlike many other providers, we’re open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. You can call us for as little as 1.5p a minute from a landline at the weekend.

One option that you may like to consider, if you haven’t already done so, would be signing up for our award winning Sky Talk service.  As part of our Sky Talk packages, customers can call us for free in line with the tariff they have selected. 

With regards to BT cancelling your Sky subscription on your behalf, this would not be acceptable under current data protection guide lines as we would not discuss your account with any third party company."

The increase in your broadband subscription is due to the 12 month offer you where on coming to and end on the 04/09/2009.

Kind regards

Robert McKeown

Service Excellence Consultant"

I'm not surprised - that was their standard reply, which was obviously prepared by the PR people. It's annoying that they can get away with treating customers like this, yet they use titles like "Service Excellence Consultant "

Heinz wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2009 at 12:38pm:


Its the same standard reply I received.

I did send a further 3 replies to this eventually getting an answer which I posted on page 62.

The Advertising Standards Authority would surely have something to say about the usage of that phrase... "National rate numbers".

Alisonsvilla wrote on Dec 1^st, 2009 at 7:17pm:


OMG i cant believe it happened to you too?

I wonder how many more people have been subject to bully boy tactics by sky. Your story is nothing compared to mine.

I didn’t register with sky and they started charging me for call packages from 16th July 2008. I had no idea until I suddenly saw my account debited with 64.00 pounds. I was like what? My subscription is only 30 pounds with broadband, where did the other 34 pounds come from. I checked my bill and I saw that sky talk was added and I was being billed for call charges since 16th of july.

I phoned them and told them I never registered for sky talk, they go you must have otherwise we wouldn’t of added it. I was like well how come I didn’t get no confirmation or welcome letter? Or anything like that. He goes well you should have. I then asked him to show me proof that I signed up. He goes you must have done it over the phone. I said I never signed up over the phone. Why would I when someone else in my household pays for the phone line/charges to BT?

He goes well if you don’t want it then I can cancel it but he tried to make me stay on, the bloody cheeky git. I told him no I don’t want it and he goes it will take 30 days after which it will cancel. I was really angry but I said ok.

Then after 3 months, ( I phoned in September)  sky talk was finally cancelled in December 2008, 6 months after it was added without my permission. I obviously had to pay the bills for it. In Jan I didn’t receive no bill so I was happy.

I reported Sky to Ofcom for unfair trading and they said they would monitor the activity of sky from now on.

INTERMISSION

Now if you want to take a break, please do, grab a coffee and come back for the 2nd part.

9 months gone by and everything going rosy, im paying half price for sky packs and broadband and no other charges.

Then suddenly I check my bank statement and I see that my account has been debited with 543.00 pounds. I was like WTFF? Wtf is going on and next to the name it said SKY!!!. I was like .. I knew it. Those basterds started all again. I was so mad, if I saw a sky person, I would of killed them there and then.

I quickly phoned my bank and done indemnity claim, I got all my money back from the bank and they inturn took it back from sky.

I phone sky, they have no idea what happened. I check my bill and I see that since may 2009-oct-2009, sky talk has been charging me for call I made while im with BT. I told them it was cancelled in JAN last year how did it get added, they said they don’t know but will investigate the matter. In the meantime, I cancelled again and went back to BT again in OCT 2009.

Im going back and forth sky,bt, sky, bt, each blaming each other and now one willing to resolve it. I reported sky to ofcom again!!! Finally sky decided they were going to launch a formal investigation into the matter and it would take 30 days. NO SKY TV OR ANYTHING WHILE OUTSTANDING BALANCE.

30 days later they tell me, but ur you had sky talk and it was cancelled in oct. I was like yes I know that you muppet but I didn’t order it. They asked for BT bill for the same period, I gave it to them. Now waiting to hear back.

I was about to call them and this is when I stumped across this forum and saw this post. I cant believe they doing this to other ppl and getting away with it. I hope no one goes through wat I am going through, as far as sky is concerned, that is it from me with them, NO MORE SKY EVER!!!

I done what in banking term is 'indemnity claim'. You can claim back any amount that is taken by direct debit that you feel is unlawful. In this case 543 pounds. All banks have a legal requirement to return the money within 48 hours, however this is usually done within 24 hours of making the claim. They ofcourse get thier money back from the service provider.

I didn't know about the direct debit gurantee thing, i will look that up.

I don't know who else to complain to. Ofcom only deals with thousands of complaints as oppose to individual disputes.

Does anyone know any consumer complaints body that i can talk to? Or perhaps sue them or take them to court in anyway?