SAYNOTO0870.COM - Sky Customer Services

IHateSKY Newbie Offline Posts: 8	Re: Sky Customer Services Reply #900 - Dec 10^th, 2009 at 3:21pm Thanks .. that help's alot!! But i'm sure sky would come up with some bollocks to say otherwise.
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Dave

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #901 - Dec 10^th, 2009 at 4:39pm

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 10^th, 2009 at 2:29pm:

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?

Hi and welcome to SAYNOTO0870.COM. Sorry to hear about your experience.

What about the BT account and the account holder? Did they continue to be billed for line rental and calls during the disputed periods?

What Sky Talk services have you been billed for? Line rental, calls etc?

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IHateSKY

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #902 - Dec 11^th, 2009 at 9:39am

Dave wrote on Dec 10^th, 2009 at 4:39pm:

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 10^th, 2009 at 2:29pm:

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?

Hi and welcome to SAYNOTO0870.COM. Sorry to hear about your experience.

What about the BT account and the account holder? Did they continue to be billed for line rental and calls during the disputed periods?

What Sky Talk services have you been billed for? Line rental, calls etc?

The call charges were meant to go back to BT once it was cancelled with SKY. But it never did.

for 4 months between JAN-09 til MAY-09. we didnt recieve any call charges from either BT or SKY.

Now that's not our fault, we just kept paying the bill assuming it was for all our calls. 5 months of Free calls, not bad.

Suddenly SKY decided it was going to pick our calls and start charging us even though they knew we had cancelled with them.

If anyone should of picked it up, it should of been BT. The bill from Sky is illegal even if we made the calls. they said theres no way they can bill the calls back to BT so i said you just going to have cancell it. im waiting to hear back.

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« Last Edit: Dec 11^th, 2009 at 9:41am by IHateSKY »

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Dave

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #903 - Dec 11^th, 2009 at 10:54am

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 11^th, 2009 at 9:39am:

The call charges were meant to go back to BT once it was cancelled with SKY. But it never did.

for 4 months between JAN-09 til MAY-09. we didnt recieve any call charges from either BT or SKY.

Now that's not our fault, we just kept paying the bill assuming it was for all our calls. 5 months of Free calls, not bad.

Suddenly SKY decided it was going to pick our calls and start charging us even though they knew we had cancelled with them.

If anyone should of picked it up, it should of been BT. The bill from Sky is illegal even if we made the calls. they said theres no way they can bill the calls back to BT so i said you just going to have cancell it. im waiting to hear back.

Sounds like the phone line in your household was slammed. Fill in this form to Ofcom:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/Slamming

That page from Ofcom states "The current process works on the basis of consumers being notified by letters which are sent by both the losing and gaining telephone companies informing the consumer of the impending switchover."

Did the person whose name is on the BT account receive a letter?

Also, what happened about the BT bill? For example, if it was paid by direct debit with fixed monthly payments, then there would have been a settlement figure.

The BT account is not in your name. Unless the other person, whose name it is in, conscented to the change, then this is a case of slamming, and that other person should be writing to BT.

I'm not legally qualified here, but I believe you, as the account holder of the Sky service, which covers TV and broadband, have nothing to pay as you did not agree to the Sky Talk service...except when you cancelled it and agreed to the 30 day trial...this may have severly weakened your case because, in law, you may have agreed to Sky Talk's service.

That said, remember that the telephone line in your household (unless the other person has agreed otherwise) is in their name and no other individual has a right take over service of it, just because they live at the same address.

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« Last Edit: Dec 11^th, 2009 at 10:54am by Dave »

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IHateSKY

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #904 - Dec 11^th, 2009 at 2:30pm

Dave wrote on Dec 11^th, 2009 at 10:54am:

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 11^th, 2009 at 9:39am:

The call charges were meant to go back to BT once it was cancelled with SKY. But it never did.

for 4 months between JAN-09 til MAY-09. we didnt recieve any call charges from either BT or SKY.

Now that's not our fault, we just kept paying the bill assuming it was for all our calls. 5 months of Free calls, not bad.

Suddenly SKY decided it was going to pick our calls and start charging us even though they knew we had cancelled with them.

If anyone should of picked it up, it should of been BT. The bill from Sky is illegal even if we made the calls. they said theres no way they can bill the calls back to BT so i said you just going to have cancell it. im waiting to hear back.

Sounds like the phone line in your household was slammed. Fill in this form to Ofcom:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/Slamming

That page from Ofcom states "The current process works on the basis of consumers being notified by letters which are sent by both the losing and gaining telephone companies informing the consumer of the impending switchover."

Did the person whose name is on the BT account receive a letter?

Also, what happened about the BT bill? For example, if it was paid by direct debit with fixed monthly payments, then there would have been a settlement figure.

The BT account is not in your name. Unless the other person, whose name it is in, conscented to the change, then this is a case of slamming, and that other person should be writing to BT.

I'm not legally qualified here, but I believe you, as the account holder of the Sky service, which covers TV and broadband, have nothing to pay as you did not agree to the Sky Talk service...except when you cancelled it and agreed to the 30 day trial...this may have severly weakened your case because, in law, you may have agreed to Sky Talk's service.

That said, remember that the telephone line in your household (unless the other person has agreed otherwise) is in their name and no other individual has a right take over service of it, just because they live at the same address.

I complained to Ofcom Last time and all they said afterwards when I followed up on my complaint is that they dont deal with individual cases but will monitor activity of Sky but nothing was done.

I am not inclined to waste my time again. It took me an hour to fill in that form and give every bit detail, unless they can actually do SOMETHING, i don't want to do it.

No, the BT account holder did not recieve a letter. They were paying by cash using the credit slip provided with the bill. BT were unaware of any transfer being made from Sky. They said we don't charge you for the calls and neither have we ever requested to take it back. Your calls were always with Sky since July 2008.

BT account holder never consented to calls being taken over by sky. BT have confirmed this and have no other action to take.

I never at all in my time as sky subscriber consented to have Sky Talk, the only time i said it was ok was when the guy said it will take 30 days to cancell, i agreed for it to be taken down in Jan 09 and it was.

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sherbert Supreme Member Offline Posts: 2,011 Gender:	Re: Sky Customer Services Reply #905 - Dec 11^th, 2009 at 5:49pm Would 'trading standards' be interested in a case like this?
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irrelevant Senior Member Offline Posts: 409	Re: Sky Customer Services Reply #906 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 3:35pm FWIW, having just signed up to Sky Talk (only to stop the broadband going up in price - we don't actually make any calls on that line!) we had a letter from both Sky and BT, the latter asking to be informed if we had not requested it, giving 30 days notice of the change.
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NGMsGhost

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #907 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 6:50pm

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 11^th, 2009 at 2:30pm:

I complained to Ofcom Last time and all they said afterwards when I followed up on my complaint is that they dont deal with individual cases but will monitor activity of Sky but nothing was done.

I am not inclined to waste my time again. It took me an hour to fill in that form and give every bit detail, unless they can actually do SOMETHING, i don't want to do it.

With individual complaints about slamming by a telecoms company to force action you should have lodged the complaint formally as a complaint first with Sky and then after having given them 12 weeks to reply and/or reached deadlock with them referred the complaint on to www.otelo.org.uk - the telecommunications ombudsman service. Sky Talk are one of their members - see www.otelo.org.uk/membercompanies.php

You might also have been able to lodge a complaint about the slamming with Trading Standards. These days you need to first approach www.consumerdirect.gov.uk who refer the matter on to Trading Standards when it is deemed appropriate.

I like your forum by the way. I also Hate Sky. A totally dishonest and deceitful company in its commercial methods in every possible respect. Angry

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« Last Edit: Dec 12^th, 2009 at 6:51pm by NGMsGhost »

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IHateSKY

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #908 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 7:23pm

NGMsGhost wrote on Dec 12^th, 2009 at 6:50pm:

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 11^th, 2009 at 2:30pm:

I complained to Ofcom Last time and all they said afterwards when I followed up on my complaint is that they dont deal with individual cases but will monitor activity of Sky but nothing was done.

I am not inclined to waste my time again. It took me an hour to fill in that form and give every bit detail, unless they can actually do SOMETHING, i don't want to do it.

With individual complaints about slamming by a telecoms company to force action you should have lodged the complaint formally as a complaint first with Sky and then after having given them 12 weeks to reply and/or reached deadlock with them referred the complaint on to www.otelo.org.uk - the telecommunications ombudsman service. Sky Talk are one of their members - see www.otelo.org.uk/membercompanies.php

You might also have been able to lodge a complaint about the slamming with Trading Standards. These days you need to first approach www.consumerdirect.gov.uk who refer the matter on to Trading Standards when it is deemed appropriate.

I like your forum by the way. I also Hate Sky. A totally dishonest and deceitful company in its commercial methods in every possible respect. Angry

I complained to Sky but never recieved any response, i waited over 3 months. I wasnt expecting a response to be honest, they probably just read it and through it in the bin.

I will however contact otelo and make a complaint through them. I will keep my progress postd here for anyone who wants to know.

Thank you

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #909 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 7:54pm

IHateSKY wrote on Dec 12^th, 2009 at 7:23pm:

I will however contact otelo and make a complaint through them. I will keep my progress postd here for anyone who wants to know.

A complaint through Otelo is just about the only way you will make a ruthless commercial shark like Sky sit up and take any notice of unhappy customers.

This is what Otelo says about making a complaint on their website:-

Quote:

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Before you complain, make sure that you know what you are unhappy about. Is it that your bill is wrong? Is it that someone has been rude or unhelpful to you?
*
Stay calm. You are more likely to get a good result if you don't let your emotions get to you.
*
Be clear and concise. If you are ringing about your complaint, make a note about what you want to talk about before you make the call, so you don't forget anything. also, have an idea of what the company could do to make things right for you. If you don't feel confident enough to speak to someone, try writing a letter or an email.
*
Keep a record of what happens. Keep notes of any calls you make or any emails or letters you send. Also keep any correspondence you get back from your service provider.
*
Don't give up. There are places that you can go to for help. Look for advice from your local Citizens Advice or Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

You might get a letter from the service provider which says that it will no longer be handling your complaint and this is its final position. We call this a 'deadlock letter' and you should let us know about it.

If eight weeks have passed and your service provider hasn't sorted out the problem to your satisfaction, then you should check to see if it is a member of Otelo. If it is, let us know.

This is their online complaint form:-

See www.otelo.org.uk/pages/83enquiryform.php

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« Last Edit: Dec 12^th, 2009 at 7:55pm by NGMsGhost »

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Dave

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #910 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 7:57pm

I was thinking of suggesting Otelo as well.

I know I'm repeating myself, but I really think that your fellow householder who is (was) the BT account holder should be contacting BT. Even if you had happily signed up to transfer the line to Sky Talk, you (should) have absolutely no right to do so because it's not in your name.

Any feable excuses that there is nothing more that can be done that have been given by BT customer services are unacceptable. I suggest the account holder writes, explaining in full all of what has happened to Ian Livingston, BT's chief executive: ian.livingston@bt.com

You provided the telephone number of the landline at your address to Sky for provision of TV and broadband. You did not give it to Sky to hijack the account. I don't know whether this comes under misuse of your personal data in the eyes of the Information Commissioner; perhaps others can advise whether this might be the case or not.

Finally, the last thing you want from all this mess is to either lose service on the landline or lose the telephone number associated with it. Be careful about requesting any service be cancelled, because from what I understand, that's not actually what you are looking for, but instead for everything to revert to as it was before this episode.

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #911 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 8:07pm

I think Sky Talk's argument will be that you positively had to order phone service with another company for phone service to leave them As you didn't do that its still with them? It isn't automatic that if you cancel a phone service that it reverts to BT. For instance yourcalls.net told me they no longer wanted me to be a customer after I accused of them trying to lie to and cheat their customers on various dodgy commercial offers one too many times. Now their position was I would be cut off after a certain date if I did not place an order to transfer my phone service to another company by a certain date.

The bad thing about going back to BT is you then become locked in to a 12 month minimum contract on any product. Whereas Post Office Homephone only has a 14 day minimum contract and has free international as well as national calls in the evening and at the weekend and free mobile calls of up to an hour each at the weekends too. That is why I am with Post Office Homephone now and not with BT. Post Office Homephone also do not block use of cheap indirect access providers like www.18185.co.uk and www.call1301.co.uk Smiley

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« Last Edit: Dec 12^th, 2009 at 8:10pm by NGMsGhost »

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Dave

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #912 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 8:37pm

NGMsGhost wrote on Dec 12^th, 2009 at 8:07pm:

The bad thing about going back to BT is you then become locked in to a 12 month minimum contract on any product. …

But the telephone service was taken without authorisation from BT. Thus, it should put everything back as it was, and there should be no 12 month contract.

Also, does Sky have any grounds to charge IHateSky for telephone service, as he did not agree to it? I appreciate that if the answer is that Sky cannot charge for this service, claiming any monies back may be easier said that done.

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #913 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 8:45pm

Dave wrote on Dec 12^th, 2009 at 8:37pm:

[quote author=NGMsGhost link=1060112694/945#956Also, does Sky have any grounds to charge IHateSky for telephone service, as he did not agree to it? I appreciate that if the answer is that Sky cannot charge for this service, claiming any monies back may be easier said that done.

Probably Sky did some form of telephone marketing tell Sky Talk and someone else in the household who was not the line owner took the call and the caller from Sky did not check that person answering was the bill payer. So it is slamming given that the actual phone line customer did not agree but I doubt it is completely at random with no underlying causatory factor.

I had the same thing with BT on a little used fax line at my mother's house with them phoning up and saying who was I and when I gave the same surname as my mother (they didn't check gender, password or anything else) they then tried to persuade me to take their free evening and weekend calls plan that would have locked the line in to a 12 month rolling contract. This is what goes on in the real world.

I do think it is scandalous that Ofcom has allowed BT to lock in its customers in to any form of minimum contract given the huge Significant Market Power it has and its position as telecom provider of last resort.

By the way I think this discussion really needs splitting off in to a separate thread the way it is going.

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Peasant

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Re: Sky Customer Services
Reply #914 - Dec 15^th, 2009 at 6:04pm

Rigbyb1 wrote on Nov 1^st, 2009 at 4:59pm:

To continue the discussion, does anyone know an 0800 or 01/02/03 number for Sky (BSkyB) as the numbers listed on SAYNOTO0870.COM, i.e. 01506 522638 and 0800 0287855 take you to a Sky internal line not supposed to be used by non Sky employees? I am particularly interested in numbers for the TV side of Sky operations. It is very wrong of Sky to make us pay through the nose all the time.

I wished to confirm an agreed cancellation, as I was receiving letters from a debt collection agency on Sky's instructions, for an amount that had been agreed to be cancelled by Sky.
I phoned 0800 0287855 = Technical Servces Helpline option 2 (mac codes) got through to a man who put me through to customer services/accounts. Spoke to a helpful lass who checked the account and confirmed a letter confirming the account's cancellation with zero balance had now been sent. It had taken eleven days to send the letter which I had been promised when I phoned 0800 0468857 (which no longer works Angry

).

She said the debt collection people would not be calling, I said I'd set the dogs on them if they did Grin

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