2 accounts at the same property

[Gary1070]

Hi, my sister moved back to my parents for a few months, while waiting to move to a new property, when she moved to my parents she moved her sky tv with multi room & broadband to my parents house, my parents had sky tv but no broadband, so they unplugged their sky box and watched sky through my sisters sky box and sky account .

Because you are only allowed one account at an address, my parents thought that they're sky tv would be cancelled.

Some months later I was checking my parents bank statements and it showed that sky had still been taking a monthly subscription, my parents are pensioners and they couldn't believe what had happened, which was very upsetting for them, I spoke to sky, saying that my parents had been charged a monthly subscription even though my sister had  moved her sky tv and broadband to my parents address and was paying her subscription, surely they should of advised her that there is already a sky account at that address and you cannot have 2 accounts at the same address, unless they have permission to cancel the existing account. Sky have refused to refund my parents. 

Are sky right to refuse a refund or can my parents take this further? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[Daniel0210]

@Gary1070 

A point to make is you haven't said whether your sister told Sky she was moving there, Did she arrange a Home Move through Sky for the TV? That should have triggered the fact they was already an account at the address.

If she didn't, then using her box and/or the viewing card at an address other than the account address (yours sisters old address) is a breach of the terms of the contract she agreed to. 

[Mark39]

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@Gary1070 wrote:

Are sky right to refuse a refund or can my parents take this further? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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As I see it, if your parents didn't cancel, it's perfectly reasonable for Sky to continue to charge them.

[Gary1070]

thank my oh for both replies.

Yes my sister done the whole move through sky.

Also it shouldn't matter if my parents cancelled sky or not, I didn't think sky were allowed to have multiple accounts at the same address.

[PandJ2020]

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@Gary1070 wrote:

Also it shouldn't matter if my parents cancelled sky or not, I didn't think sky were allowed to have multiple accounts at the same address.

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They were in different names though.

I doubt person X can cancel person Y's account...  Also, if they were in contract then they could not cancel anyway.

But I guess all you can do is submit a complaint and see if that goes anywhere.  Personally, making assumptions can be dangerous - especially as I presume they had no notification of their account being closed and continued to let the payments come out without checking.  (Not consuming the service isn't a valid argument unfortunately)

[daveNOS]

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@Gary1070 wrote:

thank my oh for both replies.

Yes my sister done the whole move through sky.

Also it shouldn't matter if my parents cancelled sky or not, I didn't think sky were allowed to have multiple accounts at the same address.

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@Gary1070 Of course it matters that your parents didn't cancel, while its unusal for an address to have 2 accounts its not unheard of.

Your parents are responsible for any and all bills generated for their service while its active.

[PandJ2020]

There's a technical restriction, i.e. 2 main Q boxes on the same subnet won't work - but as only one was being used this wasn't an issue.

[Daniel0210]

@Gary1070 

What your parents should have done, if they weren't in a minimum term deal, is cancel giving the required 31 days notice. Sky are quite within their right to refuse cancellation if the minimum term still applies. They then should have received an email/letter from Sky acknowledging the cancellation and been sent packaging to return the loaned equipment.

Then your sister should have arranged the home move. 

As stated your parents are responsible for ensuring cancellation and they (or a family member) are responsible for regularly checking their bank statements. I can see where you're coming from but I'm afraid reimbursement is highly unlikely. 

[Mark39]

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@Gary1070 wrote:

thank my oh for both replies.

Yes my sister done the whole move through sky.

Also it shouldn't matter if my parents cancelled sky or not, I didn't think sky were allowed to have multiple accounts at the same address.

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That's an internal Sky policy, not something a customer should make assumptions about or depend on.

[Gary1070]

Thank you for your replies.

When I said it shouldn't matter if they cancelled it or not, what I meant was surely it should flag up that there's another account active at the address and it should of been sorted out there and then. Also my parents are both disabled and haven't got a clue about anything technical, to the point that they don't even know how to use the TV guide to turn sky over. My sister uses her married name so names would have been different. 

1. My sister should of perhaps sorted this out when requesting the move.

2. I'm an ideal world my parents would of sorted this out, but unfortunately their memory isn't what it used to be.

3. Sky should of advised my sister that while there is still an active account at the address the move won't be completed until the active account is cancelled or at least spoke to my parents who own the property.

 I think I will go ahead and raise a complaint though.

I've got to speak to them today, I've been overcharged on my account🤦‍♂️ I had 4 months where they've charged me 2 x £10 late payments fees🤔

Once again thank you all for taking time out to send me a message, it's really appreciated 👍