90 Year Old With Dementia

[Elle71]

I have just spent an hour on the phone with Sky explaining that my 90 year old Aunt has dementia, is non verbal and I would like to reduce her package from £90 a month, to the basic one but keeping the Sky Sports as she loves to watch football all day. She will look at the colours on the screen but not follow it. Football is not on basic TV all day so wanted Sky Sports for that.  After the usual million questions and not being able to pass security (they asked for a non verbal person to come to the phone, I explained they can't and would never know passwords set up 30 years ago!) It was decided that only her POA could do this. Her POA is her brother, who also has dementia! POA written years ago when they were healthy! I explained that I could give the direct debit amount and the bank account details etc used, but this was NOT good enough for Sky.  So now she has to pay double what she should be paying, or cancel the account completely if I cancel the direct debit.  So we either get ripped off, or lose her little bit if joy.

The most unhelpful business I have ever had to deal with, and we have to deal with a lot these days!!   Does anyone know if there is anything at all anyone can do to help us?

[SKY1992bf]

@Elle71  Sky are correct in their stance so in the first instance I would explore the possibility of getting the POA changed to yourself or another responsible adult 

[Mark39]

It's not a question of being unhelpful. Sky are legally required to comply with data protection regulation. 

[MarkGoldsmith]

Also I'd advise not to just cancel the direct debit, as that will not cancel the Sky contract. Instead you would unfortunately just rack up debt for your Aunt and eventually have debt collectors round to collect once Sky pass the debt on to them.

As other me have advised the best course of action would be to look at getting the power of attorney changed so that you can manage these types of subscriptions on your aunt's behalf.

[Miche9]

You cannot get the POA changed as his Aunt is not of sound mind. She would need to havd capacity in order to authorise it 

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Miche9 wrote:

You cannot get the POA changed as his Aunt is not of sound mind. She would need to havd capacity in order to authorise it 

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In a way you can ( although its not a POA it offers similar powers), although can be legnthy and costly to obtain, which is why its recommended to have POAs and update them accordingly throughout ones life.

You would need to apply to the Court of Protection to become a deputy which can be granted in situations where the person doesn't have the mental capacity to make a decision and there is no POA in place ( which is essentially in the case in this scenario if the elected POA also doesn't have the mental capacity to make decisions). 

[Elle71]

She doesn't have capacity and as the lasting POA is still alive, its not doable. I went onto Virgin for my Uncle and they were great. Took me through security using his Direct Debit account number.  What was weird with Sky was that they ran through her monthly costs, channels etc. and allowed me to speak but when the realisation came they were losing half their money per month, it seemed to be an issue. They didn't seem bothered about data protection when they discussed the other issues. 

[Elle71]

Sadly that's not an option as the POA is still alive. He has cognitive decline as well.

[Elle71]

She is in Scotland so they would need to take her to court to get a decree before bailiffs can lift a finger. Can't see any sheriff passing a decree over a 90 year old woman with dementia that is now non verbal. They would be sent packing. So cancelling the DD is still an option. I might just do that, but leaves her without her football to stare at. 😔

[SKY1992bf]

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@Elle71 wrote:

She is in Scotland so they would need to take her to court to get a decree before bailiffs can lift a finger. Can't see any sheriff passing a decree over a 90 year old woman with dementia that is now non verbal. They would be sent packing. So cancelling the DD is still an option. I might just do that, but leaves her without her football to stare at. 😔

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@Elle71 We can only repeat what @MarkGoldsmith has already posted namely

"Also I'd advise not to just cancel the direct debit, as that will not cancel the Sky contract. Instead you would unfortunately just rack up debt for your Aunt and eventually have debt collectors round to collect once Sky pass the debt on to them"

Sheriff or debt collectors whatever, sky use whatever legal powers they have in relevant country to recover debt, so i would caution on what action you take as I'm sure you wouldn't what to put your aunt under anymore undue distress 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Elle71 wrote:

I have just spent an hour on the phone with Sky explaining that my 90 year old Aunt has dementia, is non verbal and I would like to reduce her package from £90 a month, to the basic one but keeping the Sky Sports as she loves to watch football all day. 

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Note that Signature is the minimum package to have Sports on anyway: it's not available on top of Sky Television Essentials.

[SKY1992bf]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@Elle71 wrote:

I have just spent an hour on the phone with Sky explaining that my 90 year old Aunt has dementia, is non verbal and I would like to reduce her package from £90 a month, to the basic one but keeping the Sky Sports as she loves to watch football all day. 

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Note that Signature is the minimum package to have Sports on anyway: it's not available on top of Sky Television Essentials.

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@TimmyBGood Depends on the platform you can get it with just essentials on glass/stream but not satellite 

[TimmyBGood]

@SKY1992bf 

'Essential TV', not 'Television Essentials'.

They don't make things easy, do they?

[SpaceSparkie]

Hi @Elle71 

Sorry to hear this about your Aunt. It might be worth contacting our Accessibility Team to discuss this. You can contact them through this link here 

[keithgidman]

I'm 78 years old, disabled, and easily confused. I want to watch Premier league football,  but can't afford to pay to much. What good deal could you offer me?