Being charged twice

[P11RAR]

I'm posting a reduced version of this again since my last post was seemingly removed without warning. 

We are out of contract with our Q and it was getting too expensive. Earlier this month we switched to Stream, which we aren't having issues with and the picture quality is good. The advisor on the phone told us we could not remove the content packs we no longer wanted over the phone, but once the pucks arrived and we activated them we could go online and remove the options we didn't want anymore.

The devices came the next day and I activated them and they worked. However, I couldn't get online and remove the packs. The service was still in pre-activation. At this point Sky had debited us for another month of Q. I phoned Sky and they said not to worry, you aren't being charged for Stream yet, and to try again in a week or two. I did, nothing had changed, phoned them back and was told the same thing. This happened twice.

This week I opted for Sky Support on twitter. They were surprised to see we were using the Pucks as they weren't showing active on their end. It was escalated to technical support and within 24 hours the system was fixed. I could finally remove content packs we no longer wanted. But with this came the surprise of seeing a new bill for the 26th (Monday) for over £60 for stream. August alone we will have paid over £120. Q now won't cancel until 30-odd days from yesterday instead of when we actually activated the pucks. 

Why are we being charged twice for an error on Sky's system? £120+ this month alone is ridiculous.

[P11RAR]

Ok, I'm hoping someone can help me understand what's going on here. Sky support hasn't been much help and the call centres in India are reading from some different sort of script and it's caused a mess.

We've been out of contract on our Q and our bill was going up. We don't use a lot of the features of Q and there were packages we had that we were not using so we opted for Stream and so far we've had no issues with it.

When we made the switch, around the time our last bill was due, we were told existing packs we had could not be removed, but when the pucks arrived and we activated them we could go online and remove what we didn't want. The pucks came the next day and I immediately activated them and they were working. Got online to remove the packs we did not want, but it wouldn't let us. "My Products" simply said "Your Sky order is coming."

After a few days our Q still showed as going, payment was taken from our bank and our Stream showed as waiting on activation. I called Sky back and the call centre abroad told me we were NOT being charged for Stream yet and to wait a week and check online again. I said ok and waited. The next week our Stream still didn't show as activated and we could not remove the packs we were not using. I called back again and was told to wait ANOTHER week and that everything was fine.

Yesterday I finally got onto Sky Support through Twitter and they were genuinely confused how we were using our pucks as they were not showing as activated. After a short chat, it was escalated to their technical team and today was told the pucks were showing as activated on their side. I was able to log in and remove the content packs we did not want. However, I could see a bill for Stream was showing to be debited this coming Monday, the 26th for over £60 which contained the packs we said earlier this month we did not want when we switched and that I could not remove online. So now we've already paid this month for Sky Q and in a couple days we're being charged for Sky Stream with all the bells and whistles we did not want from the beginning. I understand we aren't the only Sky customers, but their support has since gone quiet when I questioned this bill.

This is absolutely outrageous. We switched to a cheaper product for a reason. We wanted packs taking off for a reason. A technical error on Sky's side prolonged them seeing that our Stream service was indeed active. When I called I was told the wrong information countless times and was told to wait. Now we're going to have paid over £120 in August alone for two Sky services, of which we only used one, and for packs we asked to be removed and could not remove on our own until the error was fixed today.

Who on Earth do I have to speak to that knows what's happening to get this sorted out?! It's disgusting customer service. We've been with Sky for 20+ years and we expected better service and accurate information from someone that knows what they're talking about.

[Mark39]

To my knowledge you should only pay for Sky Q up to the date shown in your bill for when your Sky Stream service was activated. Any Sky Q charge for a period later than that date will be refunded in your next bill.

[SKY1992bf]

@P11RAR  This link explains the billing process when switching between sky tv products 

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/bills-and-payments-sky-glass-first-bill-after-switching

if you believe that something has deviated from the above you will need to speak to sky directly 

[P11RAR]

Thank you. This helps. It would've been nice to be shown this when we switched. 

My concern now is that due to the technical error on Sky's system the Stream did not show as active and I wasn't able to remove the content packs we didn't want or need until yesterday. I removed them but were still being charged for them for this month. 

Also confirming that the date difference on the last Sky Q payment and the Stream starting will be credited back to my next bill?

[caesarome]

As you can view your future bills have you looked at them, if nothing appears then you might have to wait until Sky Q has been cancelled.

[P11RAR]

The future Stream bills show the packs as removed and a lower bill, which is what we wanted. I'll need to try and speak to Sky about why we are being charged for them this month when that was their technical error. 

[MarkGoldsmith]

@P11RAR if you haven't already, i'd suggest raising an official complaint with Sky. They should be able to go through your call and notes history and see exactly what has happened and perhaps provide compensation or reimbursement.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/how-to-make-a-complaint

[SkyUser_]

They charge one twice so basically you'd be paying for this month and last month in advance. It's just so you don't struggle or you can pay it off quicker or if something goes wrong down the line and you loose your job you've got a month already paid beforehand. It's honestly quite smart and i like it i pay for 3 months in advance.