Increasingly difficult to deal with Sky

[gcritch]

Out of contract and agreed new reduced monthly payment on the phone having been cutoff previously.

Days later no email confirmation as promised.

Submitted complaint and advised that no record existed of the change I had negotiated and case closed.

Looking at recent multiple negative reviews about Sky customer service it seems things are getting worse.

Given that I also discussed interest in broadband and mobile services it seems odd that I should experience such poor customer service as a so called VIP customer of 20+ years.

Next step is to cancel the direct debit to prevent big increase in the April payment.

I do not trust Sky anymore.

Anyone else experiencing a decline in the service Sky offer given the steep increase in cost these past few years ?

[nigea99]

hi @gcritch 

We have strongly advise against stopping your direct debit.

Stopping your direct debit means that  you will be in debt to SKY & they won't deal with you until the debt is paid off

Any debt may be passed to debt collectors and could affect your credit rating

[Daniel0210 · Accepted solution]

@gcritch 

Definitely not recommended. Doing that is going to cause you additional problems. Your services will be restricted, you won't be able to call Sky, you can't cancel, late payment fees will be added and eventually Sky will involve a debt recovery company which may affect your credit rating. 

[gcritch]

Absolute nonsense.

[gcritch]

I will never be in debt as I will submit the correct payment.

[Daniel0210]

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@gcritch wrote:

Absolute nonsense.

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@gcritch 

If you don't want to take the advice offered that's up to you but it won't end well. 

[gcritch]

Mastercard have advised cancellation of the direct debit as Sky have failed to action the reduced monthly cost.

The only course of action left given their failure to resolve my complaint is to cancel the direct debit which is double the agreed new monthly amount

I can assure you that it will not end badly for me but likely involve the termination of my subscription to Sky.

Sky have 48 hours to correct their mistake.

[gcritch]

This is a Trustpilot review posted 2 days ago -

Left SKY with terminating all my accounts 28th Feb , they then took money for the next billing period, and refused to refund until the next mouth billing period, said I could contact my Bank and get the charges reversed, rather than refunding immediately as their error.
Customers should not be having to resolve these things themsleves, start sorting out customer service.
This is the another reason I have left SKY Loyal customer means nothing to them, been with them for nearly 14 years.

Trustpilot reviews for Sky show 1 star ratings at 85%.

As a retired businessman I'm astonished at how a once valued Company can fail so badly.

[Daniel0210]

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@gcritch wrote:

but likely involve the termination of my subscription to Sky.

Its also worth pointing out that if Sky believe you are in arrears you won't be able to cancel. 

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[PandJ2020]

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@gcritch wrote:

Trustpilot reviews for Sky show 1 star ratings at 85%.

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Unfortunately, TrustPilot has become a platform for aggrieved customers to submit 1 star reviews.  (Look at all other major firms - they all have similar overall ratings)

'Reviews' are only submitted with issues...

[gcritch]

If I were to leave a review for Sky based on the way I have been treated recently and the sheer waste of my time by Sky's incompetence it would be 1 star.

85% is astonishing and recent reviews absolutely reflect my own recent experience.

But I'll give them 48 hours to rectify their mishandling of my simple and straightforward case.

I'm not hopeful.

[Daniel0210]

@gcritch 

If you were to submit another complaint it could take up to 8 weeks to reach a resolution or go to deadlock so 48 hours is not realistic.

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

The Sky complaints process has to be used first before the next stage of an appointed Alternative Dispute Resolution provider.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/alternative-dispute-resolution

[gcritch]

Let's not complicate this.

Sky have 48 hours to resolve their mishandling.

If they fail I will no longer be a Sky subscriber and appropriate reviews will be created.

Sky are 100% in the wrong in this case and I am apparently one of many many customers tired of their appalling customer service.

[nigea99]

@gcritch 

We have to re-iterate that stopping your direct debit does not cancel your subscription which will continue until formally cancelled with SKY & they will not do this until any outstanding debt is cleared

[gcritch]

We have to re-iterate etc. and not a Sky employee ??

Interesting.