Not the account holder but paying the bills and want to cancel but cannot

[KTFitz]

I have been paying my sky TV bills since my husband - now ex husband & I went our separate ways c 2018. When I contacted Sky to negotiate my package I was told that as I was not the account holder I could not do anything I was basically in a non mans land where I was paying the bills but had no control over the account I was paying for.  I was advised that the only way to stop things was to cancel my direct debit. Now I am being threatened with a debt service to come after me for late payment but I cannot communicate with a human to fix this as I am not the account holder . This is a ridiculous situation to be in - Can anyone help me please?

[Daniel0210]

@KTFitz 

It's the account holder who will be chased for payment not you. Presumably any letters addressed to the address about this are in your ex's name. 

[MightyQuinn]

Hi @KTFitz   Mark any letters as not known at this address (unopened). I would open a new account under your name.

[Daniel0210]

@KTFitz 

Contact your ex (through family or mutual friends if needs be) and get him to cancel the subscription. He will need to return the Sky Q equipment then you can subscribe yourself. 

[SKY1992bf]

@MightyQuinn  If op is still at the address the account is registered to, then they will be unable to open an account in own name until the current account is closed or transferred out of the address which only the account holder can do

cc @KTFitz 

[KTFitz]

This just seems such a ridiculous situation to be in. I have raised complaints with sky already on this subject but literally nobody can help me. I  am not on speaking terms with my ex meaning I cannot guarantee even if I asked him to do this that he woul.d

[SKY1992bf]

@KTFitz  unless the debt collectors letters are personally addressed to you then complaining to sky yourself is pointless sky are correctly instructing the debt collectors to pursue your ex, you are not responsible for the debt so you have nothing to be concerned about in that regards 

you cannot cancel the account yourself it's as simple as that 

[PandJ2020]

There's no basis for a complaint.

It's not your account and you are not liable for it.  (Even if paying)

[Chodley]

You must know someone who can tell your ex about it.  I'm sure they don't want debt collectors breathing down their neck and their credit rating might take a hit too, so them ignoring it would be unlikely.

[oj01]

It's all a bit messy and is likely to get more so. There really should be easier ways to sort out account issues like this. I'm sure if you happened to get through to the right person it could probably be sorted but, unfortunately, that rarely seems possible.

Now that the account is in arrears and, presumably, restricted, even if the ex was contacted they wouldn't be able to cancel the account without paying the owed amount, which I doubt they'd be willing to do given the circumstances.