Possible scam phone calls

[AMThomas]

Yesterday and today, I have received a number of "cold call" 'phone calls on our home BT landline from people calling themselves, "Sky Assured Maintenace" stating that I was being offered a one or two year maintenace contract for our Sky devices.. The first caller stated that they would post paperwork to our home address (which they were able to give).  When I stated that I was not happy about being 'cold called' and that I would not give any financial details over the phone, I was assured that no such information would be requested.

Later, yesterday afternoon, I had a further call stating that the first caller had been incorrect and contact was only through email. When I was uncooperative, stating why wasn't I being contacted via the email held on our Sky account, I was toild the email was out of date and that I was at fault for not updating our account|! I was thenput onto a person who said he was a 'Sky Veracity Supervisor'(!). He told me  I was being obstructive. I terminated the call.

Today (Friday 22/12/2023), I received a further call from "Sky Assured Maintenance". I terminated the call and blocked the number.

Does anybody know anything about 'Sky Assured Maintenance'? Am I correect in concluding that these calls are attempts to scam

[PandJ2020]

It appears to be a 'genuine' company - I won't post their website details here but you can find it with a google under Sky Assured Solutions.

They do offer insurance for Sky devices (and dish) but I don't think they are affiliated with Sky themselves although their logo would give the impression they were.

I can't find them explicitly referenced on Sky's Privacy Notice so it's slightly concerning how they had your information.  You can either block them as you have and move on or investigate further.  (Their PN appears to be out of date as they suggest a £10 fee is payable for a Subject Access Request)

[TimmyBGood]

@AMThomas 

Sky Protect from D&G is the only authorised scheme, but anyone can offer something similar as long as they aren't actually pretending to be Sky, using 'Sky' in its non-trademark sense and not stealing branded graphics in advertising.

[PandJ2020]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

@AMThomas 

Sky Protect from D&G is the only authorised scheme, but anyone can offer something similar as long as they aren't actually pretending to be Sky, using 'Sky' in its non-trademark sense and not stealing branded graphics in advertising.

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The website in question seems to cross the line imho.

[AMThomas]

To be honest 'Sky Assured Maintenace' were aggressive in language and tone. They are certainly not on my Christmas Card list. It appears that other people have suffered the same experience. To be avoided in my opinion. 

[Mark39]

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@AMThomas wrote:

To be honest 'Sky Assured Maintenace' were aggressive in language and tone. T

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I certainly wouldn't equate that to a genuine Sky customer service adviser.

[Philgo1 · Accepted solution]

I received a phone call on my landline this morning from  Sky Assured Maintenance . The person speaking said that my Sky Maintenance contract was about to expire and that I should renew it. I responded that I did not have a maintenance contract with Sky. He repied that I did, included with my Sky contract and that I had an obligation to renew the maintenance contract because I had previously agreed to do so. If I failed to do so I would be charged a penalty of £80 which would be collected by direct debit. I told him that I had no recollection of having a maintenance contract and he had better send me details. He said that he would not do so until I had agreed to renew the contract and repeated that if I failed to do so I would be charged £80. I told him that I had no intention of complying with his request. His response was to say that he was going to terminate my contract and I would be charged £80 for breaching the terms of the agreement.

This is clearly a fraudulent attempt to extract money. Don't be fooled into paying them anything.

[Mark39]

@Philgo1 welcome to the Community! 🙂

You're absolutely right - as highlighted before, these people have nothing to do with Sky.

[LynneKN]

Sky rarely call customers unless you phoned them and they arranged a call back. If I get any calls like this, which I regularly do, I just say "No you're not " when they say they are from Sky. So far they have always immediately cut the call.

[TimmyBGood]

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@LynneKN wrote:

Sky rarely call customers unless you phoned them and they arranged a call back. 

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Unfortunately legitimate (but deeply annoying) unsolicited calls are frequently made to push Sky Protect device insurance.

[SAREL]

This morning I too have had a call from these people trying to make me pay something. 

He was very rude and aggressive and kept arguing the whole time even though I kept telling him I knew he was a scammer.

Eventually I asked him what my name was if he was sure that I already had Sky and their cover. He hung up. 

A quick look on Companies House shows there is an active proposal to strike this company off. The only director is a guy who runs a kebab shop in Ilford, and they have been putting in dormant accounts. 

[KaCu603]

My 84 year old mother in law has been hounded by these people. Same call, said she was up for renewal at £100 a year and if she didn't, it would be a breach of contract at £70. I asked him to give me the contact details of the company's director (found via Companies House) and 'Tony Wiliams' hung up on me. He forgot that we had the exact conversation a few weeks ago with the same conclusion. These guys just do their cold calling rounds!

I'm just concerned they will withdraw the money anyway as they had her details previously ...

[KNLCML]

For the past 4 days we have been receiving calls from a company saying they are "Sky Assure" claiming they need to renew our insurance with them for our devices.   According to Companies House Sky Assure & Sky Assured are both legitimate companies but on checking with Sky Television itself they say they are nothing to do with them and this is not the name of their insurance scheme..

Please dont be taken in by then and certainly dont give them any details or pay them anything over the phone.

[Daniel0210]

@KNLCML 

The only Sky endorsed cover is by Sky Protect which are run by Domestic and General Insurance. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@KNLCML wrote:

 According to Companies House Sky Assure & Sky Assured are both legitimate companies but on checking with Sky Television itself they say they are nothing to do with them and this is not the name of their insurance scheme..

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That's correct: unfortunately 'sky' is common usage and cannot itself be trademarked.

The companies named are skirting the edges of legality in their cold calling: they step over the line if they claim to be associated in any way with Sky Group (a division of the Comcast Corporation)