Services restricted and impossible to speak to a human

[Colettelmc]

My services have been restricted as I have had £50 added on And I do not know what this is for. Obviously I'm hesitant to pay it without knowing so wish to speak to an advisor but every time I ring a helpline (and I have tried numerous helplines) I get through to a robot who basically tells me to pay or hang up and try again later!! It's ridiculous. It should not be this difficult to speak to an advisor. I feel sorry for any older people who are having this problem because I'm really struggling to sort this myself.

[GD1]

@Colettelmc Until you pay what you owe Sky won't speak to you.   The additional £50 will be shown on your bill and what it is for, have you looked there?

[Colettelmc]

@GD1 why won't they speak to someone? Seems a bit unethical when you need help. 

[PandJ2020]

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@Colettelmc wrote:

@GD1 why won't they speak to someone? Seems a bit unethical when you need help. 

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It's their policy but primarily because the contract you agreed requires you to pay in a timely fashion.  (You cannot reasonably withhold payment)

Did you identify what the extra is for in your bills?

[MarkGoldsmith]

its because there isn't much Sky can do.

If someone hasn' paid their bill on time, and haven't even tried to give Sky advanced notice that they need to push the payment a couple of weeks or they need to reduce their monthly spend then why should Sky trust a "promise" from a customer that they will pay in a few weeks once they have already defaulted on their bill.

Ultimately Sky have to have a process that will work on all customers, with the number of subscribers they have they cannot work on a promises based system.

They do offer the broadband social tariff, for those that qualify for it, and do offer payment plans on Sky Glass and Mobile Phones that are being paid under a credit agreement, however its not possible for them to offer payment plans for ongoing subscription based services, as a person's debt to Sky would jsut keep on increasing if they don't pay their full bill monthly.

[GD1]

@Colettelmc  That is what Sky have chosen, you always have the option to query the additional charge before payment was due and failed.  Bills are produced 14 days before the payment is due so plenty of opportunity to query any bill.

[Colettelmc]

I've been with other providers and I've never experienced the complete lack of good customer service like this until now. It should not to be impossible to talk to a human about my bills or queries. If I want to challenge what I've been charged for I should not be bullied into paying it or have to deal with robot after robot or people on forums who endlessly defend sky to the death. I should be entitled to good customer service wether my bill is late or not so a resolution can be struck. Not "pay what we want (wether reasonable or not) or we won't talk to you" it's a shambles 

[Daniel0210]

@Colettelmc 

What you'll need to do is pay Sky what they believe you owe, set up a new payment method, then once your services have been reconnected then you contact Sky to discuss the extra payment. Of course any error will be reimbursed. 

Any payment you make over a weekend isn’t likely to be processed until the following week as banks are closed.

[SKY1992bf]

@Colettelmc  You could try calling from a number not linked to your account or by putting 141 before sky's number 

but even if you get through sky may not be able to help as the billing system is fully automated and cannot be overridden 

[PandJ2020]

Have you identified what the 'extra' is for yet?  It may well be legitimate so withholding payment isn't reasonable.

[daveNOS]

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@Colettelmc wrote:

I've been with other providers and I've never experienced the complete lack of good customer service like this until now. It should not to be impossible to talk to a human about my bills or queries. If I want to challenge what I've been charged for I should not be bullied into paying it or have to deal with robot after robot or people on forums who endlessly defend sky to the death. I should be entitled to good customer service wether my bill is late or not so a resolution can be struck. Not "pay what we want (wether reasonable or not) or we won't talk to you" it's a shambles 

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@Colettelmc You had 14 days before payment was due to challenge the unexpected amount, the fact you didn't and left it until your service was restricted is your own fault.

You also seem to be deliberately ignoring the advice about looking at your bill to see what the charge is for, why is that?

Anyway you can either do as required and pay so you can then speak to customer service, if the charge is incorrect they will refund it.

[Mark39]

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@Colettelmc wrote:

I've been with other providers and I've never experienced the complete lack of good customer service like this until now.

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Not so much a lack of good customer service on Sky's part, as poor customer behaviour.