Sky Ongoing Complaint ( 8 month plus)

[Zee3]

Hi I am completely frustrated with Sky, they are a scam and only knows to take customer's money. I was sold a broadband and TV deal for £62 in Feb 2023. I took the deal although it was kind of expensive for me. But come May 2023 when they started billing me, theh increased it to £78. I called them and complained and asked them to check the call record where I was told its £62. Gave the manager exact time and date of the comversation. Manager lodged a complaint and said will get back to me. He never did. Meanwhile I emailed chasing my case, no response and called but always on a long wait. Then life happened. I called them again in Jan2024, got through to an agent, he said nothing about the previous complaint no acknowledgement and instead said he has documented everything and has lodged another complaint. They will reduce my bill to £62 and somewill will get back to me in 10 business days. No one did but I saw my bill in Jan dropped so I thought theh sorted it. Meanwhile they offered me a free skh cinema for 4 weeks , i took it and I CANCELLED it via the app before my trial ended. From March they started charging me £90!!! I emailed them. No response. i called them and they keep on passing from pne department to another. I finally got through today 20th May andthey are saying they will only refund £20! So from the promised £62 now they are charging me £90 every month and for god knows what. This is still ongoinv and I dont know what to do this is day time robbery! Also all these calls are over 1 hr, so much time, energh and money wasted and still no accuntabily from SKY! No help offered. Please SOS! This has to stop

[Mark39]

This is somewhat hard to follow as it has taken place over a protracted period. There. Is an annual price increase which would have affected your subscription in both April2023 and April 2024 which may account for some, if not all the extra beyond the original £62.

[Zee3]

Hi there was no price increase in April 2023, I literally took the deal in March 2023 and I was told it would be £62 and was not informed about any potential increase the next month! This year April 2024 apparently there has been a price increase, which given my original deal now should cost me £68 starting Apr 2024 and not £90

[PandJ2020]

If you start a contract in March then you do get the price increase in April, however there is 60 day price protection.

[Mark39]

You'll have to follow it up with Sky, then, I'm afraid. There's not much else we customers here can suggest.

[MarkGoldsmith]

---

@Zee3 wrote:

Hi there was no price increase in April 2023, I literally took the deal in March 2023 and I was told it would be £62 and was not informed about any potential increase the next month! This year April 2024 apparently there has been a price increase, which given my original deal now should cost me £68 starting Apr 2024 and not £90

---

The T&Cs of the Sky contract would beg to differ, which does state that there  may be one annual price rise a year, and as others has advised this is typically pushed back a month or two for those custoemrs who sign new contracts in March.

You also mention adding Sky Cinema for a 4 week trial. These typically have a 31 day cancellation notice, so unless you cancel it essentially on the first day of having the free trial, you do end up paying at least a partial month for it (depening how soon you actually cancelled it).

[Zee3]

Had I been informed of a price increase come April I would not have taken the deal at all cause I don't really watch TV. The person who sold it to me made it very clear it is going to be £62 . Surely Price increase cannot be from £62 to £78 thats a whopping £16 increase. They can easily check the call record.  Also when I called to complain they did not mention any price increase and I did not get any letters for price increase in 2023. In April 2024 I got the letter and its a £6 increase but that's ethical as it has been communicated well. Surely £16 increase and now another £6 that's a total of £22 per month is not ethical? With regards to the free trial, as I have mentioned I cancelled it via the app before the trial period ended as I had set a reminder. It was a technical glitch from their side which did not pick up the app cancellation. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Zee3 wrote:

Had I been informed of a price increase come April I would not have taken the deal at all cause I don't really watch TV. The person who sold it to me made it very clear it is going to be £62 . Surely Price increase cannot be from £62 to £78 thats a whopping £16 increase. They can easily check the call record.  Also when I called to complain they did not mention any price increase and I did not get any letters for price increase in 2023. In April 2024 I got the letter and its a £6 increase but that's ethical as it has been communicated well. Surely £16 increase and now another £6 that's a total of £22 per month is not ethical? With regards to the free trial, as I have mentioned I cancelled it via the app before the trial period ended as I had set a reminder. It was a technical glitch from their side which did not pick up the app cancellation. 

---

I don't understand why you're paying for TV in the first place then given your original statement  "although it was kind of expensive for me"? Even at the original £62 a month and ignoring the mid-contract price rise, that equates to over £1100 for the 18 month contract.

You don't say how long you were charged for Cinema? If it was just the one payment then that will be due to the 1 months notice required which will have been indicated on the offer.

[Zee3]

That's the biggest mistake I have made. I should'not have been convinced so easily. My TV deal includes netflex which means I no longer pay for my Netflix. I was paying £35 for broadband anyway and so if they pay for my Netflix circa £12- that's a total of about £47. So I thought £62 is digestable since that's an additional £13 which would include broadband, TV and Netflix plus would make my unsmart TV smart. But it was a push nonetheless. So £ 62 is the maximum I was ready to pay. I was not made aware of any immediate price changes or that an annual price review can increase your price up by £30ish. If anyone listens to the call recording will know how I was reluctant but the agend kind of pulled me into it with this sales skills. 

[Zee3]

They have dealt with the sky cinema issue now so they say and refunded my the extra charge. I was charged for 3 months although I cancelled within the free trial period. 

[MarkGoldsmith]

---

@Zee3 wrote:

That's the biggest mistake I have made. I should'not have been convinced so easily. My TV deal includes netflex which means I no longer pay for my Netflix. I was paying £35 for broadband anyway and so if they pay for my Netflix circa £12- that's a total of about £47. So I thought £62 is digestable since that's an additional £13 which would include broadband, TV and Netflix plus would make my unsmart TV smart. But it was a push nonetheless. So £ 62 is the maximum I was ready to pay. I was not made aware of any immediate price changes or that an annual price review can increase your price up by £30ish. If anyone listens to the call recording will know how I was reluctant but the agend kind of pulled me into it with this sales skills. 

---

Ultimately thats the reason you need to read the T&Cs. There is always a 31 day cooling off period for Sky which provides ample time for customers to review the contracts, agreements and T&Cs and cancel penalty free if they are unhappy.

Price rises are standard across the broadband, mobile and TV industry so it shouldn't be a surprise. I believe only a handful of altnet providers are offering contracts with no-price rises in for the minimum term, but if they are also offering very attractive and competitive prices its always a risk as with the number of altnets that have come into existant in the last few days and have offered very cheap deals to entice customers, a few will likely end up going under or be taken over by some of the bigger and better run altnet providers.

[Anonymous]

---

@Zee3 wrote:

That's the biggest mistake I have made. I should'not have been convinced so easily. My TV deal includes netflex which means I no longer pay for my Netflix. I was paying £35 for broadband anyway and so if they pay for my Netflix circa £12- that's a total of about £47. So I thought £62 is digestable since that's an additional £13 which would include broadband, TV and Netflix plus would make my unsmart TV smart. But it was a push nonetheless. So £ 62 is the maximum I was ready to pay. I was not made aware of any immediate price changes or that an annual price review can increase your price up by £30ish. If anyone listens to the call recording will know how I was reluctant but the agend kind of pulled me into it with this sales skills. 

---

Make sure to cancel the TV part in 6(?) months then. You can use an Amazon Firestick, a Roku stick, Apple TV box or (if with Virgin Media broadband) a VM Stream box. There's no monthly subscription for the VM box, just an initial £35 to pay and has most of the usual suspects on it as App plus live TV, it's quite nifty too.