What has happened to Sky?

[does+any+of+it+ma]

Possibly because up till September, but that's not the point. Sky used to have comparatively good customer care & that was a good reason to use their services even if they were a bit more expensive, but that's not the case any more so may as well  use a cheaper provider with equally as bad customer care. I'm sure it will just them in the long run, and then they'll try to reverse things but for many it will be to little to late.

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@does+any+of+it+ma wrote:

Possibly because up till September, but that's not the point. Sky used to have comparatively good customer care & that was a good reason to use their services even if they were a bit more expensive, but that's not the case any more so may as well  use a cheaper provider with equally as bad customer care. I'm sure it will just them in the long run, and then they'll try to reverse things but for many it will be to little to late.

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I'd doubt thing will revert. In fact it's highly likely the offshore call centres are used to provide services for a number of Comcast services and products and not just Sky, as it would be much cheaper for Comcast to run its customer services operation in this manner ( I.e offshore and share resources for global operations whilst keeping a small presence of operators in each country they operator in for escalation reasons).

[doc-ab]

And these are just formal complaints, how many people bother to make a complaint but instead just give up and/or leave? 

[Chalk+Serpent]

Also it's difficult to complain to Sky now. Often it's not raised by them as an official complaint, you get a standard copy and paste response or you're asked to phone the standard number. 

[snes]

When I started this thread, I had only mild misgivings about the way Sky were headed, but it would seem from responses received that I was not alone.

Like many others, I would forgive Sky their shortcomings and somewhat expensive offerings as they were such a pleasant company to deal with. It was obvious that customer satisfaction was paramount and I used to enjoy my renewal or problem solving chats with friendly people from Cardiff, Newcastle, Northern Ireland and Scotland. There was never any misunderstanding about what was agreed or offered.

So, last night, in an idle moment, I decided to look up recent feedback about Sky, bearing in mind a previous poster's claim that Sky had a better than average customer satisfaction rating. Something did not quite tally.

I found a site called, I believe, Trusted Reviews (correct me if it was another site!) and what I discovered and read frankly appalled me. I could only stomach the first 10 screen pages or so of reviews, I could not believe I was reading about a bone fide company. The reviews were almost universally given 1 star out of 5, with many claiming they would have given 0 if it was allowed. I cannot begin to do full justice to what I read there - you will have to take a deep breath and take a look for yourselves.

I have 11 months left of my basic Sky package. After that, I will be cancelling (if they allow - check some of the reviews mentioned above!) As a possible future option, I would have considered returning to Sky Broadband if the terms were okay, but not now that I have read some of the experiences suffered by reviewers.

I would never previously consider anything from Virgin due to their appalling reputation for customer service, but now Sky have achieved the impossible by being even worse.

[PandJ2020]

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@snes wrote:

I found a site called, I believe, Trusted Reviews (correct me if it was another site!) and what I discovered and read frankly appalled me.

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Unfortunately, not doubting any of the experiences listed on the site, they only generally attract complaints and bad reviews.  (I know, I've done it myself for an energy company...)

If you look at all comms providers you'll find an equal story of woe...

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@snes wrote:

When I started this thread, I had only mild misgivings about the way Sky were headed, but it would seem from responses received that I was not alone.

Like many others, I would forgive Sky their shortcomings and somewhat expensive offerings as they were such a pleasant company to deal with. It was obvious that customer satisfaction was paramount and I used to enjoy my renewal or problem solving chats with friendly people from Cardiff, Newcastle, Northern Ireland and Scotland. There was never any misunderstanding about what was agreed or offered.

So, last night, in an idle moment, I decided to look up recent feedback about Sky, bearing in mind a previous poster's claim that Sky had a better than average customer satisfaction rating. Something did not quite tally.

I found a site called, I believe, Trusted Reviews (correct me if it was another site!) and what I discovered and read frankly appalled me. I could only stomach the first 10 screen pages or so of reviews, I could not believe I was reading about a bone fide company. The reviews were almost universally given 1 star out of 5, with many claiming they would have given 0 if it was allowed. I cannot begin to do full justice to what I read there - you will have to take a deep breath and take a look for yourselves.

I have 11 months left of my basic Sky package. After that, I will be cancelling (if they allow - check some of the reviews mentioned above!) As a possible future option, I would have considered returning to Sky Broadband if the terms were okay, but not now that I have read some of the experiences suffered by reviewers.

I would never previously consider anything from Virgin due to their appalling reputation for customer service, but now Sky have achieved the impossible by being even worse.

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Certainly a wouldn't trust reviews on Tristed Reviews as like most internet based reviews/feedbacks the only people who are bothered to contribute are people with only negative things to say.

Also it's worth checking out OFCOMs recent annual report on number of complaints for providers in the industry which has seen Sky remain highly ranked whilst Virgin are once again rated incredibly low.

Most companies customer services teams are dreadful as that's typically one of the lowest paid jobs and an area where companies try to do it "cheaply".

[snes]

Unfortunately, those reviews tend to tie in with my recent experiences with Sky, so I would suggest they contain a lot of truth.

I can't recall ever seeing so many 1 star ratings for a provider (not even Virgin) - and they are all in the last couple of months. I'm not sure why you seem to be apologising for Sky - to get such a quantity of bad feedback is a serious cause for concern.

Lets see if any further posts in this thread are of the glass half full variety.......

[doc-ab]

OFCOM data is out of date. Don't know why someone would act as an apologist for sky when plenty on here and elsewhere who previously praised sky have documented their own experiences in how the service has deteriorated. Yes maybe only those who have had bad experiences post but the shear volume is telling a story. Similarly many who experienced (like me) poor service never institute a formal complaint. I would always be able to speak to a supervisor not be promised a call back from a supervisor in a weeks time (a call that never materialised). Sky have sacked many employees and I would guess these were the most experienced and senior as they would have been on higher salaries.

just because Virgin are woeful doesn't mean that sky customer services has not deteriorated significantly. 
staff appear to be less empowered t make decisions. 

[PandJ2020]

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@snes wrote:

Unfortunately, those reviews tend to tie in with my recent experiences with Sky, so I would suggest they contain a lot of truth.

I can't recall ever seeing so many 1 star ratings for a provider (not even Virgin) - and they are all in the last couple of months. I'm not sure why you seem to be apologising for Sky - to get such a quantity of bad feedback is a serious cause for concern.

Lets see if any further posts in this thread are of the glass half full variety.......

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As I said, I don't doubt any of the 'reviews'.  I'm not apologising for Sky, it seems most telecoms firms have similar issues.  (All of the major providers have a score around 1.5 on that site)

My only point was that the vast majority of 'reviews' are complaints/issues.

[Chalk+Serpent]

People tend to only review on Trustpilot to leave a great review or a poor one. However there are many people, myself included, who have had terrible customer service from Sky over recent years. It has definitely gone downhill, caused by Sky getting rid of experienced, knowledgeable staff and replacing with outsourced. As I also pointed out earlier in the thread it is now harder to get them to take notice of a complaint, a lot of people get a copy and paste reply asking them to call the standard phone number, are these even counted as complaints by Ofcom? The fact other providers have poor cs doesn't excuse Sky from being the same now, especially when they used to have a lot of friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff. Ok their prices have increased, but poor cs, new contract prices not set up correctly, having to keep an eye on future bills incase a discount is removed incorrectly are the main reasons I no longer have any products with them. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chalk+Serpent wrote:

The fact other providers have poor cs doesn't excuse Sky from being the same now, especially when they used to have a lot of friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff. 

As I've observed elsewhere (possibly in this thread)  'Sky' has been an overseas division of a US corporate giant since 2018: it's quite literally not the company it was.

[snes]

Indeed, Timmy, and that is when the rot started.

I appreciate your post, it reminds us that Sky is no longer the Murdoch baby it once was (unfortunately!)

[Chalk+Serpent]

Yes, the Comcast take over has caused this. 

[Tim-hv]

Just rang Sky to talk about my subscribtion change and after following the usual automated security controls got to speak with a young man from India. Got cut off by them the first time had to hold for a minute which took 10 mins and then offered a small discount to renew my contract for another 18 months, After being with sky for 24years I decided not to renew my subscribition and resolved to see if i can find a better deal with another company.

Also a small but important point that Sky have not even considered , most of the on line scammers  originate in India whcih leaves me very sceptical about sharing information and passwords with people outside the UK. I am now aware that the Indian call centre staff have not got access to my Name, Address password, mothers maiden name and e mail address.

I am now thinking i should change as much as I can !