Sky - Contract changes letter received this morning

[AyeReady]

Received a letter from Sky this morning stating that they are changing contracts for Sky TV, Broadband and Mobile.

I have a Sky mobile and the changes seem a bit odd. Can anyone shed any light?

Letter states as follows:

This is notification of the following changes to your sky mobile contracts, including loan agreement (if you have one):

(1) We are separating your Sky mobile airtime contract and the terms for the sale of your Sky mobile equipment into separate contracts (by making your Sky mobile airtime contract a new contract).

(2) We are removing all links between your Sky mobile contracts (including equipment payment plan if you have one).

This means that there is no ongoing requirement to maintain a Sky mobile airtime contract for the duration of any Sky mobile device equipment payment plan (if you have one) and Sky will not have any right to require early repayment of the loan if the airtime contract is terminated. 

As a result of these changes, if we make a change to the terms for the sale of your Sky mobile equipment and you reasonable consider you would be materially disadvantaged by this, you may end the Sky mobile airtime contract by giving us notice with 31 days of us telling you about the change, even if you are within your minimum term and you will not have to pay any early termination charges. 

(3) We are removing all references to equipment supplied by us being locked to our network. 


On the face of it it looks like some good news but I'm puzzled as to why they are doing it. It seems as though someone has worked out how to release themselves from paying for their phone on a payment plan and they are having to reword their contracts before anyone else notices. 

Anyone else receive the same or have any ideas of what is going on? 

[GD1]

@AyeReady  Yes every customer has received it it isn't just specific to one customer.  Whats going on?  Sky have made changes to their contracts?  What more can the forum say?

[AyeReady]

Thanks for the response @GD1.

Obvioulsy i'm not the only person to have received the letter. Thats, kind of, the point of the post.

When a company allows people to exit contracts, en mass, without any consequences its rarely done out of the kindness of their hearts. 

[GD1]

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@AyeReady wrote:

Thanks for the response @GD1.

Obvioulsy i'm not the only person to have received the letter. Thats, kind of, the point of the post.

When a company allows people to exit contracts, en mass, without any consequences its rarely done out of the kindness of their hearts. 

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I'd be grateful for small mercies.

[AyeReady]

My inquisitive mind won't allow that unfortunately. 😊

Also, fundamental changes to the contracts would need to be agreed by both parties. If not, then you may have the right to void the contract in full. That’s why I’m asking the question here in case someone has already come across the issue.

[GD1]

@AyeReady  The changes you've highlighted are in fact beneficial to the end user, for example currently if you get a Sky Mobile device then you need to also have to maintain a data plan with Sky, the contract amendment is removing that requirement so you can just get the device and not need to get a data plan with sky.

[AyeReady]

Agreed @GD1 Thats why i said "on the face of it it looks like some good news".

From a cursory look over the wording though, you may be entitled to do far more than that.

I have my doubts regarding the legal competence of Point 1 in the changes. They cannot "split" the contract.
They can cancel the original contract and setup 2 new contracts, but they can't split the original contract.

This would likely leave the customer in a position to walk away from both contracts if they desired.
It would seem Sky are trying to give the airtime contract away in the hope that no one notices they can also free themselves from the equipment contract.

[RGSKYHDPLUSUHD4K]

Companies rarely do these things for the benefit of their customers.

I have no knowledge at all but I suspect Sky are planning something, maybe selling part of the business off but can't if it is linked to something else that they don't intend to sell. Three different businesses and three different contracts - maybe some tax benefits like the old Sky Magazine trick?

When I saw the letter, I thought, oh hang on, yet another subscription rise, but then no, something much more odd.

Sky have a plan for this, just we don't know what it is. They wouldn't send out millions of letters on a whim.

[LittleWillie]

hi all,

i've recieved the same this morning and i'm thinking "seems innocuous, what does this really mean? - mmm - suspish."

does this mean that by breaking the link between contracts, sky will be able to increase the price for each by - lets say£1 - which means that a bundle of 3, 4 or 5 services will attract an increase for each of these??

give this 3 or 4 months (just long enough for customers to forget about this letter). ooh,  this takes us to april when the annual increases come along. i remember last year i had increases of £1, £1, £1, £2 = £5.

or am i just being cynical?

[Yogihughes]

My concern is with the statement "we are removing any contractual linkage". Does that mean any discounts i receive by having multiple sky products are removed?