SOmeone else has cancelled my broadband account and now I am leaving

[Cleonica]

I can not express just how annoyed and let down I feel with Sky. this all started a few weeks ago when received a sorry your leaving email. Eh? No I'm not, so I called up and spoke to the customer agent who advised me that this sometimes happens (been a sky customer for 19yrs first time this has happened to me but OK if you say so) and he woffled on about how they would contact the new provider and get it sorted. No such luck though as a few days later I got a letter in the post advising that they weren't able to resolve the matter and that I will indeed be leaving and that they will be happy to welcome me back. No information on how this would affect me, my service,  my broadband contract, will I need to pay the cancellation fee, what about my 19+years of custoemr loyalty, seeing as this is not my doing what compensation I would receive no mention of anything at all just the typical generic sorry your leaving us letter.

Now this for me is 100% unacceptable as I did not ask to leave, I had actually just got myself where I wanted to be with these services and am in contract for a few years. So yes, this leave should officially come with me paying the reminder of my phone and broadband contract but seeingn as I did not make this request you wouold think someone from Sky woudl cpontact me to discuss exactly how this scam of a cancellation of my services will affect me. 

So I thought I would send an email expressingmy dismay and disappointment but the only email address I can find is help@skycustomer which I quickly found out is unmanned. Why have an email address for the sake of having an email address?? Honestly, I am at the end of my rope with this already particulary as it was not my doing, I could end up without broadband which would in turn leave me unable to work and I feel as though I have been left to tidy up a mess I did not create. 

Also, I feel that if I just go and join back to Sky this will start a back and forth with whoever cancelled my contract in the first place.

I know I can call them but having already tried which left me with unforefilled promises I would prefer to email them and not the darn chatbot thing which again would not be able to assist with this unique sistuation I am in. 

I feel as though my pnly option is to call, however calling will just take me to a regular customer service agent and this I do feel is above their pay grade as I basically want my service restore and whoever managed to cancel my contract not able to do so ever again. 

Any suggestions?

[GD1]

@Cleonica  You can raise a complaint using the correct steps here https://www.sky.com/help/articles/how-to-make-a-complaint

[Li19]

I've had the same email today, and when I've logged into the Sky (seemingly official) website, it says my contract has another year and a half on it when I check my account (I renewed in May), but the chat assistant wants my full name, to know if I am the account holder, and the first line of my address and post code to access my account to tell me why this issue is occurring, although they have said it is 'not a scam mail'. I'm now worried that the chat agent I am online with is illegitimate, as they're asking for sensitive information. One assistant could get in with just my first and last name and knowing if I'm the account holder, but the other needs my address ? They say it's because they're from different departments, but if they're from the same company, why would they need different information ?  Then they came back and said the first assistant didn't have access to my account, even though the first assistant had said they did, that they'd 'checked my account', and when I initially asked the second assistant, they blamed it on being from different departments. Apparently there is a scam like this going around. The early exit fee they've quoted me is £612.50, when I never asked to leave or contacted another provider to begin with. It smells like a scam, but all the addresses look real. They won't even tell me who told them I was leaving, they say they need access to my account. But they didn't need it to email me to tell me I was leaving ? It stinks like a scam, but I can't seem to find the real website if this is a scam.

[Daniel0210]

@Li19 

So contact Sky via the correct methods. The agent should ask you for your telephone password to verify you're the account holder.

These are the current methods for contacting Sky. (Depending on your reason for making contact some methods will be more appropriate than others) …

🟩 📞 Customer Services by dialling 150 (free) from either a Sky mobile or your Sky Talk landline.

All calls will start automated which may offer you the online help route or try to send you here to the forum. Stay on the line as long as possible and saying nothing when asked the reason for the call sometimes helps being put in the queue for an agent.

Note: if your services are restricted due to a missed payment phone contact is unlikely to work.

🟩 online help via this link
https://www.sky.com/help
If necessary a number may be visible at the end of the correct help flow.

🟩 Sky Assistant 💬 should also be available via
https://www.sky.com/help
for most service issues and gives you 24/7 help and a quick response. It should provide you with multiple choice options based on your problem and will provide troubleshooting steps to fix any service issues.

🟩 Social Media You can also get in touch via the messaging services on: Facebook, Instagram, or X (links at the bottom of the forum page).

Note 🔹If you’re in the ROI make sure the flag in the bottom right of the link is showing the correct flag and change if required.

[JimM1]

@Li19 And another link if you need it, call us to see the number!

https://www.sky.com/help/page/broadband-digital-hub

[SJC78]

• I've just had exactly the same experience a couple of months into a 24month contract. I've made  multiple calls to customer service, and all they can say is that a third party requested a switch. Have checked with previous provider and they denied any involvement.  Only option is to renew with a new contract and put up with no broadband for a couple of weeks while they set it up. Absolutely nonsense. Would walk away from sky completely now if I could.

[JimM1]

@SJC78 Does seem to be a major oops on the OTS switching if that is what has happened, refusal off a takeover seems to not be a happening!

[Cleonica]

This is an update on this complaint. 

So I had to do my own detective work which paid off.  Having spoken to Sky customer services (who overall were very understanding, and empathised with my situation) had a suggestion to ask my neighbours if they have signed up with BT Broadband recently [in case this confusion is down to a simple typo error]. Genius, as it transpired upstairs flat had been to EE to get a couple of new phones and a new tablet. Knowing that EE is owned by BT I asked if I could revise their order confirmation which she was happy for me to see and low and behold EE had signed her up for Broadband that she did not ask for. A trip to the store and basically the EE employee had put through a fraudulent order bumping her 2 mobiles and tablet up to the fastest broadband package available; an additional £36 p/m. My neighbour was annoyed, the store manager not impressed and could not apologise enough. Order was cancelled immediately and a few weeks later my neighbour received a call advising that the salesperson is no longer with the company.  Sky were informed of the outcome and that it was all resolved but sadly I had to wait till the given switch date to make sure it was all cancelled correctly, Sky weren't able to check or confirm that the order was cancelled at their end. 

Thankfully no cancellations, disappearing of services happened. 

Thankful to the agent's suggestion as I don't think it would have gotten sorted in my favour if I'd left it up to Sky to look into. 

[JimM1]

@Cleonica If you think on it WHAT could sky do in the circumstance from somone sitting behind a desk looking at nothing making any sense whatsoever in the slightest, data protection has some good/bad and the OTS system is just not the be all / end all for working, but you were really lucky because as some do get disconnected and then the 14-21day wait period kicks in with steam out off the ears!!!

[Cleonica]

• Just to clarify I disappointed with the swap provider system and how it is obviously set up in a way that is favourable to the new provider. I say this as Sky literally could not see details such as who the service was going to and was blocked by the wonder that is GPDR when they started asking questions despite my being their customer and my account effectively being cancelled by someone else thus creating a breach of my contract and possibly costing me when it was not of my doing. Not sure what Sky could have done but something is missing for when errors or fraudulent changes are made to the bill payer account.  If we weren't able to have figured out what had happened I would have had to pay hundreds of pounds for the early contract cancellation.  This missing resolution for a very real problem is missing in the process which is shared by all providers. Maybe Sky could 

[Chrisee]

@Cleonica you are correct that there is a major flaw in the one touch switch system where the losing provider in your case Sky could not stop the switch only the gaining provider, EE/BT, do that. After reading a number of similar posts in the forum I raised this with one of the forum managers a few months back who checked and confirmed this is how the new system works. 

The issue is where like in your case where the switch is started without your consent either due to slamming or as is more common due to an error in these cases it is down to the innocent party the customer to sort it by contacting the gaining provider or as you did by talking to your neighbour. 

It is Ofcom who set the rules so it should be down to them to sort it. I hope Sky and the other large ISPs pick up on this and feedback via their Ofcom contacts to get the system varied.

[JimM1]

@Chrisee Not sure how it is all working, but here is what i did back beginning off march, OTS back to sky from EE, Sky took the order and notified EE, EE replied by sending an text message saying sorry to see you go, and they followed up with a few direct calls from there retentions team why etc are you going, please stay we will make it all better to which NO was the answer to them, ie 11 months in from the 24 month contract, then on the switching day two emails, first from sky you are now live, and the second from EE about 90mins later, you are now no longer an EE Cust, then eventually when i got round to putting the sky SR203 on the connection the same afternoon that kicked off all the sky welcome e-mails and text's, billing D/D info etc....

But and this is a but, as soon as sky started the process i checked everything e-mails, sky ID and account, had to go sort that out myself old customer, same e-mail's etc caused bit off oops systems wise, and kept the eye on EE doing it all right there end also... Had a very rapid changeover 4 day's from order to fully live on the sky system 5th Mar order and live 10th Mar, no messing about on the OR side they just got on and did it all so quick!