Data dispute in Montenegro

[Shell63]

My daughter landed in Montenegro and could not access her data . I rang Sky for support saying she had no data however whatever they tried she could not access her data. As she needs to communicate with business and home she purchased a local SIM card in Montenegro . Thankfully! As I later found out thd charges for Montenegro 

Despite several phone calls to Sky whilst she was in Montenegro from me the account holder, Sky never once informed me of the extortionate costs for use of data .

  When her bill came in she has been charged for £693 use of data, despite not being able to access her data. Sky VIP team are totally inconsistent and unhelpful. I have received various advice, stop my direct debit. Which I did. Pay the amounts on the three SIM cards I hold minus the £693 , which I did. 
Sky has now restricted all SIM cards and refuse to help me with this dispute until I pay the £693.  Where fo I go from here?

[JimM1]

@Shell63 You pay the sky requested balance before it gets way worse for you!

[Daniel0210]

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@Shell63 wrote:

I have received various advice, stop my direct debit. Which I did. Pay the amounts on the three SIM cards I hold minus the £693 , which I did. 

Sky has now restricted all SIM cards and refuse to help me with this dispute until I pay the £693.  Where fo I go from here?

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@Shell63 

Sky would expect customers to research costs involved in foreign travel before leaving the UK. 

If a Sky agent told you to cancel your payment method that was extremely poor advice. Tempting as it might seem cancelling the payment method is definitely not recommended.

Doing that is going to cause you additional problems. Your services have been restricted, you won't be able to call Sky, you wont be able to cancel, late payment fees will be added and eventually Sky could involve a debt recovery company which may affect your credit rating.

So now Sky won’t reinstate services until you’ve paid what they believe you owe (regardless of any individual circumstances) and you’ve also set up a new continuous payment method.

Any calls to Sky will only prompt you to make a full payment.

If your payment is two or more weeks overdue you will have to pay the next bill as well and if you’re in arrears for 56+ days Sky can fully terminate your subscription (but you’ll still owe the arrears).

Restrictions of services are automatic and are only applied due to a missed payment/s. Agents at Sky can’t override the process even if you’re told otherwise. Sky don't allow payment plans on overdue live accounts, nor will they consider promises to pay on or by a certain date.

Once your full payment has cleared and is in Sky’s account your services should be reinstated, but this may not be instant. Any payment you make over a weekend or on a Bank Holiday won’t be processed until the following week.

You should be able to pay the bill and set up your direct debit via the MySky app or online using this link
https://www.sky.com/manage/bill/

[63johnw]

@Shell63  This why I advise it's a bad idea to turn off the roaming and monthly spend caps as they would have limited the amount of charges that can be run up. As advised you will need to pay what's owed to get service reinstated. 

[TAS13]

I have had exactly the same issue today. Arrived in Montenegro this morning and couldn't access any data at all. Spoke to Sky on the phone who said it was due to my spending cap so they increased it to £100 and told me to switch my phone off and back on and all would be good.  This didn't work. In the meantime I got a message saying that my spending cap had been exceeded.  
When I called Sky back, I was told that I had spent £200 on data and therefore had exceeded my spending cap!!

When I asked how I could have spend £200 on data (as it never worked!) I was loudly told by the customer services gentleman  " DID I SAY THAT YOU HAD TO PAY IT?? NO, I DIDNT!" And then told that they would rectify the issue when I got back to to uk and to turn my data roaming  off or I will continue to be charged. (even though it didn't and still doesn't work).
I, for one, will not be paying my excessive and scandalous fees as I have been told that I do not have to, and have made a note of  the date and time of the conversation which should have been recorded by Sky.
As a by the by, apparently £26 of the spend was as I have been "near Albania" which was incorrectly picked up on a different network. 
I hope that this information may assist with you getting these disgusting charges sorted. Good Luck! X

[Daniel0210]

@TAS13 

You have incurred the charges for using the device in Montenegro so I woukd expect Sky to charge you.

Incidently Sky warn of accidental roaming as you have done. It's a common mistake to pick up an Albanian mast if near the border. Sky aren't likely to reimburse you. See this link, in particular'accidental roaming' near the bottom...

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-mobile-roaming-destinations-and-charges 

[PandJ2020]

The trouble is that £100 is only 46MB of data.

That can be used by background tasks before the user actually gets the chance to perform their own activities....

[Shell63]

Thank you so much for your reply. That is exactly the same situation my daughter found herself in. She is adamant that she did not use any data but she received the text from sky upon landing then nothing. I really hope that you have better success resolving your situation when you return home. Good luck 

[JimM1]

@TAS13 Hope you are not replying on mobile data then and have switched it all off on your mobile device as advised!

[Shell63]

Thank you for your reply , you are totally correct in what you say however I would not recommend Sky to anyone due to poor communications when issues arise as the operators cannot support. I will be leaving all Sky services as soon as I can as I have no trust in their services or in trying to rectify problems . 

[PandJ2020]

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@Shell63 wrote:

She is adamant that she did not use any data

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That could well be true, but her device did before she had chance...  (The network does not distinguish)