Can I cancel a sky package deal?

[LeeRJ]

About 6 weeks ago, I was visited by a Sky engineer who fixed satellite dish on condition that I upgraded to Sky Q.

The engineer told me that there was an offer on my account for 2 months free Movies and Sports, and that I would be able to cancel after the free period if I didn't want to keep them. I agreed on condition that it wouldn't cost me anything. He activated the account on his tablet; I never saw any terms and conditions. He told me to keep an eye out for an email "after about a month" to see if I wanted to cancel this or not. No such email has arrived, and I can't find any reference to these terms online. Was he telling the truth, or have I been conned into paying for a subscription that I don't want?

As far as I can tell online, these have minimum terms of 12 or 18 months, and I can't cancel them before this, in direct contradiction to what was explained to me. The "virtual assistant" tool keeps offering me broadband upgrades and fails to connect to a person; it clearly doesn't know what to do with my query. The website just shows that I will be billed from next month, and gives me no option to cancel.

I don't even watch Sports.

Is there any way out of these bundles, or did Sky's engineer lie to me?

[PandJ2020]

I'm not aware that you receive a reminder to cancel it but you should be able to give notice to cancel it once you connect to a human.

Note that you have to give 31 days notice, so if this does take you past the free period then you will be charged pro-rata for it.

[LeeRJ]

In that case I will phone them tomorrow and see what they say. 31 days would take me over the free period, so if they insist on pro-rata then I will be complaining.

[PandJ2020]

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@LeeRJ wrote:

In that case I will phone them tomorrow and see what they say. 31 days would take me over the free period, so if they insist on pro-rata then I will be complaining.

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The pro-rata billing is automatic.

Whether you can convince an agent to credit against it could be difficult.

[LeeRJ]

Well, I called them, but only spoke to yet another robot.

The automated voice confirmed that I was cancelling Sky Movies and Sports, told me that I was subscribed until October, there may be a charge and that any changes could take up to 31 days to take effect. Without confirming my cancellation, they then asked if that was everything, and said goodbye.

I had to dig out my bill to confirm that the cancellation has gone through, and I have been charged £33 that I wouldn't have been if Sky had sent the email that their engineer said they would send.

A very unsatisfactory experience all around. I'm going to write to them to explain the situation, at it seems impossible to contact a human being otherwise. Insisting on a 31 days' notice without stating the T&C's up front is very bad business, and possibly a matter for Trading Standards.

[PandJ2020]

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@LeeRJ wrote:

Insisting on a 31 days' notice without stating the T&C's up front is very bad business, and possibly a matter for Trading Standards.

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They are the standard terms - which you would have agreed when taking out your subscription originally.  (Even if you didn't have a premium sub at the time)

But, of course, pursue Sky for a credit.