Confusion over Sky + HD box after leaving Sky

[akh48]

I left Sky on 1 April after over 25 years, had enough of the price increases.

I expected my Sky box to change after my Sky was turned off, but still got the same Sky interface, which I always liked.  I can set reminders and everything works as before, just cannot access the few recordings I had left nor can I access the Sky channels, not surprising when I no longer have a subscription.  Surprisingly the Sky+app, they stopped supporting years ago still works so I can still use to set reminders, any previously set up recordings still on my box fail, again not surprising.

I expected to have to use my box to get FreeSat with a different interface so confused why I still have the Sky+ interface, is this usual?

I had an issue with the app after I gave my notice in that when I checked my MySky app it was showing a payment of £5 a month for the future months for Sky Go Extra, which I found strange as my final bill was paid in March. I rang them at the end of March and they said it was a glitch and it would sort itself out once my contract had actually finished, the person said he would keep an eye on it when he was next end and raise an issue if it was still there after 1 April.  After 1 April the future bill was still showing £5 for Sky Go Extra, when I checked on 4 April it was showing the bil paid and the payment was pending, payments usually taken on 7 April , so I quickly cancelled my DD to stop them taking the payment, thought this was easier than trying to get it back off them. The guy I spoke to said I could cancel the DD once my contract had officially ended.  Now the bill is showing as payment failed  and the balance of £5 will be carried to the next bill.  The future 3 bills at the moment are now showing zero instead of the £5 it showed before 1 April.  Has anyone else had this issue?  I don't really want to ring them again.

[GD1]

@akh48  The interface doesn't change simply because you don't subscribe to the pay channels, I'm not sure why you think it would?

There is just 1 interface for Sky+HD boxes regardlyof subscription.

[oj01]

@akh48 As @GD1 says, the Sky interface is perfectly normal.

However, I'm surprised that you can still set Reminders without a subscription. Does it let you Record from the channels you can still receive? (obviously it shouldn't) I'm just wondering if your account hasn't been fully cancelled properly.

As for the ongoing billing issue, I understand why your instinct was to cancel the DD, but unfortunately that's going to make it harder to resolve. With a payment now overdue (as far as the system is concerned) , Sky will soon stop talking to you. It would be easier to resolve if you restart the DD, allowing the payment to go out, then speak to them about getting it stopped properly and they will be able to refund the over payments through the DD.

[akh48]

I never realised the Sky interface stayed the same as saw people elsewhere moaning that they missed the interface so thought that would go and I would have to start using FreeSat, not realising I would still be able to use the sky interface, which I am used to.

No I cannot record and any previously recorded shows still in my planner just fail, but it is a helpful reminder to me of shows I don't want to miss on non-sky channels.  Also sometimes struggle to find channels on my tv, mainly the +1 ones, which came in helpful last night when I had missed a show but  if I try to view a sky only channel it tells me to upgrade to be able to watch so definitely not a sky customer any more.

To be honest not using my sky box much since I left, as I discovered after 3 1/2 years that I can actually record and pause/ff/rew on my Hisense tv, still learning the functions as I rarely used the tv and relied on my Sky box.  I bought a flash drive and am actively using these functions now and I only put my sky box if there are 2 shows I want to watch as I record one on my tv and watch the other through the box, but also sometimes streaming shows instead of watching on my box as trying to wean myself off it as its an old box.

Re the billing I was told when I rang to query that this was wrong and it would sort itself out, well it hasn't so far, but told I could cancel my DD once my subscription and ended so I did.  The money they say I owe is wrong as cannot get Sky Go without sky subscription so I do not owe them any money and for now just going to leave it and hopefully they will sort this out.