Sky Plus withdrawal of service by stealth / inaction

[Magpie190]

As most people are aware, Sky want to withdraw the Sky Plus service, but have not officially done so, presumably as a percentrage of subscribers will refuse to upgrade to Sky Q/Stream. I am a VIP and Accesibility customer as a result of my autistic son, who his embededed to Sky Plus. 2 months ago, our multi screen sky plus viewing cards 'unpaired' from their boxes and we were unable to view the premium channels and sky store as a result. Sky effectively refused to help and fell back on their legacy services 'line'. I cancelled Sky Plus as they made it unusable. I've been looking through the various T&Cs both from a product and accesibility perspective and the latter mentions that those customers are entitled to a 'priority' repair. Just wondering if there are any individuals with similar circumstances? I've raised a complaint and are trying to get in touch with the Sky CEO and accesibility director. Thanks.    

[TimmyBGood]

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@Magpie190 wrote:

I've been looking through the various T&Cs both from a product and accesibility perspective and the latter mentions that those customers are entitled to a 'priority' repair. 

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Could you indicate where you believe that wording is located?  

The only reference I can find is

"A priority fault repair service (for landline and broadband, but not mobile) for any registered accessibility customers who have a genuine need for an urgent repair."

which corresponds to the Ofcom conditions for communication providers, not subscription television services that (irrespective of personal circumstances) aren't considered to be 'essential' under UK regulations.

https://www.sky.com/help/accessibility-information/ 

It's perhaps also worth noting that as there are no repairs for Sky+ HD at all, 'priority' wouldn't apply anyway.

[Mark39]

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@Magpie190 wrote:

2 months ago, our multi screen sky plus viewing cards 'unpaired' from their boxes and we were unable to view the premium channels and sky store as a result. Sky effectively refused to help and fell back on their legacy services 'line'. 

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@Magpie190 what do you mean by 'effectively refused to help'?

We've seen a number of posts where Cards have become unpaired and have routinely advised customers to contact Sky to re-pair them. To my knowledge Sky have been happy to do so (except in the case of replacement boxes - Sky won't pair a Card to a replacement box). You may, perhaps, have encountered an uneducated adviser.

Unfortunately now that you've cancelled, there's no way back to re-subscribing to Sky+ so far as I'm aware. I suspect advisers simply don't have the option on their computer screens.

[SKY1992bf]

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@Mark39 wrote:

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@Magpie190 wrote:

2 months ago, our multi screen sky plus viewing cards 'unpaired' from their boxes and we were unable to view the premium channels and sky store as a result. Sky effectively refused to help and fell back on their legacy services 'line'. 

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@Magpie190 what do you mean by 'effectively refused to help'?

We've seen a number of posts where Cards have become unpaired and have routinely advised customers to contact Sky to re-pair them. To my knowledge Sky have been happy to do so (except in the case of replacement boxes - Sky won't pair a Card to a replacement box). You may, perhaps, have encountered an uneducated adviser.

Unfortunately now that you've cancelled, there's no way back to re-subscribing to Sky+ so far as I'm aware. I suspect advisers simply don't have the option on their computer screens.

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@Magpie190  I concur unfortunately there is no way back from a complete cancellation 

[Magpie190]

Accessibility

It's important to us that everyone gets the best possible customer service and can enjoy our products irrespective of ability, disability or impairment. Here’s what we can offer to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy the best of Sky Business.

We provide specific services to our customers with accessibility needs, such as:

• Electronic, large print or braille bills for our visually impaired customers.
• Free directory information and directory enquiry facilities.
• Access to a relay service if you need to make or take calls in text format.
• Access to emergency services, operator assistance and a directory enquiries service using short code numbers.
• A priority fault repair service for registered accessibility customers, who have a genuine need for an urgent repair.

[Mark39]

@Magpie190 where is this from? 

[GD1]

@Magpie190  Your referring to Sky Business, where you've posted is Sky Domestic customers.

[oj01]

@Magpie190 If all that happened was your card became unpaired you didn't need a repair, you just needed it re-pairing. Unfortunately, it sounds like you got an agent who didn't realise that. As stated by others, now that you've cancelled it would be extremely unlikely that you will get Sky+HD reactivated. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Magpie190 wrote:

Here’s what we can offer to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy the best of Sky Business.

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'Sky Business' is the branch of the company which provides business broadband services, plus hospitality television to hotels, pubs and clubs.

I'd also suggest that the text is a copy/paste from the version I noted above as being specific to broadband & landline : the three bullet points before the one you believe to be relevant to your personal circumstances are very obviously related  to communication (telephone ) services.

Subscription television is not designated as an 'essential' service by government and so is more lightly regulated by Ofcom: there's no concept of 'urgent' or 'priority' involved in the support of television viewing.