Rip Off Sky

[Furrypaws1]

Hi

 

I really need help with the typical "dont give a sh(t you have subscribed now" attitude from Sky.

We have been with Sky for years and years, just subscribing to TV. We have never been able to afford broadband or a laptop until recently when my dad bought us a reconditioned laptop and I was made redundant so had some spare money to subscribe for internet which is now vital for job search.

I initially got a rather confusing verbal breakdown of how much the phone, internet and line rental plus the Sky+ box would cost. But as I had seen it so many times on the TV I was imagining around £35. They then tried to charge me over £100 for the Sky+ box when they orig asked for just £30. Which I thankfully got down to orig price.

 

The crux of the matter is that not once did i get a breakdown of costs and how much my approx monthly bill would be for the entire package. I did also ask for breakdown in costs to be sent to me. When I got my first bill through it was £80, yes £80. Needless to say if they had told me this in the beginning there is NO WAY I would have subscribed. When I complained they gleefully, after checking my records, advised I was tied in for a year, therefore bugger off in other words. The package varies between £70 and £85 depending on whether we order box office, which needless to say we DONT now!

I have reiterated I cannot afford this several times in phonecalls to no avail. I know that the super wonderful package they often adverise on TV is new customers only, but HOW can they justify the huge contrast bewteen new and old customers and pricing??

 

We are now really struggling as I have not yet found work and have been out of work since redundancy in the summer. What can I do about rip off SKY, please help (sorry for rambling)

[Acropolis]

That does seem a little on the high side, but I have to ask one question, why did you sign up and agree to something, when you didnt know how much it was gonig to be each month?

 

If you asked and they didnt tell, then why didnt you say "no", and refuse to agree to anything until they had told you how much it was going to be?

[Furrypaws1]

I dont see the point of asking why now, its done,I am here for advice not for a low down on my lack of detail taking at the time.

 

The fact is never did I think there would be such a huge discrepancy between what is advertised and what I am paying as an existing customer. Sky were also very careful not to mention what my package would be in total, and only kept the info to the "add ons" ie phone and internet. I thought at the time the prices they were quoting me would be all in.

 

Can anyone give me some advice as to whether I can lower this bill? Approx £70 per month for this package is too much in anyones book.

[Suzukihaggis]

Can you advise what viewing package you have subscribed to? Is it the full package? 6 mixes and full sports and full movies, do you also subscribe to ESPN? When you say Sky+, is this Sky+ or Sky+ HD? Do you only have a single box or do you have a multiroom contract?Also what telephone package and broadband package are you tied into? I take it that you know you can view your bill via the interactive button on your Sky remote? The bill should be broken down into the various parts of your total Sky package as well as stating the costs for each part.

[andydd]

Sky will no doubt say that you entered into a contract (verbally) and that you are stuck with it for 12 months, you could question them and say that you didnt agree to the package you are now paying for, they may or may not have a recording of you agreeing to the package, if you wernt really sure of the cost you should of asked for it to be explained or better still for it to be put in writing.

 

Andy

[Furrypaws1]

Can you advise what viewing package you have subscribed to? Is it the full package? 6 mixes and full sports and full movies, do you also subscribe to ESPN? When you say Sky+, is this Sky+ or Sky+ HD? Do you only have a single box or do you have a multiroom contract?Also what telephone package and broadband package are you tied into? I take it that you know you can view your bill via the interactive button on your Sky remote? The bill should be broken down into the various parts of your total Sky package as well as stating the costs for each part.

 

We have basic package Sky viewing, no movies, no sports, no ESPN. Just Sky+ not Sky+HD, we have multiroom (two boxes) but only the one in the living room is Sky+ We are on the "middle" package for broadband as basic would not be enough for my daily job search. We are the same for the telephone package, the "middle" one.

 

Thank you SuzukiHaggis

[Suzukihaggis]

Hi Furrypaws1,

Sky TV 'basic' packages range from £18 - £23 (one mix up to 6 mix), multiroom is a 'discounted' price of £10 per additional box, unless you have gone in to violation of the 'discount' contract, whereas you you will end up paying full price subscription for all boxes (£18 - £23 per box), make sure that all boxes are hooked up to a working telephone line at all times and that you don't switch them off at the mains overnight as that's usually when the do 'callbacks', which is what keeps them at the discounted price.

Telephone, are you paying the line rental to Sky as well? If so that's £11 per month, Sky Talk Freetime , I think it's called that?!? Should be free and the Broadband package 'Everyday' should also be about £5 per month.

So based on the above, I'd say that your normal monthly bill should be around about £44 - £48. As you pay a month in advance with Sky (and most other companies too), your first bill would have been your old bill + the difference between old and new package plus the cost of the new package from the upgrade date until your next billing date, you also get charged for paper billing too.

I'm pretty sure that the above is correct as I had to ask for a breakdown of my newest bill after I upgraded to ESPN, only meant to be £9 a month, but initally cost me almost £15 for my first month and that's how they explained it to me.

Have you registered on Sky.com, as you can see you bill and package details on their web site.

Hope this helps!

[IdaInFife]

there is no difference in package price for new and exisitng customers, it's exactly the same price.

 

As suz says can you check online and confirm what packages you are on