misold sky subcription over the phone help.

[COG]

i was sold a sky package with the hd + movies i was told over the phone that i had to take out at leats one of the iether the hd or the movies package for 12 months to receive the free + box . but the women said you get two months free hd package with this anyway and in february you can iether keep it or ring to cancel if you dont want to get billed for it . so i siad o.k seeing as its free. so i rang to cancle only to find out that im supposed to be contracted for 12 months for both movies and hd which adds over 20 quid to my bill a month . now where do i stnad with this ive alreday spoke toi someone who has confirmed that the sales person i spoke to has given me the wrong info on the package but that was the person who i gave my oral agreement with . so is this binding or what

[MrShed]

Absolutely its binding.

 

Write to them and simply state that as per the terms and conditions agreed in the contract, you are cancelling the HD and Sky Movies option with no further charge.

 

IF they refuse, advise them to prove that you signed up for these options for 12 months.

[COG]

so the agreement over the phone is binding and if they dont agree to that then youre saying how can they prove that i sighned upto anything alse

[MrShed]

Exactly right.

 

The telephone conversation established the terms of the contract.

 

IF you were not told that these additions were for 12 months, then they are unenforceable.

 

The only exception would be if you were subsequently sent a paper copy to sign and return - did this occur?

[COG]

they said they sent documents of the agreement which because of the snow and postal delays didnt arrive until nearly two weeks after the agreement over the phone . so had i read all of it and understood the cockup it still would have been too late to cancel with the cooling off period. but no there were no documents to sighn and i certainly didnt sighn any agreement

[MrShed]

OK.

 

In that case, follow the steps I mentioned above regarding getting them to prove the terms of their contract.

[buzby]

I still don't understand. Your complaint appears to be you were bound by a 12 month contract...? Yes?

 

ALL contracts have a minimum period (Sky's being 12 months) and from what you say, it was the HD CONTENT option that was being given free for two months - NOT that this was the service period. (Many firms offer sweetner deals of X months unbilled, but the quid pro quo is the lock in for the remainder of the minimum.

[MrShed]

Buzby - the OP is saying that they took out the HD package but were told it could be cancelled 2 months in.

 

It was never gratis.

[buzby]

Read it again, carefully.

 

One of the 'free' packages can be cancelled after two moths. The rest carries on for the full term of 12 months. It helps to query what is ACTUALLY 'free'.

[MrShed]

My apologies I can see that.

 

However, what is usually the case is totally irrelevant - what matters is what the OP was told. If they were told they can cancel - they can cancel, simple as that.

[buzby]

Absolutely. But in the excitement of being told something, do you not (occasionally) pict up the wrong inference - or at worst, get the complete wrong end of the stick? I know I do!

 

I've seen this when someone is being sold a mobile - all they see is a vision of loveliness and want to get the nasty paperwork out the road, and will often gloss/mishear/misunderstand what is being said. The seller isn't at fault here - it is the consumer. Now, back to the case at hand.

 

Sky have NEVER provided a contract with a term of under 12 months (well, they did back in 1992 in the analogue days when the customer paid for the kit in full, but we can ignore this). The spoken word can be pretty ambiguous - and seeing the OP's precis of the conversation I recalled almost hearing the same spiel from a Sky marketing desk in a shopping mall - you are offered the service 'teaser' of a few months 'for free'. However, this isn't the real thing that is being sold.

 

You are being flogged a commitment to the basic service with free installation. It is the add-on, that is being dangled, and if you don't like this after the free period expires, you can cancel. That's true - you can cancel the bolt on, but the basic service and commitment has locked you in for 12 months regardless. It's there in the small print - along with all the other requirements of having to have the Sky box permanently plugged in to a working telephone socket, and the rest.

 

It's like smoke and mirror tricks, your attention is being diverted to something that is inconsequential, while the thing that will do the most damage to your finances lurks like the iceberg that it is, 90% hidden from view under the surface.

 

They didn't mislead (well not usually) they just explain the highlights. YOU are expected to read the welcome pack and the 2000 word T&C's in grey ink to note all the 'gotchas'.

 

But most people don't. And this is perhaps the biggest problem, there is no 'free lunch', the carrot that is dangling also has a stick, that you'll not see until you try to cancel before month 12.

[MrShed]

Sky have NEVER provided a contract with a term of under 12 months (well, they did back in 1992 in the analogue days when the customer paid for the kit in full, but we can ignore this). The spoken word can be pretty ambiguous - and seeing the OP's precis of the conversation I recalled almost hearing the same spiel from a Sky marketing desk in a shopping mall - you are offered the service 'teaser' of a few months 'for free'. However, this isn't the real thing that is being sold.

 

You are being flogged a commitment to the basic service with free installation. It is the add-on, that is being dangled, and if you don't like this after the free period expires, you can cancel. That's true - you can cancel the bolt on, but the basic service and commitment has locked you in for 12 months regardless. It's there in the small print - along with all the other requirements of having to have the Sky box permanently plugged in to a working telephone socket, and the rest.

 

Buzby again I think you may have misread - the OP is only trying to cancel the bolt ons?

[buzby]

He got the reciever FoC with (a) Movies Subscription (b) HD Bold on. As I read it he's tried to cancel the lot. (B) can be cancelled as a bolt on, but as movies is provided with the basic service package it has a 12 month minimum term.

 

It is the HD than can be cancelled (and was 'free' for two months). But he wants (AIUI) to cancel Movies too, which cannot be done until month 13. Perhaps he'll enlighten us?

[COG]

no im just trying to cancel the hd not the movies i understood that one of the packages had to be kept for 12 months to recieve the free plus box which is all i wanted in the first place and seeing as exsisting loyal customers dont get free boxes i thought this offer wasnt bad . she told me that i had a choice whether to take the hd package or not from the start i only said yes to it because there were giving me two months free at which point i could cancel after the two month peroid . obviously i know now she must have got her wires crossed but it still isnt the deal i verbaly sighned up for

[IdaInFife]

the offer to receive the free box was you must subscribe to hd for 12 months but you can change your package..i.e take off ther movies after 30 days

 

you said you did not get the paperwork til 2 weeks after install - you have 30 days cooling off period with HD so you could have cancelled it if you wished.

[COG]

yes i understand what the deal was meant to be now but what i agreed over the phone was an option to cancel the hd pack after the two free months as long as i kept the movies for 12 months . because the phone call is basically the only binding contract ive told them to listen to the recording and then let me know where i stand. they are looking into it now and mulling over the phone call

[buzby]

This is assuming that the voice recording exists. Incidentally, the verbal conversation you had wasn't a 'contract' in the sense you mean. It was simply a sales exhortation, and the contract will have been supplied to you in writing - probably with your Viewing Card. So, don't let that confuse the issue.

[COG]

but ive never sighed anything in writing to sky nothing at all so the verbal contract must stand i know verbal contracts over the phone can be enforced now as a legal contract because of the way the world operates now nothing is done on paper anymore .

[buzby]

Signed anything? What's that got to do with anything? For the last 10-15 years or so, contracts are fully enforceable without a signature. How do you think firms get away with Direct Debits without heven a sniff of a signature? So take your original idea of verbal contracts and move it a stage further. No signature, no vebals, just you paying. That's the contract of choice for most outfits, and is perfectly legal and enforceable for service contracts of this nature (more's the pity, IMO but that's another issue).

 

In 2010, all that is required to show you willinly entered into this Service Agreement is your voluntary supply of your bank details to allow Sky to take the money. If thewy've been able to debit your account, the contract is confirmed, but not if they haven't.

[COG]

to update this there is a telephone recording as they are bound to record all calls now incase of such a situation . they are looking into the call now and will be back to me when they have come to a conclusion about what was said . they do agree though that if i was sold the package with misinformation then i do have rights .

[COG]

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