*** Sky TV Cancellation & Negotiation Thread ***

[RoboCod]

I am not sure Sky will actually do something about this, as you used your mobile phone, and you called the number yourself. A simple search on the website gives you 03 numbers which are free with any mobile phone provider out there.

Hint: Dialing 150 on your landline connects you to your provider's call center free of charge.

True, but in my opinion Sky should be clearer about the costs of the call, say at the start of the call "this number costs XXp per minute". I'm sure the sky advisor could also identify the number I'm calling, see I'm an existing customer and offer a call back?

Regardless, how a phone call costing that much can be justified is beyond me! It's extortionate.

EDIT: in fact, this was the number given to me by the sky chat assistant.

 

[superdumper]

True, but in my opinion Sk should be clearer about the costs of the call, say at the start of the call "this number costs XXp per minute". I'm sure the sky advisor could also identify the number I'm calling, see I'm an existing customer and offer a call back?

Regardless, how a phone call costing that much can be justified is beyond me! It's extortionate.

Can I ask where you found the number? Because if you found it on the website, it would most likely be a free 03 number. Even if you google 'sky number' an 03 number comes up.

If your mobile phone provider does not give you free calls to 03 numbers, then it is not Sky's fault, and they will not credit back whatever you were overcharged, mainly because they were not the ones charging you. Also, many 08 numbers can be found online and people call them thinking it's a Sky number, when in fact it is a shady company's number who then connect you to Sky, and they are the ones charging you.

As for the callback you mentioned, the advisor is there to take inbound calls, not offer outbound calls for each and every customer, after the initial contact has been successful. Unless you request a callback yourself, and for a very specific reason, they will not offer to call you back at the beginning of the call, because they are there to take calls, not make calls. In most cases they will see your original number and the number you actually called, but it is obviously not their job to know every Sky number by heart, nor to verify whether each and every number is Sky related or not. Moreover, due to transfers across different departments, sometimes they instead see the number of the department you were transferred from, not the number you actually called - sometimes even your own number is unavailable to them due to the transfer. So, in most cases, they do not know whether you are being charged or not, and most assume you are not, as 03 calls are included with every mobile phone or landline provider, as long as you are not on pay as you go.

You can definitely file a complaint, but if I were you, I would not expect much. It all depends on which number you called, where you found it, and most of all, who your mobile phone provider is and whether you actually have any free calls on your plan right now. If you don't have free calls, then it's a lost cause. If you do, and the number is included, then you may want to speak to your provider.

 

[MissChief]

Can I ask where you found the number? Because if you found it on the website, it would most likely be a free 03 number. Even if you google 'sky number' an 03 number comes up.

If your mobile phone provider does not give you free calls to 03 numbers, then it is not Sky's fault, and they will not credit back whatever you were overcharged, mainly because they were not the ones charging you. Also, many 08 numbers can be found online and people call them thinking it's a Sky number, when in fact it is a shady company's number who then connect you to Sky, and they are the ones charging you.

As for the callback you mentioned, the advisor is there to take inbound calls, not offer outbound calls for each and every customer, after the initial contact has been successful. Unless you request a callback yourself, and for a very specific reason, they will not offer to call you back at the beginning of the call, because they are there to take calls, not make calls. In most cases they will see your original number and the number you actually called, but it is obviously not their job to know every Sky number by heart, nor to verify whether each and every number is Sky related or not. Moreover, due to transfers across different departments, sometimes they instead see the number of the department you were transferred from, not the number you actually called - sometimes even your own number is unavailable to them due to the transfer. So, in most cases, they do not know whether you are being charged or not, and most assume you are not, as 03 calls are included with every mobile phone or landline provider, as long as you are not on pay as you go.

You can definitely file a complaint, but if I were you, I would not expect much. It all depends on which number you called, where you found it, and most of all, who your mobile phone provider is and whether you actually have any free calls on your plan right now. If you don't have free calls, then it's a lost cause. If you do, and the number is included, then you may want to speak to your provider.

What he said.

 

[Dav4]

How the hell do u successfully haggle with Sky for a decent discount? My parents have been with Sky for 15 years always paying full price and with the average yearly inflation they were paying over £100 for tv, phone and internet. In January I got them to ring and threaten to leave etc and after 2 calls and the staff “asking the manager for a special loyalty deal” they only got 25% off the tv package for 10 months which is crap. Now it’s ran out and they want something stupid like £105 per month so how do they get all these 40-60% off deals I hear about? Do they actually have to say “cancel everything”? And then during the 30 days notice ring back up for a bette offer? What if they cancel and then don’t get offered any deals?
****** me off how badly Sky treat loyal customers but will bend over backwards to offer deals to new customers or scumbags who don’t pay there bills

 

[RoboCod]

Can I ask where you found the number? Because if you found it on the website, it would most likely be a free 03 number. Even if you google 'sky number' an 03 number comes up.

If your mobile phone provider does not give you free calls to 03 numbers, then it is not Sky's fault, and they will not credit back whatever you were overcharged, mainly because they were not the ones charging you. Also, many 08 numbers can be found online and people call them thinking it's a Sky number, when in fact it is a shady company's number who then connect you to Sky, and they are the ones charging you.

As for the callback you mentioned, the advisor is there to take inbound calls, not offer outbound calls for each and every customer, after the initial contact has been successful. Unless you request a callback yourself, and for a very specific reason, they will not offer to call you back at the beginning of the call, because they are there to take calls, not make calls. In most cases they will see your original number and the number you actually called, but it is obviously not their job to know every Sky number by heart, nor to verify whether each and every number is Sky related or not. Moreover, due to transfers across different departments, sometimes they instead see the number of the department you were transferred from, not the number you actually called - sometimes even your own number is unavailable to them due to the transfer. So, in most cases, they do not know whether you are being charged or not, and most assume you are not, as 03 calls are included with every mobile phone or landline provider, as long as you are not on pay as you go.

You can definitely file a complaint, but if I were you, I would not expect much. It all depends on which number you called, where you found it, and most of all, who your mobile phone provider is and whether you actually have any free calls on your plan right now. If you don't have free calls, then it's a lost cause. If you do, and the number is included, then you may want to speak to your provider.

EDIT: in fact, this was the number given to me by the sky chat assistant.

On the point about sky advisors and calling back, well perhaps it's an area sky could look to improve its quality of CS isn't it. I'd rather them take time to do something proactive like that than feign interest in a BS discussion with me about what their favourite TV series is right now

Tell me, do you think a £35 bill for an hour call, most of which spent on hold, is justified?

 

[RoboCod]

How the hell do u successfully haggle with Sky for a decent discount? My parents have been with Sky for 15 years always paying full price and with the average yearly inflation they were paying over £100 for tv, phone and internet. In January I got them to ring and threaten to leave etc and after 2 calls and the staff “asking the manager for a special loyalty deal” they only got 25% off the tv package for 10 months which is crap. Now it’s ran out and they want something stupid like £105 per month so how do they get all these 40-60% off deals I hear about? Do they actually have to say “cancel everything”? And then during the 30 days notice ring back up for a bette offer? What if they cancel and then don’t get offered any deals?
****** me off how badly Sky treat loyal customers but will bend over backwards to offer deals to new customers or scumbags who don’t pay there bills

Offers can be had, but just ask the resident sky minions here and they will tell you, the best offers are for new customers and pretty much always are. Just jump to Virgin if you don't get what you want, they're practically the same. Then jump back when Virgin won't budge just the same.

 

[superdumper]

On the point about sky advisors and calling back, well perhaps it's an area sky could look to improve its quality of CS isn't it. I'd rather them take time to do something proactive like that than feign interest in a BS discussion with me about what their favourite TV series is right now

Tell me, do you think a £35 bill for an hour call, most of which spent on hold, is justified?

It's not my position to answer whether a £35 call charge is justified or not. If you were really quoted the number by someone on Sky chat, then you may have a case, so by all means, do file a complaint with Sky, provide them with all the information, and they will look into it for you. They have no issues with crediting back what they may have overcharged customers, as long as the customers provide the relevant information and are actually right.

As for the callbacks, again, advisors are there to take calls, not make outbound calls. Many customers who do not have the time to stay on the line if it's busy, can request a callback when they speak to a concierge agent, or they can also request it online. Depending on availability, they will often receive the call 60 seconds to 60 minutes later. But advisors will not proactively offer to call you back at the very beginning of the call, because outbound status is one of their key performance indicators, and offering outbound calls when you're at an inbound center is not something that works well in terms of productivity (or customer service for that matter, despite it sounding unintuitive to you at the moment).

I will say though that it's classy you just referred to some people in here as 'sky minions'.

 

[RoboCod]

It's not my position to answer whether a £35 call charge is justified or not.

I'll take that as a no.

I'm asking for your personal opinion, sad really you feel you can't provide that. What's your actual job? The fact you're unwilling to give an opinion, which may or may not be favourable of your overlords, backs the minion jab. You're quite keen to protect this huge company

 

[Freakitchen]

Surely the fact that Superdumper and MissChief both go out of their way to offer discount codes and money-saving advice to people they don't directly know implies that they aren't purely interested in Sky's bottom line?

 

[MissChief]

Surely the fact that Superdumper and MissChief both go out of their way to offer discount codes and money-saving advice to people they don't directly know implies that they aren't purely interested in Sky's bottom line?

I am Misschief and I approve of this post.

If I know a customer is calling on a PAYG phone I will always ask if they want a call back, especially if they have a faulty land line. If they don't have a land line that's their personal choice so I rarely offer a call back but I'm in tech. We do get measured on outbound propensity and time spent both in and out on calls.

 

[RoboCod]

If I know a customer is calling on a PAYG phone I will always ask if they want a call back, especially if they have a faulty land line. If they don't have a land line that's their personal choice so I rarely offer a call back but I'm in tech. We do get measured on outbound propensity and time spent both in and out on calls.

So contrary to superdump, some of you guys are proactive on the call back matter.

 

[RoboCod]

Surely the fact that Superdumper and MissChief both go out of their way to offer discount codes and money-saving advice to people they don't directly know implies that they aren't purely interested in Sky's bottom line?

Maybe their referrals earn them commission?

 

[MissChief]

So contrary to superdump, some of you guys are proactive on the call back matter.

Yes, but as I said, I work in tech. If the customer calls with no dial tone on their landline I will ask what number they called and if it's a contract or PAYG phone. If it's contract and an 03 number it should be included. If it's PAYG or its their broadband that's down and they have no phone often I won't offer.

Other departments usually won't as they'e oprimarily inbound. Some departments will actively frown upon outbound calls.

 

[superdumper]

I'll take that as a no.

I'm asking for your personal opinion, sad really you feel you can't provide that. What's your actual job? The fact you're unwilling to give an opinion, which may or may not be favourable of your overlords, backs the minion jab. You're quite keen to protect this huge company

I've only tried to honestly explain how things work for most departments, and what options you have. It's sad you felt the need to lash out twice at someone who tried to help you, instead of considering their advice and knowledge on the matter, to plan your next move. I understand times are tough though, so no hard feelings.

As I mentioned in a previous post, if you are certain you are in the right and the charges are unjust, make sure to provide Sky with as much detail as possible when raising your complaint, and they will address it.

On a personal note, since you also asked for my personal opinion and you were disappointed I did not voice it, I would suggest being a little more careful with the numbers you're calling, and investing in a call package with your mobile phone provider, for the next time you decide to call a company in order to ask for a discount.

Cheers

 

[pepp77]

Wonder if anyone can clear this up for me. I have received an email from sky for multiroom for half price for 6 months. I thought great lets take that, but then noticed one of the questions

What happens if I have existing offers on my account?"
Taking this offer will replace any existing Sky TV pack offers on your account (covers Sky Movies, Sky Sports or any of the TV bundles).

So does this mean I would lose my half price BoxSets and Sports if I take this?

 

[superdumper]

The new Multiscreen offer should not affect any other offers you have, unless you already have a Multiscreen offer. You can only have one offer per product, so if you don’t have a Multiscreen offer, the new offer should be applied without an issue and existing offers for other products will not drop off.

If you are unsure give them a call to confirm and they will add it on for you.

 

[kieves1]

Well I have had 3 60% offers through the post in the last 2 weeks now. Not doing anything until my Ombudsman case is resolved with them .

Still have no line or internet and looks like the 5th October it will be connected
Honestly I'm lost since sky screwed up and cancelled my services by mistake and the fact it will have taken over a month to even get a line connected after Sky messed my account up is a joke.

Honestly it's horrible using 4g for everything lol

Well the Ombudsman ruled in my favour and made sky pay £126 and send me an apology .
They appealed against the result but the Ombudsman ruled in my favour
Funnily enough I haven't had any comeback to me offers or emails since lol.

Just spoke to my parents and they are paying over £100 for the full sky and multi room and HD and have never had a deal so I'm going to speak to an advisor tomorrow to get there's sorted .
They didn't know they could get deals bless them don't want to see Sky ripping them off.
What sort of deals are people getting offered ?
They will have been with Sky 20+ years now.

 

[xs2man]

Deals just now don't seem very good. Around 30% is all I've been offered. My services are stopping today. There was a 50% link a couple of man-sized pages back, but unsure if it'll work with Sky Q.

 

[j_walsh]

60 % just about to end, 40 % offered only on the core tv package no multi screen discount or HD.

 

[xs2man]

Yep. They have been pretty poor this year. Most I got offered was 40% too. So I just let it go. Have actually just sent back the Sky Q equipment today.