Sky again.

rameire

just got the sky mag rag.
on the back of the address sheet,
it kindly informs me that prices are increasing in september.
it also states "earlier this year, we reduced our prices following the government,s VAT vut.
as the government has announced it will increase vat back to the p[revious rate of 17.5% from the 1st of january 2010, your monthly sub for sky tv, hd pack, multiroom and any stand-alone premium channesl as applicable, will increase to (blah) from this date onwards.

im sorry but i live in ireland, thus i pay irish taxes and rates.
i never saw the prices come down and i sure hope they do not put them up.
we may be in the british isles, but were not under uk tak control.

Pablod

Same here, just got the mag with the letter folded up in the back so you won't notice it.
Not just one but two price increases within the next 6-7 months.
what a joke!!!:mad:

I'd like to tell them to keep the crappy magazine and save the money in-place of putting the prices up!!
Another thing, they may aswell call the 'Sky Sports Mag' = 'Sky Sports British Magazine'
because the stupid thing is covered back to front on the ASHES!!!!
Honestly now ...:pac:

brettmirl

My letter showed a decrease, albeit €1.24, but then an increase of €1 once the UK VAT Rate increases again.

Wertz

Same. Got mine this morning...I don't even want this waste of paper, it just arrives; I usually bin it, but that's besides the point.

It seems that this cover letter has been done up for the UK market and they've just substituted € totals for £stg VAT and all....I can't remember the last time VAT was 17.5% in this country (let alone 15%) and tbh if it was being pushed to 17.5% I'd be dancing in the street, because it'd mean my sky bill (and everything else) would be falling in value by 4% (would sky be as quick to inform us of this price drop?).

I'm outside of contract and am getting on to Sky post haste about why Irish subscriptions are rising in line with UK VAT artes...as an aside I'd also like to know why in these times of deflation and supposed falling prices, the regular sub is also to increase by over 4.3%.
Neither of these small rises will break the bank...i's the principle of it, especially the UK VAT one.

I'd urge any other sky customers here who feel similarly agrieved to write a letter to Sky CS (I don't feel calling or eMailing is going to help). IIRC they tried changing some T&Cs for their Irish customers about certain data protection practices on the same leaflet ealry in 2008 and public outcry got that rolled back...time to do the same here.
If it's not forthcoming I'll just mail them back the viewing card and get a freesat box...


[edit] Here's where I run into a small problem....the lack of a physical address for Sky Ireland...all I hvae is their Uk address for subscription services, which I get the feeling if I right to that, my letter will be bounced back or ignored. Anyone got an Irish address for Sky?

harsea8

Got this letter this morning as well. I had to phone sky about something else today and my wife was egging me on to have a go at some woman about why we should pay more cos UK VAT is going up when we live in ireland. However, I remembered (just in time) that our subscription costs did go down earlier this year (didn't receive a formal letter about it, but the DD amount was €1-2 less than previous months), so it's kind of fair that they go up when UK VAT goes up again. Lets face it, if sky prices had followed the Irish VAT changes they would have gone up last Oct and would still be up!

hellboy99

Wertz wrote: »

I'd urge any other sky customers here who feel similarly agrieved to write a letter to Sky CS (I don't feel calling or eMailing is going to help).

I got onto them before about not adjusting prices with regards to exchange rates, they said they don't do it as it would mean them adjusting prices a few times a year .

Wertz

In fairness hellboy whilst measly exchange rates (extra channels £1 [€2] :rolleyes: ) piss me off, I can kind of see their point on not wanting to have to adjust everyone's subscription every time sterling swings...let's face it everyone else is at it too.
The VAT thing pisses me off becuase it's sheer laziness on their behalf and they'll most likely get away with it and make money off it if it goes unchallenged.

As for them not passing on teh .5% Irish VAT hike, that's a separate issue...this is them passing on a 2.5% hike that they don't pay on to the Irish revenue for any of their RoI customers.
BTW as for your sub falling in price harese8, you sure you weren't looking at the shorter months? Sky's sub falls in months with 28 or 30 days, that can be enough to make a difference of nearly a euro (or more depending on your package)...

tweety76

Got the mag yesterday and didn't even notice the letter! Must fish it out of the recycle bin now this evening.

On a seperate note I rang 2 weeks ago to cancel the sports package and the retention dept gave me 50% off for 6 months.

harsea8

Wertz wrote: »

As for them not passing on teh .5% Irish VAT hike, that's a separate issue...this is them passing on a 2.5% hike that they don't pay on to the Irish revenue for any of their RoI customers.
BTW as for your sub falling in price harese8, you sure you weren't looking at the shorter months? Sky's sub falls in months with 28 or 30 days, that can be enough to make a difference of nearly a euro (or more depending on your package)...

Well the UK VAT rate changed from 17.5% to 15% on 1st Dec 2008. My SKY payments come out by DD on 3rd of month and basically have followed this pattern since Oct last year:

Oct €88
Nov €88
Dec €88
Jan €86.50
Feb €84.86
Mar €86.50
Apr €86.50
May €86.50
Jun €86.50

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot a "beefs" with SKY over the way they do business, but from the look of things, they did reduce my payments this year, presumably due to the reduction in UK VAT.

Wertz

Okay fair enough. I must look back at my own direct debits and see if they did...
The fact remains however that Sky are doing business (and lots of it) in this country, but appear to be paying UK VAT rates, so I can only assume that none of the VAT paid by Irish customers goes to our own revenue collectors...that as far as I am aware is illegal. Even non-Irish web retailers with a substantial presence here have to pay VAT at the local rate, and forward the money to the revenue.

GerardKeating

rameire wrote: »

im sorry but i live in ireland, thus i pay irish taxes and rates. i never saw the prices come down and i sure hope they do not put them up. we may be in the british isles, but were not under uk tak control.

Sky are in the UK and charge UK VAT to all customers.

Wertz

GerardKeating wrote: »

Sky are in the UK and charge UK VAT to all customers.

But they have a sizable presence here in Ireland and AFAIK are obliged to charge VAT at the local rate and to pass that VAT on to the irish revenue, no?

MBSnr

The UK VAT was reduced Dec 2008 and the Irish Sky prices were reduced accordingly. UK VAT is going up Jan 2010 so the price is going up from Jan. As a separate thing from Sept Sky are also increasing their sub prices.

According to this article from 2006 this is the reason we pay UK VAT and not Irish VAT. Although we do pay a higher Euro price per package/HD mix etc due to Skys euro/sterling markup.

Quote from article
According to Bushell, the company will spend "several millions more" this year expanding its presence here and increasing its investment in media and marketing. However, specific figures are not forthcoming. BSkyB's subsidiary Sky Ireland does not have an Irish-registered subsidiary which would mean obligations to file accounts at the Companies Office.

Nor is the company fully regulated in the Irish market. For example, because its signal is beamed into the Republic and not originated here, it does not pay the standard 21pc VAT rate - instead, it pays VAT at the 17.5pc British level, while Irish subscribers generate tax for the British exchequer.

BSkyB has resisted regulation in Ireland through the Television Without Frontiers directive which allows for that because it is based in Britain.

And there are no plans for this to change in the future, according to Bushell. "There is a slight misunderstanding about our regulation in the Irish market. "We are subject to Competition Law and also consumer protection legislation," she said.

She argues that if the Government was concerned with the regulation of Sky Ireland, it could have included provisions for this in the Telecommunications Miscellaneous Bill 2006.

Pablod

You see there's the word of the Hour (or word of the day for that matter) "Sky Ireland"
Also quoted from Article

Delia Bushell was appointed managing director of Sky Ireland

Correct me if i'm wrong :pac:
Fair enough they belong to the BskyB group in the UK, but
they are set up and trading in Ireland as "Sky Ireland" in turn should abide to Irish Vat Laws

MBSnr

Pablod wrote: »

You see there's the word of the Hour (or word of the day for that matter) "Sky Ireland"
Also quoted from Article

Correct me if i'm wrong :pac:
Fair enough they belong to the BskyB group in the UK, but
they are set up and trading in Ireland as "Sky Ireland" in turn should abide to Irish Vat Laws

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending that they shouldn't be correctly registered and pay Irish VAT to help out poor old Brian, but lets face it any Sky customer would be worst off paying 21.5% instead of 15% (or 17.5% as it will be again). I can't see Sky imposing Irish VAT on it's Irish customers then adjusting the Euro/Sterling rate to a more realistic value! So we'd just pay more for the same service! The amount of VAT the Gov would collect is hardly going to help dig them out of the deep hole they put this countries finances in... They'd probably lose it down the back of the sofa anyhow and we'll see no direct result of this VAT payment.

So paying UK VAT means that my Sky bill is lower. I really don't see the need to change it to 21.5%?

Mollywolly

tweety76 wrote: »

On a seperate note I rang 2 weeks ago to cancel the sports package and the retention dept gave me 50% off for 6 months.

Slightly off topic but be very careful with Sky and their special offers. OH and I are currently in dispute with Sky because a few weeks back we had to ring their technical dept and the girl we spoke to told us that they were doing sky movies 2 for free until the end of June and could cancel if we didn't want to carry on with them in July. We took up the offer but a few days later we got an invoice for the two weeks of June plus the July subscription. When we tried to cancel, they claimed that there was no offer on - so, we just made it up did we?

Currently waiting for their customer service people to sort it out but to be honest their attitude was shocking. If it wasn't for the fact that their service is best for us because we're out in the country, we'd be cancelling for sure.

Wertz

Thanks for clearing that up MBSnr, before I went off half-cocked.

I still have to wonder about their 4.3% rise in subs at a time when both the UK and Irish economies are in a deflationary state though...

amacachi

Wertz wrote: »

Thanks for clearing that up MBSnr, before I went off half-cocked.

I still have to wonder about their 4.3% rise in subs at a time when both the UK and Irish economies are in a deflationary state though...

I thought that other than mortgage repayments there was still inflation? Though I'm very much open to correction on that.

Wertz

Maybe I'm just listening to too much RTÉ news...you may well be right. I was of the notion that the CPI was showing falling prices on a lot more than just mortgage interest rates.

ejmaztec

I think that any business shoving its prices up in the dare I say it, "current economic crisis", is really taking the piss. The thing is with Sky is that they've turned "taking the piss" into an art-form.

rameire

so Sky at it again.

this september the prices are to rise.

Not only that.

due to the VAT rise in the Uk due in january 2011
the prices will rise again..

Trampas

rameire wrote: »

so Sky at it again.

this september the prices are to rise.

Not only that.

due to the VAT rise in the Uk due in january 2011
the prices will rise again..

but they will offer you 3d tv and more channels in HD and more soccer games :rolleyes:

the groutch

if they stopped sending me junk mail (with my specific address on it) trying to get me to subscribe (I'm already a customer ffs), maybe they wouldnt need to increase prices