Small Claims Court or?

bog master

Hi All

Looking for advice on how best to pursue this. I have an issue with a satellite
television provider. I rang up to cancel and they have continued to take payments on a credit card over a long period of time.

Is Small Claims the best way to proceed?


Thanks

B-D-P--

Did you contact since?
Get on to them and say I cancelled on this date, you have since toke X amount from my account, I would appreciate you giving me my money back.
~

Mary63

Can you get a charge back on your credit card.

Do you have written proof that you requested the service be cancelled.

uck51js9zml2yt

Call the provider and file an official complaint. Get the reference number and advise them you are contacting comreg. You can file a complaint on the comreg site.
Had an 11 month overcharge from Eir. When I finally filed a complaint, after 11 months of promises, I got it sorted and refunded in 2 days. Took comreg over a week to reply to me.

bog master

Its a bit complicated. The account was being paid by my son via credit card.
I moved house, rang and cancelled. With their overly aggressive tactics, I believed the account was suspended for 3 months and would cancel unless I re-instated it.

I neglected to advise my son, he assumed I had it transferred to my new house.

I rang them recently when son asked me did I still have Sky. Am awaiting his statements, they are saying I never cancelled.

uck51js9zml2yt

You can request a review of the recorded call.

bog master

Frank Stale Gumdrop wrote: »

Call the provider and file an official complaint. Get the reference number and advise them you are contacting comreg. You can file a complaint on the comreg site.
Had an 11 month overcharge from Eir. When I finally filed a complaint, after 11 months of promises, I got it sorted and refunded in 2 days. Took comreg over a week to reply to me.

Do you feel ComReg is the way to go rather than Small Claims Court?

bog master

Frank Stale Gumdrop wrote: »

You can request a review of the recorded call.

Just contact them or how do I go about it?

njs030

Why did you think they would suspend your account for 3 months and then cancel? Sky's terms of service are 30 days notice of cancellation- I've never heard of them offering to suspend and then cancel, how did that happen?
Call them and ask for a transcript of your call that day.

dudara

bog master wrote: »

I moved house, rang and cancelled.

Were you still in contract when you cancelled? If you were, then you are obliged to pay to the end of the contract.

Did they acknowledge the cancellation in anyway, and did you give formal notice of cancellation in writing?

Also, who's name is on the account? You or your son's?

bog master

dudara wrote: »

Were you still in contract when you cancelled? If you were, then you are obliged to pay to the end of the contract.

Did they acknowledge the cancellation in anyway, and did you give formal notice of cancellation in writing?

Also, who's name is on the account? You or your son's?

I was out of contract. My name on the account and my son was paying for it via Credit Card as a gift to me. No notice in writing, but had cancelled Sky before and never received anything in writing.

bog master

notjustsweet wrote: »

Why did you think they would suspend your account for 3 months and then cancel? Sky's terms of service are 30 days notice of cancellation- I've never heard of them offering to suspend and then cancel, how did that happen?
Call them and ask for a transcript of your call that day.

At the time I was in a bad state of mind, evicted from the house due to sale going ahead and was in a friends BnB for several months. Their customer reps are desperate to keep you, and as I recall, it was to be suspended so I could change my mind if I wanted to. I asked if they are able to determine if a particular box is receiving a signal, they claim they cannot tell if you are receiving Sky.

my3cents

bog master wrote: »

Do you feel ComReg is the way to go rather than Small Claims Court?

Comreg is just part of the process. Skyes complaints procedure is flaky and designed to allow as much as possible to fall between the gaps. Once you involve Comreg Skye can't loose your complaint, forget about or say it never happened.

Comreg probably won't get you a resolution but when you get to the SCC the judge will be able to see that you have made every effort to sort the issue out before resorting to the SCC.

bog master

my3cents wrote: »

Comreg is just part of the process. Skyes complaints procedure is flaky and designed to allow as much as possible to fall between the gaps. Once you involve Comreg Skye can't loose your complaint, forget about or say it never happened.

Comreg probably won't get you a resolution but when you get to the SCC the judge will be able to see that you have made every effort to sort the issue out before resorting to the SCC.

So you reccomend Com Reg first and then SCC?

And by the way, a big Thanks to all those posting and helping me!!!!!

my3cents

bog master wrote: »

So you reccomend Com Reg first and then SCC?

And by the way, a big Thanks to all those posting and helping me!!!!!

Always!

But remember Comreg can only check that Sky have followed their own (Skys) T&C's its often down to he said she said so you really need as much proof as possible. The fact the service was suspended is a good thing because it should show a break in the payments taken. If you want to get clever you can check to see if suspending the service is in the T&C's if not then suspending the service looks the same as cancelling it. I'd also be looking for proof from Skye that the service was suspended. Once you are dealing with comreg you can put those sort of questions through them.

Sky will try and close the case off when they do just tell comreg its not closed yet and ask more questions. Then use the answers or lack of them as part of your evidence in the SCC.

bog master

my3cents wrote: »

Always!

But remember Comreg can only check that Sky have followed their own (Skys) T&C's its often down to he said she said so you really need as much proof as possible. The fact the service was suspended is a good thing because it should show a break in the payments taken. If you want to get clever you can check to see if suspending the service is in the T&C's if not then suspending the service looks the same as cancelling it. I'd also be looking for proof from Skye that the service was suspended. Once you are dealing with comreg you can put those sort of questions through them.

Sky will try and close the case off when they do just tell comreg its not closed yet and ask more questions. Then use the answers or lack of them as part of your evidence in the SCC.

Right, will start the ball rolling then. I can get a letter showing I left that premises and get transcipts and or notes from Sky, and I believe that I got Sky recently in my current home, why would I not just transfer it over ?

njs030

bog master wrote: »

At the time I was in a bad state of mind, evicted from the house due to sale going ahead and was in a friends BnB for several months. Their customer reps are desperate to keep you, and as I recall, it was to be suspended so I could change my mind if I wanted to. I asked if they are able to determine if a particular box is receiving a signal, they claim they cannot tell if you are receiving Sky.

So you agreed to a 3 month suspension for change of mind purposes?
It does seem a bit strange they restarted it afterwards, did they stop charging during this suspension period?

bog master

notjustsweet wrote: »

So you agreed to a 3 month suspension for change of mind purposes?
It does seem a bit strange they restarted it afterwards, did they stop charging during this suspension period?

Yes I did, they are very very persistent and I was not in a good frame of mind.
I am asking my son for list of charges to confirm.

njs030

bog master wrote: »

Yes I did, they are very very persistent and I was not in a good frame of mind.
I am asking my son for list of charges to confirm.

I'm not judging at all im just getting it straight. Having a statement of charges is the first thing and getting that transcript of the conversation is next. Find out if they definitely agreed to cancel after 3 months.
Sky do usually send out an email after changes to your contract (it's in their t&c's I think) so you need to try and find that as well. They should also have a copy of it in your customer file.

Once you have that info you can decide about comreg but no point contacting them until you have all the information they will need.

bog master

notjustsweet wrote: »

I'm not judging at all im just getting it straight. Having a statement of charges is the first thing and getting that transcript of the conversation is next. Find out if they definitely agreed to cancel after 3 months.
Sky do usually send out an email after changes to your contract (it's in their t&c's I think) so you need to try and find that as well. They should also have a copy of it in your customer file.

Once you have that info you can decide about comreg but no point contacting them until you have all the information they will need.

Will do then, thanks!!!

njs030

Perhaps contact the sky reps on boards they might help you gather that info? They are very helpful. You'll find them in the talk to section.

my3cents

notjustsweet wrote: »

I'm not judging at all im just getting it straight. Having a statement of charges is the first thing and getting that transcript of the conversation is next. Find out if they definitely agreed to cancel after 3 months.
Sky do usually send out an email after changes to your contract (it's in their t&c's I think) so you need to try and find that as well. They should also have a copy of it in your customer file.

Once you have that info you can decide about comreg but no point contacting them until you have all the information they will need.

I don't really know how sky operate but if they are like may of the other telcos then they won't normally supply any information they don't need to supply. The OP could run up a small fortune in phone bills calling, making requests and getting no where.

Then Sky can deny anything that has been said in a phone call.

At some point the OP needs to make an official formal complaint and then follow up with comreg. Anything else is just dragging it out and thats what most customer services departments are designed to do once they hit a problem that isn't on their script.

tbh I'm not even sure the OP has a case .....

I think the case revolves around this three month suspension period?

Sky need to prove that it was a suspension period and not a termination. If Sky can prove from phone transcripts that they did give a three month suspension period then they had every right to restart the service and start charging again.

The OP may be better off forgetting about the suspension and just claiming it was a termination and that he knew that the termination had gone through because the charging stopped (hopefully son will confirm that). Sky would then need to prove the suspension had been arranged. If Sky can I can''t see how there is a case, poor practice on their part but thats the techniques these big companies choose to use.

Its a judgement call on the OP's part how he deals with it.

njs030

my3cents wrote: »

I don't really know how sky operate but if they are like may of the other telcos then they won't normally supply any information they don't need to supply. The OP could run up a small fortune in phone bills calling, making requests and getting no where.

Then Sky can deny anything that has been said in a phone call.

At some point the OP needs to make an official formal complaint and then follow up with comreg. Anything else is just dragging it out and thats what most customer services departments are designed to do once they hit a problem that isn't on their script.

tbh I'm not even sure the OP has a case .....

I think the case revolves around this three month suspension period?

Sky need to prove that it was a suspension period and not a termination. If Sky can prove from phone transcripts that they did give a three month suspension period then they had every right to restart the service and start charging again.

The OP may be better off forgetting about the suspension and just claiming it was a termination and that he knew that the termination had gone through because the charging stopped (hopefully son will confirm that). Sky would then need to prove the suspension had been arranged. If Sky can I can''t see how there is a case, poor practice on their part but thats the techniques these big companies choose to use.

Its a judgement call on the OP's part how he deals with it.

Which is why I suggested op know if they have a case before contacting comreg. A transcript of the first phone call will prove fairly fast if sky agreed to a cancellation as will the email they are meant to send out when a contract changes so they will have to resend this.

No point going to comreg until op knows for sure they are right.

bog master

notjustsweet wrote: »

Perhaps contact the sky reps on boards they might help you gather that info? They are very helpful. You'll find them in the talk to section.

I did, very helpful at first, the rep wanted time to look into it and then this from an email,

" you called to advise that you wished to cancel your account and we offered to reduce your bill in order for you to stay. On this call, you advised that you would think about this offer and call back. As there was no call back, your account remained active and as such, your billing continued as normal."


Having moved out of my house, into a bnb why in the hell would I consider a a reduction in my monthly bill?

ohnonotgmail

bog master wrote: »

I did, very helpful at first, the rep wanted time to look into it and then this from an email,

" you called to advise that you wished to cancel your account and we offered to reduce your bill in order for you to stay. On this call, you advised that you would think about this offer and call back. As there was no call back, your account remained active and as such, your billing continued as normal."


Having moved out of my house, into a bnb why in the hell would I consider a a reduction in my monthly bill?

did you say that you would think about the offer and call them back?

my3cents

bog master wrote: »

I did, very helpful at first, the rep wanted time to look into it and then this from an email,

" you called to advise that you wished to cancel your account and we offered to reduce your bill in order for you to stay. On this call, you advised that you would think about this offer and call back. As there was no call back, your account remained active and as such, your billing continued as normal."


Having moved out of my house, into a bnb why in the hell would I consider a a reduction in my monthly bill?

So where does the 3 month suspension come in? Did it happen? Was there a phone call agreeing it?

njs030

bog master wrote: »

I did, very helpful at first, the rep wanted time to look into it and then this from an email,

" you called to advise that you wished to cancel your account and we offered to reduce your bill in order for you to stay. On this call, you advised that you would think about this offer and call back. As there was no call back, your account remained active and as such, your billing continued as normal."


Having moved out of my house, into a bnb why in the hell would I consider a a reduction in my monthly bill?

So was there a suspension or not? Sky don't seem to know anything about it which would mean you don't have a leg to stand on. They have said billing continued as normal which would mean there was no payment break either.

If you were meant to call them back and didn't then it's totally on you unfortunately.

bog master

Thanks for all the replies. Am off doing the homework and shall report back

~~~ bog master

ElNino

Ask Sky if the call was recorded and if it was you are entitled to a copy of the recording under the Data Protection Act. If the call wasn't recorded or Sky can't produce the recording then you are in a very strong position. Transcripts of phone conversations without the backup recording aren't worth much.

bog master

Ok, apologies for no updates, but had trouble accessing record of payments.

NO Charges for the 3 months just as I recollected.

Dec-nil
Jan-nil
Feb-nil

Mar-19.22
Apr-20.75
May-20.75
Jun-20.75
Jul-20.75
Aug-28.49
Sept on 28.75

However seem to have deleted last email from Sky, but will ask today for them to resend it and restate their position.

Xterminator

HI OP

that tallies exactly with what sky have said. 3 month suspension, no termination. did you ask for a transcript? it would be the proof, but thus far the evidence would seem to be that sky did what they said they would do.

you are correct in stating that sky use pressure tactics to keep customers from leaving.

If i were you i would still send a letter of complaint to sky, outlining your circumstances, eg losing your house, the fact you tried to cancel. and ask them for consider a partial refund, given the circumstances. Once you get a formal reply from sky, you can (if not satisfied) open a complaint with comreg.

however if sky have followed their T&C's then you are really looking for a goodwill gesture from sky (unless a transcript shows otherwise)