Sky Cancellation process, an act of insanity and stress

I find Sky a nightmare to deal with lately - I'm out of contract and they couldn't give me the SkyQ and Internet bundle for €55 even though im a customer for over 9 years. Had to cancel and get my wife to call and set up as a new customer and they could give it to her no problem…

Also when I went to cancel, they said I was still in contract, around Christmas time I added Netflix to my account via SkyQ and it re-contracted my subscription for 12 months at a ridiculous price. I cant recall agreeing to a new contract but I would not have if it was obvious what was happening but I cannot say for sure that there were "Terms and Conditions" and a new contract when I done in via the Sky box but very misleading and sly on Sky's behalf.

I called them and they wouldn't do anything about it and very rude on the phone - got out of it by adding sky sports to my package which initiated a new "contract" again which I then had a 14 day cooling off period which I then could cancel within.

I do wish that I went to the CCPC, they're borderline scammers at this stage IMO and if you wish to do anything OP i'd contact the CCPC and see what they say.

This is such low hanging fruit for a TD to take up. The behaviour of some of these companies is deplorable.

Nowtv does, is it not the same with the sky account?

They do, just not available for the likes of you and me.

About two years ago I had the most rewarding conversation with a Sky Rep.

Me: Id like to cancel the account currently in the name of Lamb Shank Senior.

Rep: (yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah…) and if you cancel now you could affect your father credit rating.

Me: Well considering he died 2 weeks ago I don't think he's going to be worrying about his credit rating.

Rep:… Oh OMG! I'm so sorry. Er.. Give me two minutes, Im going to place you on hold.

About 2 minutes later

Rep: OK, thats cancelled. I have cancelled it from today, which means you are due a refund for the rest of the month, I have issued the cheque and it will be sent out to you.

Just cancel the standing order. I had a similar experience a few years ago with them made it impossible to cancel on the phone so i just ended up cancelling the order and never heard from them again.

Careful doing this. I tried to cancel on VM a few years back. Kept me on hold hours, then told me my account did not exist on their system to call again. So I cancelled the DD after sending them an email explaining the situation. Two months letter I get a debt collector letter for my account. Which of course I could have ignored, but I would expect it could effect my credit rating.

Because more customers will leave. It's not in their interest.

That's awful advice. You can't just make up your own method for cancelling a contract.

I'd say once you added Netflix then you recontracted for another term.Nice move with adding Sky sports then bailing.

Good luck to anyone who tries to get a move out the CCPC or Comreg

Gusser at #11 is right.

Definitely be careful as I was given a free wk or mth of sky sports when sky rep rang me and said would I like that for free, said be cancelled after the period. Wasn't cancelled and had to ring up and then little did I know this free period they rang to give me of sky sports affected my contract. Saw bill next mth was a lot more, I rang and made a complaint and I got call back from supervisor who sorted refund and gave me a year contract a bit cheaper, she listened back to the call with sky rep and said either she talked to him or would talk to him as this was not mentioned about contract being affected with free sky sports period. If they ever ring you about a free wk or so decline decline decline. Was a headache to deal with.

I know some,well 1 person who will pay any amount just to get Sky Sports channels.His wife pays,actually.Peace in the house,the main reason.It's not me.

Thanks. An email or written letter will legally be ok.

Of course it will, not only that the consumer agencies encourage paper trails.

A registered letter, an acknowledged email or online cancellation form with an acknowledgement.

These services are required under law not to put unnecessary cumbersome barriers in the way of consumers rightfully trying to cancel or alter the service they are paying for.

They are not all bad, there is a few companies who have a clear "cancel here" button which does exactly what it says, the pay off that is not only is it the right thing to do it also breeds consumer confidence.

Would be nice if they all had it.

sending an email and cancelling your direct debit is awful advice and only invites trouble.

Someone disagreeing with you doesn't make them a "sky shill". A very trumpian view: 'anyone who disagrees is an X shill'

I did that for years, just let them rattle on on a speakerphone, while I worked away. The whole process often took the guts of an hour and in the end I just couldn't be bothered anymore. I now use eirTV and NOW for sports. With the AppleTV box it's a pretty good option.