4 month old baby and no heating, thanks Sky!

[Coldandannoyed]

First time poster so sorry for any mistakes with formatting etc!

Currently at my wits end with Sky- we had their worst package which was understandably shit and I got an email saying they were increasing the price but I could cancel early without paying a fee. So I rang to cancel and at the time was amazed how easy it was because the agent didn’t try and sell us a different package. This was on 21st March.

Unfortunately when I tried to buy a different package with someone else it turned out the agent neglected to tell us that by directly cancelling with them rather than getting a new provider to cancel for us, we couldn’t buy another internet package until the day after our Sky package was turned off. I tried twice and just got texts saying my order was cancelled because Openreach couldn’t complete it. I then tried to uncancel my sky cancellation but was told it was within 48 hours of the service being turned off so they couldn’t do anything about it, sorry.

Our wifi went off yesterday morning at which point it occurred to me that our wifi dependent thermostat is obviously not working so I have no heating (boiler is in the loft so can’t manually turn it off and on). I rang sky complaints department at this point because we have a 4 month old baby so having no heating is not ideal. He was quite helpful and tried to expedite our order but it still wouldn’t let him place the order as it needed to be the day after the contract was terminated (which is today). Said he’d phone back today and he rang earlier than expected and I missed his phone call while sorting the baby, and his voicemail just said sorry I missed you I’ll just try again on Monday, despite me explaining yesterday that I’m worried about the baby due to us not having any heating.

So completely back to square one I tried ringing the general number again and was passed around 4 different departments until the final person just reordered me a package which is provisionally going to start on the 12th but no guarantees.

AIBU to think this is beyond shit from Sky? If the first agent had explained the process properly, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Is there any way I can get them to do something about it faster? I feel fairly lucky that the weather isn’t too bad during the day, but it was 14 degrees in our bedroom last night so now I’m worried about the baby being too cold. Also feel like I’ve ended up stuck in another Sky contract, as I felt like they’d caused the problem so other providers wouldn’t fix it any faster, and thought it would be quicker to just restart the same rubbish package we have and then maybe upgrade to something faster, but at least we’ll have internet in the meantime.

Sorry for my frazzled rambling!

What thermostat do you have? They should all still operate as a normal old school thermostat without WiFi.
This isn’t Sky’s problem and the 4 month old is irrelevant. Parts of the uk will be 20 degrees this weekend.

Have you tried hotspotting your phone to the thermostat

Sorry and hope its get sorted but 14 degrees is fine at night. I have never had any heating on in bedrooms ever.

It's not really Sky's fault? I'd look at getting a manual thermostat. We haven't our heating on for weeks, it's fine. We've got a baby, just dress them appropriately.

My mum is having major problems with sky at the moment. She's been with them for her mobile and Wi-Fi for years and years and has always said how good they are, But recently she's had major problems and they have not turned to three appointments now.

I don't think 14 degrees is too cold for a baby.

Can you go to the shop and buy an electric heater for the bedroom? It's always handy to have one anyway in case of boiler problems. It's an immediate short term solution to the baby being cold.

What are you hoping for here @Coldandannoyed - that Sky see the post and somehow compensate or expedite things for you?

”AIBU to think this is beyond shit from Sky?” - yes, you are being unreasonable, no Internet provider of this type has an “on/off switch” for contracts, there is always usually an overlap period or a cancellation process. You need to factor that in when changing providers

Your Wi-Fi connected thermostat will have an override. You need to know how to work this.

YABU.

This is extreme advice, when the digital thermostat will have a manual override. OP just needs to get off this page (Mumsnet) and onto the page where the manufacturer shows the manual override feature.

Your boiler should be capable of working independently. Go turn it on.

I appreciate it might seem extreme, but it's a very handy thing to have anyway for multiple reasons. However, I do agree that the op needs to figure out how to use her thermostat.

If you look up instructions for the type of thermostat I would imagine there is a mode that works without wifi as a previous poster said. Or hotspot it from your phone.

How does your boiler get serviced - presumably it is accessible in the loft?

I had the back door open for several hours this morning and it's still 17 degrees in my living room now, thankfully it's not winter! Layers, extra blanket, stick a hot water bottle in to pre-warm the cot if you're worried.

@Coldandannoyed

14 is fine. Just make sure your baby is adequately dressed for bed, but not too many layers as over heating is a big problem.

you could ask friends/family/neighbours if they have a heater you could borrow. Most people will have one 'just in case'

the swapping of providers or changing packages is an ache. I need to change mine, but keep putting it off as I can't face it!!

feeling very envious of your baby cuddles though!!

Parts of the uk will be 20 degrees this weekend.

And some of us have snow!

Sky have well and truly messed me around the past six months. I've tried to cancel but can't as I'm in contract. They've constantly lied and I've had people tell me the wrong thing all the time! Once this contract is up then I'm off!!

Your boiler shouldn’t be dependent on WiFi. You need to learn how to work it independently. Also organising your WiFi is your own responsibility.

So you rang sky to cancel and they processed your request. Your now annoyed because they didnt tell you the easiest way to join another provider?

Hmm. Which is where? All major weather forecasts put the majority of the UK at mid teens or significantly higher this weekend.

Yep.

OP is discovering her actions have consequences!

I've never had an issue with cancelling my contract with one company and arranging to start with another the day after it ends - I always do everything online though as it seems so much easier than doing it in person, and you can see all the information re. finishing dates yourself, rather than relying on someone in a call centre to tell you everything.

We have snow in Scotland. The most snow we've had this winter.

Does your thermostat system actually need internet? We have Hive and even if the internet is off the router will still work around the house. The only thing that should knock it off is a power cut (which would take out the boiler as well anyway). You’ll be fine with no heating (we managed a week of no heating with a 2 week old early Jan 😳) but no hot water would be a pain. However, I suspect it will be fine with a functioning router even in the absence of internet.

BBC News - Storm Kathleen in Scotland: Snow, rain and wind warnings issued - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c06l031py3mo

You asked Sky to cancel your contract. They did. It's not their fault you can't work your heating. Is it really that cold that not having heating on is a problem?

Cool. Given OP is moaning about 14 degrees overnight with no heating it’s pretty unlikely she has snow.

You told them to cancel and they did?

They aren't going to take responsibility for coordinating a switchover with a new provider when there's now no link between you leaving Sky and joining whoever else, as they aren't obliged to do so.

The suppliers only coordinate switches when you choose a new provider and let them start the process of switching you.

With what you've done, SKY will have planned a time to cut you off and until that's done your new provider can't take over the line, so will wait until confirmed that it's switched off and then they will plan to do the switch on.

And presumably the 48hr period SKY say is firmed up is to allow them to plan in the steps needed. If customers could change their mind at any point and stop/start the process they wouldn't be able to plan their workloads.