Sky wont cancel my contract

[Pavlov]

I owe sky some money. I paid most at beginning of month and arranged a direct debit to be set up for second week of next month to take next monthly charge (already generated) plus outstanding balance with a promise to resume my services.

Anyway. They turned off phone, some argument later, DH speaks to them and they agree to turn it back on, after pretty much telling me to get stuffed.

DH called them as phone still not on, they said we are in a 'queue with bt' and it can be a couple of days yet before it is back on. DH said this is not good enough. And said he wishes to cancel. I was told yesterday, and it was reiterated today that.

1. They will not allow us to cancel our subscription while we have an outstanding balance. This must be paid off in FULL before we cancel. DH told them send a final bill, they said they will not do that.

1. They will not reduce our services/remove telephone/broadband/tv or whatever from the package.

1. They will continue charging us in full for the phone line even though it is not on atm, as it is our fault it was turned off due to non payment.

Can they do this? Even if we pay this in full tomorrow, we will still have next months bill oustanding, although not due to be paid yet, it is generated. And by the time i have paid that off, another bill will be outstanding.

Unfortunately, I expect they can do this.
The landline phones seem to all be on contracts now - like the mobiles.

Yes, they can do this. And they will. I have been in the same situation with Sky before.

However, your bill is not classed as 'outstanding' until the last day it is due to be paid. Even if it has been generated.

Pay your bill and you can do what you like, presumably

ok. thanks.

Obviously, as I said, intend to pay it at the end of the month anyway, was always the case.

Check terms of your contract for how much notice you need to give (assuming you are past minimum period with them, normally 12 months).

If you try to cancel before the minimum period, they normally have small print terms that force you to pay up to the end of the contract (same with BT - I got BT line installed free and cannot switch from BT line rental for 18 months, else they will charge me for the installation {125 quid} and about 12 quid for each of the remaining months (currently over 12) so if I tried to switch phone line rental from BT it would cost me 275 quid at least (just to cancel tie with BT).

So, when you switch back to BT, be aware they now lock users into a 12 month contract too, and it only makes sense to switch to some other company on the anniversary of being with BT (it used to be possible to cancel any time you wanted, with some small penalty charge if it was changed before you had been renting for 3 months, but now it is 12 or more months {more if they do some discount on Broadband or line installation}).

You may want to phone Sky up and double check that you can cancel now and see what they say - they would have to explain any fees if you are cancelling before minimum contract has expired. Good luck.

networkguy no, well passed 12 month contract. I get that you cannot cancel with that period without being charged. They are saying they will not stop service, and continue charging me in full, even though i no longer want their service, until i have paid for the past month.

I don't really get why they are allowed to charge me for future months that i do not want and for a telephone line I cannot use, until i pay them for a service already received. Sure charge me for that service, but hey. it is sky after all.

Oh and and I need to give them 30 days notice, but they are saying they will not accept that.

I think the situation is that they (like Gas or Electricity) can effectively refuse to let you transfer to anyone else until you have paid what you owe. If they allowed you to cancel, you could start a new account (eg with BT) and Sky would then have no guarantee of getting cash from you.

I know you intend to pay, but they are counting on the fact most people need service and by blocking transfer, they hold you over barrel.

However, unlike Gas or Electricity, there are deals available for people to get a new phone line. I would not recommend it, unless you are happy to have a change of phone number, but you could get a line installed by Opal.co.uk (business section of TalkTalk) but that would be on a 2 year minimum contract.

You could ask Otelo to see whether they can force Sky to allow you to cancel in 30 days and pay them what you owe them, and not reject request to cancel / notice to cancel, so you can at least start the ball rolling about stopping future payments to them. You would have to ask Sky for a 'deadlock' letter before Otelo would consider your coplaint against Sky. Ofcom does not handle customer complaints but has approved Otelo and CISAS (two different schemes) for handling dispute resolution.

If you are stuck without any easy way to make calls then an Asda PAYG SIM costs 8p/min to mobiles and 01/02/03 landline numbers and 4p/min for text messages. The Asda SIM will go in any Vodafone mobile or an unlocked mobile, so if you have any friends or family on Voda you could perhaps borrow a phone and get a SIM card and 5 pound voucher top-up at nearest Asda (Living) (so SIM is then free).

I guess you can switch to Freeview or get a Freesat box for TV later on, though the Sky box may just change to show only the regular free to air channels like BBC, ITV, C4, C5. Possibly last thing on your mind right now.

Thanks Network guy. Right now, I can live without the tv, as long as I have free to air channels.

And actually, they can't stop being going elsewhere can they? I mean, technically, what is wrong with me having two accounts? It is not like gas where there is only one way in and one way out.

And I don't see how they can tell me where i can go to get my services, because I owe them money, I don;t owe anyone else money, not virgin for example, them.

I have in fact emailed an address i got from consumeractiongroup, and notified them of 30 days notice and asked for a final bill which I will pay in full next month on the day planned.

Oh and telephone. We have DHs mobile.

While I agree it's not quite the same as gas (because you could have two lines), they may be able to block you (and put a black mark on credit reference, so other telecom firms might reject you).

As far as line rental is concerned, BT Openreach will only let one company use the line for voice calls at a time, so in that respect it is just like gas or electricity. Only one supplier at a time. Sky is unwilling to 'release' you. However you could ask BT (assuming you plan to get phone rental from them, not TalkTalk or some other company) to take over the line. They may ask if Sky has agreed to cancelling it. That would put you in an awkward spot, because it does not sound good asking for a new service when you owe money to last line rental company.

Anyway, glad you have DH mobile and the free TV channels will be fine. Hope you get it sorted without too much extra hassle.