Sky have taken my money without permission!

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 12:35 PM

I went into currys on the 21/11/2006 to get their deal with a tv. I was told by the bloke that I would have to pay £30 to currys £119 to sky and £60 install.

I said this was ok and after taking my £30 he phoned Sky to complete the deal. When he finally got through to them the sky salesman told him I would not have to pay the install fee and he took a payment of £119 and booked a date to install. The currys chap confirmed by asking twice that the entire payment was £119 and was told both times that yes there is no install charge as I subcribe to most of the premium packages. I found that strange but was happy none the less and procceded to spend the savings on Prem Plus amoung other things.

Then yesterday I checked my credit card statment and found that I had been charged £360!

After over and hour on the phone and being cut off twice I was told that the payment was taken by mistake but the woman couldn't refund me because her supervisior would have to do it. She said that they were in a meeting and she would ask them to phone my as soon as they were finished. I waited in all day and no phone came. She also said that I would now have to pay the £60 as it was a mistake on their part that I was not charged it in the begining. Now maybe I am being tight but I was told the total cost of this contract was £149 now and £10 a month for the next year, if they made a mistake why should they be allowed to take my money without any permission?

I still haven't had any phone call (long meeting?) and can't summon the will to go through the process of queuing and cut offs again. I really feel like telling them that they can come over and collect all the stuff and close my account. They have effectivly stolen from me right before xmas when I need my credit card the most.

I have no idea what to do now, any advice would be great!

Rob_J · 04-12-2006, 1:09 PM

Same happened to me should have been £149 for the hd box and £60 installation. They have taken £299 so i dont get it, they confirmed the offer for recently buying a tv.

*Tony Hoyle* · 04-12-2006, 1:10 PM

Not a lot you can do unless you had that in writing.... A Sky sales rep can pretty much say anything - it's the contract you sign that matters.

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 1:17 PM

Well I didn't sign a contract it was arranged by a third party who confirmed twice that the charge to my card would be £119.

Anything above that that was taken is imho stealing and I hope there is some kind of law to back that up.

davidpfitz · 04-12-2006, 1:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustinJ004

They have effectivly stolen from me right before xmas when I need my credit card the most.

I have no idea what to do now, any advice would be great!

Ring your card company and get them to do a chargeback. That'll get the desired attention quick enough.

Are the payments on one or two lumps? If two, then a chargeback will be easy ... if one, you're on shaky ground since you can only get them to void a full transaction.

David.

chrism_scotland · 04-12-2006, 1:36 PM

Yep Sky seem to be pretty useless, my HD install has been one disaster after another.
They didn't even know I had an HD box installed when I called them the next day.
As for free install you should only get that if you have or are taking out a multiroom subscription, for a new customer I believe you have to pay the £60 install, this is printed in terms & conditions in any Curry's/Comet ads for the half price HD Box/Free Sky+ offer.

I hope you get this sorted Sky seem to have messed around a lot of people over the last few months.

Rob_J · 04-12-2006, 1:46 PM

I havent signed a contract yet.

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 2:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism_scotland

As for free install you should only get that if you have or are taking out a multiroom subscription, for a new customer I believe you have to pay the £60 install, this is printed in terms & conditions in any Curry's/Comet ads for the half price HD Box/Free Sky+ offer.

I had a feeling that was the case, thats why I was a little surprized when the Sky salesman said it, but like I said he was asked to confrim it twice which he did. Even if it was a mistake I still feel they should honor it, its not my fault they don't train their staff to a high enough standard. Why should they be able to take money which is not theirs?

They seem to think they can get away with anything.

chrism_scotland · 04-12-2006, 2:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustinJ004

I had a feeling that was the case, thats why I was a little surprized when the Sky salesman said it, but like I said he was asked to confrim it twice which he did. Even if it was a mistake I still feel they should honor it, its not my fault they don't train their staff to a high enough standard. Why should they be able to take money which is not theirs?

They seem to think they can get away with anything.

I agree as a gesture of apology they should honour the free install they quoted you before.

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 2:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism_scotland

I agree as a gesture of apology they should honour the free install they quoted you before.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind but the install was done by a complete fool! He wouldn't even touch my tv and didn't phone Sky to pair the card.

Its lucky I read these forums otherwise I would have missed the footy.

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 3:38 PM

Does anybody have an email address for sky I can complain to please? I can't find one on their site and their support forms are far to small.

Abbeygoo · 04-12-2006, 4:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustinJ004

Does anybody have an email address for sky I can complain to please? I can't find one on their site and their support forms are far to small.

Go to the man himself : jamesmurdoch@bskyb.com

although he's probably in a meeting and one of his many reportees will ring you for him ..... or reply by email at least.

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 6:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abbeygoo

Go to the man himself : jamesmurdoch@bskyb.com

although he's probably in a meeting and one of his many reportees will ring you for him ..... or reply by email at least.

I tired to send an email to this address but it got returned as failed.

neilmcl · 04-12-2006, 7:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustinJ004

I tired to send an email to this address but it got returned as failed.

Try AllCustomerCareEscalation@BSkyB.com, the James Murdoch email will end up here anyway.

chachi · 04-12-2006, 8:35 PM

It failed as there's a '.' in between first name and surname in his email addy

JustinJ004 · 04-12-2006, 9:05 PM

Thanks for all your help guys!

Just out of interest how long do you think they will take to responed to the emails?

Abbeygoo · 04-12-2006, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustinJ004

Thanks for all your help guys!

Just out of interest how long do you think they will take to responed to the emails?

About 3-4 days. It'll be a standard response. Read it - and then send a reply reiterating your original point as they probably won't acknowledge it on the first email. Good luck!

gd2 · 05-12-2006, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abbeygoo

About 3-4 days. It'll be a standard response. Read it - and then send a reply reiterating your original point as they probably won't acknowledge it on the first email. Good luck!

Whenever I've emailed Mr Murdoch I've had a phone call and I've always got excellent service. I've just got the £60 installation charge refunded and then another £60 because the messed the booking up. SKY HD for £89! The standard customer service service may be poor but take it to Mr Murdoch and you normally get a result.

Abbeygoo · 05-12-2006, 7:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gd2

Whenever I've emailed Mr Murdoch I've had a phone call and I've always got excellent service. I've just got the £60 installation charge refunded and then another £60 because the messed the booking up. SKY HD for £89! The standard customer service service may be poor but take it to Mr Murdoch and you normally get a result.

fair enough - sounds like the thing to do then!!

JustinJ004 · 05-12-2006, 9:24 AM

Tried to phone them again last night but got put through to the wrong person twice so just gave up.

So I have sent an email to both addresses, fingers crossed I will here from them soon, will keep you posted.

Thanks again for all your help.

JustinJ004 · 08-12-2006, 2:17 PM

Well no response from either email so last night I decided to phone them again.

Got through to someone who told me it is nothing to do with Sky and I would have to speak to Currys. I said that is rubbish as my money was taken by Sky not Currys.

In the end she saw on her system that indeed they had over charge me and that she would get a team leader to phone me within two hours. She even gave me the team leaders name (Jackie). I waited in all night but surprize surprize no phone came.

Really don't know what to do.

JustinJ004 · 24-12-2006, 6:23 PM

Just to wrap this I have finally got me refund from Sky (the email did the trick!

)

Thanks again to everyone who helped!