Who knew? My many years of Sky being first my broadband supplier and later for telephone services has been uneventful - not plagued with technical problems, no need to use their customer support, and no mistakes with billing. So at the point of moving house I never expected to be deprived of landline telephone & broadband services one month before our actual moving date.
I do wonder how it can be acceptable to action requests from third parties when it is I who rent the telephone line and pay for telephone and broadband services on this line, to be ignored by Sky when asking for the third party request to be cancelled? Part of the problem is that so much of the process of taking over a line, including production of letters, has been automated so no one actually reviews the request or checks the validity but relies on the Sky customer to complain if it isn't correct. I could have been on holiday and never seen the letter until too late. But then not to respect my instruction to cancel the request takes some beating? So you might bear the experience in mind. And in case you were wondering, Stephen van Rooyen is Sky's managing director, sales & marketing - clearly a customer services expert! Begin forwarded message: > From: Tony Crooks <[email protected]> > Subject: Moving House Fiasco > Date: 1 September 2014 20:05:33 BST > To: [email protected] > > Dear Mr van Rooyen, > > Account Number: XXXXXXXXXXXX > > In the automated letter generated under your name, dated August 14 2014, it > says; > > "If you're moving home and would like to transfer your Sky Talk services, or > would like to query or cancel this request please feel free to give us a call > on 03442 41 41 41 (select option 3 followed by option 4) and one of our > advisors will be able to help you." I did, and they didn't! Oh, and the > options are incorrect as well! > > As a result, despite not moving out of our current house until September 30 > 2014 I and my family now find ourselves without either a telephone line or > Fibre Broadband at a critical period in the run up to moving out of this > house. While I have accepted the £30 credit to my account as a gesture of > goodwill for the failure of Sky to properly serve its customer - I've been > paying Sky in excess of £100 per month for some time - this doesn't make for > an adequate substitute for the considerable inconvenience that this has > caused to us all here at 53 Mendip Avenue, > > Whilst I appreciate the empathetic attitudes of your staff dealing with Sky's > customers I'd much prefer it if your systems/processes were fully geared to > one-stop handling of customer issues. Clearly that isn't the case at present > otherwise how can an instruction concerning moving house on a specific date, > in our case September 30, be so badly handled within Sky. > > For your information I posted the following to the Sky User forum at > www.skyuser.co.uk; > >> Although this may seem like a rant, if anyone has a good idea I'd like to >> know. >> >> We are moving house on Sept 30. Two weeks ago I receive a "[I]We've recently >> received a request from the new occupiers of your current property to take >> over your phone line XXXXXXXXXX on Monday 01 September 2014[/I]" letter. >> >> I ring Sky the same day as this letter arrives and inform them that this is >> incorrect. After much toing & froing within Sky the response I get is that >> they understand there is a mistake and will I ring on/after Aug 28 and >> before Sept 1 to confirm that the line will be mine until Sept 30. >> >> I duly ring on Aug 29 and after speaking to a 'moving house' person, I'm >> transferred to Cancellations where I repeat my requirements to cancel >> Talk/Broadband as of Sept 30 and to adjust my Sky TV to cancel all >> Multiroom, and I'm told this will include Sky Go Extra as I will no longer >> have Multiroom. >> >> The young man in Cancellations also tells me about the changes to my bills >> during September and October. I check that this includes cancellation of >> Talk/Broadband - and he confirms this. >> >> Today, Sept 1, at 4:30pm telephone line is dead - no Talk/Broadband. Ring >> Sky, and yes they confirm that another supplier has taken over the line and >> there is now nothing they can do for me except apologise and to offer me £30 >> as a token for the inconvenience. >> >> The Sky computer records for my account say that they show that they have >> processed the Sky TV changes but nothing for Talk/Broadband. >> >> I can't help but feel disillusioned by Sky after this episode and made the >> point that I'm highly unlikely to want to continue as a Sky user after this >> treatment. After all in the August letter that Sky sent me, it says; >> >> "[I]If you're moving home and would like to transfer your Sky Talk services, >> or would like to query or cancel this request please fee free to give us a >> call on 03442 41 41 41 (select option 3 followed by option 4) and one of our >> advisors will be able to help you[/I]." I did, and they didn't! Oh, and the >> options are incorrect as well! >> >> I feel like contacting the CEO if I had an email address for him as the >> whole customer support system is organised into product silos rather than a >> total customer view. The people at the sharp end are all very nice but >> clearly find the systems/processes cumbersome at the least and, probably >> difficult to follow. Along the way I think they start to fob people off >> because it is too hard to resolve. >> >> The bit I find hardest to accept is that my contract for Talk/Broadband, >> including line rental, is with Sky and yet they readily accept an order from >> another supplier to take over the line without first asking. Surely the >> letter should be worded differently at the least and isn't it suspect to >> leave it to a computer rather than have a human check first? I might have >> been away on holiday in the period between the letter arriving and the >> takeover date and returned to find a 'dead' line. >> >> It has been a hard lesson learnt and I'm unable to give anyone a firm >> recommendation to use Talk/Broadband as you may encounter chaos at a later >> date. Rant over but any suggestions appreciated. > > I leave it to your imagination if I see Sky mentioned on FaceBook, Twitter or > any other such service. I am deeply unhappy with Sky. > > Regards, > > > -- > Tony Crooks > ---------------------------------- > 53 Mendip Avenue * Eastbourne * BN23 8HP > Mob: 07428706227 > Tel: 01323-460789 (but no longer as of Sept 1 2014!) > <mailto: [email protected]> > Regards, Tony -- Tony Crooks ---------------------------------- 53 Mendip Avenue * Eastbourne * BN23 8HP Mob: 07428706227 <mailto: [email protected]> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
