Dealing with SKY

At the end of 2012 I decided, after living without TV for over 2 years, that I would take out a subscription to SKY. The website detailed all the available packages, and I decided upon one and the price shown included a 10% discount for paying by direct debit. I signed up online, and the first thing I discovered was that you could not pay from a bank account outside Brazil, so no discount, and monthly paper bills! They emailed me my initial bill (you only pay one month in advance) and I had to print it off and pay in any bank, or at the lottery office.

The men turned up to install my system late on 23rd December, the day after I paid, which both surprised me and pleased me, as I didn't expect to get it that fast! One man started drilling holes outside to erect the dish, while the other came inside and drilled a hole in my ceiling for the cable (from the dish) – or rather he asked me for a knife to make the hole, so I gave him a drill instead! The whole process was very quick, and after about 30 minutes they were trying to set up my TV. They had a box of tricks that told them the dish was pointed in the right direction and receiving a signal, but told me it would take around half an hour for the system to validate itself, so left but gave me a number to call if I still had problems an hour later. I left it 2 hours and still no picture so made the call – the office told me the men were on their way back there (some 90 miles away), but that they would come out the next day. I tried turning the TV on several times that night, and again the next morning, and finally, some 15 hours (a little more than 30 minutes!) after installation, the picture finally appeared, so I called and cancelled their visit.

My billing date was the 24th of the month, so I waited for the first bill to arrive – but as it hadn't arrived by the 23rd I called them to see what was happening. Of course, they blamed the postal service, but told me I could download a copy of the bill online, which I did, and duly paid by the 24th. The interesting thing is that before the due date you can pay the bill in any bank, or the lottery offices, but after that date the bill can only be paid in a branch of their bank – and my nearest one is 45 miles away!  In the following year only one bill actually arrived at my house before the 24th, so I had to print off a bill myself every month – it is available from the 12th so quite how it takes 12 days for the post to deliver it is a mystery!

In July I was going outside Brazil on holiday, and knew that I would not be at home on the 24th of the month, and as I was leaving on the 11th, the day before the bill appeared online, I would be unable to pay the bill in time. I hate being in arrears, but here you also get a fine and interest charged, even if just a day late, but the worst was having to travel 45 miles just to pay the bill.  So I contacted customer service by email and explained my predicament – No problem, they said, simply go into a lottery office and tell them you are paying in advance and they can accept the payment! So, I did, and they entered my account number in their system, and then told me that my account was up to date and nothing was owing! I explained the situation and they informed me that I could not pay in advance as their system would not allow it, since my account was not in arrears!

Back home I gain contacted customer service, this time via their online chat facility, and they told me it was not possible to pay in advance!  I pasted and copied the complete email I had received from them and asked what this meant then. There were a few minutes of inactivity, and then they asked why I had contacted customer service by email! I told them that their website gave three options – phone, email or online chat, so I had tried email first. They told me that I could pay the account after the 12th, when the bill became available online, but there was no way I could pay in advance! Though they did say that the bill would actually be available to pay at a lottery office on the 11th! I then emailed customer service again, and explained what I had experienced, and they again told me that the lottery office should accept a payment in advance, and that online chat had told me a load of rubbish!

So I resigned myself to having my account in arrears and having to make the 90 mile round trip to pay the bill upon my return. However I was in Salvador (Brazil’s third city) on the morning of the 11th, so thought I would see if things were any better there. I found a lottery office and explained what I wanted to do, but again my number came up saying nothing was owing so the payment could not be made! The teller was very helpful though, and told me that I could leave it till I got back and pay then. I explained that, apart from a fine and interest (though both are very small), I did not wish to have to travel the 45 miles to the bank to pay. Why would I do that, she asked, as I could still pay at the lottery? Yet the bill state, in large letters, that after the due date the payment will only be accepted at the bank! Despite her assurances that this was not the case I decided not to test it out – I had previously seen others having to queue in banks to pay overdue bills rather than being able to pay them at other payment points. In the end I asked a friend if they minded paying the bill for me while I was away – they just needed to go in after the 12th (and before the 24th!) and give the account number, which they duly did.

So, fast forward 12 months after installation and I want to cancel my subscription at the end of January 2013 – I will have had the system over 12 months so have completed my obligation to them, and should be able to cancel without any problems. I want to keep viewing till 23rd January, which means that I have to pay the January bill, due on 24th December, but am not sure what else they need so resort to email again. It is mid-November, so I have not yet paid for December (which is not yet due), but I explain that intend to pay the one for January as well, and ask them how I go about cancelling. By return they tell me that I have succeeded in cancelling my subscription, but that as I have not yet paid 12 instalments there will be an early release fee! I immediately replied, and asked if they actually read my email, as I specifically said I wanted to keep the contract till the end of January, but was simply asking HOW to cancel. Their response to this was that I had to wait till after I had paid the January bill before I could cancel.

December 24th I go online, and on their website is the facility to cancel a contract, so I start following the instructions (“Can we offer you a different package?” What?), till I come to the “verify your address details” page – “click here if they are correct”, click … “please enter a fixed line telephone number to proceed”. I don’t have one (and since they have my details already without a landline number they obviously know this!), so enter my mobile phone number … “that is a mobile number, we need a fixed line number”. OK, so here I get devious – I know the four number prefix all local numbers have so enter that followed by 9999, click. Yes, I am on the next page – “You have successfully cancelled your contract – your viewing will end on December 31st”!! What? Noooooo! Then I see that this page has 2 buttons – “click here to confirm cancellation”, and “click here to stop cancellation”, so I chose the second one. I have paid up till 23rd January so what are they playing about at with December 31st?

Back to the email … I send them an email saying that as I have paid till the 23rd January I wish to cancel from that date. I get a response by return, which is amazing for Brazil, saying that my online cancellation has already gone through and someone will be in contact by phone to arrange collection of the dish and the receiver! But I clicked to stop cancellation … ? So I go back online to check my details, and guess what the contact phone number is they will be calling to arrange collection? Yes, the made up one! Next week I will try contacting them again and ask why they haven’t arranged collection and see what happens. I do love the simple life here in Brazil!

As I will be leaving for Peru the day after cancellation I am concerned as to how they will collect the equipment - the decoder and the satellite dish - so I contact them again and explain everything. Don't worry, they tell me, as you will be coming back in 6 months we can leave it and collect it then - if you don't wish to renew your contract. So off I go happy that I have sorted it all out.

A month later the friend who is house-sitting for me informs me a bill has arrived for SKY for February! I email then and explain the account has been cancelled from the end of January, and receive a reply that it was an error and to ignore it. Three months later I get another message from my friend - a final demand bill has arrived from SKY! Again I email them (from Peru) and they say it is because the equipment was not returned. I copy them the correspondence I had about that, and explain I will be back in 2 months and will return the equipment then, and all seems well.

When I get home I find another bill has come from SKY in the meanwhile, but not a full month, so that simply goes in the bin! I contact them to tell them I am back and they are welcome to collect the equipment at their convenience as I will not be renewing (you can only renew for 12 months in any case I and I am only in Brazil 6 months at a time), and a few days later a man arrives to collect.