‘Trying to cancel Sky is including to my stress’
Our customer expert aids an additional reader get reimbursement from Sky after they had trouble cancelling their contract 
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I read through with interest your last column about Sky buyer service. I as well have had significant problems striving to get Sky to cancel an account. I have enclosed copies of two letters which I hope describe the predicament. The 1st was in reply to a demand for £27 and the 2nd to a threat to involve a debt assortment company.
I obtained no reply to the very first letter, and an earlier exchange of emails with client providers was fruitless.
However I had a critical heart assault and had heart surgical procedure followed by further heart episodes. I am starting to be concerned that the way I have been treated by Sky is triggering me so significantly pressure that my recovery might be place at threat.
DR, Glos
You had been no longer watching Sky channels and so cancelled your Sky subscription of numerous years.
Nearly a 12 months later on you were contacted by a salesman offering a six-month trial free of charge of all costs as extended as you cancelled the subscription before the time was up. At the time you had been taking into consideration making use of Sky for telephone and broadband and so you accepted the offer you.
Finding you had been nevertheless not viewing Sky channels, nearly two weeks ahead of the totally free period expired you referred to as Sky to cancel.
You had been greeted by a recorded voice with the rather surprising message that the waiting times were about a single hour. So you utilised the “Make contact with Us” facility on the web site to make the cancellation. You integrated the account amount. Despite this £4.50 was charged for that month.
You contacted the Sky Aid Centre and the response was unhelpful. To stay away from even more deductions becoming taken you cancelled the direct debit and wrote to Sky.
Almost three weeks later you had a cellphone contact from a Sky get in touch with centre staff member chasing the disputed invoice. When you relayed the saga to her she explained she could see on the records there was a request to cancel the account before the totally free time period ran out. She mentioned she did not recognize why it had not been acted on or why you had been billed for any expenses.
You have been then transferred to buyer solutions and had been assured issues would be resolved and the invoice cancelled. When it wasn’t and you have been then billed for £27 you wrote to me.
Offered your indifferent wellness I urged Sky to act quickly. At 6pm on that day, which was 3 months soon after the problems had commenced, it named you. Sky said: “We had been really sorry to hear Mr R had incurred an added charge right after cancelling his account. We have now reimbursed this quantity and finalised the closure in line with his authentic request.”
You stated this lifted a great weight off your shoulders. You added that you could have been a future Sky broadband client but there is no way that will take place now.
Numerous readers have complained about not getting capable to cancel contracts online. I have pressed Sky over a long time to react to this issue.
It has now stated: “We are reviewing our processes to guarantee they are transparent and easy if a consumer wants to cancel. Nevertheless, there are many causes why we feel it is best to have a conversation with consumers. Importantly, we will require to confirm a customer’s identity and security specifics, which we would never advise performing through e mail. In addition we may want to make clear what to expect if they are switching their broadband or cellphone service.
“There may possibly also be a minimum contract phrase or we could need to describe how the ultimate bill will be calculated. We have listened to suggestions and as component of our overview we are searching at approaches of generating the approach less complicated and clearer for consumers.”
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