Internet Access

Posted on August 7th, 2008 by ray.
Categories: General Blog.

A week tomorrow and I should have broadband again, thanks to good old Virgin Media and a 20Mbps line. I will also have a nice clear telephone landline as well.

This is a significant improvement from my current ADSL connection of 0.5-3Mbps and the noise ridden piece of crap telephone line I have at the moment.

Suffice to say, moving my broadband and telephones to Sky was probably the worst ever decision I made when it comes to changing providers, as I have had nine months of techno-misery.

I have told Sky I’m leaving them to go back to Virgin and I want a refund for the services they never provided, however they have said no. I expected this would be their standard response though and in fact their argument for not refunding me works in my favour, as it’s exactly the reason why I do want a refund - so thank you Sky, perhaps that’s a lesson for you to treat customers as individuals before making decisions rather than blanket responses and having commission driven Salesmen.

Their whole stance is they say “up to” on various literature about the speeds you can get and when you telephone them, which I am fine with which is why I’m not daft enough to order a service blindly - but when they specifically tell me what I can have then it’s a whole different ball-game (basically they said I could have the full 16Mbps speeds as I’m only 400 metres from the exchange, but I said as long as I get 10Mbps then I’m happy so wouldn’t mind if there was fluxuation between 10Mbps - 16Mbps providing it doesn’t go to single figures). I suspect there’s so much controversy at the moment with the ancient copper lines and “up to” adverts that they’re assuming all customers reporting speed issues are the same, which is what they seemed to have done with me and their standard response. In reality, my complaint is the service sold to the service promosied which happens to be speed in this case but could really be about anything.

I’ve seen this so many times in so many companies where a commission (or greed) driven Salesman makes promises they can’t keep, but as soon as it’s a “ker-ching” and you’re signed up, then they wipe their hands of you and it’s over to Support and Customer services to deal with the aftermath, where Support and Customer Services are most likly pretty resentful for having to clean up after a Salesman who’s got a nice commission for creating this problem (as his managers only see it as a new sale/customer) yet they’re not allowed to just be open and honest that the Salesman was wrong and you need an apology and a refund as this will then be reflected as a customer churn figure that their managers do not want, and there’s no chance of being put back through to the Salesman who created the problem as “that’s not his role” (as he’s too busy bullshitting other people)

Without giving a plug for where I work, this is one of the big reasons we have the one team to handle a customer’s whole life cycle. If a customer has any problems, then he’ll be speaking to the same lads and ladettes who he spoke to when he first took out the package.

Anyway, if you are intrested in what I and they said and why I want a refund for the unprovided services, then see below:

Dear Mr Supple

Thank you for contacting Sky Broadband.

Firstly, let me apologise for any difficulties you’ve had recently.

Our records show that at the point of sale, you agreed to the Sky Max package. In doing so, the full details and mandatory statements would have been read to you at the completion of this sale. This would out line the major terms and conditions, including the package pricing and the package speeds.

I must further advise that the correspondence issued, does state the package speeds,pricing and all advertising materials states that Sky broadband is sold as subject to availability and line speeds as subject to location and line quality.

Furthermore, Sky provided a service, in good faith, and provided the relevant documentation and terms and conditions, which outlines the particulars of this package.

Unfortunately, I r egret that I’m unable to offer you a refund.

Should you wish to amend your pack to either the Mid or Base pack, then please contact us on the number shown and our operators will be happy to assist.

Once again, please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.

If you need further help or information, please reply to this email or contact us on 08442 41 05 15.

Kind regards

Gail

Sky Broadband Customer Services

Sky

http://www.sky.com

Hello Gail,

Firstly I completely agree with your points about agreeing the service at the point of sale, as this is the basis of my entire issue. Before taking out any packages I telephoned your Sales Team to see what speeds I could get. I stated I specifically needed speeds of at least 10Mbps, as anything less would not be worth me moving from my current provider (Virgin Media) and paying BT to install a line. I explained I am well aware of the “Up To” terminology with ADSL and all the other factors, and so needed guarantees before committing to anything and this would be be a big commitment with the initial costs. I was assured this would not be a problem being so close to the exchange and that they could test my speeds there and then to be certain.

I made sure I repeated my requirements so there was no margin for error including asking if they are certain I can get my 10Mbps speeds and they are not looking at general figures for the area. I was assured that my requirements could be met.

Evenso I never made a decision then but called back later and spoke to another Sky representative to be sure, where I went though the same questions and requirements. I was assured the same as before that I could easily get at least 10Mbps. It was only at this point that I went ahead with the order.

I have no doubt that you receive speed queries from people who had false expectations about the service they could receive, however there is simply no margin here at all for misinterpretation or miscommunication. I have made no assumptions about the service I could potentially get but stated specific requirements where your company assured me on two separate occasions that these could be provided. If there was any doubt or uncertainty then your Sales representatives had no right to tell me otherwise.

Quite simply you have mis-sold me a product and by the own admission of your staff, could never have provided me with this service in the first place. I strongly challenge your claim that I was sold a service in “good faith”, that is simply not the case. There is obviously an issue with your Sales representatives if they are either intentionally or unintentionally giving false information and mis-advising potential customers - however this is an internal issue that Sky needs to address and not something that I as the end user will take responsibility for.

So moving forwards:

- Downgrading my service so I am paying for what I am receiving is not a solution, as the speeds you are offering me are too poor. I have no choice but to move back to Virgin Media where they can provide me with an acceptable broadband service. I will not continue with the Sky broadband service once I am back with Virgin Media

- I have no use of a BT line that I only had installed for your Broadband Service, so will be cancelling that as well, along with Sky Talk that I only moved to you for ease of billing and customer loyalty

- The Sky Television service I have works fine and I have always had good service where this is involved, so quite happy to continue with this unless I have further problems with Sky.

I am then left with the following financial issues:

- I have paid for a BT line installation solely to be able to receive a service that you said you could provide

- I have been paying broadband fees for a service I have not received.

These expenditures need addressing

I have given Sky every opportunity to address my concerns, however Sky is unable to, as the requirements for my purchase can not be met. It is now down to Sky to choose how to proceed by admitting a missell has occurred and addressing it, or choosing to deny the missell and putting the onus on me, however I will take this as far as required if you are unwilling to rectify your errors

I look forward to your response in how you want me to proceed

Regards,

Ray Supple

0 comments.