I have just spent more time on the phone to sky support than I have spent on the phone to all of my previous ISP's put together.

I was a customer of BE broadband until a week ago, where my account was transferred (with no notification) to the Sky network. Not only was it transferred without notice, but they managed to get my registered address wrong. Firstly, I had to go through several layers of support just to obtain the new settings for my router. Then, because of the incorrect address (or so support told me), my speed was limited to 0.2Mbps and a 700ms ping on a supposedly 16Mb line. I then spent several hours chasing through departments of sky support to try and find someone who had both the power and the authority to change my address. They were completely unable to cope with the fact that my address was wrong, and insisted, upon being told the reason for my calling, on asking me the security question: "Could you state the first line of your address".

After spending hours waiting in call queues and trying unsuccessfully to change the address and resolve my connection issues, I decided to just cancel the account, obtain a MAC code and go elsewhere. Sky even managed to make this simple task difficult. It seems they deliberately pass you around departments, cut your call off mid conversation and promise callbacks that never materialise in the hope that eventually you will simply give up trying to cancel the service. The only way I eventually managed to get hold of the necessary code was by ringing up the cancellation department and repeatedly talking over the representative every time he tried to transfer me until he eventually gave me the code.

Not only will I never touch this service again ( I didn't want to touch it in the first place ) but I will be actively ensuring that anyone whose sanity I value avoids them like the plague.