Sky Reviews

A few years ago I had a package from Sky consisting of phone, TV and broadband. (at that time you had to have the TV to get the broadband).It was reasonably OK.
After a year I decided that because I didn't watch TV very much (and didn't want to pay for something I didn't use) that I would ditch the whole package and change ISP. I moved to O2 and the immediate speed increase of 25% was great.
After O2 sold out to Sky I was eventually put back on the Sky network with an instantaneous drop in speed to the levels I had before joining O2 and found it unacceptable.
So I cancelled with Sky, (although they tried to insist that I was in a contract with them which I was not) got my MAC code and moved to BT fibre.
So far so good until I found a Sky subscription had been taken from my bank account AFTER I had left them.
I contacted Sky via their chat system to complain, only to be told after about 15 minutes of security questions etc. that the issue couldn't be dealt with on line and was given a 0844 phone number to call which I did. The girl I spoke to told me that I would be refunded but that it could take up to 45 days for the money to be returned to my account. So how come they can take money instantly but it takes 45 days to put it back? Absolute rubbish!
Anyway, after several more (unproductive) phone calls over several weeks I decided that enough was enough and that I would give them one last opportunity to pay up or would write a review on here AND go to the ombudsman if necessary. So I dialed the 0844 number again (I think I've spent about £6 so far on calls trying to get my own money back)and eventually got through to billing. The girl I spoke to pulled up my details and said that I was due to a refund but it hadn't been actioned yet, that she would do it right away but it could take up to 45 days to get the refund. Now where have I heard that before I wonder?.
I explained to the girl that I had left Sky on the 27th of February, it was now nearly the middle of May and I wanted my money back within 24 hours or face the consequences. I also informed her that I have recorded every phone call I've had with Sky over this matter, and kept print outs of all the chat sessions and emails that have been exchanged (which I have,really). Miraculously I was now told it would only take 3 days to refund me.
Time will tell but I will not hesitate to take this complaint to the ombudsman in three day's time.
So if you want abysmal service, money taken from your bank account that shouldn't be taken and then spend even more of your money on the (0844 number) phone trying to get it back then why not join Sky?
Absolutely one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with.

Another BE customer who was moved onto the sky platform.
BE was a good ISP where the ADSL service stayed up and VPNs were easily maintained between locations.
End result was that you never needed to speak to support.

Sky is entirely the opposite.
The ADSL service disconnects hourly.
VPNs are impossible to set up.
So you try to speak to Sky support who will will only help if you are using a Sky Modem/Router.

End result is that we have obtained mac codes for our ADSL lines and are moving to another ISP.

In short - avoid - almost anyone else will be better than this - no matter how cheap it is.

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.

First of all, I'm a Network Engineer.

I've had 3 ISPs in the last 12 years. Pipex, Be, and SKY
Pipex were great. Until they got bought out.
Be were brilliant, right up until I left looking for a cheaper deal
Sky? Sheesh, absolute nightmare.

two week long outages with me doing all the chasing for updates/progress
Unsteady line and long outages. I don't think it's ever been up for 24hrs without a break.
Apparently it's always Openreach to blame, which is odd because Be was down only twice in the wee hours, in the entire 4 years I was with them.
No offer of compensation when I told them I couldn't work from home.

Absolute worst ISP I have ever been with.
I strongly recommend you think twice.
What's cheap isn't good and what's good isn't cheap.
I'm moving back to Be at the end of the month.

In comparison to other suppliers, i have found the sky helpline to be very helpful whenever they have been required. I have had 2 line faults in 2 years, and each time it has only taken one call to sky to get the fault logged with openreach, which is the best i can expect from sky. No arguing. No fobbing you off. They are good at running though diagnosis with you on the phone.

I am one of many who will have been migrated from Be Broadband which was honestly the best ISP I have ever done business with. It's such a shame we have lost another great ISP.

Anyway, as I'm not currently able to afford to migrate somewhere else, I found myself getting migrated to Sky. Going from a 12mbps connection with BE to a 16mbps with Sky. My ping for gaming has gone up from 7ms to 23ms. Speed wise I'm fairly happy, but not when I got an email this week charging me for £45! Normally my bill is around £22/23 mark. I noticed it appeared, according to the bill that I had been charged twice for both my line rental and actual broadband service and the fact I don't have Sky TV. Charging me twice again. Thank you Sky!!!

So I called up the Sky Service center who was nice enough, but when he explained that Sky charge you two months in advance in case you leave!!! WTF?!! I told him I had never ever heard of an ISP doing that sort of disgusting thing in order to force me to stay or force me to leave. I think as far as aggressively making any Ex-BE customers or even Sky customers is absolutely disgusting customer service!!! Once I am able to leave Sky, I will leave! I recommend anyone who has any sense to do the same! Like I said, I've had great speeds, can't fault the service, but the billing account arrangement is terrible! Possibly the worst ISP out there for imposing charges to a customer.

I have been with a few ISPs over the years, but my biggest mistake was going with Sky Broadband for my net access and telephone line.

Constant disconnects for the internet, total loss of phone line, and it isnt just me, my neighbour has the same experience

I was rather nervous about joining one of the "Big Companies" as they seem to get generally poor press, however just over a year ago I joined Sky and I can not fault them. My first ISP was Tiscali who were absolutely terrible but being at the time new to the internet I thought the problems I was getting were normal and stupidly stayed with them for 3 years. After this I changed to Titan as they had very good reviews on this site. It was a pleasure to deal with them as they were a small company and I got to know the 2 lads on their helpline by name. However after about a year things started to go very wrong and though they tried they seemed unable to solve the drop outs and poor speeds. I then moved to Zen as they had a very good reputation who finally after 3 visits from Outreach solved my connection problem. I felt a bit guilty as they had been very professional but rather expensive and at the end of 2012 moved to Sky. I have absolutely no problems since.

Put it this way...

It took my 20 minutes to write this (couple of sentence) review because the internet access is so sporadic.

If you enjoy losing internet access in the middle of a transaction or when streaming, do go for Sky.

If you're thinking of taking sky be warned.
If you have no money in your account, they will cut you off till paid.
If you change your debit date, they will bill you for up to three weeks.
I got laid off, and they offered me an early finish payment of £27, the bill was £70.
I couldn't pay the £42 per month, it went up from £34.
They have non UK call centers.
They promised to "up" my speed they never did.
I would not have sky if it was free!