I was having the same problem and i read your post so i rung them and was very firm with them, told them i was not happy and wanted action and to speak to a manger to which i mentioned the Advertising Styandards Agency my vouchers are know in the post so many thanks

Dear all,

We have all become so accustomed to poor service now. We just accept that what ever we are buying may not be "exactly" what it says on the can, if the product is pretty close to the description of what it says it can do, thats ok.

Well, IT'S NOT OK!

We all have to work hard for our money giving our employers 100%. Why would they pay us or keep us employed if we were giving anything less. So why pay for any product thats not a 100% of what it says it is?

Sky to be honest are the worst, they lie, they're deceptive and use every method of obstruction available.

Some handy hints on dealing with any company you have a complaint with.

List everything you wish to discuss on paper in the order you wish to address it. Write down as much information as possible, times, dates etc. Do not come across as some mumbling idiot blerting everything out at once, or you'll be treated like one. Just be precise and deal with one problem at a time. WRITE DOWN WHAT IS SAID as you may need to refer to these notes if you have to contact them again. At least then you can tell Sky they CAN'T be trusted to do what they agreed to, furthermore they are in breach of their contract by not giving you (the customer) 100% of what they promised

WHEN you call, tell them YOU are recording the conversation (a requirement by law) If you are asked why, just say,"so anything we discuss can be relied upon should it be needed at a later date, it's also for training purposes as you've already called about the same problem twice. Also, you're recording me so I'm recording you". Ask to speak to your Account Manager. Get his/her name and surname. Ask for a reference number for the problem you wish to address. Also, ask what part of the country your call is being dealt with as Sky transfer calls all over the country. Technical calls are dealt with in Mumbia (India)

.ALWAYS be in control of your emotions, don't go off on one like some crack head having a rant. Having worked on a call desk, I know if you act like an idiot, you'll be treated like one. Just be presice and firm, inform them you are taking notes as to what they are doing about your problem.

The time to take legal action

I gave Sky TWO opportunities to cough up my vouchers. I then contacted the ASA (Advertising Styandards Agency) they really must have very sharp teeth as my vouchers turned up within a few days. But again, when you go online to fill out the questionnaire be accurate and specific. The ASA will support you if they have good evidence. Make sure you supply both parties account and address details to the ASA so they can establish who is the Sky customer and who is the new customer (friend) they introduced. They will then order Sky to send the vouchers or face legal action.

Myself personally, I've had a few run in's with Sky one of which was the M&S vouchers but that was dealt with very quickly by using the methods descibed above.

Do not be afraid

I had to call Sky almost 15 times to resolve a problem that was of their making before I went on to SKY TALK. I was furious when I got my bill from BT. I rang and explained I HAD to ring Sky or how could I solve my problem. I moaned about continually being put on hold and all the time wasted over a problem that was down to Sky's stupidity. If they wanted my loyalty as a customer pay my call costs to them with BT. They, without any fuss credited my account with £15.00 I had another credit of £5 for a similar occourance. Sky will credit your account if you are firm with them, don't just lay back and let Sky or any other company take your money if they don't deserve it. My last bill from Sky for TV, Broadband and phone was £4.85 YES £4.85 for the Month of March! I negotiate with them pointing out every item they fail me on, if its not being provided 100% I'm not paying for it.. If they want future business they have to look after the customers they have now or they'll lose them in a flash when a better service comes along.

Last of all...Make it VERY CLEAR, you don't want ANY sales calls from Sky asking if you have a friend in the pipe line who might want Sky. These calls get right up my hooter but have stopped since I told Sky to pack it in.

Make it clear you really don't want the crap that comes in the post about selling your friends Sky or a Sky+ box even if you part of the deal is a free Sky+ box (if it ever turned up) I just tell them to sod off, I don't wanna be A sky salesman, if I did I apply for a job through normal channels.

BE AWARE A lot of companies use foreign employees in their customer service departments. It is a known fact that a person wishing to achieve even a basic level of service must be able to understand the person they're talking to. I can tell you all from first hand experiance of working in a call centre, Asians have the most difficult acent to understand as do the Scottish, Polish, Italian etc. BUT and it's a big but, they can all be as Asian or Scottish as they want to be to the point of bending the dialect so thick no one understanding them. The general public are stressed at the best of times so talking to some one you can't understand either stresses you even more or you give up, slamming the phone down. Sky know this as do BT and all the other companies who use foreign employees. If you cannot understand some one tell them and ask to speak to an advisor who can speak English properly. I've never had a problem with that request and always get transferred to a person I can understand perfectly. Remember YOU are paying to talkj to a person you can understand, let them know that. It's amazing how they become so much clearer at the mention of that.

I am agast I thought I was the only one with this problem I have been waiting since October 2008 for my M&S vouchers I have rung on numerous occasions, put on hold passed from one person and then another promises to ring me back never to hear from them again, I have even taken the name of the operator and still not been able to speak to the same person. I have emailed without any acknowlegement I will be contacting the ASA but I think this scam should be investigated so I will be contacting Watchdog and writing to the papers hopefully warning others considering taking up this promotion. Watch out Sky I will not give up!!!

Oh dear, Im another one who's fallen fowl of the sky recommend a friend scam.

I recommended my father to join sky last year and he rang them up to order sky+ HD tv, sky broadband and sky talk. He was given an installation date and in November sky+HD tv was installed in his house. But thats all. No broadband and no sky talk, even though he had had a BT line installed the previous week. After MANY phone calls to sky who told him they had no details of any order for broadband or sky talk they eventually told him that if he wanted broadband he would have to pay an additional £50. he paid this as he had been without broadband at this time for almost TWO MONTHS!!

In addition to all this we did not receive our M&S vouchers, nor did it state on my sky account that i had actually recommended him! So, since November last year I have rung sky on many occasions only to be put on hold, disconnected.... rang again, put on hold, disconnected.... (got a feeling of deja vu here)... Finally today I spoke to someone who told me my vouchers had been sent out on 11th January. I told them that I had received nothing and that nothing had actually appeared on my sky account. She said she'd put me on hold while she spoke to a supervisor... you guessed it... i got disconnected AFTER listening to music for more than 5 minutes.

I am now going to go to the ASA website and hope they can sort this out for me. Thanks for the info guys!!

Why is it our stories all sound the same?

It's not just Sky, BT are even worse. They hoinked £532.00 out of my BT account just before Christmas. My phone bill was usually £20 a month, so it was a bit of a shock. Upon contacting them to find out what the frig was going on, they informed me it was a cancellation penalty, as I'd cancelled my broadband contract and still had the equipment they'd sent me. Despite asking for proof of this they just kept saying "our system says...." I must have spoken to 10 people, until the 11th (who had some brains) established the fact I had never had or requested a BT Broadband account nor, had any equipment. It still took a month to get a refund from them, despite ringing them everyday asking were my money was. All these big companies seem to have staff that are hard wired with the one aim of delaying customers if money, vouchers or freebies are involved.

Thank god for this site, it's such intresting reading. I find some "Sky Stories" make me laugh, but only because peoples experiences have been so mentally rediculous it is laughable.

I'm taking the advice from this site and contacting the ASA as I'm sick to death of Sky now. It's been 6 months now since I joined them and still no vouchers.

Another little point about Sky. Anyone had Sky ring saying as you don't have sky talk your package will go up by £5 a month starting from 1st March 2009 BUT if you have Sky talk Sky will freeze the increase until January 2010?

I can't as I'm locked in a contract with BT until September 2009, I explained this to the Sky guy, telling him if they even dared to increase my package by a penny I'd terminate my direct debit immidiately and they could poke their package. He actually hung up. After speaking to Trading Standards, I was informed this tactic used by Sky was unlawful and Sky know this. They advised me that once a contract is taken out with Sky they cannot amend or increase there fee's within the first year, as they are breaking the terms of their agreement. SO BEWARE

Hi all,

We have had the same problem, we got introduced in november and didnt recieve the vouchers when expected. The person who introduced us got theirs end of december. We have kept on the phone to sky and got no where. I read on here that some people have gone to the Advertising Standards Authority so we did the same. We filled in the complaint from on their website and got an email the next day asking our permission for them to contact sky on our behalf!

We received our vouchers in a matter of a few days later, and glad all this bother is finally over! They have been so helpful at the ASA and i recommend anyone having these problems to do the same. The form is easy to fill in. It makes me laugh to think they finally cough up as soon as ASA contact them, just shows that they DO have vouchers in stock which our rightfully ours!

I hope you all get them in the end!

I, believe it or not am in the same boat. After reading JRB's story it occoured to me I had an identical experience.

My friend introduced me as a "friend" to Sky way back in October 2008. I was at her house on her phone and set up

my account as part of the introduce a friend promotion. They told us our vouchers would be with us in two weeks we were both given a Sky reference number should we wish to contact them in case the vouchers didn't turn up.

We have both rang Sky on numerous occasions, with the usual nonsence of being passed from one operator to another, then left hanging on for ages before some idiot then asks you to repeat the whole story again. I'm convinced it's a tactic taught to Sky operators to wear us down, hoping we'll give up and go away. We have been given 5 different phone numbers to contact regarding this but none can offer any resolve to Sky breaking it's promise to it's customers or give a good reason why the vouchers haven't turned up.

So, in a last ditch attempt my friend rang Sky (on a new number) she was told both her and tyhe friend she had introduced would need to be available before they could proceed further??? My friend and I went to her house with all our details hoping to get the matter sorted and rang Sky.

My friend is normally very calm and it takes a lot to make her lose her temper. We had put the phone on speaker phone so we could both hear what was being said by sky. As with JRB, the operator said she could only discuss the introduced friends account if they were present. So I piped up that I was present and had been listening to the whole rediculous conversation. The first thing the Sky operator said to me was she didn't like my tone! (bloody sauce of her)

Would you belive, even though both my friend and I had given every possible detail they requied, including reference numbers, installation dates etc, the operator said that on her system Sky had no record of any such transaction or any contact regarding the introduce a friend, thats why we had not been sent our vouchers. Her response to me saying I'd recieved an email from Sky saying my vouchers would be with me in 2 weeks...Sky have no record of that!

I'm afraid I haven't got a break fitted to my mouth to stop me letting go. I didn't swear or become abusive, just told her Sky were no more than low down scam artists with a inbuilt system of deceit and lies to prevent customers claiming the carrot they had dangled to get new customers.

It went silent for quite a while before the operator said she had made note of my concerns and she would get a senior representative to call us in the next few days. I told her I will terminate all my Sky packages on principle if I didn't get a response. She did try to woffle on about I was tied into a contract, but ended the conversation with "am I bovvered NOT"

I won't be expecting a call

Anybody had the same

Alan

Sorry if this has already been answered but i was recomended by a friend to join sky and they had 2 ring up 2 claim their vouchers, do i need 2 ring them aswell 2 claim mine? i really dont see the point in my friend gettin cards 2 hand out 2 people with her account details if everyone needs 2 ring up seperately, it should be automatic.

Journea:We eventually received our vouchers after contacting Trading Standards. We had tried to contact Sky numerous times by phone and post to ask for the vouchers but got no response to the first few letters we sent, and when we rang the Introduce a Friend line were just cut off. Trading Standards were great and we received our vouchers quicly following contacting them. Since then, we have introduced my brother using the free Sky + box offer. My brother got his Sky + box straight away but we were told we would have to wait for an activation letter before we vould get our's. This letter arrived today, informing us that we would have to pay a £60 set up fee for our free Sky + box. As we already have a Sky + box, we were going to give this free box to parents to replace their old Sky box. Having contacted Sky to inform them of this, they have said there is no way to do this, and the box has to be installed and can;t just be 'delivered'. In the original offer there was no mention of fees, just a free box for you and a friend, and now they are trying to make more money out of customers by this unfairness. Has anyone else had problems with this new offer of Sky's? Why can't we simply be given a free Sky + box like the offer said? I think Trading Standards may be helping out again...

sky are basically just a pretty terrible company, a friend of mine has had major problems with them. have you considered leaving, tiscali do great tv packages cheaper and the broadband and phone is great too. and they treat you with respect.

We eventually received our vouchers after contacting Trading Standards. We had tried to contact Sky numerous times by phone and post to ask for the vouchers but got no response to the first few letters we sent, and when we rang the Introduce a Friend line were just cut off. Trading Standards were great and we received our vouchers quicly following contacting them. Since then, we have introduced my brother using the free Sky + box offer. My brother got his Sky + box straight away but we were told we would have to wait for an activation letter before we vould get our's. This letter arrived today, informing us that we would have to pay a £60 set up fee for our free Sky + box. As we already have a Sky + box, we were going to give this free box to parents to replace their old Sky box. Having contacted Sky to inform them of this, they have said there is no way to do this, and the box has to be installed and can;t just be 'delivered'. In the original offer there was no mention of fees, just a free box for you and a friend, and now they are trying to make more money out of customers by this unfairness. Has anyone else had problems with this new offer of Sky's? Why can't we simply be given a free Sky + box like the offer said? I think Trading Standards may be helping out again...

Although I appreciate what has been said by 'Sky Team' above, this does not excuse the shameful way you have treated your customers.

I think it woeful that your own staff don't even know what is going on, when I was trying to sort my vouchers, I was passed from one department to the next because no-one actually wanted to take any kind of ownership of the problem! I was lied to, messed about, and one member of staff thought his survey was more important than my complaint, and thought he was best to do his survey first!!!!!! Not only this, but he wouldn't even transfer me to a supervisor, and when I told him I wanted to lodge a complaint, he told me I was speaking to the wrong person!! Its was customer services I was speaking to... am I being thick, but I would have thought they were the perfect people to speak to!!!!!!

Anyway, that ws just one of the fob off's I received. Rant over, the rest of the service I have received from Sky has been great, so long as you don't have a problem, that are fine, if you do.... good luck!!!! Sky seem to think that they do not need happy customers, and that customers need them more than they need the customers! (sorry, that was more ranting wasn't it!!)

Sort it out Sky, people really expect more from a company of your size!

OFFICIAL UPDATE FROM SKY: 'INTRODUCE A FRIEND'

Our ‘Introduce a Friend’ offer has been massively popular – we’ve given away millions of pounds of vouchers in the last year.

We had a stronger than expected response in the last two months of 2007. Unfortunately, this meant that some customers waited longer to receive their vouchers than we’d have liked.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused and we’ve brought in extra staff and increased stocks of vouchers to handle the high levels of demand. All eligible customers will receive their vouchers.

Operations are now running normally and customers who register for ‘Introduce a Friend’ should receive their vouchers within 28 days.

If you introduce a friend to Sky, it’s important that you register with us to receive your vouchers. We’ve seen some queries about the correct process, so here’s a reminder of what you need to do to help us to process the rewards for you and your friend:

1. Once your friend has joined Sky, you should call the ‘Introduce a Friend’ helpline on 08702 412 939 to register for your rewards. The lines are open from 8:00am to 8:00pm between Monday and Friday and from 9:00am to 6:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

1. To register, you’ll need your Sky Account number plus your friend’s Sky Account number, full name, address and postcode.

1. Once the registration is complete and we’ve checked that both you and your friend are active Sky TV customers, we’ll send your rewards. This can take up to 28 days from validation.

If you registered more than 28 days ago and have not received your rewards, please email IAFQueries AT broadsystem.com and we’ll try to resolve this for you. To help us, please include your Sky TV account number.

If you don’t know your account number please call 08702 40 40 40 or visit www.sky.com/mysky

Best wishes

Sky Team

I didn't receive my letter of apology & £30 credit til at least a week after the vouchers arrived so might be worth sitting tight for a week or so b4 cancelling your contract and see if you get a month's free viewing from Sky (or equivalent) - after all the last laugh's on them - all you did was recommend a friend who probably would've joined anyway!!!

thanks, i emailed jeremy.darroch AT bskyb.com and got them by special delivery the next day! no credit to my account or apology though, at least i can now cancel sky (dont want to be with them now i know what they are really like). thanks again

Hi, sorry for not getting back to you sooner, haven't been on this site for a while. Yes the link you have is the same form I filled in as sky were advertising the fact that they would pay £50 for introducing a friend. I put in my complaint details that sky's terms & conditions stated that vouchers would take up to 60 days to arrive and the deadline had passed and I had not received them so they were not honouring their promise. ASA responded by email the following day asking for my consent for them to contact sky on my behalf & the matter was resolved within a week. I've also since received a letter of apology from sky + £30 credit on my account as a goodwill gesture. Hope this helps if you still haven't received them!