General Chat

Be very careful. This did not happen to me but I have spoken to the person to whom it did happen. If somebody rings you from Sky re insuring your Sky equipment and asks for bank details etc, beware this is a scam. Sky would not ring and ask for details of your bank. Be aware that they sound very genuine and the person it happened to is very alert to these sort of things but, because they were waiting to hear about insurance took it to be genuine.

Ann
Glos

Hello Ann...sorry to hear about friends!
We frequently get these calls asking to re-insure, we did'nt insure in the first place!!!

jude:o) x

I worry about my Mum being taken in by something just like this Ann.
She says she wouldn't tell them anything, but like your friend said, they sound genuine.

Chicken Licken lol

No Alko, it was me.
I got caught for £65!
Thanks Ann for putting this up, it just goes to show any one of us could get scammed the same way!
Sky, has told me they NEVER ask for details or upgrades over the phone, even though I have many asking did I want to upgade.

Hi Taff, I thought it ought to go on the board but didn't want to involve you if you didn't want to put it on.

I got caught last year by a company that made themselves out to be Sky AND had all my info on when my HD box year guarantee was up. I didnt part with any Bank or credit card details ,said yes I was interested but write to me,which they did .I did take up the insurance BUT the next week I saw on the Watchdog that Sky were taking these guys to Court for misleading people . Sky did also ring me later but told them they were too late I had mistakenly taken out insurance with this other company .The company has just sent me a renewal but its not done as Sky now so seems they have got their act together, If Sky doesnt contact me as I told them too them I will renew but knowing its not Sky I am with but another Insurance company. They are genuine insurers Just tried to con people that they were Sky. beats me though how they got the Sky customer details

This happened to us a few months ago, they told us our dish insurance was due to expire and the date for digital tv had been brought forward, so it was worth insuring with them. I said no, and checked their number which was witheld, I then rang Sky who said they never withold their number. I could have given them my bank details to set up a direct debit, and they could have taken any amount they liked.
Liz

There was something like this on radio 4 the other week. A Doctor received a phone call from someone purporting to be from BT. he told her that she had not paid her bill and she would be cut off with immediate effect if she didn't pay. She said that she was suspicious of the caller as she had a direct debit set to pay her bill. She asked if she could call him back and he said no. This made her more suspicious. Then he said that to prove it was a genuine call she should replace her receiver then try to make a call. She did this and her line was dead. (Obviously he didn't put the phone down at the other end)

As soon as she hung up he called again and she then gave him her credit card details including the security code. Then he said that card wouldn't work so she gave him details of another card. By the time he'd asked for another cards details she realised it was definately a scam.

I can't believe that she was so gullible.

the trouble is I think that our minds are so taken up with all the things we have to do that when we get calls like this we are not concentrating and, thinking everyone is as honest as we are, we believe all they say.

Very true Ann, I'me no fool, but they had me good and proper!
The other thing I should have mentioned , was when I tried to get the phone No,. it came back as with held, so I wont know where the money went til I get a bank statement! Even the bank didnt know who it was!
The money had been taken out of my account at 10.25a.m. and I didnt get the call till 6 p.m???.

That was weird Taff

I once had Sky call me & ask me to ID myself. I said "no, you've rung me now YOU ID yourself". He put the phomne down!

I think they had a warning about this scam on the news a few months back.

The thing is in my experience you don't need to insure your sky equipment, as they are happy to replace or repair it if its faulty, all you have to do is say come and fix it or I will cancel my subscription, did this recently as our sky plus box has never worked properly (transpired its to do with the wiring in the flat so an issue to pursue with the developer but the sky engineer came out to confirm this). I also guess any accidental damage to the equipment would be covered by household contents insurance if you take the extra cover for accidental damage.

I never take out extra insurance, as it normally costs nearly as much as going out and buying a replacement item yourself.

I believe when we had sky (we don't now) we called them out and it cost £60 for a new sky box. However when we gave up sky and went to Virgin Sky wouldn't collect the box but said to keep it.

As an update, I have contacted trading standards this morning, and I now have a recoarse......they have misreprested themselves under the misreprestation act 1967.
I also have rights under the consumer protection distance selling act 2000.
So I am off to phone these poeple calling themselves Satelite Customer Care LTD, on paper, but call themselves SKY over the phone!
Wish me luck.

Hi Taff, so are you saying that it was more a scam to get your insurance custom than a scam to get bank details? Not that it makes it any better but hopefully means they wont have taken money from your account other than the premium.

thats right Ann, just the premium, but hey- ho, they wont answer the phone now!!!Argghh!

Janet.Tell them they have 10 working days to reimburse you, or you will go to trading standards. Send it by recorded delivery, and if you have no responce, contact your local TS office.
Google their name and look at the reviews they got! I wish I had seen them before they rang me, plenty of people have been scammed by them!

Well best of luck Jan, thats two they'll be getting then!
Lets hope we get our money back soon.