How to Cancel Sky
This page index
Why Cancel?
Because . .
- You keep the system because it belongs to you!
- You'll still get over 300 free channels
- All the Christian, BBC and ITV channels are free
- It costs you nothing to cancel
- You'll just stop getting the Sky subscription channels
- Over 200 TV and 100 Radio channels are free. See the Free Channel list here.
Are you wasting money?
Give to Christian Broadcasters instead of Sky!
If you decide to cancel Sky, the money you save could be donated
to a Christian Broadcaster.
They need your help as they strive to bring Christian TV and Radio to the UK.
You don't need to pay Sky for any Christian Broadcast - they are all free. And your system will still receive around 300 Free-to-Air TV and Radio channels on Sky - including all the Christian, BBC and ITV channels. The TV Viewing Card is only needed for Sky subscription channels and Ch4 and Ch5. Prove it! Just remove the TV viewing card from your Sky box and then see (and hear) how much you can still receive without it.
If you still want Ch4 & Ch5, leave the card in the box after cancelling Sky. It should continue to work as a Free-to-View card. This means it will give you Ch4 & Ch5 and also give you the Sky Parental Control. Should the card ever stop giving access to Ch4 and Ch5, you can then buy a 5 year TV Viewing Card from Freesat-from-Sky for £20 by ringing 0870 240 5651.
You keep the system
Your Sky box and dish are yours, so you keep them if you cancel Sky. If your system becomes faulty after you have cancelled, Sky will not be interested. You'll have to call a satellite installer instead. Find one on our Find an Installer page.
How to Cancel your Sky contract
- You can cancel online, by post or by phone.
- Sky only permits the account holder to cancel an account. This is the person in whose name the Sky account is held. (The person actually paying the subscription might not be the 'account holder').
- There is a 30 day notice period.
- To ensure your contract ends by 12th month, contact Sky before the end of 11th month. You can cancel at any time from the 11th month.
Cancel Online
Forgotten your Sky Account Number?
Sky box NOT connected to a phone line
Chris says The quickest way I found is to go online to your Sky account and change your PIN. When Sky send you a confirmation of the change this has your account number on it. Thanks Chris for this info!
Sky box IS connected to a phone line
To find it, view your Sky Statement on your TV.
Press Interactive. Press select and choose Sky Active.
Highlight my account and press select.
Highlight manage my account and press select.
A welcome message appears. Press select.
ENTER:your PIN NUMBER and press select.
Highlight view my Sky Bill.
This will provide your account number - write it down and keep safe.
The account number will also be on your contract documents and is (I am told) on the Sky monthly Magazine
as part of your address.
Thanks to K V for this info.
- To Cancel Online, complete Sky's Contact Us form with all the required details.
- In (1) Define Query select 'Cancellation'
- Then, in (2) Refine Query select 'Cancel Sky TV'
- Complete the rest of the form.
- In the Description message box, tell Sky you are cancelling your contract.
- The 30 day notice period starts on the day you send your message to cancel.
- In view of this, you may want to tell Sky that you will be cancelling your Direct Debit soon.
- Say you expect confirmation of cancellation by phone and email within seven days (give a date).
Sky should confirm quickly that you account is cancelled - by email or phone or both.
If you don't get confirmation by the date expected, get on the phone or write or complete the online form again.
Basically, be prepared and be firm!
Why do I say that?
Because I get so many emails from very unhappy people!
You can't email Sky Customer Services at Skydigital@sky.com as this email address no longer works.
K S used the General Enquiry Form and told me.... “I cancelled Sky on the 20th of Oct, and they rang me to confirm. They also sent me an email on the 28th.”
Kathleen has just cancelled online. Here's her story... I sent in my request to cancel on 12th December '08 and about one week later had a phone call from Sky. However the lady calling me spoke with a pronounced foreign accent and I couldn't understand her. I told her so and she hung up! On the 21st Dec. I had an email asking me to give a date when they could phone me, and this I did. However they didn't phone and instead sent me an email on the 24th Dec. accepting my request to cancel, the cancellation period to run from the date of my original email, i.e. 12th December 2008. I hope my experience is of some help to you.
DFY cancelled online - here's how... I used the Sky Contact us form to cancel, they 'phoned 5 days later to try to persuade me to stay with various offers (I just kept saying I am cancelling). Once I had told them I had instructed my bank to cancel the Direct Debit in 30 days they gave up. I received confirmation of termination by e-mail 5 days later. They do not give up graciously, but become very abrupt. It is worth keeping your viewing card in the Sky HD box as you still get BBC HD and an amazing number of other channels (they told me I would not be able to view BBC HD but you can).
Cancel by Post
The 30 day period starts from the date of your letter so make sure you date it clearly.
Sky will need to know your full name, address, account number, viewing card number and any password on the account.
Write to:-
Sky Subscribers Services Limited, Customer Care Department, PO Box 99, Kirton Campus, Livingston, West Lothian, EH54 7PR
C L tried online but then had to write.... “There was no response from Sky to my online cancellation. I have now cancelled by post. Thank you for your assistance.”
If you see anything on this site that's incorrect or unclear,
please contact us and we'll put it right!
Thanks, Steve Lee.
Cancel by Phone
If you're ready for the challenge, and want to try cancelling by phone, call Sky Customer Services.
Your call will be transfered to the Cancellations department.
You will be encouraged not to cancel and may be offered some half price deal to keep you with Sky a little longer.
The 30 day notice period starts on the day you ring to cancel.
Call
08442 41 41 41
from the UK or
0818 719 819
from the Republic of Ireland.
If you want to use an alternative to Sky's expensive non-geographic number: search at www.saynoto0870.com/search.php (more details below).
When I've given a cheaper geographical number on this page for Sky, that number has been quickly cancelled or blocked. So instead I suggest you search for an alternative to 08702 40 40 40 (or 0818 719 819 from the Republic of Ireland) at www.saynoto0870.com. Use their Enter Number Here box for best results.
Phoning Sky WILL BE A CHALLENGE and can be very frustrating and time consuming so be warned! Read through these examples below to get yourself prepared!
Here's the experience of M L.... “I've cancelled my Sky subscription ...... It was terrible phoning Sky to cancel. They kept me waiting an hour before I put the phone down, and it was one of those premium numbers too. In the end I emailed them and of course wished I'd done that in the beginning.” (NOTE: emails are no longer accepted by Sky - we suggest trying the online form mentioned above.)
Jo told us of her experience when cancelling by phone.... “Hi The 015... number works OK. I made every effort to be polite and I did point out that I was old enough to be allowed out without my mother as were my children so could we cut to the chase. There was a lot of quiet the other end as the script failed and I got cancelled in about 5 minutes overall. Interesting to note that the one link I found on the sky website to 'cancel' said contact 'customer services here' and then the link goes to contact us - which has oodles of numbers but none for 'customer services'. Cute huh!? Thanks for the helpful website. Forewarned was forarmed and I got through the whole thing quickly. Polite but firm and don't answer unecessary questions. Oh and write down the name date etc of the contact. ”.
Alison told us how she called Sky on a cheaper number.... “Hi I thought you might like to know how I was able to contact Sky on a non 0870 number. I looked on www.saynoto0870.com and put in the Sky 08702 40 40 40 number and it came up with an alternative number. I was put through to the cancellation department. They did go on a bit about what else I could do instead of cancel but I eventually just said no and cancelled. Hope this is useful. ”.
Tommy cancelled successfully by phone too.... “Followed your advice and dialled 0150etc operator number and was dealt with quickly - 10 mins! Was insistant and clear and did not enter into 'offered' conversation for better deals and so on and the whole thing seemed to go well. We'll see what happens in 30 days when it stops.... ”.
Richard was leaving the country which speeded up the call...
“I decided to try calling in instead of emailing in as I'd like to tick this off my "to do" list. So, here's what happened:
7 Nov 08 - Called Sky at 01506 421884 (NOTE: Sky have now blocked this number) and a live Operator answered and transferred me to the Cancellation Dept. On hold for about 1 minute.
Talked with Rachel.
Did the "security verification" ie confirmed name, address, home number, birthday and password (had to guess but got it)
Said I'm leaving the country (which is true) so she skipped the offers. (yah!)
Equipment is mine to keep since I'm past the 12 month contract, and she said to take out the viewing card and destroy
it before giving/selling the equipment to someone else.
She typed away and took a couple minutes to "cancel out the account".
Now cancelled, a letter will be sent out via post confirming this.
Since the bank requires 14 days notice to stop the auto-debit, the next payment will still come out of my bank automatically on Nov 10th,
but 10 Nov will be the last payment.
After that payment comes out, I'll have a 3.70 credit on my Sky account and I can call customer service to get the 3.70 credit refunded.
Total time: 8 mins from start to finish including hold time.”