ChristianSat Guide - explains satellite

www.ChristianSat.org.uk  How to get free Christian TV & Radio by Satellite across the UK

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 The Bible says:

Satellite RadioIts easy without a TV. Just connect your receiver to a hi-fi.

Sky or Non-Sky?How do you decide? Check out our comparison chart!

Non-Sky systemsMany options - more Christian channels and more control.

How to Cancel Sky

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.

You keep the system but . .

Your Sky box and dish are yours, so you keep them if you cancel Sky. But, 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.

You can now cancel a Sky TV contract and still keep the Broadband service but the Broadband will cost you more. Details at the Sky Broadband Shop
Thanks to Richard Firth for this update.

If you want Sky Parental Control leave your card in the box. Should the card ever stop giving Sky Parental Control, you can then buy a 5 year TV Viewing Card from Freesat-from-Sky for £20 by ringing 08448 244 400.

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 31 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

You can either email Sky or, if you have a Sky iD account, you can go to Sky's website and complete their Contact Us form.

To cancel by email: email Sky at
Sky will need to know your full name, address, account number, viewing card number and any password on the account.
Thanks to Dave Lee for sending me the email address.

To cancel on Sky's website: If you have a Sky iD account you'll be able to access their Contact Us form. Go to the Sky Help Centre on top right of screen click Sign In and sign in with your Username and Password. Once you see the form, follow these steps....

• 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 31 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).

Thanks to Chris for confirming this method still works.

Sky should confirm quickly that your 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!

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).

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Cancel by Post

The 31 day period is supposed to start from the date of your letter so make sure you date it clearly. But Carl found that Sky now insist that the 31 days notice begins from the date they respond to your letter - see his message below.
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

Carl wrote to cancel but beware, Sky required a 31 day notice period. He says: “I wrote to Sky requesting they cancel my Sky subscription 30 days from the date of my letter. Full name, address, account number, viewing card number and password were provided and clearly highlighted. I notified them I would be cancelling my Direct Debit following my next payment 2 days hence and therefore would not expect any further debits. However Sky had other ideas!!
So I thought you should be aware that when cancelling Sky by post they:
1) initiate the 31 (not 30!) day notice of cancellation from the date they action it and not the date of your letter according to Customer Services.
2) bill you for the extra days following your original 30 day notice period to the date they have confirmed your Sky subscription will cease.
3) if you cancel your direct debit they add a further administration charge of £3-91 to your bill.
4) if you refuse pay these additional charges and clear your account Customer Services informed me they will cancel the 'request to cancel' your Sky subscription and continue billing you with the additional admin charges!!!
Furthermore it took over 15 minutes on their premium rated phone line to be informed of the above. So I guess I'm going to have to pay the additional charges or face the prospect of indefinite bills being charged to my account. Please make other users of your site aware of this '31' day notice from date received requirement.”
Thanks, Carl for this very helpful information.

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.”

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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 31 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 Sky provide your phone service see box on right of this page.
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.”

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.”

David cancelled in under 5 minutes and was thanked for being honest! “I decided to phone so that I knew it was done straight away. I was only on the phone 4m 30s, including getting to the correct department. I told her I wanted to cancel, that I was going to Virgin (we get Virgin's basic package free with broadband - but we'll continue to use the Sky box for FTA channels including the Christian ones), that Virgin was being installed next week and I didn't want to waste her time trying to persuade me otherwise. She thanked me for being honest, was very friendly and the job was done in a few minutes.
Although I think she would have tried to offer me a deal, I've read a lot of comment on the net that Sky aren't doing that as much because of the recession. It's more 'take it or leave it' than ever before.”

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