Sky Talk Voicemail Plus

[wiltsman]

I've just volunteered as a minibus co-ordinator with my local Age Concern group in my village.

As I need to be able to access my home phone messages when I'm away from home I contacted Sky Talk last Saturday to have Voicemail Plus added to my Sky Talk package.

I was told connection to it would be 24 hours, but normally would be up and running in two to three hours. Six days have elapsed and I'm still waiting! The current problem is that the PIN number I set it up with is not recognised when I try to retrieve my messages from another phone.

This afternoon I phoned sky for the umpteenth time, and I'm afraid the 'tekkie' guy I spoke to had no concept what Voicemail Plus was. He was telling me there was no way I could access my home phone when I was away from home! I politely requested to speak to his manager, but was told it was not a good idea because Sky could terminate my account, as I was running a business from a residential phone!

I told him I was doing unpaid voluntary work for a registered charity, but this didn't alter his view.

It's a funny old world. So - after a week of chaos, where Sky has failed to set up what would seem a straightforward request, it seems that I'm the 'badman' after all!

[daffy654]

I would phone them back and ask to speak to a supervisor straight off instead of going through an underling first. They should have set up your service by now and as you are not running a business in any way shape or form they cannot charge you extra for it.

[wiltsman]

Hi daffy - It wasn't they were going to charge me extra, although Voicemail Plus carries an extra monthly charge, they hinted that my telephone account would be closed.

I replied that if they did that, I would then close my Sky TV accounts!

[daffy654]

I think the idiot you spoke to had no idea what they were talking about. In my experience Sky customer service reps are great if you don't get shirty with them.

[beegeebee]

Just write directly to the Sales & Marketing Director -- Stephen van Rooyen at Sky;- [email protected] and tell him to sort it for you. He will.

[wiltsman]

daffy - I used to work as a customer service rep for a while, so I always try not to get shirty to others on the phone. To be honest, I've always found the service reps at Sky to be pretty good, but unfortunately the guy I spoke to today knew nothing about the Voicemail plus package I wanted. He kept saying 'I'm trying to explain things to you', but as he had no idea what he was talking about it was a job to keep calm.

He went on to say that as he was being particularly helpful, he said someone would ring me back within the hour giving me a job no. But he went on to say it would still take three or four days to sort the problem out! I wanted to go away this weekend, but don't know if I will be able to now.

beegeebee - Many thanks for the Sales and Marketing director's name and email address - I'll definitely make contact. I know it gets passed on to underlings but going to the top generally means things will get done.

[wiltsman]

Still waiting for that call back!

[wiltsman]

UPDATE:

After all the calls with various Sky reps, my Voicemail Plus was finally up and running after a wait of eight days - it should have taken one day max.

I then got back on to them as I did not want to be charged for the days when I did not have the service. I then received an email from Sky offering me 33pence compensation - yes, that's 33pence!

I had a follow up email from Sky asking me to mark my recent dealings with them, so I replied giving a mark of 1 out of 10.

That's when I had call from Sky and had a conversation with someone who seemed genuinely concerned about my predicament. To cut a long story short, she profusely apologised and offered me my line rental free for the next six months, which I accepted.

It's a shame that it ever got to this stage, but after slating Sky - I thought it only fair to let you all know the final outcome. Sky eventually did the right thing.