Virgin Media Community

[derwen]

I have applied to have a rebate for sky sports due to no sports coverage on 2 occasions over the last couple of months and I have not heard anything and have not received the rebate. Is it possible to contact virgin to arrange this as I know of a number of peole who have already received theirs

[apcyberax]

you needed to apply for it online its too late now and it can't be back dated.

[newapollo]

Hi derwen,

there might have been a problem with the information you entered that prevented the pause discount being applied. Hopefully a member of Forum Staff will be able to check this for you.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/thinking-of-leaving/talk-to-us

I requested to pause my sports subscription but did not receive any credits. Why?

When applying the pause to customer accounts we checked to ensure that customers had the credits that they were requesting a pause for. If these services were not on your account you would not have been eligible for the pause credit. We also ensured that the customer details were correct so any information that was inputted incorrectly when requesting the pause could mean that we were unable to apply the credit to your account

[derwen]

I applied on line twice. At the end of April and again at the end of May

[Lisa_CC]

Hi Derwen,

I'm sorry to hear that you've not received your Sky Sports rebate after filling out the form. I've taken a look at your details and cannot see the usual automated message our system sends when a form has been completed successfully.

If there was a system note on there we would have some details to investigate this but I'm afraid there's nothing for me to go on to investigate. The only thing I can think of is if you can provide the time and dates of the forms to see if there is any activity.

Thanks,

Lisa

[derwen]

Hi

It seems very convenient that there is no record on my account even though I filled the form out twice, apologies if I did it wrong. I can't remember the exact dates, it was the end of April and again at the end of May. The fact that I was not notified that I could apply for this was pretty underhand, if this service was available it should have gone out to everyone who was eligible. I know several family and friends who are with Sky who had this rebate without having to search for it online.

[newapollo]

Sky didn't email everybody. They published it on their website on 17th March, and it was up to customers whether they wished to cancel or pause.  This was picked up by press and TV.  For example

 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/03/17/sky-sports-will-allow-customers-pause-subscriptions-...

When Virgin introduced the pause they also published details on their website, facebook and twitter and it was also picked up by press and TV.  

Sky customers had to  telephone at first, there was no website option, unlike Virgin. 

From the Telegraph March 17th  

Sky Sports customers were on Tuesday night given permission to “pause” their subscription during the coronavirus crisis after the company agreed to stop billing pubs and clubs until a live sport schedule returned. The move immediately piled pressure on BT to follow suit for its own sports channel subscribers after it announced a two-week suspension of charges for its commercial customers.

While not giving an automatic rebate for armchair sports channel subscribers, Sky offered them the choice of temporarily pausing the service. 

Sky had initially said that customers would have to pay a hefty penalty if they wanted to cancel their subscriptions before the contract had ended.

A message on Sky's website read: “While we expect that many of the recently postponed sports events will eventually go ahead, if you wish to pause your sports subscription in the meantime you will not be charged a fee to do so or be held to any notice period. Meanwhile we continue to provide high quality content across all of our 11 sports channels.

Sky said, “We are sorry that you are currently unable to pause your Sky Sports subscription online.  Instead, people who want to suspend their payments will need to call the company directly, on 0800 151 2747."

[derwen]

that's strange as both my brother and father paused their sky sports subscription without the fuss I had. Also what's the point having an online option if it doesn't work, as I tried twice. I will certainly consider other options before renewing my Virgin contract as the last year with them has been pretty poor as you will see if you look into my account. This rebate fiasco is probably the last straw

[apcyberax]

it does work. I used it