I just thought id report my recent dealings with sky, as a heads up to others.
I renewed my policy back at the start of June, paying the ammount in full. As the car was for sale I was expecting to cancel before then end of term and was aware of the extortionate charges for doing so (25% for 1 month!) and excepted this.
The car sold at the end of June and a call was made to Sky to cancel the policy a couple of days before the first month of insurance was up.
The person I spoke to said that was fine and would make a note of the call as I needed to send back the certificate and confirm the cancelation in writing. This was done and the letter arrived at Sky just after the first month of insurance was up, but I did note in the letter reference to the phone call and the date the policy was to be canceled from was within the fist month.
This is where it all started to go wrong.
After about a month and no money refunded I made contact several times and was given a variety of excuses as to why I hadnt been refunded. Finally after another 2 weeks or so (my memory on precise dates is a little fuzzy) I was told a refund had of £xxx had been authorised.
This ammount was about £100 less than I was expecting and I had to make a couple more calls to find out why. In the end I was told I had to provide proof I had sold the car on the date I wanted insurance canceled and not the date the letter arrived with them, regardless of the phone call I had made to cancel and their staff acknowledging there was a note of that call and my wishes.
The proof was supplied and the ammount adjusted, and I finally recieved my money at the end of last week, MID SEPTEMBER!
All in all Sky held MY MONEY for almost 3 months, which I could have earnt interest on, and it has also cost me money to call them several times.
The ammount is not a lot to some I know, however I am buying a house and every penny counts at the moment.
If i was 3 days late let alone 3 months late in paying them, im sure I wouldnt have insurance.
Also please dont think that paying monthly would have helped as Sky, along with many others im sure, take out finance in your name to cover the premium and you pay the finance company not Sky so could end up in much worse position.