Watch Out

[feral chile]

Just had a call from someone claiming to be Sky offering us an upgrade to the Sky Protect repair package with a better product for less money. First they gave me a brand new phone number to go with our new package, then asked us for bank details. When I told them I wouldn't disclose details over the phone and they should have them anyway, the guy said if we weren't sure he was from Sky we could ring the number he'd given me and the person at the other end would confirm they were Sky.

Needless to say, when I rang Sky on the real number they denied any knowledge.

So beware people who seem familiar with the products you use and claim to be from that company.

[luckysalt]

Bet people fall for it as well

Ta for the heads up

[feral chile]

Yeah, I might be being a bit paranoid but I think they build up to it. A while back my husband got a call supposedly from Sky trying to sell him the Sky Protect package, and when he said we already had it they said they'd check their records and get back to him. They never did at that stage.

But they'd gotten a little bit of information out of him, so they sounded really convincing when they called back this time. They quoted the monthly instalments for instance (it's on the Sky website for anyone to see).

It's lucky that in my job we're bound by the Data Protection Act, which means I'm trained in verbal gymnastics.

What address have you got down for me?

What address should we have?

etc.

And I've had it ingrained into me not to disclose personal information.

[t8yman]

f**king arseholes they are, I had some twat ring up and say "its about your dyson vacuum cleaner" and proceeded to try and sell me a service for it!

they just pick a product that lots of people own, and go through the phone book.

thing is, I know they would nail someone like my Nana easily.

I dont even answer the phone at home, the only time I touch it is when the kids answer it and the caller says "is your dad there?" If someone wants me, theres a phone in my pocket ALL THE TIME!

[Lithium05]

I had this when I got my iPhone. I had someone call claiming to be from O2 trying to sell me insurance for the "knock down price" of £100 for 2 years. No idea how they got my number, but I had been warned by the carphone warehouse that there was a bunch of scammers operating out of Swansea, and the guy I spoke to had a Welsh accent, so I put 2 and 2 together and gave him a fake bank account number and told him to go f**k himself when he called back to let me know it was wrong

[Katster]

Some guy called me the other day claiming to be "Simon the window cleaner" and said he wasn't sure when he'd last been to clean my windows. Given that I live in a flat and we have a specialist company come to clean the windows I knew straight away he was talking out of his arse. I thought it was just a mate winding me up to be honest but he did try getting my address so maybe he was a scammer?? I didn't tell it him though and when he asked did I not live at 107 something or other road I just said no and hung up.

[Tomo18]

i got something similar to this..'Mr Johnson' from sky with an Asian accent

so i let him tell me the offer playing him saying it sounded wonderful and would really be interested in something like this...this phone call must of gone on for 15mins with him really big'in up the offer (i had nothing better to do)

my response was simple...i will ring virgin media to see if they have a similar offer.. i heard the phone slam he was gutted

they get excited when they think they have a sale/scam

Edited June 28, 2010 by Tomo18

[ministe2003]

cheers for the advice. My dad had a similar phone call where he claimed to be from Sky but kept asking details that a Sky employee should know.

Makes you wonder where they're getting the names and numbers of Sky users though?!

[Greeny_Musicchild]

My mate Sam works for Sky through Domestic and General, actually signing up people for sky services and so on. He's always telling us about people who call them saying they've just got one of those scam calls. A lot of people sign up for the deals they offer, he's been dealing with them for the last 4 or 5 years. Bastards.

[feral chile]

I'm really irritated now. We had a letter from Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd saying they were renewing our cover with them. Well we've never heard of them, and I wasn't ringing their 0871 number they gave in order to cancel. We rang Sky again, again nothing to do with them. So off we trotted to the bank to try to cancel the payment. They quoted us another company and said we had been paying them for a year. We're only with Sky Protect, we said, so keep that and cancel any other repair warranties. So she cancelled that one. I was a bit surprised that I hadn't noticed this coming out of our bank, so checked our online statement when I got home. We've only gone and cancelled Sky Protect!

Wish I'd taken in Greeny's post more carefully, would have recognised the company name.

Edited July 6, 2010 by feral chile

[oafc0000]

All these service plans take the piss...

I pay sky something around £70 a month and then if there equipment fails they want me to pay to have it fixed

Well they can feck right off.... If it fails I will just give Virgin a call

[rabid]

All these service plans take the piss...

I pay sky something around £70 a month and then if there equipment fails they want me to pay to have it fixed

Well they can feck right off.... If it fails I will just give Virgin a call

[Cheshire Cat]

I'm really irritated now. We had a letter from Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd saying they were renewing our cover with them. Well we've never heard of them, and I wasn't ringing their 0871 number they gave in order to cancel. We rang Sky again, again nothing to do with them. So off we trotted to the bank to try to cancel the payment. They quoted us another company and said we had been paying them for a year. We're only with Sky Protect, we said, so keep that and cancel any other repair warranties. So she cancelled that one. I was a bit surprised that I hadn't noticed this coming out of our bank, so checked our online statement when I got home. We've only gone and cancelled Sky Protect!

Wish I'd taken in Greeny's post more carefully, would have recognised the company name.

[Steve P]

Some guy called me the other day claiming to be "Simon the window cleaner" and said he wasn't sure when he'd last been to clean my windows. Given that I live in a flat and we have a specialist company come to clean the windows I knew straight away he was talking out of his arse. I thought it was just a mate winding me up to be honest but he did try getting my address so maybe he was a scammer?? I didn't tell it him though and when he asked did I not live at 107 something or other road I just said no and hung up.

[feral chile]

I'm really really annoyed now, we've just had £89.99 taken from our bank by a company calling themselves Nationwide Digital. The bank said it was a card transaction so we have had to cancel the card to stop them taking it again, and instructed the bank to treat it as fraud. It's likely to be the same people as Digital Satellite Warranty Cover ltd, as the phone numbers are identical except for the last digit, and the price quoted on their renewal notification is the price taken.

We also think the same people are behind Premier Sky Repairs Ltd., as they claimed we had a warranty with them/(though they claimed to be Sky), and asked us to upgrade it. Also, when I did an internet search for Nationwide Digital, I came across a forum warning people off, and there was a lone reply claiming they were genuine, and efficient, and that person gave his user name as premier man.

Anyway, we've asked our bank to investigate, and also passed on all the details to Sky.

So be very careful giving out your card details, it's a lot more difficult stopping a card transaction than it is a standing order or direct debit. It was Mr FC's card that was used, so he's in the doghouse for not being as paranoid as me.

[dakyras]

Makes you wonder where they're getting the names and numbers of Sky users though?!

[feral chile]

What about the Murdoch Empire makes you think they wouldn't bat an eyelid at selling customers' contact details?

[windy_miller]

One way to deal with annoying cold callers is to ask them to hold for a few minutes and then just leave them for about 5 minutes. They've usually hung up by the time you go back to check on them.

[feral chile]

One way to deal with annoying cold callers is to ask them to hold for a few minutes and then just leave them for about 5 minutes. They've usually hung up by the time you go back to check on them.

[windy_miller]

I think you can request your number to be removed from their lists, can't you? We're ex directory, so we shouldn't get any cold callers. So someone's passed on our details.

Edited July 27, 2010 by windy_miller

[feral chile]

Yes, its called TPS

http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

If you do get a cold call once you are on TPS, ask the name of the company, then tell them you are on TPS and you are going to report them. That should make them hang up pretty sharpish.

EDIT: in fact, you could tell them this regardless of whether you are on TPS or not

Edited July 27, 2010 by feral chile