Sky "Frightening" The elderly.....

bert1

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An elderly relative of mine handed me a letter they received from sky today and asked if i knew anyyhing about it.... I was astounded by .....

- how misleading and untrue its opening sentence is and how despicable it is to try and frighten the elderly
into taken out a subscription.....it seems there is no level this company is prepared to stoop to in order to bring more revenue....

First of all- the letter head advertises a sky+ pvr for only £49 but we all know these are as good as useless unless you keep paying a monthly sub ...£16 a mnth cheapest....

It then advises that digital switchover is coming to our region soon. NOT TRUE or more correctly very economical with the truth. I have a wriiten response from digital UK who advised that the transmitter that serves us will not be upgraded to digital before May2010 AT THE EARLIEST......hardly any rational person;s definition of the word soon......

so what we have here is an 87 year old pensioner- frightened into thinking that unless they pay £49 plus £16 a month they will not be able to use their tv set.....

THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS- they didnt even offer the Freesat from Sky....which may have been more appropriate and less stomach churning than this.......I also notice that the BBC are forced to mention alternative platforms when they make a promotion- this should work the other way too. People will then have all relevant facts in front of them and they can make an informed choice rather than one in fear or panic.

These letters should be forwarded with a complaint to their local MP......

If any one from the BBC/ ITV proper Freesat is reading this- you need to get some literature out in these areas and soon......

Im also curious as to how the personal details are obtained-theyve never dealt with them or had any service from them ?


Full letter attached:
 
Bert this is just a marketing letter I don't see anything sinister here. I don't think they would even be aware of the persons age, probarbly just bought a data base from somewhere and mailed everyone on it.

thebigman
 
you dont work for em m8 do you...? is not trying to use the word soon- when its two years or more away not sinister?

(i believe a company(not just them) should only be able to approach you if you asked them too anyway)

if they have those details then theres a good chance they will know other details, however name and adress and how much can we get off them seem to be the only ones that matter ....

-this is the hard sell to get in first before freesat, it iimplies (to the less well informed) that there is no alternative--and whereas you and i would put this in the bin and think no more of it-my relatives didnt and i'll bet theyre not alone.

and if there is some credabilty to be had- offer a suitable product....


fact is m8 -there is no digital alternative(until now) in these parts - those that would want it,probably already have it- but there is an elderly population here who know nothing other than analogue......theres a calculated element of scaremongering......although id admit that nobody sat down targetting pensioners in particular - but the result is no different than if they if they had.....they still did it.

Wot i saw was someone very concerned because this letter arrived....-theyre not particularily bothered who they target provided they get their money- they certainly did give an impression that something was going to happen imminently and the only way to put it right would be to buy a sky+ box and subscription

it is sinister in my opinion if you take into account

1-local knowledge and the actual timetable involved
2-that there are alternatives to £16 a month
&3 that we're not talking about amateurs in a marketing dept- they have a duty to act responsibly...
 
1-local knowledge and the actual timetable involved
2-that there are alternatives to £16 a month
&3 that we're not talking about amateurs in a marketing dept- they have a duty to act responsibly...

Nothing sinsiter,Actually Bert,you will find that once again sky's marketing and promotions
people have done an extremely good job.

the fact that it is an elderly person makes no difference,they are a stat on a computer screen.Complete overreaction by you tbh.
 
Not an over reaction m8......you choose to see it as marketing and good business practice....Others here will see it as something else.....

and if a good job is to sell something by declaring things that srent really true..well....

lets put it this way if i turned up on your nan's doorstep- told that the vacuum cleaner she has wont work soon
and offered the latest all singing replacement- YOUD CALL ME A CON MAN......
 
sky are actually breaking the law doing this (http://www.berr.gov.uk/), and they know it. They also have door to door people going around actually telling people that as freeview aint available, if they dont sign up to sky then they will have nothing when the switchover happens. the guy who knocked my front door saying it had the worst day of his life lol (im RDI and askDigital approved advisor for DigitalUK) so after listening to all his stuff, i said id have a think about it but could i have his details. as soon as i had his name, number and the marketing company he worked for, i let him have it with both barrels, reported him and his company to trading standards, reported his company to skys relevant department and reported sky to DigitalUK along with the marketing company who the guy was calling on behalf of (for sky)

its things like this that will throw the digital switchover into chaos, destroy peoples trust in what to believe in what IS going to be a confusing time for the elderly and those who are not as clued up as most of us here are, and in general make the majority of aerial/sat installers untrusted by the public.

Bert1, if the letter has caused upset, even if that is not the intention of the letter, report it.

Wether its clever marketing tactics, or clever use of words, if it causes distress through not explaining clearly or trying to manipulate people into making a decision to sign a contract without disclosing all of the facts needed then its breaking a law (in the link above)
 
No bert i dont work for them lol, but I honestly dont see anything illegal or threatning in this piece of junk mail. I wouldn't be surprised to find they had bought a copy of the electroll roll for your area and that was were they got the details from. Its just an advert it depends on your perspective wether you think 2 years is soon or not. As you say i'd just chuck it in the bin like i do with all the other junk mail I get from sky on a weekly basis.

I remember when the power companies were going door to door my wife spoke to a salesman at the door. The next thing I got a letter from scottish power asking me to reconsider switching the cheeky ba***rd had forged my sig on a contract to switch. You can bet similar tactics will be going on nearer the digital switchover as companies try to get as much buisness as they can out of it.

At the end of the day sky are in buisness to make money (lots and lots) i get the impression they aren't you'r favorite company, as digi says if the letter has caused offence then you should complain.

thebigman
 
I see fook all wrong with the letter, I get them daily :)
 
bm and witchy......it was nowt personal guys -hope you understand that....but it did get my blood boiling for the cheek,arrogance and misleadingness of the letter.....

I still think that there are special circumstances in this locality though(and sky will be well aware of them)-no cable,no dtt- we sill dont get five on analogue and our fourth channel is the bilingual version of s4c-if you dont speak welsh there are only 3 channel alternatives at peak time-yet people still come to rely on this.(maybe its because thee was considered to be little to demand that the transmitter was never upgraded at least to carry the extra national channels).... ..suddenly even reception of 3 channels seems jeopardised..(according to the literature)

if it is an innocent oversight it should have been considered more carefully.than it was and i'll never accept that the word soon is applicable to a period of two years or more.....I wonder if i call $ky order a full package and advise I'll pay soon in 2010,how the long the card will last....its a valid point.

Everyone here that wants their services -already has them......the rest either dont want it or cant afford it...
Business is leaving us- not coming to us....we have a higher percentage of elderly because the young move away.....


any way...nuff said - ive had my say....
Bert
 
I think bert1 has a valid point here.
We got a flyer through the door this week as we ARE switching soon, 2009.
The way that it was worded implyed that when analogue was turned off, Sky was the only solution.
Ok so it's a marketing ploy, but missleading nontheless!
My Mrs was confused by it and asked me if we would be subscribing to Sky next year.

Curly
 
Most marketing is misleading I can see how in an area where there is already limited choice this could be taken this way. Thats why you should complain. they wont tell you about freesat cause its not in their interest.

I remember an elderly neighbour of ours getting a flyer saying she had won a free mobile she called a premium rate no only to be told she would have to take a contract @ £30 a month to get the free phone. She actually phoned them back to complain on the premium no. Both calls cost her about £6 each that was about 6 years ago. So i can appreciate the elderly get confused easilly with these things.

Don't worry Bert no offence taken,

thebigman
 
the link to the site i posted contains 31 new 'laws' that will come into effect on the 26th may, these are designed to stop misleading and confusing advertising and selling, and is aimed at companies that deal directly with consumers

for example, if you walk into comets and buy a TV with no built in digital tuner because its cheap, you just walk out with a cheap telly, and when switchover happens you have no picture, even though its a new telly, after the 26th the sales person, by law, has to tell you that when the switchover happens, to carry on using that telly you will need to purchase extra equipment, this then gives you the information you need as to wether to buy the telly or not

for a long time sky has used its ability to confuse and scare people into signing up, and with the switchover looming itll only get worse
 
i had a sky fella come to my door a few weeks ago and let him go through his sales pitch and asked what i paid i told him and he said with sky u could be saving over x amount
i said do u do 20mb he said no
then i said u have to pay bt £11 per month as well he said yes
i said do u get all channels free he said no
i said i can
i said can u beat that
he looked confused and went away lol
 
A few months ago my parents had a knock at the door one evening when I was round for tea, and it was a slimy looking prat working for some two-bit marketing firm trying to offer a "free" introductory offer to sky.
He asked what my parents currently used and I told him Freeview and that there was no way on earth they would consider having sky.
He then told me that when the digital switchover happened they would have to spend £120 on a new areal or get sky.
I asked this Muppet of a conman to leave the property but he kept talking.
Needless to say he didn’t hit the ground until the end of the driveway.
 
Looking at the letter, I don't actually think SKY have sent it....

With the reference to the unique reference number at the bottom, I think it is a local dealer out to make a few sign up bob's...


Also, the basic package is now £17 PCM as it has just gone up, so it is naughty either way.
 
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