Phone Spam from Satellite Direct UK
I just got another call from Satellite Direct UK telling me that my Sky warranty needs renewing. Oddly enough, nothing has changed since their last call. We are still registered with the TPS so it’s unlawful for them to phone us and we still don’t have a Sky box, so it’s definitely not out of it’s warranty period, which they again suggested. Satellite Direct UK you are not morons: stop ignoring the TPS.
Update: Looks like we’re not the only recipients of their unwanted sales calls: Longrider (also called twice) points out a host of others.
Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB.
Update 2008/03/10: Satellite Direct UK are investigated by BBC Watchdog (it’s available on iPlayer for 1 week after broadcast).
Update 2008/07/05: The director of Satellite Direct UK appears to have been charged with fraud and money laundering.
Update 2009/04/27 Many people are commenting that Satellite Direct have charged them 10x their agreed direct debit amount. It has been suggested that HMCS MoneyClaim Website is a good place to get your money back if you can’t contact Satellite Direct.
Update 2010/02/24The former director of Satellite Direct UK, Dave Reynolds, has been found guilty of £600,000 tax fraud.
820 Comments
Hello their
i work for company called satellite direc ltd not uk and our company has established 15 years ago and we have the same telephone no and address since that , we cover only london area for satellite installations and plasma screens show room. we don’t do any warranty,insurance or what soever we are suffering every day from ppl calling us withregards to this matter about this other company which is no us for sure. we’re a member of CAI very well known company.
Savana
Satellite Direct ltd
Have just found out i have been getting ripped off by SATELLITE DIRECT UK since taking out cover from early 2007.on checking my direct debit statement for last month i found they charged me 10x my monthly payment of £12.95.I have tried calling them with no answer and only discovered who this company is when i checked online. cancelled direct debit but cannot believe i fell for it. “PLEASE BEWARE” of this “CON”.
Satellite U.K. took from my account £129.50 by direct debit in March, instead of the £12.95 that it should have been taken.
Tried phoning, e-mailing, writing, no response.
I thought (trusting idiot that I am )that it might have been a mistake, but as it has happened to others then it is theft.
I have been advised to chase them through moneyclaim.gov.uk
any one any ideas?
That moneyclaim site looks particularly useful! If everyone uses it, there will very quickly be a measurable body of evidence detailing just how many people have been affected by this decimal-point-error.
Hi,
I have just come home to find out that Satellite Direct uk have taken £59.99 out of my account, i have never received any service from them nor do i have sky. I can’t get through on the number given by my bank and it is a premium number i think. I phoned them and got left on hold for 15 mins only for them to hang the phone up on me.
It sounds like there is nothing this company will not do. I have reported them to the bank so will see how that goes.
hi this is no mistake its done on purpose so directors get your money and millions of pounds of other peoples money for 28 days. thats alot of interest. my advice to everyone is to cancel dd before they go belly up and then you won,t get a penny back
I signed upto this disgrace of a company about 4/5 yrs ago after i got a call saying that they was cheaper than Sky, so we changed. they took my dads debit details and that was that. recieved paperwork then the company moved, never had anymore details after that for them
when our remote control packed up i ran Satellite Direct I was told by a very rude man that they wanted my remote sent to them first and then theyd send me out a new one, when i explained that if i did that i wouldnt be able to do this as my amstrad box doesnt have working buttons on the box, they are for show, he started to get more abrupt with me and called me a silly cow, by then i said dont bother i’ll buy one. he said fine and hung up on me.
after lots of calls from them over passed months saying they would only speak to my dad who works odd hours, so said you can speak to me, they would say no and hang up on me.
they kept ringing lately asking for him again and again when my dad said i’ll pass you to my daughter they hang up.. haha
they rang again today and spoke to my mum who said she would pass her onto me, the woman called Stevie said your warrently with us runs out tomorrow (fri) I said no as we are now back with Sky, she started to get abrupt with me saying well we are taking payment tomorrow, i said no as we dont have a direct debit with them anymore and she told me that only the first year they do DD and them it goes to standing order,i said how,as we havent started one up and she said abruptly well he rang us and gave us his bank details, i said we didnt as we dont have any numbers or addresses to ring/send to. she told me well you did u just dont remember it. i said id contact the bank to stop this, this made her more abrupt and said why they cant do anything we take it when we want. when i said is this how you talk to all your customers, she said im not its you, when i said now i no why customers are leaving you, she said theyre not we have over 8,000 customers, i said well with an attitude like that it wont be long. i also asked for the company address for cancelling and she wouldnt give it me, so i asked for an email address for her to send it to me, she said no its for internal use only, then said i’ll send you a letter with the address on it (under her beathe said dont bank on it)
this company is just so rude and abrupt. im now back with Sky and all is well and also cheaper and they send new remote and dont ask for old one back. i highly recommend Sky… glad to be back with them.
my dad is now going to the bank tomorrow to ask the bank to investigate this and stop any standing order they try to make.if they do take any money then they are going to start a take money by deception case…
also just found out that they are not even registered with the FSA. haha just gets better
I worked for satellite direct (now trading as satcover) for 5 months, and they do have questionable sales method. I started working for them just after the high court ruled against them and they were trying to make sure telesales staff were not mis-selling but it was rife and sales managers did nothing about it. All the company is inetrested in is getting your card details or bank account info, they alledgley have engineers but nobody I worked with ever saw them! We actually found out that the company paid for a sky engineer to fix a customers fault as they had nobody to fix it!
We have to question Sky’s role in this as they do sell present and past customers databases on to companies such as satcover etc, and sky have told me that the box is not covered under my contents insurance therefore I need a warranty-I underwrite house insurance and this is rubbish!! Just be careful, as there are loads of these sky warranty companies trading, some are ok some are not.
I’ve never had any problems with this company, and no I don’t work for them, but I have taken insurance out with others and had problems.
I pay for a three year warrenty but I’ve had them out four times, had my entire system replaced once and my box replaced twice. I live in a rural area and the repair men get here about the time thay say and thay are always willing to explain what needed doing.
Hi there i am an engineer for satellite direct and i know for a fact we have at least 100 engineers. Ther only prob with the company is their sales techniqes i agree with that but the service that we as engineers provide is as good most sky engineers!! I will be honest with you some jobs i go out to i cant believe the workmanship of some of the sky engineers. Something as simple as putting an F-connector on the end of a cable seems to be too difficult!
If they are not registered with the FSA, shop them, as you need a lience from them to trade. It’s illegal to trade without it. The company prob has one but under a different name!
just found that SAT SUPPORT HAD TAKEN £6,50 AS USUAL BUT ALSO ADDED £49.99 FOR NO REASON, managed to get this back from the Bank and have cancelled all future dd,d suggest you do the same. Appear to have changed their name from saat support to satalite direct. for your guidance now have a new no 08702240442 company now appear to opeate from arundel contact name ? DAVID REYNOLDS. Chase them up they deserve it .
I also have been ripped off. My bank noticed that I had been paying this company SATCOV £6.50 per month (used to be £6.00) never told me. Then the bank noticed a £65.00 taken from me for them. I cannot get any anwser to my emails, faxes and also the letter and documentation that I sent them. Have stopped the DD but I doubt if I can get my £65.00 back, Any suggestions as to how I can. Would greatly appreciate any help.
s
your bank should get the money back for you. Inform them and ask them to look at statement
i had the same problem they took £85.00 INSTEAD OF £8.50 THE NUMBER I USE WAS 08702245777 IF THE COMPANY IS SATETLLITE DIRECT UK LTD IN SUSSEX I NOT TO SURE IF IT IS THE SAME I WAS LUCKY AS I WAS ABLE TO STOP THE DD AND IT WAS PINGED BACK INTO ACCOUNT BUT THATS WHAT THEY TOLD ME IF I HAD NOT GOT THROUGHT TO THEM IT WOULD TAKE 28 DAYS THEY TOLD ME TO BE PUT BACK INTO MY ACCOUNT THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY DO KEEP YPOU ON HOLD FOR QUIET AWHILE LIKE THE AVARGE TIME I AM ON THERE IS ABOUT 30 MINS BEFORE THEY ANSWER THE PHONE
Your bank can issue an indemnity . I have just done this and had my money back from the bank and they will claim back direct with company
I had a disturbing and upsetting call from one of these satellite insurance companies.
The salesman started by saying he worked for a Sky Satellite dish insurance company. He knew our names and our address. I just thought he must have old information as we haven’t had Sky for over 2 years, so I told him this.
His tone became nasty and he said if we didn’t pay it would be double next month, treble the next etc.. He started to laugh. I told him that we owed them nothing and put the phone down. I am going through a pretty rough time at the moment and it really upset me.
Anybody got any ideas who would do such a nasty thing?
Thanks.
In response to Kentlady, I would not be surprised if someone at Satellite Direct had made the call she recieved as they have some real thugs working for them. There was one decent manager who was sacked after complaining about staff behaviour and the way some staff treated customers on the phone, forcing them to buy these pointless warrenties. The company pays minimum wage, and actually employs people who are paid to stop customers cancelling their policies, by threatening legal action! How can this company be allowed to trade??
I got sky installed 6 mths ago, and I had my first Satcover call this week-told the bloke to go and sit on a spike and not bother me again!!
hi we have been getting calls stating or warrenty is up, we know it is not, are these scam calls, we are insured by satellite direct. what do we do when these guys ring, other than but the phone down??
We have had a Satellite Direct Uk warranty for 4 years and have had to call them out 3 times and each time have turned up within 24hrs. We have also been contacted by many other companies all with similar names, the latest was Satellite Support who as far as I can tell are nothing to do with Satellite Direct as all they could do was to slag them off. So I decided to try and check them out and came across this site. All I can say is that we have had nothing but good honest and polite service from Satellite Direct.
This is a copy of an email i have sent to watch dog. If we can all email watch dog then i am sure that we can have this company sorted.
Hi, my name is Lee Burton.
for about 2-3 yrs i have had my sky tv equipment covered by a company called satcover. i noticed on 19th feb 2009 they took the usual direct debit amount of £6.50 from my bank but also took on the same day another direct debit amount of £49.99 for no reason known to me. i rung them straight away on the dreaded 0871 number and they apoligised and said that it was an error they had made and said it would be back in my account within 10 working days. after 10 working days the money was not in my account so i had to ring the 0871 number again and they said that it was actually 14 working days and not 10. on the 15th working day it was still not there so i rung the 0871 number again and they said sorry and told me it would definately be in the bank on tuesday 17th march 2009 which again it wasn`t so i rung the 0871 number again and they said 100% it will be there on wednesday 18th march 2009 and again it wasn`t. i am now really worrying that they are not planning on giving me back my money at all and being a low income family we can not afford to lose such a large amount of money. in total i have spent about £25.00 in phone calls and can`t afford to call anymore so i thought i would try and contact them on the internet. when i typed there details in my web search bar i couldn`t believe what i was reading.
The company is trading under the name SATCOVER LIMITED but also known as trading under Satellite Direct UK.
The name and address for the company i have is:
Mr David Reynolds.
Satcover Limited.
Credit Control Team.
Imperium House.
Ford lane, Ford, Arundel.
West sussex. BN18 0DF.
When i searched on the internet i type in the search bar either David Reynolds satcover, £6.50 took £49.99, satcover direct debit or David reynolds satellite direct it brings up on the list many different people that he has done this to and most being around the same time as they took my money.
I know that £49.99 is not a lot of money to most people but to us it is and it has even put a stop to our planned family day trip to chessington theme park.
We are just one of the families that this company has done this to and if there is another 999 people they done it to then they would have scammed a whopping £49,999 from people.
I have contacted the bank regarding this and they have now cancelled the direct debit with the company but have also informed me that there is nothing they can do regarding recalling the money back.
I am sure that i have read on the net somewhere that you have had dealings with David reynolds before but please take the time in searching the details of him and his company names and it will reveal to you just how much of a crook he is.
Regards. Mr Lee Burton.
My case was exactly the same scenaro as yours Lee but I did eventually get the £49.99 back after a second phone call, asking for an immediate refund, insistence on knowing the date that the money would be back in my account and I received this back in 4 days. However, if you paid by direct debit this money can be usually be claimed back under the direct debit indemnity scheme as the £49.99 was not due. Suggest you contact the Bank again to enlist their help.
my mother in law was had the same trouble as you, the company took out £65.00 instead of the £6.50 p/m
she phoned and phoned every month to get the money back and they kept saying that they will put it back in but it never was, so she had to contact her bank and they cantacted there lawers and she got the money back a few days ago.
This company is a scam just to get more money from people
We have had cover with Satellite Direct for several years and on the couple of occasions we’ve had to call them they’ve responded to our calls pretty efficiently. However, this weekend we checked our bank statement and seen that instead of taking our usual monthly direct debit payment of £6.50 they’d taken out £65.00. We assumed it to be an admin error so while in the bank spoke to someone who said that they could reclaim the difference for us via the D/D Indemnity. I’ve had a call from the bank today to say that they can only refund the full amount and not the difference which I have authorised. I subsequently tried to call Sat Direct to try and tell them what had happened and to make this month’s payment but was kept in a queue on their 08702 240442 for 10 mins before hanging up (don’t want to pay huge 0870 charges). I only found this thread when trying to look them up on the web to send them an email and am horrified. As I said earlier, we’ve had a good service from them when we’ve had to use the policy but I am now nervous about whether to continue with them or not.
You are all correct in what you are saying. They are con artists.
They try to offer a good service when it comes to technical support & do have engineers for faults that can’t be solved over the phone, but this part is probably the only good thing about the company.
The selling of the agreement & the administration however is just a plain joke.
At the moment, you will find you are on hold for about 1/2 an hour before someone pics up.. this is because the service line is mega busy due to the following issue -
At the moment there is a big scam going on where the bosses have decided to take far too much money out of customers accounts, if you are paying £6.50 you will find £65 has come out, if you are paying £12.99, you will find £129.90 has been taken & so on. They have done this deliberately, not because of ‘a decimal point has some how been moved due to computer error’ as they are told to instruct customers.
It has been/will be happening to anyone that pay’s via direct debit, so be warned.
They will refund you the money, but only after keeping it for at least 28 days (if you’re lucky), thus gaining a mega amount of intrest. If you think about it, with the amount of customers they have.. close on a million, the intrest on the money gained by the ‘mistake’ runs into the thousands.
The only way to get the money back quicker is by raising an indem claim with the bank.. the more people that do this at the bank will eventually cause the company to loose their DD facility, and with about 80% of their customers paying via this method, it may just well cause the company to become bankrupt.
There are also issues with a £49,99 payment being debited for a phone & broadband service… again ‘accidently’ taken out from customers accounts – people that haven’t signed up to it!! Its just mad!
They NEVER send out price increaswe letters – this is fact. If anyone actually went through our computers, you will find proof that these were never printed – Thus breaching the direct debit guarantee.
As for their sales… well nothing legit there either.. Satellite Direct provide aftercare for sales offices that dont share the company name.. eg, Satlink services & sat support – this is how they get away with miss selling, because they don’t actually sell them under the company name.. But funny how the md of Sat-d ownes a majority share in those companys!! very clever & sneaky stuff!!
I have had the same issue as most of you in that they have taken £49.99 from my account as well as the £6.50.
Initially I was able to speak to some-one after holding for 15 minutes and they assured me I would get the money back within 14 days but just like everyone else I have not seen a penny – although they didn’t take this months £6.50 so at least that should be the last payment.
I have spent over an hour trying to make contact by phone in the last 3 days and sent an email but received an automated response saying their email is experiencing problems and I should phone or write to them.
I have just taken the advice regarding the DD indem claimt and rung my bank put in a claim and cancelled the direct debit. I can’t believe that I fell for their rubbish!!
my sky has increased 3 times since i’ve had it and they’ve only sent me a letter once! This company is not the only one to do this!!
Satlinkservices phoned me today saying they were phoning about the insurance on my Skybox. I, too, stupidly gave them my bank details before I smelled a rat. The girl I spoke to did admit afterwards that they were not from Sky but she said they repaired all the sky boxes etc for Sky. When I phoned sky they said this was not true and that they did not even know this company.
I think both companies need to be sorted out once and for all. I have contacted my Bank and asked them to refuse any payments but don’t think they will do anything until after a payment has been requested (apparently it is not fraud until then???)
satcover, satlink, satellite direct to name but a few are all companies with dave reynolds as the director they all run the same scams and line his pockets. i believe hes just bought a house for 800k and we,re in a credit crunch!
I’ve had the £65.00 taken out of my account not £6.50 after numerous and stupid phone calls, I told them I had bank charges for going overdrawn and sent them these, I was told the £65.00 would take 28 days to go back in my account and it is now 30 and it has not and now I’ve had a letter saying that the bank charges i faxed over they will pay one at £35.00 but not all 3 which equal £105.00 and guess what this will take 28 days to go back in my account. I’ve cancelled my direct debit now but wonder where i should take this matter to now they should not be trading!!!!
Wow can’t believe I stumbled across this. My 66 year old mother has managed to get stuck with the company mentioned and another. Where do they get your personal details from is what I’d like to know!
I have been trying to contact them by phone and no one picks up. I suspected it was a scam and after reading this I have instructed my mother to go to the bank and cancel the direct debit asap.
Sky has got to be involved somehow for passing on personal details!
I stumbled on this site as I was trying to find out if they’d gone bust as nobody answers the phone. I too had the £49 taken out of my bank account. Rang them several times about it and was told it would take 28 days. I did get the money back. They said it was a mistake and the payment was taken for installation of phone and broadband which I didn’t have. i now have a problem with my Sky box and tried to call them for a whole week. So stayed on the phone for 30 minutes until at last somebody picked up the phone. He said they were just busy. The engineer is coming out this week so hope he turns up! He’s going to call at 11am to say what time he’s coming, odd!
I also didn’t get a letter saying the price of my monthly fee had gone up from £5 to £6.50.
After this repair/replacement if he turns up at all that is I’m going to cancel my direct debit and go elsewhere.
Dreadful company, dreadful service.
Have been trying for a week to contact Satellite Direct uk ltd based in Arundel,West Sussex. Initially,was kept hanging on after the automated menu but last 2 days the phone is off the hook. E-mails get an auto response asking customers to phone the normal number.
Have recently renewed for a 2-year period!!
Is the company still trading?
This is indeed a gigantic SCAM. The ‘excuse’ of placing the decimal point in the wrong place is just that an EXCUSE. I have contacted my bank today over the £65.00 the this scum bag company has stolen out of my account and, the bank is to reimburse the money and go after the company for it. Just don’t know how people can work for this company knowing full well that it is stealing from ordinary working people. DISGRACEFUL.
Hi,
Had the same problem as £6.50 turned into £65.00 taken out of my account by direct debit on 23rd March. Called “Satellite Direct UK” two days later and was told the money would be added to the refund sheet and put back in my account within 28days.
Guess what ! No money. Phoned again 34 days later and was told they would look into it as we had not been entered onto the refund sheet. We would be called back…
Guess what ! No call back. Phoned again and insisted on talking to a manager. Got through eventually after 30 minutes.
Guess what ! Sorted (Now you didnt expect that did you..
We spoke to Nigel, Customer Services Team manager. He apologised profusely for the problems. He allayed our fears that it was a scam. He has said he will get a refund cheque for £58.50 issued first thing after the bank holiday so it should arrive by latter half of next week. He has offered us the next 3 months cover free and 12 months fixed at £5 after that. What more could we ask…
Guess what ! Well update this thread when the cheque arrives… Watch this space…
Mark S..
Hi,
Firstly i would like to say that yes i do work for the company but you are all completely worng. Admin errors have been made causing payments to be wrong in some cases but the reason you cant get through on the phone is because their is not enough agents to answer the calls so we are answering them as quickly as possible, please just be patient. Also as for the comment about engineers we have them all over Britain so please get your facts straight.
There is yet another name to add to the Satellite Direct group – ‘Something Corporation plc.’
I was shocked to read these e-mails after I googled ‘Satellite Direct’ when that name appeared as a reference on my recent credit card statement. I had not heard of Satellite Direct before that.
I had also not heard of Something Corporation plc either, until I got a letter from them thanking me for choosing them for my television services and warranty.
Yes, I got that call – thought they were Sky as they told me that my Sky equipment was out of warranty. My Sky warranty was out of date, etc etc. Cannot believe I fell for this passing off scam. I have thankfully now got a refund via my credit card after I cancelled the ‘agreement’ within 7 working days.
So beware ….. these guys are certainly persistent and the law seems unable to stop them.
Thats a new company name to me.
According to the contact page on the something.info website their address is
According to companies house their head office address is:
THe High Holborn address is also mention in the somethingcorporation.com whois page and the somehing.info whois page in both of which the owner of the domans is stated to be Something Corporation PLC.
A bit more on Something Corporation plc
Re Admin’s reply of the 24th May 2009 regarding the 2 Addresses for Something Corporation plc
I don’t know if they do this to mislead and confuse.
But the legal address to send cancellation notices during the cooling off period is 240 High Holborn (not Holburn, as per their Conditions!) London, WC1V 7DN as per clause 13 of their Terms and Conditions of Business.
At the bottom of their letterhead it is stated: ‘Registered Office (not for correspondance): 168 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2DL.
Go to the sattelite Direct/Sat Link place at Imperium House in person, near Ford, and you’ll see a ton of Something vans outside. I know, my best mate worked there a while back.
Ring up the number for Imperium House and enquire about Sat Link then about Something, they’ll never be able to resist telling you that both are there cos they’ll smell a sale!!!
As a victim the £129.90 scam I rang Companies House yesterday and the London address mentioned here is subject to the winding up order. Companies House have no knowledge of any problems at the Arundal address and their accounts are up to date. I was also informed Satelite Direct UK Ltd are not trading under any other name.
Like many others £65 was taken from my account.After spending many minutes on phone calls without success,sent an email and received the same reply mentioned previously in that they were having technical difficulties with their system and I should telephone or write. I duly wrote, and, guess what, no reply! I reported the situation to my bank and they were most helpful and recredited my account under the direct debit mandate guarantee. Anyone who pays by direct debit will be covered with this guarantee. Just contact your bank. Needless to say I have now cancelled my direct debit authority.
These good people are diversifying. I had a cold call from them offering phone and broadband and all sorts of goodies for £19.99 per month, about £10 less than my current provider. The initial catch was that I have to change my phone number, an element not revealed in the initial contact. This made me cancel, but not before they took the agreed initial payment and installation fee from my credit card account. This is where the contact with the present discussion becomes significant: the people offering the deal were the Something Corporation (addresses are as ‘mudhead’ said on 25/5)and the credit card statement says that the money was taken by Satellite Direct UK 0870 224 5777! They later offered a better deal by which I can keep my present number, and I nibbled at it while preserving my suspicions, but reading this discussion (having Googled Satellite Direct) made me realise the nature of the organisation and cancelled everything.
Thanks, folks, for stopping me make a stupid mistake. I ought to know by now, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Stephen, no doubt you have also contacted your credit card co. – The worrying thing that I discovered by reading other people’s comments on this lot, is that many months/years later they may claim additional unauthorised charges even though you may have cancelled ! So watch out …. !
Yes, I have contacted the credit card people; they say they can’t stop claims being made, but can recover unjustified ones. Many thanks for the warning about the long term problem.
this david reynolds from satcover has taken £432 out of my husbands bank by direct debit, this he has done in 6 transactions 2 amounts of £72 on 27th May,2 amounts of £72 on 21st May, one amount of £72 on 18th May, and one amount of £72 on the 19th May goodness knows how he got all his bank details. I have tried and tried to ring but I never get an answer and i leave it ringing but nobody answers. We have been told by the bank that i have to get a name of whoever answers and ask them how much they are prepared to refund. Some joke. My husband is 81yrs old and on a pension that he struggles to live on so he doesn’t need this.I dont know what to do now is he just going to lose the money or is there someone who can help us
Hi Lorna, if money has been taken from your account without permission then it’s theft, and should be investigated as such by the police, however, you or your husband may have entered into a contract (perhaps unwittingly), but even if this is the case, these multiple payments don’t make a lot of sense, and your concerns are valid until Satellite Direct refund your money, or explain to you why they’ve taken it. If you want more advice, contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.
Hi
We are also being scammed by this company thinking they were Sky. We are TPA registered so didnt expect this kind of thing to happen. We have never been sent a contract by them. We phoned them to cancel the contract. We even got the bank to stop the direct debit but SATCOV started it up again. If we stop the direct debit and get the bank to block it will this be an end to the matter or is there more we need to do.
Hi apparently cancelling your direct debit is not enough. I stupidly dealt with this company 4 years ago as they informed me they were a subsidery of sky. AFTER RECIEVING NO PAPER DOCUMENTS ON HOW TO CONTACT ME LEFT IN THE LURCH. They then raided my bank account the fpllowing two years, did not notice it in the first year but did the next. Went into my bank account and filled out a disputed direct debit madadate and they refunded mu money and cancelled the direct debit. Now they have raided my bank account for £65-00 by setting up a new direct debitby altering the reference number and there is nothing I can do about it. This looks like it will happen every year. Apparentl once you have agreed to set up a direct debit for a service, even if you cancel it they can reapply using a different reference number and there is nothing you can do about it untill after the money as been taken and you then dispute it with the bank
Yes this is what happened to us. We cancelled this last year, after they kept putting up the monthly charge without telling us. We have now asked the bank to permanently block this. They will be returning the money to us. But we will be keeping a close eye on our account!!
I too have had my account raided by this company again almost a year after having had it refunded from the bank for breach of the direct debit mandate.My bank have again refunded the money but I have now decided to change my account to prevent it happening again- can’t deal with all the hastle again.
Thankyou admin for your reply but we have never heard of satcover before or david reynolds. We just don’t know where all this came from, my husband was checking his bank statement and found that these payments have been taken out.
He went to the bank this morning to see what it was and the lady in the bank copied the information from her computer and it came out as david reynolds, satcover ltd.credit control team,Imperium House, Ford lane, Ford, Arundel, West Sussex. Neither of us have been in touch with these people or arranged anything with anyone,we haven’t had any need to. The lady in the bank said this was set up at the beginning of May but nothing’s there to say who did it.God only knows how they got all his info and I for one am very very angry. My husband blames the bank for letting the money go out of his account, especially more so when I tried to cancel this d.d I wasn’t allowed to do it. they all go on about data protection but it didn’t work to stop his money going out of the bank. Lorna.
I used to work for Satellite Direct and i can say yes they ARE a scam!! They will do whatever they possibly can to get as much money as possible out of the poor customers. This includes moving decimal points on payements ie taking £65 a month out of customers’s accounts instead of £6.50 (on purpose!). hoping that a lot of customers don’t realise. And as for service, yes they will fix your system but expect to wait 3-4weeks for it to be fixed. I am happy i am no longer working for that shambles of a company, and anyone out there who is with this company should cancel as you never know when they’ll take money out of your account. I suggest customers go to the police and watchdog. And to get any money back, the best thing to do is to claim under your direct debit guarantee, which will be a lot quicker than trying to get money back from them, and also instruct your bank to PERMANENTLY stop any further payments coming out!
[Editors Note: The author appears to have provided a dummy email address, probably to protect their identity. Add as much of a pinch of salt as you feel is necessary when interpreting the comment. (Author, you can safely leave your real address if you'd like to, they're not published)]
To the admin here is my email address i missed out a letter, it should be correct now, sorry! i know it’s not published thanks
Hi,
i’ve had an agreement with SatDirect for a few years although never used their service for repair, but the other day notice the had taken another £72.00 charge 6 MONTHS early. When i rang it was a nightmare, they tried to sound helpful but wanted 28 days before a refund would be made, offered all sorts of lame reasons for the time delay. So i went to my bank and they got it back (WELL DONE BARCLAYS) and even cancelled the DD so now i shall go elsewhere. Did try to email them but even that service is down, what a joke.
The teft happened from me too— they took 49.99 off my account for no reason
Have just reclaimed via DD indemnity scheme, and cancelled DD
Spent 30mins on phone trying to get through to Satcover first– no luck– if I can’t get through for this, why would I be able to get through if my satbox breaks down
Hi,
I to have had the sum of £49.99 taken from my account instead of the normal £6.50. This is the second time this year that this has happened. The first time I managed to contact them and did get it refunded. However, this time I have been to the bank and applied for a refund via the direct debit indemnity process.
I will be writing to this company to inform them that I no longer wish to deal with them and that I will be stopping the DD. I will also write to the bank to cancel the direct debit and to ensure that they cannot set it back up in anyway.
I also hve had 49.99 taken twice now.. have cancelled direct debit, will write a letter and try to claim back with the bank
Like all the others on this site I have suffered from the same scam. It has happened twice – once in February and again on 10 June. The first time it took loads of phone calls and a month to get a cheque for £49.99. The last time I demanded (and got!) a cheque for £49.99 within 36 hours which is now in my account waiting clearance. I have cancelled the DD but after reading these comments I am issuing instructions to my bank not to pay ANY DD for this company on a permanent basis. Have now signed up for Sky Protect with Domestic and General who are recommended by Sky.
I have also had moey taken from my bank by this company even though I cancelled the direct debit last year. They simply come up with a different reference number. My bank Natwest says that this is impossible to combat and that the only way for sure is to change my bank details which is a bid pain
I have just reinstated a reduced direct debit for £4.00/ per month, after Satellite Direct took £49.99 as well as my £12.99 Feb 2009 DD. After much pain and expensive, successive phone calls + 28 days, I got it back. They then rang and wrote to encourage us to reinstate for 3 months free and then £4.00 per month.The first £4.00 was due to be taken 26.06.2009 – guess what – they took £49.99 on 10.06.2009. I tried calling them all morning but no answer. I have now used the Direct Debit Indemnity Service offered by Barclays, who say I will have the money back in 48 hrs and that they will pursue with Satellite Direct. This is obvious fraud as they cannot make so many “errors without meaning to do it deliberately. I sincerely hope that some authority takes it further.
Further information following my post of 30/5. I have contacted my bank and they told me that four days after Something Corp. received my written cancellation (as confirmed to me by someone from there on the phone) they set up a Direct Debit with my bank in the name of Play TV ( a new name?) for a service they have been told in writing I don’t want. I cancelled the DD, but am troubled by the fact that they can set up a DD with my bank without written authorisation from me. This should be illegal; can someone please advise?
I have also had money taken out of my bank yesterday but managed to stop the DD
in time. My bank are reporting this to the fraud department as I have not got
any satelitte cover and have not given my bank details to anyone.
I have been trying to contact the company since yesterday morning and have only
managed to get through to a call centre telling me that they are taking messages
as all the systems are down and so are the phones. I was promised a call back
yesterday and again today, but have heard nothing. This company is a complete
joke.
I too have just had £65 taken from my bank no phone calls no letters not agreed to anything. I have been told by my bank that if the company is going bust there is nothing they can do under the indemnity! They advised me to contact Police
Satellite Direct have taken £72.00 out of my account in May which is 6 months early. I have contacted my bank and stopped any further DD to this company and they advised me to write aletter to the company and the bank will try to get my money back via the DD ideminty scheme.
I also contacted West Sussex Trading Standards which comes under the hosp[ice of SE Kent based in Maidstone who advised me to send a recorded delivery to the company demanding repayment.
Hi, I have just checked my disabled fathers bank account and noticed that this company SATCOV has set up another direct debit and removed money without any authority. They were taking money from his account last year but that direct debit was cancelled in June 08 and they have started again. How can they keep on getting away with this. This company is despicable and should be shut down immediately.
I agree with Anon above, THEY ARE SCUM!!
not sure if press are covering the issue.satellite directs phone lines have been down all week and staff transferred to bognor office.dave reynolds assures staff all will be OK as he has found a way out of the winding up order.
I have had several contacts with the Consumer Direct Advice Centre whilst trying to retrieve the £142.00 Satellite Direct now owe as a result of their ‘mistake’!
However, on reading the e-mail from Louise, I have just phoned the insolvency Service in London (0845-6029848) who confirmed that a winding-up order had indeed been issued against the company on 12th June 2009 by HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS no less and this will be heard in the Royal Courts of Justice on WEDNESDAY 24th JUNE 2009 AT 10-30 AM.
If this is upheld, then any claims would have to go to the administrators, details of which would be available by the following Friday or Monday.
I am still of a mind to take this to the Police. I am advised however that they may regard this as a Civil Matter but when I read and perceive the 535+ comments on this website, I believe Mr David Reynolds needs to explain himself in a Court of Law.
Also BBC’s WATCHDOG may be interested in developments as they have already TWICE taken this company to task in the last couple of years.
I have just noticed I have had £6.00 taken out of my bank account from Satcov. I looked it up on this site and see others have had trouble with them. I have not given anyone my bank details and have had no calls from this company, I have no need to I dont have satellite tv, I am on cable!!!!
I found out today that SatCov tried to take £6 out of a bank account that i no longer use!!!! As i had no money in the account i was charged £35 for a failed direct debit!!!!!!! I have never heard of SatCov so how they got hold of my details i have no idea!!!!!!!!!!!. When i phoned my bank (Bank of Scotland) they removed my £35 bank charges as it seems they have had lots and lots of calls about SatCov and they are investigating it and building up a file on it. As soon as i said SatCov my bank knew that it wasn’t my fault or anything to do with me so i suggest to anyone who has had money taken without their knowledge by SatCov, phone your bank straight away, explain that other banks are looking into the matter as it is a scam and they may be able to help you as banks shouldn’t be able to authorise a direct debit payment without a direct debit mandate(which should be signed by you)so if there is no mandate the bank should not have authorised it, and if there is a mandate with your signature on it then it may be a fake!!!!
… and of course, contact the police, they may be able to help you work out if any laws have been broken.
yes, thanks i will think about contacting the police, although i think they may say it is a bank matter?
My Sky+ Box has a fault which doesn’t allow viewing on all the subscibed channels.I have tried phoning Satellite Direct on numerous occasions and have always given up after being stuck in a queue, on a couple of occasions up to 20 mins. I have sent e mails and get the standard reurn saying their e mail system is down. Due to losing the Sky channels I’ve had no choice but to update as I cannot get through to Satellite Direct to come and fix my box. Obviously I’m very frustrated and have paid for insurance with them for over 3 1/2 years. Any suggestions from anyone?
A friend of mine works in the call centre, they do this decimal point moving ON PURPOSE! It’s so they can keep the money in an account for a few months, earn interest, then refund later. After the winding up order they’re just moving everyone onto new contracts again as they always do, scumbag crooks i just feel sorry for those who will lose jobs and those who’ve been shafted.
Louise is right, they’re now trading as ‘Something’ at http://www.something.info to cover up all their crooked schemes, so avoid anything from Something at all costs. They say Holborn on the website but lots of it is still at Imperium House in Ford. My mate is leaving working for them soon cos he’s convinced they’ll run off with all the money soon, i couldn’t believe when he told me all of this stuff!
hi rob, just to confirm your comments SOMETHING CORP for whom i worked for has gone tits up which owe there engineers somewhere in the region of 3k+ each and i bet we will have to whistle for it
We have just had a DD reinstated by this company and they have fraudulently removed money from my account 3 days ago. If police have been contacted by anyone else, please let me know, so we can back it up
We have just had further discussions with the fraud dept at our bank, and they are returning our money, and they will also be contacting police on our behalf! So it might be worth your while doing the same.
I have sent a copy of letters I have written to Satellite Direct by recorded delivery. The letter was received and signed for. If they try to claim money again, I will ask to speak to my bank’s fraud department. Will also change my account number
a new company has been doing the same thing, i believe that they used to work for sat D,stole the data and set up a dodgy warrenty company called Aerial Support/L & c suppport….they are not a real company they have no engineers they have taken double payment!!!
i no the owners have had several holidays on poor unsuspecting customers that they call and pretend they are sky take £72.00 from peoples account then the following month a further £6.00 they are also being investigated for missuse of information…..ie one of there sgents used someone’s card and brought there shopping, anyone that have been mugged off by this company should call trading standards urgently and the police for fraudulant activity handing over details….they are not part of sky they are not taking over from sky……d&g….or anyone else they are what you call …winging it!!!!
This is a terrible situation. I have spoken to my Bank and it is agreed that they will contact me before any new d/d’s are set up. Have been checking my account on a daily basis and, fingers crossed, this seems to be working.
We have been scammed too. David Reynolds has taken £65 from my account on the 16th June without any instruction to do so. Our contract was cancelled with them in 2007 and have since moved and dont even have sky!! I will get my money back too from the bank. When trying to phone, like the other gemtleman cant get anyone. I was shocked when trying to look up their wbsite when I came across this. Going to report him to the police too as also cant get a hold of anyone. No surprise there is there?! How many more people is he stealing from!!!!!
Pls beware..cant believe it ater reading this.. They took £129.00 out oF my bank account and they said it was an error and they were going to refund it!! Guess what has not happened and today i have realised whats happened with these morons!! They are still collecting the direct debit!!
Do tell us what happens when you contact the police!
I have contacted South Yorkshire Police with reguards to the fraudulent claim of £129.00 from my bank account by Satellite Direct UK. They have advised me, that if the bank refunds the amount back into my account, it is the banks responsibility to register the fraud with the police.
Trading Standards I have advised me, that there is not much they can do with the investigation.
I had also contacted Trading Standards who
told me to then contact Consumer Direct
and all they have done is send a standard
email advising me to send Satellite Direct
a registered letter. I already have a
letter from Satellite Direct confirming
my cancellation so what’s the point of
writing to them again. It appears that
these organisations which are supposed
to help us, cannot do so. Am still
waiting for a reply from my bank.