9 months of free service

[TheKrell]

I signed up via the web to give my mother 1 year of Sky Angel as a Christmas present. Chaos and confusion ensued, but eventually we got everything straightened out and working as of early January 2007. Or so I thought. My mother just received a bill covering the period Mar 11 - Oct 10, charged at the monthly rate.

The 1st two months (Jan - Mar) was our free trial period. So I called up Sky Angel and asked them why they hadn't charged me long ago (at least by Mar 11) for a year's service. I was told repeatedly that Sky Angel no longer offers annual subscriptions, and we must pay the monthly rate! I could not care less whether they charge me monthly or annually. But I'll be darned if I'll pay a higher rate because Sky Angel doesn't bother to charge it's customers until 9 months after signing up! I eventually got the CS rep to email billing to see what they could do, but have heard nothing back so far.

Two observations: (1) It's no wonder Sky Angel is in financial trouble if they don't bother to bill subscribers in a timely fashion. And (2) I did not have a blessed day, as they say when hanging up.

 

[ShaneLinder]

Sky Angel's troubles are of their own making. If they would have hired on a business minded CEO from the beginning I have little doubt they could have succeeded. I hold a business degree myself and have been in business management for ten years now. From what I see, Sky Angel has just made one business mistake after another. Customer service has been terribly lacking with them. It has to be a priority for any business to survive. Especially in a "Christian" business, they need to make all their customers feel like one big, warm happy family. Marketing has been another major failure.

If they had ran their business well, they would created a corporation and given the lifetime members stock which would have given those subscribers a vested interest in the company's success. Additional stock could have later been sold to these same subscribers to raise money to build their own bird and financing could have been secured if they had a secure business model that a bank or lending institution would have had confidence in.

Selling their transponders off I think will be one of their last major business mistakes which will serve to be the nail in the coffin within a few short years. If IPTV does become popular, Sky Angel will find it is one small fish in a vast sea of competitors. It will have nothing to offer its clients that they cannot get else where.

 

[catkoko]

Sky angel is pulling a cutie, they may not offer yearly subs NOW, but they DID when you signed up. I wouldn't pay them a dime until/if they send you a corrected bill. what is the worst they will do, shut off the service? they plan on doing that anyway! Besides WHY october? did your service start in october? otherwise that seems like THE DATE when sky angel will end

 

[TheKrell]

Besides WHY october? did your service start in october? otherwise that seems like THE DATE when sky angel will end

They sent me a bill for 7 months as soon as they woke up and realized they hadn't charged me anything. That was this month. They now want to bill monthly. If everybody were paying monthly, they could shut down at any time while processing no refunds. So, about the only thing I would read into these events is that they might plan on shutting down before March 2008. And their billing department is seriously messed up!

 

[catkoko]

I would say BEFORE march 2008, otherwise it would not be such a big deal to take a 1 yr payemnt in advance! Besides the fact that they are currently offering former yearly subs the dicounted rate but payable on a monthly basis. They wouldn't renw any yearly subs starting a few months back. its on one of the boards here, a little over $12 a month I believe it was

 

[TheKrell]

I would say BEFORE march 2008, otherwise it would not be such a big deal to take a 1 yr payemnt in advance!

Didn't I say exactly the same thing (minus the emphasis) above?

Besides the fact that they are currently offering former yearly subs the dicounted rate but payable on a monthly basis.

<sputtering incoherently> That's exactly what I was trying to tell the CSR, and that's exactly what he refused to do, even after discussing it with his supervisor. Still no call back so far this week, despite his promises.

 

[Bob Haller]

the trouble is the CSRs and even the managers have no idea what if anything management plans.

as such they are stumbling along in a mess.

somone should sue to block the transponder sale, that would put a roadblock to their plans

I woldnt be surprised if they just completely closed down.

On the PI channels they should be required on all satellite tv not just the DBS ones, after all they are all DBS

 

[andrews777]

How would blocking the sale help? If they shut down and went bankrupt, someone else would just end up selling the licenses, or they would revert to the government where they would be resold. Either way, you end up with basically the same thing.

Brad

 

[TheKrell]

Huh. Now that the FCC has approved the transponder transfer to Dish, maybe my mother got 9 free months of service, period! I still have received no callback from SA.