This Is Guernsey

By Simon Tostevin

Sky TV customer warns other islanders of VAT billing error.

A SKY customer believes islanders may unwittingly be paying the satellite provider VAT.

Colin Kimber and his fiancee started subscribing to Sky in November 2003 and only discovered recently they had been charged VAT by the company every month up until February.
He estimates that they have lost out on around £500 as a result and had it confirmed two weeks ago by the company that they would not be reimbursed the amount.
It was only after a conversation about Sky packages with his fiancee’s father that Mr Kimber discovered he had been paying around £10 more a month.
‘We had the same package apart from the £6 I pay for MUTV. He was paying £33 a month, but somehow I was paying £49.50.
‘He said to me, “I bet you’re paying VAT”, because he had been through the same thing.’
Mr Kimber and his partner then followed this up with Sky and after a number of painstaking phone calls, established that they had indeed been charged VAT.
At one point, one of the Sky customer service operators even told Mr Kimber’s fiancee that she was confused because ‘it was only Jersey that was VAT-free’ and not Guernsey.
Mr Kimber said he had been left less than impressed by the quality of customer service he had received and that the staff at Sky had tried as hard as they could to make it difficult for him.
‘If I had been paying VAT for five years, how many more people have been paying it?
‘I think the people of Guernsey have a right to be made aware of what I have been told by Sky.
‘Unless they have contacted Sky to inform them that they should be VAT-free, then they will have been paying it as well.’
A Sky spokesman told the Guernsey Press that it had introduced an offer exclusively for Channel Island residents.
‘Until 1 January 2003, Sky was required by law to account for UK VAT on the supply of subscription services to all residential customers, regardless of whether they lived in the UK or the Channel Islands.
‘At that time, our policy was to quote a single residential price for Sky packages wherever the customer was based.
‘Following a change to this law, we developed a new subscription offer so customers based in the Channel Islands can receive a discount on their current channel package, or upgrade to another package, also at a discounted price. We wrote to existing Channel Island-based customers in 2004 with details of this offer. We wrote again in December 2007.’
The spokesman said that most of Sky’s Channel Island-based customers had already taken up the offer.
‘Every single Guernsey resident is welcome to join. However, we do not offer rebates for subscriptions previously paid. None of our offers is designed to be backdated.’
However, Mr Kimber does not believe he ever received the alleged correspondence.
‘If we had received that letter, we would have taken them up on it. Of course we would have, but we never received it.’
Chief trading standards officer for Commerce and Employment Bryan Guilbert said he was aware of some issues about Sky customers paying VAT in Jersey in the past, but none locally.
‘My advice to consumers would be to check their Sky account carefully to see if they are likely to be paying a VAT-inclusive price. If they are, then they should contact Sky directly.’
He said any rebate payments would be down to the goodwill of the company.