Old broadband was not cancelled when switching to plus net fibre

[#1]

I recently switched from sky broadband to plus net fibre, a few weeks later I got a confusing letter from sky telling me what my bill was gonna be now I had dropped Sky Talk, and it still included broadband,  So I contacted Sky and they are adamant that they did not receive a cease notification from Plus Net.
I am hoping that either sky/splusnet will take responsibility for this mistake, but in the mean time I would urge you all to check your old ADSL broadband is cancelled when switching to fibre

[#2]

If you just used the MAC process that does not cancel any previous contract. It just facilitates the process with BT etc. to make the transfer smoother.
You need to confirm with your old supplier when the move is definite, conforming to whatever their contract is re notice/cancellation/remaining term etc.
Some ISP's will take the actual transfer (actioned by BT) as terminating the contract and bill you accordingly, which may mean taking another month or more.
At the end of the day it's up to you to terminate the old contract using whatever valid method you prefer. The new supplier has no knowledge of your old contract so can't do that for you.
In fact for them to do so would probably be in breach of the DPA.
You will have no claim against PN. If Sky's Terms and Conditions say that moving the broadband service automatically cancels the contract then you may have a complaint against them or BT.

[#3]

Whilst I'm sure HPsauce is spot on from an absolutely legalistic contractual point of view, I'm struggling with the logic of Sky's position. If they want to charge you for the notice period (eg 30 days or whatever) from the date of transfer of the broadband service to Plusnet, that might be just about justifiable. But from your post I get the impression they are intending to continue charging you beyond that. If so, what service do they think they are providing to you in exchange for your cash? Do they claim to still have an ADSL modem on your line in the exchange? Presumably not, since that would play havoc with the BTOR VDSL modem in your cabinet. If they are going to charge you under the contract, I assume the contract places obligations on them, such as providing a broadband service!
Call me a grumpy old g*t but I think I'd be pushing back pretty firmly against Sky's claim. I think they'd have trouble defending the logic of their position in court!

[#4]

It could be (it's not clear from the first post) that Sky are (or were until he called them) totally unaware the OP is no longer connected to their broadband. He hadn't told them. 
Sky staff do not operate in exchanges, it's all done by BT and if BT didn't notify Sky of the disconnection they probably wouldn't notice, it would just look like the router was off.
That's why it's important to cancel the "departing" contract at an appropriate time. 
Remember Sky have their own phone/broadband equipment in the exchanges and when moved to PN a BT engineer would have moved some cables to reconnect the line to BT kit.
BT are a bit of a legend and it doesn't take much imagination to think of ways the process and admin didn't complete fully.  

[#5]

What we don't know was whether the switch was done using a MAC. But moving from Plusnet to Sky, Sky say that you do not have to contact PN to cancel

Quote

Our Switch Squad will talk to your current provider so you don’t have to. About 2 weeks after placing the order with us, your broadband will switch from your current provider to Sky. You will only be without broadband for a matter of minutes while the switch over to Sky takes place. When joining from BT, Talk Talk, Plusnet, O2, Sky will handle the switch over and you don’t need to cancel with your current provider.

[#6]

Quote from: itsme

What we don't know was whether the switch was done using a MAC. But moving from Plusnet to Sky, Sky say that you do not have to contact PN to cancel

Which is fine except that the OP was switching from Sky to PN...

[#7]

If Sky doesn't know when its customers leave, they're going to end up with an awful lot of unaccounted for DSLAM ports. I wouldn't want to be the asset manager who has to audit every exchange to check what's connected to what...

[#8]

I did have a mac code and plus net state that they will contact your old ISP so if they did not  then it is down to them

[#9]

Quote from: moogaloo

plus net state that they will contact your old ISP

I didn't know that.   Out of interest can you provide a link to that please for us all to read?
I'm not currently with PN though I was in the past and will very likely come back soon so it's useful to know.  
As noted above it's not necessarily as simple as that. I know for example that my current provider has more than one way of cancelling and which one is chosen at what stage of a contract has financial implications - there are valid non-financial reasons to choose one over another so there is no automatic "best" choice.  
Note that the case of transferring TO Sky is not a direct parallel. Sky has its own equipment in the exchange and ONLY allows you to have broadband with phone, both from Sky.
So moving to Sky ALWAYS results in all wires being disconnected (typically, but not always from BT kit) and connected to Sky kit.

[#10]

http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/switch

Quote

2 - We'll contact your provider This is the easy part. Sit back, relax and leave it with us. We'll get in touch with your current provider and let you know when we've sorted out your switch date. If you need a new phone line, choose a convenient time and we'll arrange for an engineer to install it for you. We want your switch to be smooth, meaning no disruption to your broadband. If you've taken a phone package you should be able to keep your number.

[#11]

Interesting wording "contact"  .
Did you actually supply details and an account number etc. for your Sky contract?
It doesn't actually say they'll "do" anything regarding cancelling the old contract, I'd like to see someone from PN Towers expand on that here please.
I can see how you might think from that wording that it's "all" been dealt with, but I'm not so sure.......

[#12]

OpenReach will have told Sky that you had been disconnected from their service.

[#13]

Quote from: jelv

OpenReach will may/should have told Sky

Maybe but that's not what it says on the PN page linked to above and it doesn't deal with contractual issues.  
As I said above:

Quote from: HPsauce

I'd like to see someone from PN Towers expand on that here please.

http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/switch We'll get in touch with your current provider and let you know when we've sorted out your switch date (whatever that means in practice)
See: http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/crystal-mark.html

[#14]

I've already raised the issue with the switching page not being clear.
We don't actually contact the previous supplier, but Openreach do in the form of giving notification that the services have been transferred.
Sky *cannot* legally bill for a service that they are not supplying.

[#15]

Interesting, I'll leave you (PN) to deal with an unhappy customer (the OP) apparently misled by your advice.  
Sky can obviously charge cancellation/notice as per their "reasonable" contract terms, whatever they were in this case.
I'd suggest that your page makes it totally clear that while OR "should" notify the leaving supplier it is up to you to confirm that and ensure any contractual terms are satisfied, such as minimum term, notice period etc.