Neighbour with 2 accounts at the same time - iTalk and Sky

As a result of a neighbour requiring help setting up a new iTalk router+digital voice, I've found out that she's been paying iTalk and Sky for the same service since 2017.
Originally thinking she'd been using iTalk since 2017 due to the arrival of the new iTalk router it transpires that she was using Sky since 2017.
I had asked Sky for data usage records back to 2017 (originally thinking that they were the losing provider when iTalk started providing the service in 2017) I now believe it is iTalk who she has been paying for a service she hasn't used since 2017.
Now that iTalk have provided this new router out of the blue (to go with digital voice) she needs to keep paying them and Sky have stopped her contract magically without saying why.
Her next step is to ask iTalk for a refund of as many years as possible for which she wasn't using their service (IE 2017 to 2025) but I've a feeling they won't be too inclined to pay anything.
She has no record of what happened in 2017 but I guess iTalk cold called her and started taking money and nothing else happened until they sent a new router last month.
Any advice is appreciated.

Hi,

Not too sure of the age of your neighbour but have a look at iTalk's vulnerability policy here it could work in her favour if she is technically unaware and therefore likely to be confused. They have all their contact details on there, maybe best to e-mail from her registered e-mail address

You might be able to shame them into doing something by giving the matter as much public exposure as possible. Irrespective of the letter of the contract, they won't want to be seen as the baddies who collected fees for nearly a decade for a service they didn't provide, and then wouldn't refund them.

Sometimes a damning review on Trustpilot is enough; check to see if they've responded to other negative reviews.

Or many newspapers have a money advice/consumer issues column where "consumer champions" invite reader submissions and try to sort them out.

Or you could try https://www.resolver.co.uk/ (used them for a problem with my bank when the numpties on the phone couldn't sort it out for months).

Or as a last resort, try writing to her MP!

Did iTalk provide a router in 2017; seems probably not; they obviously didn't arrange for the service to be switched from Sky in 2017; i.e., they failed to enable her to take up the service for which they have charged her.
Perhaps a salesman has not 'pressed the appropriate button' to set these procedures in place.

They have are obviously sending out new routers to all of their customers and have realised that your neighbour is not served from their system so have activated the switch now; causing Sky to cease their service.
I would contact iTalk (you'll need to do it in the presence of your neighbour); be firm but polite, insist on a full refund of all payments plus interest.

Thanks for your replies. Now that digital voice is working (various issues with this) we'll approach the subject of why my pensioner neighbour has only started receiving the iTalk service this year...

Maybe it was a WLR voice service from iTalk and a broadband data service from Sky sharing the openreach line.

With the ending of WLR, the voice service takes precidence, so the Sky data only service will be ceased, and iTalk sent a router to continue providing voice services.

If they have actually provided a service (i.e. incurred wholesale cost) then you may struggle more. If it's purely a billing error the you should be fine. Legally speaking you can only go back 6 years so someone coming back for 10 years' of fees would probably be somewhat challenging too. You should be able to get something but it may not be as much as you'd hope.

The vulnerability policy is definitely worth looking at as others

If they sent a new router it's probably because of the problems you can read about here:
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/still-reports-of...

This means there will probably have been downtime recently which you can get compensation for too.

If this person hasn't actually had any router plugged in and they kept billing, that might be an interesting story we'd take up and write about on news.

seb