Sky facturează în continuare după explozia frigiderului care ne-a obligat să locuim în hoteluri

We had a disaster last July when our American-style fridge-freezer exploded, setting fire to the downstairs of our house and causing substantial damage.We had insurance with RSA via our Nationwide bank account, which was brilliant, and rebuilding finally started in January this year after we’d spent weeks clearing the house and its contents.We’ve not been able to live at home since the fire and have been staying in Airbnbs, a hotel and with family. Soon we will move into a rental house until November this year.We contacted various utility companies and the council to explain we wouldn’t be living in the house for some time. The only provider we have been unable to resolve matters with is Sky, which has provided our television subscription for the past 21 years. We asked if we could freeze our subscription until we moved back in, but it said this was not possible. It only offered to reduce the cost by removing our sports subscription.Please help.M.R., Uxbridge, Middlesex. Unwatchable: Sky refused to freeze a loyal customer’s subscription after a fire in their home forced them to move into a hotelSally Hamilton replies: I empathise with the stress you and your wife have been through following the damage to your home. Having suffered a serious burst pipe incident in my own home a couple of years ago I understand the hassle and worry involved with having to move out for months while repairs are made. There is a lot more admin involved than people might think.Where a home is uninhabitable, many councils will ‘zero rate’ homes for council tax purposes until work has been completed, meaning they do not have to pay.When you made an application for this, it was refused initially and only allowed on appeal. You had your gas capped off so that no charges would mount up in your absence. You still must pay the electricity standing charge, but your insurer will meet the bills for usage by the building contractors. Your broadband deal with EE was easily ended for the duration with no charges.To your surprise it was Sky that gave you the runaround. Offering a reduced number of channels to keep down your ongoing bills was laughable. You got nowhere with Sky, so you just stopped your payments. A problem then arose because Sky said you owed £120 (plus a £10 late payment charge) for early termination, and this led to the unpaid bill being passed to debt collectors.I quickly stepped in and asked Sky to reconsider your request for some breathing space in your contract.  Let me know  I’ve heard that some taxpayers who handed over too much of their income to HM Revenue and Customs have been waiting a long time for a refund. If this is you, I’d like to hear what happened. Email: moneymail@dailymail.co.uk It explained that while pausing it is not an option (as its billing system cannot cope) you should have been told you could cancel the contract without charge because of your circumstances, and then restart later.A Sky spokesman says: ‘Wh