I bought a Now TV month pass. Why have I been charged again?

Sky’s Now TV is sold as the subscription-free way to watch Sky Sports, Movies and so forth. See, it’s here in black-and-white pixels:

What’s not so chuffing clear is that Sky will automatically renew some passes when they expire, tying you into something that looks an awful lot like a subscription/contract.

How Now TV passes work

I discovered this not-so-little con when I recently bought a Now TV month pass for the first time.

I’ve previously bought loads of daily and weekly passes, which simply expire when the alloted time is up. However, with the Ashes on this month and the start of the football season, I decided to splash out on a full month of streaming sport.

What I didn’t appreciate at the time was that Sky would simply take another £33.99 from my account at the end of the month, unless I specifically told them to to cancel the subscription. A subscription I didn’t know I’d even started, as I thought I was just buying a one-off pass, like I had many times before.

To be fair to Sky, the email receipt they sent me for the first month’s pass did state: “if your order includes any of our Month Passes, they’ll roll on each month at our standard price,” but I didn’t bother to read the receipt when it landed in my inbox. More fool me? Perhaps. But I’m not the only one who’s been caught, as this anger-filled thread on the Now TV forum shows.

How to cancel a Now TV month pass

Click on this link to the Now TV accounts page and sign-in with your username and password.

It should show you a list of active passes. Click on the monthly pass and you should be presented with a button that allows you to cancel the auto-renew. Sky will make a desperate last attempt to cheapen the deal for you, but if you’re not persuaded by another couple of quid off, then proceed to the cancel button.

It’s a low trick by Sky. I’m not sure I’ll bother with a monthly pass again.

NOW READ THIS: How do I cut my Sky bill?