NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Sky TV billing glitch: Auckland man billed an extra $476

Joseph Los'e
By Joseph Los'e
Kaupapa Māori Editor·NZ Herald·
25 May, 2025 12:41 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Michael Cheetham was mistakenly overcharged $476.98 by Sky TV. Composite image / Supplied. 25 May 2025

Michael Cheetham was mistakenly overcharged $476.98 by Sky TV. Composite image / Supplied. 25 May 2025

  • Aucklander Michael Cheetham was billed an extra $476.98 by Sky TV due to a processing error.
  • Sky TV said up to 400 customers were affected, but transactions were cancelled and no funds taken.
  • Cheetham expressed concern for families unable to afford such overcharges, despite being refunded by Monday.

A Sky TV customer says he was billed hundreds of dollars more than he was supposed to be, and told up to 400 other account holders were in the same boat.

Aucklander Michael Cheetham knew his automatic debit was due to be taken out of his account on Thursday. He was expecting $240.99 to go as this covers his Sky and broadband.

But when he checked it on Thursday, Sky had debited the $240.99 plus another $240.99 and $235.99 – an extra $476.98 from his bank account.

 SKY TV overcharged Michael Cheetham by $476.98. Image supplied.
SKY TV overcharged Michael Cheetham by $476.98. Image supplied.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“I called Sky to query the $476 overpayment and the person I spoke to said it hadn’t shown up on their end at that stage,” Cheetham said.

“I called back on Friday and was told by a call taker they [were] trying to fix the overpayment and I might be repaid by Monday and about 400 accounts had been affected.”

The father-of-two who lives on Auckland’s North Shore said fortunately, he had no other debits due and could wait until Monday for the account to be rectified.

“In this economy, who has an extra $480 sitting around? We have bills to pay but fortunately we are okay, especially if the money is returned by Monday,” Cheetham said.

“But there are plenty of families who can’t afford for their debit accounts to go into overdraft.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“Work out 400 people with an average of $100 taken from their accounts – that’s a lot of money Sky has in their accounts over a weekend.”

Sky TV said the issue was picked up late Friday.

“Due to a processing error, on Friday a batch of customer credit card payments were implemented in error.

“The team realised the error quickly [within a couple of hours on Friday] and the transactions were cancelled, so we haven’t taken any funds.

“For bank processing reasons they will still appear as ‘pending’ on the credit card statement but all have been cancelled (and no funds taken) and will be cleared when the customer looks at their statement tomorrow.”

Cheetham said though he is generally happy with Sky’s service and the costs, he admits he has had run-ins with Sky TV.

“When we moved to the North Shore, we were supposed to have our Sky and Broadband ready on the Thursday and when I contacted them, they had forgot to book it in – so we got it on the Monday,” he said.

“This also happened the second time we moved but I’ve learned to suck it up.”

Sky TV broadcasting headquarters.
Sky TV broadcasting headquarters.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

PoliticsUpdated

Defence Force's Waiōuru housing project fails to break ground

11 Jun 11:30 PM
New Zealand

Unequal palliative care access is harming end-of-life choices - report

11 Jun 11:23 PM
New ZealandUpdated

Watch: Noel Edmonds returns to TV with reality show on Kiwi country life

11 Jun 11:14 PM

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Defence Force's Waiōuru housing project fails to break ground

Defence Force's Waiōuru housing project fails to break ground

11 Jun 11:30 PM

Budget 2023 earmarked the thick end of $75 million for 50 new houses.

Unequal palliative care access is harming end-of-life choices - report

Unequal palliative care access is harming end-of-life choices - report

11 Jun 11:23 PM
Watch: Noel Edmonds returns to TV with reality show on Kiwi country life

Watch: Noel Edmonds returns to TV with reality show on Kiwi country life

11 Jun 11:14 PM
‘Near-collision’ between drone and Air NZ Airbus approaching Auckland

‘Near-collision’ between drone and Air NZ Airbus approaching Auckland

11 Jun 10:59 PM
It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home
sponsored

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP