Has Sky gone Nuts????

[admin_exported]

Hi All,

I have just been called by Sky telling me that as my 12 month manifacturer's warranty on my SD box is going to expire shortly in case I have got a problem I have to pay thier engineer 65£...or I can decide to pay sky a 60£ one off to extend the warranty for another 12 month...... so basically I am paying Sky an insurance on his box...I said to the guy in case this happens I simply cancel my contract with you and then I resign for a mere 30£ which will give me also another 12 month manifacturer's warranty...are they bloody nuts????
Has anyone had the same call???

Thanks

 

[fatboyslimfast]

It's a nice idea (cancelling and re-subscribing), but once you have had a "free" (and I use the word cautiously) box, then you are not entitled to a new one, even if you re-sign. I've been caught by this before.

But, I wouldn't bother anyway, as replacement boxes are available on fleabay for £20...

 

[Messiah]

Sky will also start calling you all the time about this insurance. It is very annoying!!

 

[Anonymous]

BE WARNED!!!

There was slot on BBC's Watchdog earlier in the year about a company who rang people with sky boxes when their warranty was due, this company had nothing to do with sky, unable to remember all the details but where taking people for a ride.

Will look on BBC's website to see if i can get more info

Alan

 

[JoelSim]

Subject to a minimum 12 month contract. You can just cancel it then...

It's really not in their interests to have someone 'churn' and stop paying £40 a month.

Don't let them bully you.

ÿ

 

[JoelSim]

A new box will probably cost Sky about £25, a cancelled contract will cost them up to £500. Think about it.

ÿ

 

[Dave_]

costs sky very little, coz the boxes are subsidised by bib (british interactive broadcasting) who are the ones that provide all the interactive rubbish on sky, which is why you have to have the phone connected,

 

[JoelSim]

daveh75:costs sky very little, coz the boxes are subsidised by bib (british interactive broadcasting) who are the ones that provide all the interactive rubbish on sky, which is why you have to have the phone connected,

Not only that, they are produced in bulk by the likes of Amstrad, Bush, Acoustic Solutions, Wharfedale etc and they are as cheap as chips and very low on the quality threshold. Just stick to your guns, never pay for an extended warranty, play hardball and with the threat of cancellation...a new box will materialise.

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

First of all thanks for the support

For AL3TSM:
Yes I actually thought about a "dodgy" call...and therefore I called SKY and they confirm me that it is true

For JOELSIM:
I said exactly that to the guy who callled me...basically after I said that I was going to cancel my contract he didn't have any answer...actually he said that it was my right to do so...I said bloody hell I do know is my right

By the way before this call I was maybe thinking of upgrading to the HD box but now there is no way I am going to give them my money...I actually found a very good way around it....for Xmas I will be building a media centre PC and I have now added 75£ to my budget (needless to say why 75) to buy a pci tv card for the HD freeview which combined with 1.2 TB of hard drive makes it a very very good HD box....and what a pleasure it will be to use their dish 🙂

 

[leftfield]

I can't comment on the sky insurance, however I did have some contact with sky over my sky+ about 2 months ago. My original sky+ box was ovr 18months old and for some reason it wouldn't always record programmes from the planner. I rang sky to enquire about a replacement, the guy yold me it was £150 for a new Sky + box and £30 installation. I asked him if this was the best deal he could do, and he told me this was the only deal he could do!!!

I asked to be put through to the cancellations department, they like to call it the 'retentions' department. I explined that I wished to cancel my contract becasue of my faulty sky+ box and the cost of a replacement. He said that sky did not want to lose a valued customer.......blah blah. Offered me a new sky+ box for free, installed within 3 days and no new 12 month contract.

With the current financial climate they will do anything to keep your monthly income.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, this is one of the advantages of Virgin. Unlike Sky, your subscription includes maintenance - of a sort...

 

[Anonymous]

I've had this a few times before. Last time, I simply pointed out how cheap I could get a replacement Sky+ box (like the one I have) from the likes of eBay.

 

[Anonymous]

The best way around this is after the 12 months say your box goes faulty , Cancel your Sub & then get someone else to phone up in the house hold and order sky in there name , if they mention anything about the old sky then say the person has moved and you dont know where , sky will have to set you up again with a new box , easy !...... Iv done this with my brother and it works

 

[bigblue235]

jasonsony735:The best way around this is after the 12 months say your box goes faulty , Cancel your Sub & then get someone else to phone up in the house hold and order sky in there name... Iv done this with my brother and it works

Ah, not always I'm afraid! They usually won't supply you if the box is in the same surname, so I think you were lucky if your brother called up! They refused to install a box in my girlfriends name after I cancelled at our address, as they knew it was still the same residents at the house. We weren't trying to pull a fast one, just trying to re-subscribe after it had been cancelled. They upgraded us to HD fine though

If the box does fail, either pick one up from ebay or just call up and ask for a replacement. Regardless of whether or not you feel you're entitled to one (and I'd agree you should be) lying about moving out is still kinda fraudulent

Actually, I'd just go for HD for £75, then you have a 12 month warranty on a new box and HD! Far superior to Freesat IMO.

 

[Dave_]

bigblue235:

Actually, I'd just go for HD for £75, then you have a 12 month warranty on a new box and HD! Far superior to Freesat IMO.

and so it should be for the best part of fifty quid a month for a top package, where as freesat is well free

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Sky does offer a repair plan, but they don't cold call people up to offer it (or so they reckon). Other companies do though, giving the impression that they're from Sky. I've had them myself, but when you ask them what company they represent then it's not Sky.

I know you called them Madsheep but there might have been a mix up because of the repair plan they do offer. It costs more than £60 though which is why I suspect it was someone else calling. Although it's true that you only get a 12 month warranty, and that you can't just cancel and re-subscribe.

I'm afraid getting a TV card won't give you the pleasure of using their dish either, as you own that too.

The difference between Sky and Virgin, is that you buy all the equipment from Sky when you first subscribe, dish, cables, box the lot. Virgin loan it to you.

Once the warranty's up, then like everything else it's down to you to maintain it.

Anyway I don't work for Sky, so I'm not sure why I'm defending them.

It strikes me that with £75 for Sky HD or the TV card (does that include the initial Freesat subscription?) to get set up, then the only cost difference is the £10 a month extra subscription to Sky.

With Freesat you get ITV in HD whereas with Sky you get their channels. I suppose it depends whether you think the Sky HD channels are worth that extra tenner?

I do personally, but if you're not fussed about the sports and movies then why bother.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,my father inlaw recently phoned up sky to cancell because his equipment went faulty after taking over the subs after his son moved out(the equipment was about 6 years old)but they put him on a new contract with out menting any new equipment,but like i said it went faulty after about 6 months.but sky gave him a free sky+ box and instalation to keep him as a coustomer.

 

[bigblue235]

daveh75:and so it should be for the best part of fifty quid a month for a top package,

Yup, and I believe it's worth it, so I'm happy paying it.

where as freesat is well free

And you get what you pay for

 

[Alec]

bigblue235:
daveh75:and so it should be for the best part of fifty quid a month for a top package,

Yup, and I believe it's worth it, so I'm happy paying it.

where as freesat is well free

And you get what you pay for

not really. when you get anything for free - that is to say, something other than literally nothing - you have got more than you paid for.

 

[Anonymous]

Our SD sky box packed in last Feb after 6 years service. We were given the old buy a warrenty or pay a one off fee spiel. I said no way and was passed on to the cancellation dept. They offered me a new Sky box for free or Sky+ for £50 installation. I went for the replacement box. The wife said I should have gone for the Sky+ deal. We phoned them back and this time they offered us Sky+ with free installation. We went for it. Earlier this year the Sky+ box packed in after about 14 months. We went throught he same thing again with 'having to pay and threatening to cancel again'. We ended up with a replacement Sky+ box for free with a new 12 month warrenty.

 

[Anonymous]

ive had four phone calls of the buggers! told them i was an electrical eng id id fix it myself it broke!

 

[bigblue235]

al7478: not really. when you get anything for free - that is to say, something other than literally nothing - you have got more than you paid for.

Boring night in the al7478 household?

With regard to the Sky warranties being flogged, we did have quite a few calls from people who weren't from Sky, saying they were from Sky! Rather annoying. Just told them we had a third-party warranty and they left us in peace.

 

[Alec]

bigblue235:
al7478: not really. when you get anything for free - that is to say, something other than literally nothing - you have got more than you paid for.

Boring night in the al7478 household?

Ha! Tedium like you would'nt believe, u big sarcy so 'n' so 🙂