Sky HD Installation worth paying if you already have Sky +?

[admin_exported]

Can anyone who has upgraded from Sky + to Sky HD please let me know what the £60 installation includes i.e does the exsisting dish / cables etc need to be replaced? . I dont really wanna pay them £60 if all they need to do is swap the boxes. I asked Sky to explain what the install involves, they gave a very vague answer but did say if the HD box is not installed by a Sky engineer then its warranty is void!

Any info would be much appreciated.

Ta

 

[FoxJA]

When I upgraded they also changed the cable and LNB. However, this is from the Sky website :-
"Will I need to have a new dish set up?

Only if you're new to Sky. If you're a new customer you'll need to have a minidish fitted, which we'll do for you when you join us. If you currently have a Sky box (but not a Sky+ box), you'll just need to replace this with a Sky HD box and have some extra cabling installed, which we'll take care of for you. If you're a Sky+ customer, all we'll need to do is change your Sky+ box to a Sky HD box."

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Just out of interest have you tried ringing up sky and saying that you where interested in getting sky hd. But with the new freesat now available im wondering if I should just cancel my account and go with freeview. Saving myself £30-£40 a month. I would imagine they would try everything possible to keep you as a loyal customer. Including dropping the £60 install charge.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

[quote user="SpiceWeasel"]
Just out of interest have you tried ringing up sky and saying that you where interested in getting sky hd. But with the new freesat now available im wondering if I should just cancel my account and go with freeview. Saving myself £30-£40 a month. I would imagine they would try everything possible to keep you as a loyal customer. Including dropping the £60 install charge.

[/quote]

This is a waste of time as the Sales Team at Sky are programed to simply read what iis written on the screen in front of them and waffle a load of tosh saying the even if you have Sky+ there is need for a Engineer to visit your home a set up your system.

My advice is to do as I did and get your self onto EBAY and look in Consumer Electronics and search SKY HD. You can get a box BNIB For arround £230/250 which is the same as Sky will charge you for the box but when it arrives simply swap the boxes over and call Sky to regieter your new box and tell them to switch on the HD content saving that £60 rip-off charge. Otherwise save even more and get a "nd hand one for about £160 and spend the extra money on upgrading the HDD to a 500 gig one.

 

[Anonymous]

I recently upgraded from SKY+ to SKY HD. As I recall the engineer did have to change something on the dish, but the cabling was untouched (I know because my hidden cabling through the wall into a socket was not touched).

As for getting a good deal, my advice would be to do the same as when you renegotiate your mobile phone deal. Talking to the "sales" people is a waste of time as they have no authority to cut deals. Get straight through to the cancellations dept. and talk to them (the mobile phone cancellations dept is openly called the "retentions dept"). They are going to try and persuade you to stay with SKY and thus should have authority to make you a deal. Of course, Sky are in a slightly stronger position than the mobile phone providers and might not make you any deal, in which case you say you'll think about it and hang up.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

I bought my box last year on Ebay (£175) brand new. I phoned Sky and told them I had bought a box from a third party and could they upgrade my Sky card. They did. I unplugged Sky + box, plugged in Sky HD box (obviously swapped scart with hdmi) and voila! I even sold old Sky + box on Ebay for £50!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

[quote user="StringerBell"]I recently upgraded from SKY+ to SKY HD. As I recall the engineer did have to change something on the dish, but the cabling was untouched [/quote]

Hmmmm not sure what the Engineer was doing here as there is no need to touch the Dish when changing from Sky+ to Sky HD as they both use the same QUAD LNB. Maybe Sky's Engineers are told to "make it look like they are doing something to warrant the £60 installation fee"???

All you have to do if changing from Sky+ to Sky HD is when you have changed the boxes over, on initial power up , hold down the BACK UP button on the box(not the remote) and keep it held down until the box goes into a software Download mode which will make sure that you box has the most up to date version complete with Sky Anytime. After this call Sky and add the HD content for a tenner. Thats it nothing else to do.

Another advantage of doing it the EBAY route is that you do not have to enter into a new 12 month contract so if you wish to cancel you can with 30 days notice.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the advice everyone, most helpfull