Skys £65 call-out charge

[Easy 10]

Just to reiterate - DON'T let them talk you into it.

I arrived home from work last night to the always welcome 'No satellite signal is being received' message on my Sky HD box, and although the picture came back intermittently, it soon broke up again and reverted to that message.

The technical support woman had me go through the usual checks, the Input 1 signal was non-existant, turned it off and on again, swapped the wires round at the back etc but no joy. So she asks me if I'd like to take out the insurance (£8.25 a month or something), and they'll send an engineer round to snort it. I politely decline, as I'm already giving Rupert £62 a month. "I'm afraid its a £65 callout charge then" she says. "I'll just cancel and go to Virgin then" says I. She apologises, gives me some guff about "we can't send the engineer out for nothing, as its unfair on our customers who DO insure their boxes", blah blah. Anyways, I remain insistant and so she puts me through to the Cancellations dept.

Turns out this is actually the Retentions dept. I go the story as to why I'm cancelling with a pleasant scottish chap called Alex, who then just says "och, yee' a valued customer been with us 10 years the noo, we'll get someone oot to yee nay charge and sort it. Will Thursday be alreet ?"

He even gave me the Arsenal lineup (being as I mentioned I was being forced down the pub for the game as I had no tellybox signal). TOP service, even if they do initially try to rip you off.

Do NOT accept the charge folks, and don't bother with insurance. Just call their bluff and threaten to cancel, they fold faster than Superman on laundrey day.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Top Service ? So they try to get you to take out an additional contact for over a £100 a year, then pay them £65, then when you tell them you are changing provider they promise to send someone around.

You are my kind of customer sir.

 

[Easy 10]

Top Service ? So they try to get you to take out an additional contact for over a £100 a year, then pay them £65, then when you tell them you are changing provider they promise to send someone around.

You are my kind of customer sir.

Well, top service in that they're sending someone round PDQ to snort it. I was quite happy at the end of the call anyway, you just have to be prepared to stick to your guns and not accept their bullshit.

 

[Gazwag]

Just make sure you don't accept a refurbished replacement box

 

[Uncle C]

I got this sort of treatment from Sky years ago and told them to stuff the whole thing. I can live without the overpaid prima donnas in the Premiership and I use P2P for all Albion matches when they are on.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

She apologises, gives me some guff about "we can't send the engineer out for nothing, as its unfair on our customers who DO insure their boxes", blah blah.

At which point I might have pointed out that with Virgin THEY own the box and so there's no need for rip off insurance.

 

[EastbourneGull]

Am I alone in thinking £65 is not unreasonable? It's not just a call-out charge because it does cover repair and replacement parts. This happened to me recently and I ended up with a new dish and the latest Skybox with bigger memory. And if I remember correctly it includes 90 days warranty.

 

[BensGrandad]

Their service and customer relations is so good that I have cancelled my sky having had it since they first started up. Now have a freeview digibox recorder which gives me the equivalent of sky + and the blurb says I can have sky sports for £9 per month. If we get to the Prem I will then take out the Sports.

 

[Easy 10]

Am I alone in thinking £65 is not unreasonable? It's not just a call-out charge because it does cover repair and replacement parts. This happened to me recently and I ended up with a new dish and the latest Skybox with bigger memory. And if I remember correctly it includes 90 days warranty.

When I'm already paying them £744 a year for their service then yes, I think a £65 charge for their box being faulty is unreasonable.

I might think differently if I was on one of their cheapest packages, just paying £20 a month or whatever. But as I'm subscribing to their premium channels and paying top dollar for it, I don't feel I should be paying additional charges when their box goes wrong (I know they claim its MY box so they can screw me for it, but I'm not having it).

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Am I alone in thinking £65 is not unreasonable? It's not just a call-out charge because it does cover repair and replacement parts. This happened to me recently and I ended up with a new dish and the latest Skybox with bigger memory. And if I remember correctly it includes 90 days warranty.

May be not alone but probably in the minority. So you pay up to £60 odd quid a month for a service you can't use if the box breaks and they expect you to pay them to re-supply said service ? If it were your TV then fine - you have a load of choice that ensures the market keeps the price competitive. With a Sky box it HAS to be a Sky box you connect so you're trapped into pay their fees. And for £65 you get less than 3 months warranty Complete rip off - Virgin come out and replace / fix your box for FREE.

 

[tinx]

I've done this twice now, Jus threatent o cancel and they fix it for free pretty much every time. One time I had to email James Murdoch directly and within 24 hours I got an email from one of his PAs asking when was the most convenient time to replace my entire setup free of charge for the upgraded sky plus box.

 

[Safeway]

My Freeview box broke a few weeks ago. I called Top Up TV who arranged for a new one to be couriered out within a couple of days, free of charge. Was very impressed with that as I'd purchased the box myself and was fully expecting to be told to just buy another.

 

[Wozza]

I arrived home from work last night to the always welcome 'No satellite signal is being received' message on my Sky HD box, and although the picture came back intermittently, it soon broke up again and reverted to that message. The technical support woman had me go through the usual checks, the Input 1 signal was non-existant, turned it off and on again, swapped the wires round at the back etc but no joy.

This problem is common and down to a design fault (overheating) with Thomson-made boxes, I think.

I sent mine for private repair and a massive hard disk upgrade for around £120. Meant I got some important programmes copied across, a much bigger/slient disk, and didn't end up with a refurb box from Sky.

 

[Easy 10]

This box is a Samsung one (although I've heard the Thompson ones are quite iffy)

 

[clippedgull]

This problem is common and down to a design fault (overheating) with Thomson-made boxes, I think.

I sent mine for private repair and a massive hard disk upgrade for around £120. Meant I got some important programmes copied across, a much bigger/slient disk, and didn't end up with a refurb box from Sky.

Upgraded my own, very easy to do. Currently have 4 2TB drives full of HD stuff. Have an external caddy and just put a new drive in when it's full.

 

[Wozza]

Upgraded my own, very easy to do. Currently have 4 2TB drives full of HD stuff. Have an external caddy and just put a new drive in when it's full.

Yeah, I've heard it is. A few years back I would have defo done myself. But happy for someone else to do it given they had the hood off for a repair, and did all the copying etc.

 

[Easy 10]

I never come CLOSE to filling the hard drive on my box, I think the most I've used at any one time is about 40%. There's just not enough hours in the day to catch up on everything I want to watch.

 

[METALMICKY]

Just make sure you don't accept a refurbished replacement box

Now this is where i struggle. My situation is that i have and only need a normal SKY+ box. My LCD TV is only HD ready with a DVI (not HDMI connection) and is not 1080. In addition i don't want to fork out for the HD subscription.

I have had the SKY+ plus box replaced 3 times over the past 14 months and each time they have given me a refurbished SKY+ box. Fortunately, i have never paid the call out charge because as Easy 10 describes you just have suggest you might cancel and miraculously they speak to a manager.

My problem is that i don't think they actually make new SKY+ boxes. I might add that i did once try to play real hardball for a good deal on the HD box but the threat to cancel backfired as the young Jock did actully put me through to cancellations dept.

Any ideas on a new strategy?

 

[Easy 10]

I might add that i did once try to play real hardball for a good deal on the HD box but the threat to cancel backfired as the young Jock did actully put me through to cancellations dept.

Thats where I was transferred to last night, and they were falling over themselves to keep hold of me (although I wasn't bluffing - I genuinely WOULD have cancelled).

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Maybe it was the SPACE STATION that bumped into your satellite and knocked it out of alignment, did you think of THAT, eh?