Has anyone had any dealings with sky

[Mark DRFC]

Ok the short of it is, my HD box is 20 months old and for the last 4 months the picture has been freezing etc randomly, ii have done all the fix's that sky suggested but no joy, they have now told me that the only way they will do owt is if i have extended warranty or pay for a one off engineers visit however if there is a problem i would still have to fork out for a new box?

I have emailed the CEO because i was sick of the indian muppet who claimed to be the call centre manager this morning but wondered if anyone had any words of wisdom......

Heres the email i sent......

*******************************************************************************************************************
Mr Darroch

First may i apologise for having to direct this correspondence to you.

If you can take the liberty of understanding my situation i will try to explain it the best i can.

My name is Mark *&^%$% and I work for the CEO of a large UK based company and understand the level of customer service that companies such as yourself aspire to give, unfortunately i have not received customer service to any half decent standard whilst trying to deal with the enquiry.

I have been a BskyB customer since the launch of Astra 20+ years ago and have always taken a high package, i have never encountered any problems with your service up to this point.

In our property we have been with sky since we moved in and when the chance to have a HD box came up we took the opportunity at this point we decided to upgrade our Sky+ box but also take Multi room (in a 2 bed Property) as well as the Broadband and telephone services we have. The HD box worked fine for over 16 months but then we realised that the recordings we were making had problems, the picture started the freeze and become out of sync with the sound, this didn't happen on all recordings but it ruined alot of shows we had been waiting for, at this point we called customer services and spoke to the technical team who took us through some procedures in order to try and resolve the problem, i have advised that this was an intermittent problem and that it wasn't every show however they still followed the process and so did we, removing wires then waiting for resets to take place. With this being an intermittent problem all the staff asked was has this resolved it, i said that we couldn't tell as it was random when the issue happened. So once again we continued to view the shows, a few days later the problem happened again, as we had made a note of the process we completed this again, therefore a few days on again and no issues, then a week or so later the problem started again on live TV we called the customer service department again to try and rectify the situation however it was the same process over and over, i requested an engineer but they said this was not possible at this point, so we muddled on with it.
For the last few weeks we have been muddling on with it watching barely legible pictures of our favourite shows until it has got to the point where there is no point having the service as it is too bad to watch at some points this is also complied by the Sky+ multi room box now repeatedly giving the message that it is not receiving signal and we need to switch off for 5 minutes, again very frustrating.
We find that it is the recording that is worse however live TV is terrible to try and watch on HD, I am a sports fan and the main reason we got HD was for sports, however i cannot justify paying for a service we cannot use and have had problems with over the last few months.

After my last call to customer services this morning it has left a bitter taste in my mouth, after explaining the situation to an agent she advised there were 2 ways we can solve this, both involving costs to me for rectifying defective equipment, the agent even said she thinks its a problem with the dish/signal however started taking about box cover and warranty? I was understandably upset at this revelation and asked to speak to a manager after she was unable to put me through to cancellations as if i am not receiving the service we pay for then we will no longer be subscribing and will take our business to BT.
The manager who identified himself as Dipak  (the head of centre) unique ID cs4dp advised me that he could call me back and put me through to cancellations, at this point i requested details of yourself Sky's CEO, Dipak informed me he couldn't give me the details and then went on to say he did not know who the CEO was I requested the CEO details 4 or 5 times with little success other than being given the Livingston Complaints address, as with technology today i managed to pull up the details of the BskyB board and first of all asked Dipak who Mr James Murdoch was, he advised that he was the CEO, this was after telling me that he did not know who the CEO was, granted he was incorrect as i then asked him who Mr Jeremy Darroch was; he advised that you were the CEO so after telling me that he did not no who the CEO was he had told me that 2 people were the CEO in the space of 5 minutes, he then went on to say the role changed and he was not aware at the time who the current CEO was, for the Head of your Indian centre this is very disturbing news that he doesn't know who his boss is?
Dipak then went through to cancellations where he advised me they would not speak to me even though i am an authorised person with all the account and password details, at this point he started to go around in circles and i advised i would be writing to you, i terminated the call at this point.

Mr Darroch, what i would like to happen is for my 2 sky boxes to work, i ask you to provide me with 2 new boxes as the boxes we currently have are not fit for purpose;

\"The Sale of Goods Act 979, amended in 1994, say that when you buy goods from a trader they must fit the description, be of satisfactory quality - which includes lasting a reasonable length of time - and be fit for their purpose.  If goods aren't of satisfactory quality you're entitled to compensation, which is normally the cost of repairs.  The retailer, not the manufacturer, is legally obliged to sort out a problem if the goods don't meet these requirements.\"

I will also be looking for compensation for the fact that we have not been able to enjoy the HD package that we pay monthly for for the last 4 months and the inconvenience of having to sit on the phone to an 0844 number whilst being told how to try and service a box instead of dealing with the problem.

If we do not get an acceptable resolution then we will be cancelling our service this includes TV, Phone & Broadband and going to BT.

Mr Darroch, i do hope you get chance to read this email and i would appreciate a reply from you or a senior member of your staff to discuss the issues.

Please reply to me via email

Regards

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I sent that to all the members of Skys Board of directors this morning and have yet to have had even an acknowledgement.

Any advice would be really appreciated????

[grayx]

Ring their customer services dept & ask for the cancellations dept. Explain to them that you wish to cancel sky because of the problems you have detailed. They will send out an engineer to fix it, free of charge.

[Mark DRFC]

done that with no joy, they said a few months back the only thing they can do is waive the engineer charge, i would still have to pay for new boxes!

[MrFrost]

The SKY boxes only come with a warranty of 12 months I believe. If they are outside of this warranty, I really do not see how you have a case, unless you have purchased an extended warranty.

I severely doubt questioning the sale of goods act will favour you in this case. The box is 20 months old. An initial manufacturers warranty was in place, which has likely expired.

[Mark DRFC]

but extended warranty isnt worth the paper its written on, retailers have to make sure the items they sell are fit for purpose for a minimum expected time, the UK sale of goods act state this is 6 years, within this time it is the responsibility of the retailer to make good any malfunctioning items.
i work with this day in day out and know where i stand with this, thats one reason i wrote the email because un informed so called managers were trying to tell me my rights this morning.

[MrFrost]

It isn't as simple as that.
I bought a television that packed in after 13 months. One month outside the warranty. I investigated my rights under the sale of goods act through Trading Standards who advised me it was near on impossible to enforce this on an electrical item that is outside of the initial warranty. Basically because, the supplier could argue the product has been used excessively, not looked after, etc etc.

If it was enforceable, everyone with an electrical item would be claiming for a new one within six years, as most electrical products such as laptops, PCs, TV's hoovers, washing machines etc will develop a fault within 6 years of purchase.

Good luck.

[RedJ]

Hunt down Mr Murdoch and challenge him to a duel.

[Mark DRFC]

power to the people n all that im not going to back down \"insert rousing speech here\"

[DonnyRTID]

power to the people n all that im not going to back down
\"insert rousing speech here\"

My sky+box freezes occassionally, i switch it off at the socket for a couple of mins then back on, does the trick every time.

[RTID75]

Are the boxes your property or that of Sky? If they belong to Sky then surely it is their responsibility to look after them.

I ask as a couple of years back I bought an HD box from Tesco - bought as in £200, no contract, no subscriptions (although it was always in their game plan to get you on a subscription). I sold it when I realised that if I didn't take out a subscription after the free 3 months trial that came with it expired then you could no longer record the free channels. I bought a FreeSat HD box with record facility and haven't given Sky a second thought since.

My point is that the box was my property to sell whereas most HD boxes are supplied free on a channel subscription basis. Surely if they aren't your property then Sky will have to sort them out?

[billdoor]

Try phoning trading standards. We had problems with an electrial item,they said all electrial items should last a minimum of 3 years from new.

[billdoor]

Saw this on Martin Lewis site:
Techie Troubles

If a customer has a technical issue (broken box, loss of signal) then they first go from Customer Service to Tech help, where they will be offered a service call at £65. This will be to fix, repair or replace the equipment. No additional cost will be raised during the job and this is a fixed price.

However, if the customer finds this unacceptable and wishes to cancel they are passed to Turnaround dept. The cost and service are once again offered to the customer; if they still wish to cancel then this department has the ability to offer the service at 1/2 price, or for free. Again the customer must state clearly that they are going to cancel. Some operators will hang out for the 1/2 price because you earn more in commission, but they will give the free of charge service in the end because it is still a customer saved. When I was there we always had unlimited numbers of free of charge and 1/2 price service calls. In certain weeks, we sometimes had the ability to give customers a brand new box, not reconditioned, if they had received a number of call outs and the problem was not resolved.

[MrFrost]

Are the boxes your property or that of Sky? If they belong to Sky then surely it is their responsibility to look after them.

I ask as a couple of years back I bought an HD box from Tesco - bought as in £200, no contract, no subscriptions (although it was always in their game plan to get you on a subscription). I sold it when I realised that if I didn't take out a subscription after the free 3 months trial that came with it expired then you could no longer record the free channels. I bought a FreeSat HD box with record facility and haven't given Sky a second thought since.

My point is that the box was my property to sell whereas most HD boxes are supplied free on a channel subscription basis. Surely if they aren't your property then Sky will have to sort them out?

Only for the first 12 months I believe.

[5minstogo]

I've had the warranty arm of Sky hassling me for weeks trying to get me to take out the extended warranty.  Every time I tell them I'm not interested they reduce the cost.

Anyway their main selling point is \"What would you do if it broke?\"

My reply was why would I pay for a warranty when if my sky box broke I would save £60 odd quid a month.  They rely on folk not being able to live without Sky.

Just get a freesat hd box and tell em to get stuffed.

[Mark DRFC]

thats the other option to BT we are considering, a one off payment instead of leaching £70.00 per month to sky.

[Wokingviking]

Always write to the Chairman of the Board and you wil definitely get a reply.

[RTID75]

thats the other option to BT we are considering, a one off payment instead of leaching £70.00 per month to sky.

I love telling the Sky selling staff in Tesco when they accost me that I dropped Sky like a hot potato for Freesat HD. Their face is always a picture!

[Mark DRFC]

Wokingviking - That is who my email has been directed too, its now 26 hrs and still not even an acknowledgement !

So this is what its like to be a valued customer? lol

[Wokingviking]

I thought you'd said it was the CEO you'd written to Mark.  I don't fully know why, but for some reason public company chairman always ensure that they reply (or their office does).

[Glyn_Wigley]

thats the other option to BT we are considering, a one off payment instead of leaching £70.00 per month to sky.

I love telling the Sky selling staff in Tesco when they accost me that I dropped Sky like a hot potato for Freesat HD. Their face is always a picture!

Not as good as when they try to hawk their crap to me - I ask them why the bunch of cowboys they represent still haven't given me back the £100 they owe me after having taken my money after I had cancelled Sky and gone to Virgin. That was four years ago, I've phoned them several times (they always say 'we'll sort if out for you') then nothing happens. So it costs me to phone them to get f**k all instead of what they owe me.

[RobTheRover]

I had a 3yo sky box go rogue on me once and they offered the 65 quid call out.  I told them to balls, and I'd cancel. The call outfee fell instantly to 40 quid. I still said I'd cancel. In the end I got a replacement box sent out for nowt

[Thinwhiteduke]

I dumped Sky a year ago when they simply could not match a deal I was offered by Virgin Media.

Thank god I did, Virgin have been a revelation. You never own the boxes / remotes etc, you effectively rent all the equipment from Virgin - therefore any fault they come out and fix for whilst ever you are a customer. Not as If Ive had a single issue since I have been with them.

Picture never effected by weather conditions.

I pay less for 40mb Broadband (you cant get that in Doncaster with Sky), telephone and a full HDTV package than I was just for TV with Sky.

[Mark DRFC]

Update :- A woman from sky called us on saturday apologising for the service and basically said the manager who i had dealt with had complaints against him before and basically all in all he is crap, they are sending an engineer out free of charge and going to get it sorted, after it is sorted they have said they will be compensating me for the inconvenience and not having the service we have paid for correctly for the last 4 months, we are waiting for a call today to confirm the engineer is coming out on saturday.

A email to the CEO and it looks like things are getting sorted

[MrFrost]

Update :- A woman from sky called us on saturday apologising for the service and basically said the manager who i had dealt with had complaints against him before and basically all in all he is crap, they are sending an engineer out free of charge and going to get it sorted, after it is sorted they have said they will be compensating me for the inconvenience and not having the service we have paid for correctly for the last 4 months, we are waiting for a call today to confirm the engineer is coming out on saturday.

A email to the CEO and it looks like things are getting sorted

Can I have the email address please that you used? I'm still waiting for my Marks and Spencer's vouchers they agreed I would get when I joined 6 months ago.

Also, I would choose Virgin Media any day over Sky. Just a shame they aren't available in my area.

[Thinwhiteduke]

Also, I would choose Virgin Media any day over Sky. Just a shame they aren't available in my area.

Yeak...its a shame mosty people seem to think SKY is the be all and end all, they ahve nothing that compares with this.....

http://tivo.virginmedia.com/

[DRFC-PERKINS]

Virgin is f**king great, we changed from sky a couple years ago, you get so much more value for money than sky.

[herouk87]

I agree that the product Virgin offer is great value but the service is appaling. I called up to cancel mine and they told us we had to buy out the rest of our contract (min 12 months, fair enough). We had 1 month remaining on the contract and they tried to charge 3 months (May-June is 3 months apparantly). They also tried to slap on massive costs because we \"refused to return their equipment\" when i fact I said we would return all equipment. Took fooking ages to sort out

b*llocks to Sky and their £60 a month. You can get a season ticket and a subscription to Lovefilm instead and still have enough left over for a Freeview HD box!

[Mr1Croft]

On the topic of warranty that is the stated deadline of free service to fix the item, however, the item will have a guarantee. This should be 3 years in most cases that the product should last without any faults not caused by the user. It would make sense to make the waranty match the guarantee, sadly companies like sky manipulate this to try and con those who do not read into it much, and its all legal if the customer is willing to pay it

[Mark DRFC]

Well the engineer came yesterday, he swapped the sky+ HD box for a new one as it was faulty the one we had, the multi room box was looked at and found a loose connection to the dish was the cause of its problems, everything is now working great again, the woman who is dealing with our case called to check everything went ahead ok, as compensation she has given us half price sky for the next 6 months, a result im happy with, who says you cant win against the big boys

[billdoor]

Glad its all sorted