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View Full Version : GETTING FOBBED OFF BY SKY re Sky+


paulr
08-12-2005, 01:21
Hi,
My Sky+ does not work, it does not pause, rewind, fastword etc live TV

According to SKY it is a firmware problem with some sort of software that is automatically installed.

I think this is true as I have also seen the same problem in a friends house.

However this has now been going on for about 6 months and despite numerous phone calls Sky refuse to give me any time when they think they might be able to sort this problem or offer me any sort of compensation.
They basically dont give a s..

Dont know what to do now as I went from a hard disk recorder from thomson that performed this function very well and now I am stuck with a sky + box that doesn't.

I am thinking this must be in breach of contract or something as the unit doesn't do what they sold it to do, although they say nothing is wrong with it and its a software problem that they cant fix????????

Absolutely typical of a company that has a complete monopoly and disgraceful customer service.

I am wondering how many others have the same problem and how this can be resolved.
I am off now to send an email + letter to sky that will probably get ingored by their "really...WE DONT CARE" customer service team.

thats the end of my rant thanks for listening:mad:

Neil
08-12-2005, 01:24
1) :welcome: to the site.

2) James Murdoch, Chief Executive james.murdoch@bskyb.com :)

paulr
08-12-2005, 01:42
chances of sky getting back to me......
ZERO:dunce:

Paul
08-12-2005, 01:47
Interesting post for those who think sky is the answer to all their woes .......

Stuart
08-12-2005, 01:54
chances of sky getting back to me......
ZERO:dunce:If you email Mr Murdoch direct things tend to get done.

According to Private Eye, Sky won't say how many calls they have recieved about this, but they estimate it to be in the order of hundreds or possibly thousands of calls


James Murdoch has stated that Sky are confident it will be fixed shortly.

Sadly, I can't provide a link, as the article is in the print edition of Private Eye. It is on page 13 of issue 1147 (9-22 dec 2005)

nffc
08-12-2005, 01:58
Reset the box - disconnect all from the back then hold in power button for 20 seconds, then reconnect... may be it's juat got confused.

Or probably not but there you go.

If it's THEIR carp firmware they should fix it.

Neil
08-12-2005, 02:04
chances of sky getting back to me......
ZERO:dunce:

That's the guy at the top of the chain.....

Graham
08-12-2005, 02:16
Hi,
My Sky+ does not work, it does not pause, rewind, fastword etc live TV

According to SKY it is a firmware problem with some sort of software that is automatically installed.

I've had this happen a couple of times on my Sky+ box, most recently about last week when I believe they did another upgrade, but it generally sorts itself out after a few days.

Have you tried doing a full system reset?

Press Services/ System Setup/ then 0 then 1 then Select (nothing will happen until you press Select)

This gets you into the Engineer's menu.

Firstly try doing Sky+ Planner Rebuild first, this shouldn't (hopefully!) cause you to lose any recorded stuff or entries on the Sky+ Planner.

If that doesn't work, you'll need to try "Full System Reset" which will format the hard drive and wipe all the entries on the Sky+ Planner.

This can take a few minutes, so just leave it for a while and then come back.

You can also try unplugging the box and leaving it for a while before switching back on again.

If none of this works, you can try complaining that the box is "Not fit for purpose" as per your rights under the Sale of Goods Act and demand that they replace it.

nffc
08-12-2005, 02:48
If none of this works, you can try complaining that the box is "Not fit for purpose" as per your rights under the Sale of Goods Act and demand that they replace it. You can? The OP says the fault's been ongoing for 6 months. Under SSoGA the onus in the first six months is on the retailer to prove the fault wasn't there at purchase, afterwards the customer has to prove it was - only then can it be deemed "not fit for purpose". The box is older than that so the OP has to prove it was there when he got it, which it most likely wasn't.

If it is a dodgy firmware then sky should fix it, it sounds like the box just needs kicking to reboot it though.

Notwithstanding, it's sky's problem so he should demand Sky send an engineer out to look at it and update/fix the firmware.

paulr
08-12-2005, 08:57
Hi Guys, thanks for your responses.

I forget now how many times I've had to bend over backwards behind the TV to turn it off at the mains, I've done it so many times. It does sort the problem but it retruns within a day or so. This is what they say do when I call them. The last time I called them i explained that I had enough of resetting the frigging thing every time I wanted it work properly, and hence I just leave it now. They offered nothing and when I said I wanted to complain they just gave me their postal address.(like I'd get a response to a letter)

Interestingly it did fix itself a couple of weeks ago for a day or so but then went back.

I said 6 months but maybe its 4 or 5 I dont know. I know it is coming to the end of it's warranty period of 12 months though. The annoying thing is
apart from this I've had no problems and it is a great system that worked perfectly for 6 months odd.
When they said it was a firmware problem I thought I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and was glad the box wasn't faulty, but now they are really taking the pee.

I'll have a look at that article, I found another from 2002 when they first released the system they had so many problems that they gave some customers some money back. I think they should at least give a refund of some subs. To be honest thats what reallt got me, if I phone the bank and complain about their charges for long enough they are likely to give you some of it back, but these wan*ers, they don't offer you penny, just keep charging £45 quid odd and don't care.. .scandalous

handyman
08-12-2005, 10:43
Interesting post for those who think sky is the answer to all their woes .......

Yeah it is, my dad's sky has been in 18 months and started loosing channels on a saturdayu night. we rebooted it and all the channels went off saying no signal. Called sky and they got me to check the scart cable (noobs :mad: ) and reboot again. Nothing happend they said it would be £70+ to get a tech out.

Had that been ntl it would have been a tech on monday morning g'teed and FOC.

Neil
08-12-2005, 12:09
Yeah it is, my dad's sky has been in 18 months and started loosing channels on a saturdayu night. we rebooted it and all the channels went off saying no signal. Called sky and they got me to check the scart cable (noobs :mad: ) and reboot again. Nothing happend they said it would be £70+ to get a tech out.

Had that been ntl it would have been a tech on monday morning g'teed and FOC.

Fault reported on a Sat night, & then engineer fixing it on Monday morning? :erm:

I don't think so Mark. ;)

ian@huth
08-12-2005, 14:25
Yeah it is, my dad's sky has been in 18 months and started loosing channels on a saturdayu night. we rebooted it and all the channels went off saying no signal. Called sky and they got me to check the scart cable (noobs :mad: ) and reboot again. Nothing happend they said it would be £70+ to get a tech out.

Had that been ntl it would have been a tech on monday morning g'teed and FOC.Sky only charge £65 for a call out which includes the provision of a refurbished box, cabling, dish and LNB if required. Some of the 3rd party warranty companies suggest that Sky charge far more than this for a call out and parts are extra, lies to tempt you to sign up with them.

After the 12 month initial warranty you have rights under the SOG act and reminding Sky of them can result in a free service visit with replacement parts FOC. If Sky are adamant that they will not waive the £65 charge ask to be transferred to their cancellation department. This will often result in a free callout being offered. The longer you have been a customer and the more you pay each month the better your chance of a free call out. Your dad's problem could be caused by a Sky software fault which Sky should sort out FOC or a component failure which again they should sort out FOC.

You can? The OP says the fault's been ongoing for 6 months. Under SSoGA the onus in the first six months is on the retailer to prove the fault wasn't there at purchase, afterwards the customer has to prove it was - only then can it be deemed "not fit for purpose". The box is older than that so the OP has to prove it was there when he got it, which it most likely wasn't.

If it is a dodgy firmware then sky should fix it, it sounds like the box just needs kicking to reboot it though.

Notwithstanding, it's sky's problem so he should demand Sky send an engineer out to look at it and update/fix the firmware.The SOG act considers durability as a factor in whether goods are faulty or not. Goods such as a Sky digibox are expected to last far longer than 12 months and perform to the advertised standard for at least that time. If the digibox doesn't do what it was advertised to do then a claim under the SOG act is warranted and that applies even after the 12 month warranty has expired (up to six years in England and Wales and 5 years in Scotland).

handyman
08-12-2005, 14:51
Fault reported on a Sat night, & then engineer fixing it on Monday morning? :erm:

I don't think so Mark. ;)

Most of the time in Teesside that was the case, the only slot we had issues with was saturdays

Neil
08-12-2005, 17:54
Most of the time in Teesside that was the case, the only slot we had issues with was saturdays

What about the rest of the country? ;)

Derek
08-12-2005, 17:57
What about the rest of the country? ;)

Glasgow, Belfast and Wales were normally OK as well. The majority of callers got a timeslot within the next 24 working hours.

Stuart
08-12-2005, 18:04
Sky only charge £65 for a call out which includes the provision of a refurbished box, cabling, dish and LNB if required. Some of the 3rd party warranty companies suggest that Sky charge far more than this for a call out and parts are extra, lies to tempt you to sign up with them.



Actually, according to the Private Eye article I referenced earlier, Sky HAVE tried to charge some of the scubscribers the call out fee..

nffc
08-12-2005, 18:11
Yeah it is, my dad's sky has been in 18 months and started loosing channels on a saturdayu night. we rebooted it and all the channels went off saying no signal. Called sky and they got me to check the scart cable (noobs :mad: ) and reboot again. Nothing happend they said it would be £70+ to get a tech out.

Had that been ntl it would have been a tech on monday morning g'teed and FOC.Sky only charge £65 for a call out which includes the provision of a refurbished box, cabling, dish and LNB if required. Some of the 3rd party warranty companies suggest that Sky charge far more than this for a call out and parts are extra, lies to tempt you to sign up with them.

After the 12 month initial warranty you have rights under the SOG act and reminding Sky of them can result in a free service visit with replacement parts FOC. If Sky are adamant that they will not waive the £65 charge ask to be transferred to their cancellation department. This will often result in a free callout being offered. The longer you have been a customer and the more you pay each month the better your chance of a free call out. Your dad's problem could be caused by a Sky software fault which Sky should sort out FOC or a component failure which again they should sort out FOC.

You can? The OP says the fault's been ongoing for 6 months. Under SSoGA the onus in the first six months is on the retailer to prove the fault wasn't there at purchase, afterwards the customer has to prove it was - only then can it be deemed "not fit for purpose". The box is older than that so the OP has to prove it was there when he got it, which it most likely wasn't.

If it is a dodgy firmware then sky should fix it, it sounds like the box just needs kicking to reboot it though.

Notwithstanding, it's sky's problem so he should demand Sky send an engineer out to look at it and update/fix the firmware.The SOG act considers durability as a factor in whether goods are faulty or not. Goods such as a Sky digibox are expected to last far longer than 12 months and perform to the advertised standard for at least that time. If the digibox doesn't do what it was advertised to do then a claim under the SOG act is warranted and that applies even after the 12 month warranty has expired (up to six years in England and Wales and 5 years in Scotland).

The warranties are an addition to your statutory rights though, the thing is SOGA is so "grey" as to time scales, we don't know how old it is, and if it's a bad sw build then that really is rather subjective in itself.

If he's really peeved he could get a writ or something demanding sky fix it, probably scare them into doing something.

Chimaera
09-12-2005, 07:48
Try Consumer Direct - http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
They have a very good helpline and will provide all the information you need to help you get this problem resolved - or try your local Trading Standards Dept?