SKy HD Channels no Signal; Engineer Charge

Crazy Christ · 18-04-2015 8:32pm #1

I Lost a number of channels a couple of weeks ago, only now got around to talking to Sky Customer Service.

Basically the Sky Sports HD channels are showing no signal Error 25, along with the BBC HD channels. It is like this for the multiroom box and main box, so I guess it is a problem with the dish's alignment or something.

Only option according to Sky is to have an engineer out for €60 or so quid.

The thing is, this exact same thing happened before, and I paid for an engineer to come out. I think it was around a year ago. I am not paying again as I was thinking of quitting and going back to Freesat., The only thing I am worried about is that if I cancel without having this fixed then I would be without the BBC HD channels on the Freesat. So would it be worth my while to pay the charge and then cancel?

foggy_lad · 18-04-2015 8:39pm

Crazy Christ wrote: »

I Lost a number of channels a couple of weeks ago, only now got around to talking to Sky Customer Service.

Basically the Sky Sports HD channels are showing no signal Error 25, along with the BBC HD channels. It is like this for the multiroom box and main box, so I guess it is a problem with the dish's alignment or something.

Only option according to Sky is to have an engineer out for €60 or so quid.

The thing is, this exact same thing happened before, and I paid for an engineer to come out. I think it was around a year ago. I am not paying again as I was thinking of quitting and going back to Freesat., The only thing I am worried about is that if I cancel without having this fixed then I would be without the BBC HD channels on the Freesat. So would it be worth my while to pay the charge and then cancel?

Yuo will still have the BBC HD channels and ITV/UTV HD and Channel 4 HD, Tell them you won't pay any engineer charges but want to cancel the whole service instead, They will possibly waive the charge but don't let that sway you as they may well offer more incentives to get you to stay.

Crazy Christ · 18-04-2015 8:56pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

Yuo will still have the BBC HD channels and ITV/UTV HD and Channel 4 HD

I was worried that since there is a problem with the frequency that BBC HDs are on, if I don't get it fixed then I won't have any signal on the Freeview after I cancel, or do I need to worry?

winston_1 · 18-04-2015 10:27pm

Sky don't use engineers for this. They are at best installers. However €60 call out charge for anyone these days is pretty reasonable. But, if they came before isn't there any warranty on their work?
As the problem is on two boxes it does sound like the dish. Perhaps an independent satellite installer would do a better job, but of course it won't be free.

Slippin Jimmy · 18-04-2015 10:37pm

winston_1 wrote: »

Sky don't use engineers for this. They are at best installers. However €60 call out charge for anyone these days is pretty reasonable. But, if they came before isn't there any warranty on their work?
As the problem is on two boxes it does sound like the dish. Perhaps an independent satellite installer would do a better job, but of course it won't be free.

They give a 90 day warranty on their jobs.

winston_1 · 18-04-2015 10:55pm

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

They give a 90 day warranty on their jobs.

Is that all? Is that legal? Wonder what the sale of goods act would say about that.

Crazy Christ · 18-04-2015 10:59pm

Doesn't seem to be anything in the line of sight, I might get it fixed and then cancel, ridiculous paying over and over again for it.

mickdw · 18-04-2015 11:04pm

To be honest, the standard sky dish is not fit for purpose certainly in the west where I am.
They rust to the point of failure in 1 year and tend not to withstand the wind without reinforcement.
Nobody should fit them tbh.

Slippin Jimmy · 18-04-2015 11:28pm

winston_1 wrote: »

Is that all? Is that legal? Wonder what the sale of goods act would say about that.

Yeah it's a standard twelve month warranty with the dish. After that if you get an engineer out, they will guarantee the work for 90 days.

foggy_lad · 19-04-2015 1:43am

Crazy Christ wrote: »

Doesn't seem to be anything in the line of sight, I might get it fixed and then cancel, ridiculous paying over and over again for it.

If you can borrow a freesat/free to air receiver for a while you can plug it in to test the dish. Actually My former neighbour had similar issues with some channels dropping off and not being able to record and afaik it was the LNB but it took sky over a month to send someone out obviously because they were going to be paying for it as he was a new customer. Is your dish being shared with anyone else?

Crazy Christ · 19-04-2015 11:22am

foggy_lad wrote: »

If you can borrow a freesat/free to air receiver for a while you can plug it in to test the dish. Actually My former neighbour had similar issues with some channels dropping off and not being able to record and afaik it was the LNB but it took sky over a month to send someone out obviously because they were going to be paying for it as he was a new customer. Is your dish being shared with anyone else?

I will try test a freeview box. It is just covering our house with multiroom. I'd be worried if I went tinkering with the dish I would knock the rest of the channels out.

foggy_lad · 19-04-2015 4:56pm

Crazy Christ wrote: »

I will try test a freeview box. It is just covering our house with multiroom. I'd be worried if I went tinkering with the dish I would knock the rest of the channels out.

you don't need to touch the dish when checking the free to air receiver just plug the satellite feed cable from the sky box into the free to air box and scan for channels, if you get the HD channels then you can blame the sky box or their subscription.

Also before trying that have you switched around the two satellite feeds at the back of the main sky box to see if one of them is faulty?

dalta5billion · 19-04-2015 5:08pm

Crazy Christ wrote: »

I Lost a number of channels a couple of weeks ago, only now got around to talking to Sky Customer Service.

Basically the Sky Sports HD channels are showing no signal Error 25, along with the BBC HD channels. It is like this for the multiroom box and main box, so I guess it is a problem with the dish's alignment or something.

Only option according to Sky is to have an engineer out for €60 or so quid.

The thing is, this exact same thing happened before, and I paid for an engineer to come out. I think it was around a year ago. I am not paying again as I was thinking of quitting and going back to Freesat., The only thing I am worried about is that if I cancel without having this fixed then I would be without the BBC HD channels on the Freesat. So would it be worth my while to pay the charge and then cancel?

Unless they've cleverly legally separated the satellite dish installation and their provision of satellite service, they're charging you for a service they're not providing.

Tell them to get their behinds out to your house to fix it immediately or you'll take them to court. Quote the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act and watch them scramble.

swoofer · 19-04-2015 5:50pm

You dont say if you have tried any fixes or is the dish easily accessible. Could you take a pic of the dish and if its easy to access I am sure you will find its loose. Sky fixers are invariably in a rush and if the fixed the dish solidly from day one then callouts would drop. A few things can go wrong but your first stop is check on the cables to ensure they are fixed to each box securely. Then you should check signal strength in the sky hd box and see if both inputs are getting a signal or a very weak one. The dish could be rusty and the lnb arm may drop a little.

If you can reach dish you could try a broom handle to tap it first on one side and then the other you would be surprised how easy dish can be moved.

60 is a bit steep, threaten them with cancelling and you may be surprised. remind them its bad workmanship ie it was supposedly fixed 12 months ago.

here is a link that explains that error code.

are there any trees in the way

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/no-satellite-signal-is-being-received.htm

Crazy Christ · 19-04-2015 7:20pm

swoofer wrote: »

You dont say if you have tried any fixes or is the dish easily accessible. Could you take a pic of the dish and if its easy to access I am sure you will find its loose. Sky fixers are invariably in a rush and if the fixed the dish solidly from day one then callouts would drop. A few things can go wrong but your first stop is check on the cables to ensure they are fixed to each box securely. Then you should check signal strength in the sky hd box and see if both inputs are getting a signal or a very weak one. The dish could be rusty and the lnb arm may drop a little.

If you can reach dish you could try a broom handle to tap it first on one side and then the other you would be surprised how easy dish can be moved.

60 is a bit steep, threaten them with cancelling and you may be surprised. remind them its bad workmanship ie it was supposedly fixed 12 months ago.

here is a link that explains that error code.

are there any trees in the way

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/no-satellite-signal-is-being-received.htm

Hi,

I went through the steps they told me to, before I called them I had tried examining the cables and swapping the inputs but once I saw that the signal was gone on both boxes I figured it might be the dish as that's what was wrong last time.

I rang Sky and they took Serials and Model Number of both boxes and said to wait several hours to see if the channels came back, that they were resending the signal or something along those lines. The channels did not come back and now they want to book a call out from an engineer.

I must try check with a Freeview box as I was thinking of cancelling. As for the dish, I considered having a check but was worried I might misalign it further by moving it. Maybe I will give it a tap

Gerry Wicklow · 19-04-2015 7:44pm

Just so you don't confuse yourself with the wrong box, FreeVIEW is the terrestrial UK version of Saorview using a normal aerial. FreeSAT or a Free-To-Air (FTA) satellite box is what you need.

kbell · 20-04-2015 3:00am

dalta5billion wrote: »

Unless they've cleverly legally separated the satellite dish installation and their provision of satellite service, they're charging you for a service they're not providing.

Tell them to get their behinds out to your house to fix it immediately or you'll take them to court. Quote the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act and watch them scramble.

Sky are still providing the service.

winston_1 · 20-04-2015 7:16pm

Crazy Christ wrote: »

Hi,

The channels did not come back and now they want to book a call out from an engineer.

As I said they don't use engineers for this. If they did it almost certainly would not have failed twice.

Threaten to cancel.

Slippin Jimmy · 20-04-2015 7:30pm

winston_1 wrote: »

As I said they don't use engineers for this. If they did it almost certainly would not have failed twice.

Threaten to cancel.

You seem to have an issue in every thread about calling them engineers. It really doesn't matter.

dalta5billion · 20-04-2015 7:44pm

kbell wrote: »

Sky are still providing the service.

No they're not. Are eircom still providing you with broadband if the pole down the road blows down and the wire snaps or if their modem fries itself? No!

Now, if Sky sold their decryption cards separately like some operators do in Europe, that would be a different issue. But here the satellite dish is provided & installed by sky and is intrinsic to receiving service.

winston_1 · 20-04-2015 7:46pm

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

You seem to have an issue in every thread about calling them engineers. It really doesn't matter.

Yes it does. Customers think they are getting a professional when they are not. In many countries it is illegal to call someone an engineer who has not got the relavent professional qualifications.

icdg · 21-04-2015 7:09am

I know some people have a bee in their bonnet over that, on both sides of the argument. Once again I have to ask that such a discussion be taken elsewhere. For the avoidance of doubt I am not expressing a view for or against the argument I am just saying that this forum is not the correct place to discuss it, we are here to talk television, not education or employment issues.

Crazy Christ · 21-04-2015 10:19pm

winston_1 wrote: »

As I said they don't use engineers for this. If they did it almost certainly would not have failed twice.

I know you said it, I'm just reporting the sequence of events, and they used the word, not me. They could be milkmen for all I know.

Threaten to cancel.

I will be cancelling I think, I was thinking about it anyway.

swoofer · 22-04-2015 12:05am

for some inane reason winston has picked up on the fact the term sky engineer is used on here and it probably helps the post count to add the usual blah blah blah. However, winston has never indicated that contact has been made with sky about the term and that's a pity. However, to make us all feel sane again this is what is posted on the sky support page.

http://help.sky.com/articles/reschedule-your-sky-tv-engineer-appointment?product=sky-tv&country=ie&intent=other-information

and the word engineer is used 5 times!

So when a person posts on here that sky have advised them an " engineer" will call it is not the poster who is to blame its sky.

So Winston take it up with sky and leave us all alone.

icdg · 22-04-2015 7:31am

I said no more discussion of it. Consider yourself warned and the thread will be closed if people continue to do so.

SKy HD Channels no Signal; Engineer Charge

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