Problems getting Multiroom

_Kaiser_

Morning all,

Myself and the girlfriend have recently moved into a new rented house. I took Sky's Moving Home option to get my existing HD box installed and (aside from the less than perfect job Finlays did - which I'm awaiting a callback on) it's working ok.

Now though we want to install a 2nd standard box (that I bought on ebay) in a second room. Because this is a rented house (and because eircom still haven't provided me with a phoneline yet), I figured the best idea would be to get a 2nd sub with just the basic RTE/BBC/Sky1 etc channels & the kids mix on it.

However, Sky are insisting they won't do this - only 1 account per household they're saying. This strikes me as somewhat ridiculous as:

1. I'm providing the extra box and cabling myself
2. Drilling holes and running phone cables isn't an option given it's a rented house
3. I'm offering to pay them the full price for this 2nd sub - I'm not looking for a Multiroom discount.

Sky though are telling me I can only get a 2nd card if I run the phone cables and take their standard multiroom offering OR they'll send me a 2nd card with the full package (as I have on my existing card) and charge me full price for both!!

Has anyone then any thoughts on how to get around this as obviously I'm not going to pay about €150 a month for TV. My thoughts:

1. Get a card from one of those ex-pat sites (any recommendations?)
2. Use a relative's/friend's address and have my gf call in saying she just moved in, the last person left a box/dish, and can she have a card please

Thanks for any advice

FreedomJoe

Have you considered the Freesat option?

Just pop to the North and pick up a box from Argos, costs round £49.99.
www.freesat.co.uk


Otherwise your t option is to take a 2nd sub at someone elses address. The problem there is however a new 12mth contract and they would then be unable to get Sky unless of course they took multiroom.

_Kaiser_

FreedomJoe wrote: »

Have you considered the Freesat option?

Just pop to the North and pick up a box from Argos, costs round £49.99.
www.freesat.co.uk


Otherwise your t option is to take a 2nd sub at someone elses address. The problem there is however a new 12mth contract and they would then be unable to get Sky unless of course they took multiroom.

I already have an FTV card (that thoughtfully and unexpectedly came with the HD box I bought on ebay a year back), but the problem is that we want RTE and the kids channels on the 2nd box.

It doesn't make any sense to me though why Sky won't just give me a 2nd sub, especially as it's costing them nothing in terms of cabling and equipment.

Sam Radford

Your girlfriend should phone Sky and ask for a "second hand contract", giving her own name and her address as "flat 2" and saying she just moved in to the flat and there's already a dish connection and an old Digibox. They may ask for the Digibox serial number etc.

FreedomJoe

I wired up a second box to my bedroom and ranf Sky and said I would like a multiroom card.

They sent it to me.

I have been paying the multiroom charge with the normal charge for the past 6 months now without having my box connected to the telephone!

I have had no warning letters or any complaints from SKY, I do have a telephone box in the bedroom but its dead. I need to check the cables. But as Sky havent chased me yet I wont bother until they do!

Maybe you should connect all the equipment yourself, and do the following,

Ring Sky and tell them you want a multiroom card, give a mates telephone number as reference, make sure this mate has a sky box for future use,

When I received my SKY card for multiroom I had to ring Sky, I took the multi room box to my main telephone line in the front room and followed the Sky reps instructions, It went as far as connecting SKY through the telphone line.

In your case go around your mates house (as above) and do the exactly the same, but giving them your mates telephone number and pretending its yours!

If Sky do contact you in a few months with a warning letter they you will pay the full charge as a 2nd sub or unless of course by then you have a telephone line from Eircom!

_Kaiser_

Update...

Got a call from Customer Care (who according to Kerry, one of the Team Leaders in the Call Centre, don't actually take calls from customers! :rolleyes:) and had a nice chat with a fella about this.

After he fed me the same line about the standard multiroom offering or I could pay full price for both cards, with me rebutting these as I did above, he admitted that YES in fact you CAN get a "2nd hand contract" for a case like this after all - but it has to be done through an independent retailer, and Sky offer no warranty on the installation/equipment etc etc (not an issue as I'm providing the extra box and cabling myself).

So this afternoon the local independent was out, ran me a (third) cable to the 2nd box and signed my gf up for the contract and we should have the card (and a new box it seems) in a few days.

Moral of the story... if at first you don't succeed, escalate (it helps that I worked in call centres for years at Team Lead/Escalations/Cust Relations/Quality levels so can parrot the procedures and organisational setup back to them as well).