Sky Box gone belly up - how much for new one?

Frowzy

Folks,
One of my Sky+ boxes has just gone belly up. I was just wondering if this had happened to anyone else and if sky charged them the full €250 plus call out to replace it? Should I try bargaining with them as I pay full subs for full package + Movies + Sports + Multiroom? or will I be stung for full charges?

F

Cupart

Hey Frowzy,

Check one of the well known online auction sites as there are now a surplus of SKY+ boxes availble as bottom prices. Even SKY+HD boxes go for much less than they did a few months ago...

Cheerio

VERYinterested

You could also check adverts.ie you'll pick one up hand enough, a lot quicker than messing around with Sky.


http://www.adverts.ie/showcat.php?cat=50&stype=1&si=sky%2B&perpage=30&sort=10&stype=&limit=&cat=50&ppuser=0

Pat Gleeson

€ 100 inclusive for Sky+ and installation charge. Just got it done 2 weeks ago. I needed it done quickly, and from the phone call to installation - 2 days.

VERYinterested

Pat Gleeson wrote: »

€ 100 inclusive for Sky+ and installation charge. Just got it done 2 weeks ago. I needed it done quickly, and from the phone call to installation - 2 days.

That was quick! I registered on Tuesday last week to upgrade to HD and am still waiting on an e-mail to invite me to purchase. What did you do to express some urgency from them?

DonJose

VERYinterested wrote: »

That was quick! I registered on Tuesday last week to upgrade to HD and am still waiting on an e-mail to invite me to purchase. What did you do to express some urgency from them?

I phoned Sky last night to upgrade to SkyHD, got an email today telling me "You can complete your order in around 2 months... At the moment, we estimate that you'll be able to complete your order and arrange installation in around 2 months. We appreciate this might seem like a long time but we are working hard to try and reduce your wait time and we will try and get you set up as soon as possible." :eek:

Wiggy

Frowzy wrote: »

Folks,
One of my Sky+ boxes has just gone belly up. I was just wondering if this had happened to anyone else and if sky charged them the full €250 plus call out to replace it? Should I try bargaining with them as I pay full subs for full package + Movies + Sports + Multiroom? or will I be stung for full charges?

F

Why not phone them. If they want to charge you anything, tell them you want to cancel. I'd be surprised if they went ahead and let it get that far. If you do have to cancel get your other half to take out a new sub. You'll get a new box for €49 and a months free sub if you go that route I think.

John mac

have a look at satcure.com you may find a solution there.

Pat Gleeson

VERYinterested wrote: »

That was quick! I registered on Tuesday last week to upgrade to HD and am still waiting on an e-mail to invite me to purchase. What did you do to express some urgency from them?

Sky HD has a large waiting list at the moment, presumably due to the lack of hardware at the moment. Sky+ boxes are plentiful.

Frowzy

Wiggy wrote: »

Why not phone them. If they want to charge you anything, tell them you want to cancel. I'd be surprised if they went ahead and let it get that far. If you do have to cancel get your other half to take out a new sub. You'll get a new box for €49 and a months free sub if you go that route I think.

I tried this, basically it's e229 for a new sky+ box, and that includes installation. I can get a HD box installed for e99, but my subscription will go up by 14.75 per month. I did say that I'd be pricing around with chorus and other providers but the best they could do for me is to give me 2 months off the HD cost, i.e. 14.75 and give me Man Utd TV for free for a while. Dunno what to do now..... def can't afford e229. She told me that the new cards that we got recently won't work with some of the older boxes, which is what i'll probably end up with if I buy second hand.

VERYinterested

They can be very economical with the truth or basically be liars. I haven't seen or heard of anyone on here complaining that the new white card wouldn't work in their old box, I can't see them creating a problem of that magnitude, in that a card upgrade makes a load of equipment obsolete overnight. With a lot of people upgrading to HD there should be a good supply of reasonably new Sky+ boxes bought in the last 18 months. I'll be flogging one as soon as I get my HD box in 2 or 4 weeks or whenever hell freezes over and I'm pretty sure by the length of the queue there'll be plenty like me.

Pat Gleeson

Frowzy wrote: »

She told me that the new cards that we got recently won't work with some of the older boxes, which is what i'll probably end up with if I buy second hand.

Total horse hockey - don't fall for it. Play hardball and threaten cancellation. I didn't have to, but I got a Sky+ box and installation for €100.

TaxiManMartin

Pat Gleeson wrote: »

€ 100 inclusive for Sky+ and installation charge. Just got it done 2 weeks ago. I needed it done quickly, and from the phone call to installation - 2 days.

My box stopped recording after i put in the new card they sent me.
I called sky.
-€100 they said and someone would call out.

I refused and said just put me through to cancellations.

-€100 for the service call she said.

I said no, cancel it im going freesat.

-€50 she says.

Just cancel it will you

-What about €25.

No, i want you to cancel sky.

- We'll send an engineer out for free.

No, i couldnt be bothered now, cancel it and i'll go freesat.

So she cancelled it - very slowly.

I went on the net and ordered the foxsat PVR.

2 days later sky phoned and said they would send an engineer for free AND give me 3 months free subscription to the full package.

So i said ok. Now i have freesat for free and Sky+ for free for 3 months, after which time im canceling anyway. Im used to the freesat now and didnt miss sky during the week it took the engineer to come out.


Moral : Never accept skys callout charge.
If they do call your bluff and you have to get freesat, you'll like it enough to wonder why you ever paid sky a penny.

jesus_thats_gre

Our HD box went tits up last week and it cost 100 euro for an engineer to call out. Got a new Amstrad HD box out of it too

Mossy Monk

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Our HD box went tits up last week and it cost 100 euro for an engineer to call out. Got a new Amstrad HD box out of it too

I remember a time when Amstrad Sky boxes were the ones to avoid.

St Senan

Mossy Monk wrote: »

I remember a time when Amstrad Sky boxes were the ones to avoid.

I try to avoid {like the plague} installing Amstrad.

tomsav

I would have thought your consumer rights would kick in here. Any thing you buy must be fit for purpose. It does not matter if you got a discount in one of their offers - if you paid for it then it should last. For a sky box I think it would be fair to say it should last at least 3 - 4 years before giving up.

m_stan

Just to reiterate what TaxiManMartin said above-

I currently have a technical fault with my Sky. Seems to be dish related. Sky initially wanted to charge me 100 EUR to send someone out as the box and dish are out of warranty. I asked to be put through to account cancellations. To cut a long story short, they initially offered to do it for 50 EUR. I said no and persisted. They have now agreed to do it for nowt.

As above, don't fall for this - persist and go through with your cancellation unless they drop the callout charge to zero. They are playing hard-ball here and trying to minimise the cost of this to themselves. Stick to your guns and they will likely drop the charge altogether as they have for TaxiManMartin and I.

Hopefully it'll save you a few bob as it did me.

steveon

m_stan wrote: »

Just to reiterate what TaxiManMartin said above-

I currently have a technical fault with my Sky. Seems to be dish related. Sky initially wanted to charge me 100 EUR to send someone out as the box and dish are out of warranty. I asked to be put through to account cancellations. To cut a long story short, they initially offered to do it for 50 EUR. I said no and persisted. They have now agreed to do it for nowt.

As above, don't fall for this - persist and go through with your cancellation unless they drop the callout charge to zero. They are playing hard-ball here and trying to minimise the cost of this to themselves. Stick to your guns and they will likely drop the charge altogether as they have for TaxiManMartin and I.

Hopefully it'll save you a few bob as it did me.

Congrats on getting it for free but this doesnt always work and I know countless people that got disconnected as a result, went to chorus and then came back to sky...save yourself the hardship and goto an independant cheaper and local to the area...alot of problems is caused by damage to the dish via kids or the wind...the wind is classed as an act of god and nobody can surely expect sky to cover the cost of all repairs caused by the wind...if they did they wouldnt be in business....

m_stan

I've been with Sky for about 9 years, so I guess they see me as a good customer who will likely stay with them for some time to come. Under those circumstances I think they were right to sort this out for me free of charge. I wasn't bluffing them - I genuinely would have closed my account if they hadn't budged. If you aren't a long standing customer I guess they could have a different view.

Our man in Havana

Lay off the personal attacks. I will start banning people.

The person has 2 choices ask Sky for a replacement and agruge the cost or instruct an independant dealer and pay for it.

Thread closed.