Should I pay SKY for No Service

Ginger83

Hi all,
received new sky card in post, replaced old card and since new card went in I've got no tv, only free channels. Rang sky, they said card is fine and they would force a signal to my skybox and it will be fine in 24hours. Did this 3 times. No luck.

They said I must have a cabling problem and would have to pay 100euro to have a sky engineer come out and fix the problem. I argued that I only swapped one card with another. This went on for a week. I refused to pay and they said this was the only way I would get my tv back working. I did a test myself, disconnected skybox and drove to a relations house, hooked up the box with his cables, my card didnt work, his card did, same result with his skybox. Rang sky, was told I was imagining things as other sky cards do not work in other skyboxes. I asked how the problem was going to be sorted as I said there was no way I was paying anything for something that was no fault of mine.
I was told to compensate me for all the hassle Sky was offering me all the sports and movie channels at half price for 6 months-f***ing joke trying to sell me channels I didnt want when I couldnt get channels I was paying for.

So the end result was today i made the decision to cancel my sky subscription and was offering a free call out by a sky engineer, I refused and proceeded to cancel. I was told there is a 31day cancellation period and I would have viewing for the next 31days-I argued I wouldnt as my tv was not working and was told I would be billed for the last 31days anyway.

Q?Can I get my bank to cancel my direct debit to Sky for having no service from them?

kbell

Did you try putting the old card back in?

With the new cards, I've found that sometimes a callback will make them active, if they don't work

Connect box to working phone line then press services, 4, 0, 1, select, new installation.

I wouldn't advise cancelling a direct debit as they will pursue the notice period and it will eventually end in the hands of a debt collector.

Sky are still providing the service it's just that a hardware fault at your end is preventing you from viewing.

Good luck with it anyway.

DeadSkin

I feel your pain Ginger. I had problems for 2 weeks trying to receive the Irish channels. 2 weeks of phone calls, 2 weeks of launching signals, pairing my signal to my card, blah blah blah.
They finally sent out a new card and it did the trick.
But when they decided to send me out a new card, they cancelled the current card I had within an hour, so all I was receiving was the free channels for 4 days.

A stamped address envelope came with the new card to their Quality Dept, so I sent them a letter of complaint. It's been just over two weeks now and the only letter I've received from Sky is the one about their increase in subscription :mad:

Ginger83

Hi guys,
No, my old card wouldn't work but my brothers card did. Tries same in his sky box, his worked,mine didn't.
kbell,I can't see how I'm being provided with the service as I cannot watch the tv, my old card was fine, I didnt want to change it, I was happy with what I had. Take old card out-Put new card in=No tv.

Maybe I should let them just take their last month's payment and demand a refund in writing. What would you's think?

HighMan

I had the same problem. Check your signal strength in the services section. If you have a good signal try the following. Plug out the sky box from the wall socket and press and hold the backup button on the sky box until you get the software update screen. This should sort you out.

filmbuffboy

What youve been through sucks man but you may want to check the terms & conditions on the contract when you first signed up with Sky. There may be a chance you will just have to let go of the dosh & move on. On the otherhand you could request a refund from sky & if youre not satisfied with the outcome contact the financial ombudsman about the whole thing.
Before all of that though Id check the terms & conditions of the contract

Mossy Monk

Even after being told the problem only happens with the new card they say it's a problem with the cables? A €100 callout is the only solution to this problem? Are they stupid. You should have asked for a supervisor and if they are saying the same then work your way up the food chain.

Rippy

There are problems with some of the new cards.
I had to call to a customer yesterday because his box was freezing andshowing 'technical fault ' messages ever since the new card was put in. No problems at all beforehand. As theinstallation was less than a year old he was informed to contact his installer as the guarantee was with me.:mad:
I knew from the customers description that the problem was with the card, but had to spend 2 hours on the call out. (Including driving time).
Checked signal level , perfect, forced a download , did a call back, still the same. Box worked perfectly on FTA with no card in. Phoned sky and they agreed to send another card.
Why the hell should I have to spend my time and money on sky's mistakes? This sort of thing happens all the time when the box was installed by an independent. Call centre staff seem to see it as a result if they can deflect the problem without costing sky any money!

Ginger83

Hi guys,
well my phone's been hopping for the last two days, UK number-Sky I presumed.
A message was left earlier, a guy saying how sorry he was to be losing a valued customer, obviously there is a problem with the card and the offer of a free visit by sky engineer still stood if I reconsidered my cancellation.
He then said he would credit my account by 1 months viewing,send a new card for last months viewing within 5 days and asked me to call him back to discuss in person if there was any way he could get me to reconsider cancelling the service.

Bit late buddy, I've been going through the free to air channels and am more than happy with them. I hope to get an aerial for the Irish channels and the footy will get me out of the house and for a stroll down to the local

St Senan

Rippy wrote: »

There are problems with some of the new cards.
I had to call to a customer yesterday because his box was freezing andshowing 'technical fault ' messages ever since the new card was put in. No problems at all beforehand. As theinstallation was less than a year old he was informed to contact his installer as the guarantee was with me.:mad:
I knew from the customers description that the problem was with the card, but had to spend 2 hours on the call out. (Including driving time).
Checked signal level , perfect, forced a download , did a call back, still the same. Box worked perfectly on FTA with no card in. Phoned sky and they agreed to send another card.
Why the hell should I have to spend my time and money on sky's mistakes? This sort of thing happens all the time when the box was installed by an independent. Call centre staff seem to see it as a result if they can deflect the problem without costing sky any money!

I agree with you 100 percent Rippy The problem is with these new cards and the Sky call centre clowns pass the buck back to the installer, For the last 3 weeks i am well out of pocket with time and diesal and calling sky on customers behalfs and now i have decided not even to try and get a new card activated on a new install i leave it for the customer because 9 times out of 10 i am on my phone for up to 30 mins and when i do get through it is to someone with P***poor english who wont talk to me because the customer has not setup a password. God be with the days of the Sky Freefone 1800 number.

Ginger83

Hi guys, just an update- received a new sky card in the post today and magic my tv is working fine.

Why couldnt they just send me out a new card when I asked for 1, I presume it wouldnt have cost them a fortune and my subs would have covered it. Jesus the people in the call centres must be all as useless as tits to a bull.