Sky plus box..

Mac 3

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this seems like a stupid question..

Have an old sky box at home, the box is several years old and has no record facility. I have been onto Sky about upgrading to get a box that I can record with but they dont seem to pushed about upgrades or any kind of deal for an existing customer.

If I bought a second hand box, does this need to be activated by Sky? Does someone have to call out to the house.

Or is it just a case of pop in the card?

Thanks lads

shamrock55

Ring them and tell them you want to cancell your subscription because you want a sky plus box but arent willing to pay for it, tell them upc are willing to give you one if you change to them they wont be long sending one out to you;)

The Cush

Card has to be paired to the new box, just a phone call to Sky.

batistuta9

you can do it online

Mac 3

shamrock55 wrote: »

Ring them and tell them you want to cancell your subscription because you want a sky plus box but arent willing to pay for it, tell them upc are willing to give you one if you change to them they wont be long sending one out to you;)

Tried that, they suggested an upgrade to a HD box with an installation fee of €30... and an extra €15 onto my monthly bill.

To get a box without HD was €109...

They seem to be all about you when you sign up but they're not interested in you after that....

Kristopherus

Mac 3 wrote: »

Tried that, they suggested an upgrade to a HD box with an installation fee of €30... and an extra €15 onto my monthly bill.

To get a box without HD was €109...

They seem to be all about you when you sign up but they're not interested in you after that....

Thats a rip-off. If you don't want to cancel, buy a HD box from Adverts.ie or a similar site and when you get it, ring Sky to pair the box with your card.

steveon

€109 is not a ripoff, as a sky hd box actually costs €300 to buy new. You will also need a quad lnb placed on your dish and a second cable brought down to the room you have your sky box in in order to use the sky+ full features. With one cable you will only be able to record what you are watching.

As I have already discussed on previous threads here, Sky are no longer willing to pair cards to second hand boxes that have come from broken contracts i.e ditching sky before their 12 month contracts were up or where money has been owed on the sky account, this is to stop people selling boxes second hand.

For peace of mind and a 12 MONTH warrantly on your box pay the €109 you will be glad you did and wonder how you lived without skyplus in the first place.

batistuta9

steveon wrote: »

As I have already discussed on previous threads here, Sky are no longer willing to pair cards to second hand boxes that have come from broken contracts i.e ditching sky before their 12 month contracts were up or where money has been owed on the sky account, this is to stop people selling boxes second hand.

i don't think they were keen on doing it anyway, i think it depended on who you spoke with, much like their offers

you can do it online yourself too instead of ringing up
though that probably needs them not to have the box blocked - if they are blocking them

steveon

batistuta9 wrote: »

i don't think they were keen on doing it anyway, i think it depended on who you spoke with, much like their offers

you can do it online yourself too instead of ringing up
though that probably needs them not to have the box blocked - if they are blocking them

They indeed are blocking boxes being activated online check other thread about this.

muffler

batistuta9 wrote: »

you can do it online

batistuta9 wrote: »

you can do it online yourself too instead of ringing up

This is certainly not the case? I tried this myself a few months ago after buying a box privately and I had to ring them to have the card/box paired.

Mr Simpson

muffler wrote: »

This is certainly not the case? I tried this myself a few months ago after buying a box privately and I had to ring them to have the card/box paired.

http://activatemychannels.sky.com/

muffler

Mr Simpson wrote: »

http://activatemychannels.sky.com/

Is that a new feature?

I looked for that myself a few months ago and couldn't find it and even through the "live chat" I was told I had to ring in to have the card paired with the new box.

Mr Simpson

muffler wrote: »

Is that a new feature?

I looked for that myself a few months ago and couldn't find it and even through the "live chat" I was told I had to ring in to have the card paired with the new box.

I'd heard about it before, but hadn't seen it until I googled. It should work as they're the details used in the Sky system

muffler

Mr Simpson wrote: »

I'd heard about it before, but hadn't seen it until I googled. It should work as they're the details used in the Sky system

And it works in Ireland?

batistuta9

muffler wrote: »

Is that a new feature?

I looked for that myself a few months ago and couldn't find it and even through the "live chat" I was told I had to ring in to have the card paired with the new box.

i don't know

i found out about it around june/july when looking up problems with sky not pairing cards, it was either on skys' own forum or digitalspy(somewhere like that) i stumbled across it

the threads only mentioned sky not liking doing it i think, nothing about blocking boxes or that & the girl on the phone at sky just said she couldn't because the box would still be registered to another member, who i know for a fact was unsubscribed and paid up with them
- i would have been happier if she gave me the owed money reason as i though they were just being cúnts looking for me to have to get one from them

it does definitely work from ireland too, i asked here & some guy said he didn't think it did but it worked

Mr Simpson

muffler wrote: »

And it works in Ireland?

It does work, I tried it with my own account there.

batistuta9

muffler wrote: »

And it works in Ireland?

yeah see my post above

& like i said i knew the box/account it came from was good (family) so you probably still need to watch for that
I had the phoneline connected too - if that matters, idk

it was done instantly for me as well, the site says it can take a while though

steveon

Better to have a new box....you will pay 40-50euro for a second hand box, 20-30 for a quad....then u need a second run of cable....hence 109 resonable deal!

gtg60

batistuta9 wrote: »

yeah see my post above

& like i said i knew the box/account it came from was good (family) so you probably still need to watch for that
I had the phoneline connected too - if that matters, idk

it was done instantly for me as well, the site says it can take a while though

Did it about 4 weeks ago myself, very handy and I didn't have/ need the phoneline attached.

tweety76

I am having a similar problem. My box which is 4 yrs old is one of the Thomson models and after some time the recording feature fails( which has happened to me). Its due to a faulty "capacitor"? I found all this out online ( sky played dumb to my plight when I rang them months ago)

I rang sky today and they want to charge me 259 for a new box!! lucky OP that they only wanted to charge you 109. I have been with them 13 years and there was no budging them.

Does anyone know if I go down the route of explaining that I have one of the faulty thomson boxes whether it will be entertained, and how can they justify trying to charge one existing customer 259 for a box and another 109!!!?? Help!

batistuta9

you could try what was said in post #2 except give the reason for your cancellation is that your box no longer works and see what they say/do

i think, going by the offers they give, it depends on who you get talking to when you ring up with what they'll give/do for you

steveon

tweety76 wrote: »

I am having a similar problem. My box which is 4 yrs old is one of the Thomson models and after some time the recording feature fails( which has happened to me). Its due to a faulty "capacitor"? I found all this out online ( sky played dumb to my plight when I rang them months ago)

I rang sky today and they want to charge me 259 for a new box!! lucky OP that they only wanted to charge you 109. I have been with them 13 years and there was no budging them.

Does anyone know if I go down the route of explaining that I have one of the faulty thomson boxes whether it will be entertained, and how can they justify trying to charge one existing customer 259 for a box and another 109!!!?? Help!

In the uk people with thomson boxes have received free upgrades due to this problem of poor design....have a read...worth arguing.

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-hd-supertelly/52328-free-upgrade-thompson-sky-hd-box-owners-better-box-scheme.html

Mr Simpson

steveon wrote: »

In the uk people with thomson boxes have received free upgrades due to this problem of poor design....have a read...worth arguing.

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-hd-supertelly/52328-free-upgrade-thompson-sky-hd-box-owners-better-box-scheme.html

Thats Thomson HD boxes only, which is also happening here. Other Thomson boxes aren't subject to that swapout

gtg60

steveon wrote: »

In the uk people with thomson boxes have received free upgrades due to this problem of poor design....have a read...worth arguing.

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-hd-supertelly/52328-free-upgrade-thompson-sky-hd-box-owners-better-box-scheme.html

That's not why they're doing the swap out, the original Thomson's have an incompatibility with Sky's latest anti-piracy measures.

batistuta9

gtg60 wrote: »

That's not why they're doing the swap out, the original Thomson's have an incompatibility with Sky's latest anti-piracy measures.

are they working?

Berty44

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056924261

Richard571

I called Sky today in similiar circumstances to see what best offer was.....

I upgraded from an old Sky+ box to Sky + HD box. Offer was for €30 installtion, free box and had to pay for HD channels for €5 per month for 12 months; total cost of €90 over 12 months (+ I get HD for 1 year).

Not too bad and if I don't like HD after 12 months (when it goes to €15 per month from reduced rate of €5) I can cancel HD channels no problem.

tweety76

Thanks Richard, for me they want 15 per month for the HD( or else it was €60 for installation plus another €189 for the box) so annoying and I have been with them 13 yrs!! I have sent them a message on their public forums so will see if they bother responding.

Herrick

Last year our HD box failed. We rang up Sky and they wanted €30 for the install of a new one and we had to take the HD pack for an extra €15 per month.

I told them we had been with them long enough and they had made a nice bit of money of us over the years I asked to be put through to the cancellation department and the agent did so.

The cancellation department gave the new box and install for €19.99 and no HD subscription required if I remained with them.

It can depend on who you get onto initially, but once you go as far as cancelling you'll notice their desperate not to lose customers. I've done this for a few people with them and they've always caved in.

tweety76

Thanks all for the feedback.

Ringing cancellations dept did the trick. Someone coming out tomorrow to replace the box free of charge if it needs replacing:D. Amazing what happens when you ring cancellations! Plus a 50 euro credit for all the inconvenience and loss of service( recording):D

tweety76

tweety76 wrote: »

Thanks all for the feedback.

Ringing cancellations dept did the trick. Someone coming out tomorrow to replace the box free of charge if it needs replacing:D. Amazing what happens when you ring cancellations! Plus a 50 euro credit for all the inconvenience and loss of service( recording):D

Thought I should update this with the resolution incase any one else has a similar issue. The engineer arrived and within 10 minutes decided there was a fault with the cable that was running from the back of the box to the dish outside the house. Asked us had we had a leak in the floor etc... no, and he replaced the cable. Recording started working 100% after that so it turns out it was not the box after all.

There had not been any interference with the cable itself as it runs up the outside wall of the house to the dish so I am not sure what happened, its 5 yrs old so not sure if it was wear and tear? If anyone is having the same problem I suggest persevering and ringing the cancellations department. I saved myself a lot of money by doing so! Thanks