Sky call out fee

BogManInc

The recent wind must have mis-aligned my Sky dish as I'm no longer getting any signal and can't get any channels.

I called sky and they wanted a €80 call out fee, I got them down to €60 but this seems dear.

Has anyone successfully gotten them to waive this fee?

hallo dare

BogManInc wrote: »

The recent wind must have mis-aligned my Sky dish as I'm no longer getting any signal and can't get any channels.

I called sky and they wanted a €80 call out fee, I got them down to €60 but this seems dear.

Has anyone successfully gotten them to waive this fee?

Forget them, do it yourself. have someone watch the tele and you move the dish a bit at a time and you'll get it back. if yoy want to get real fancy then you can get a meter to measure the exact satellite direction. But the first option is obviously free.

BogManInc

might just do that thanks. just downloaded a satfinder app on my phone so hopefully this should help too, thanks!

SCOOP 64

€60 don't seem bad to me at all if that includes fixing it, he wont drive out for a tenner. but might be worth waitng as wind tonight as picked up again, seems to be never ending.

hallo dare

BogManInc wrote: »

might just do that thanks. just downloaded a satfinder app on my phone so hopefully this should help too, thanks!

Cool, let us know. Bloody Sky, blood suckers!

hallo dare

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

€60 don't seem bad to me at all if that includes fixing it, he wont drive out for a tenner. but might be worth waitng as wind tonight as picked up again, seems to be never ending.

Why would you pay for something thats as easy as just nudging the dish?

Egass13

Your complaining about 60euro? Should they come out for free? It was 100euro last time I had to get a service visit of them so your not doing to bad

Egass13

Your complaining about 60euro? Should they come out for free? It was 100euro last time I had to get a service visit of them so your not doing to bad

BogManInc

The reason why i was disputing the price is because when the dish was installed the installer just used 3 bolts instead of 4 and it never seemed that secure to begin with or steady so my reasoning is if it was installed correctly the first time it shouldn't have budged as im in a sheltered area and it wasnt exposed to enough winds to move it. i'll try fix it myself and if no luck will pay them the €60.

im only paying €17.50 per month and my contract is up in february, so €60 felt like a lot to shell out considering the price of my monthly bill and the fact i may only be with them til feb unless they renew my discounted plan for me,

SCOOP 64

hallo dare wrote: »

Why would you pay for something thats as easy as just nudging the dish?

Depends if its handy to get too,if its on the roof and he falls off ,he will wish he paid the €60.

hallo dare

Egass13 wrote: »

Your complaining about 60euro? Should they come out for free? It was 100euro last time I had to get a service visit of them so your not doing to bad

I am yes. It takes two seconds, and if you're able to climb a ladder then that's half the battle, and if you can't im sure there's a family member or neighbours that would oblige. €60 to move a dish a cm or 2 . ridiculous.

hallo dare

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

€60 don't seem bad to me at all if that includes fixing it, he wont drive out for a tenner. but might be worth waitng as wind tonight as picked up again, seems to be never ending.

Why would you pay for something thats as easy as just nudging the dish?

hallo dare

BogManInc wrote: »

The recent wind must have mis-aligned my Sky dish as I'm no longer getting any signal and can't get any channels.

I called sky and they wanted a €80 call out fee, I got them down to €60 but this seems dear.

Has anyone successfully gotten them to waive this fee?

Forget them, do it yourself. have someone watch the tele and you move the dish a bit at a time and you'll get it back. if yoy want to get real fancy then you can get a meter to measure the exact satellite direction. But the first option is obviously free.

BogManInc

Thanks gonna try it myself as suggested and try the Satfinder app I got on Android playstore.

Dish isn't on a roof and isn't very high up so I won't even need a ladder so hopefully there won't be any casualties :P

hallo dare

BogManInc wrote: »

Thanks gonna try it myself as suggested and try the Satfinder app I got on Android playstore.

Dish isn't on a roof and isn't very high up so I won't even need a ladder so hopefully there won't be any casualties :P

Haha, good stuff. let us know

Gerry Wicklow

Egass13 wrote: »

Your complaining about 60euro? Should they come out for free? It was 100euro last time I had to get a service visit of them so your not doing to bad

You are paying Sky for a service. If the ESB wires fall down do you pay an additional fee for them to reconnect you?

whirlpool

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

You are paying Sky for a service. If the ESB wires fall down do you pay an additional fee for them to reconnect you?

Yes. Luxury digital television versus basic electricity. That's the same thing.

BogManInc

Just to update - got a call back from sky and an engineer is coming out on Tuesday to realign the dish for me - for no extra charge!

Peter Rhea

hallo dare wrote: »

It takes two seconds . . .

Does it indeed? Every time? With nothing to guide you apart from someone shouting up from the TV? Or would I be right in thinking you've realigned a dish, let me see, no more than once, & you just got lucky?

hallo dare

BogManInc wrote: »

Just to update - got a call back from sky and an engineer is coming out on Tuesday to realign the dish for me - for no extra charge!

Cool, but id still expect a fee regardless for a "replacement of x, y or z". nothings ever free with that crowd.

hallo dare

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Does it indeed? Every time? With nothing to guide you apart from someone shouting up from the TV? Or would I be right in thinking you've realigned a dish, let me see, no more than once, & you just got lucky?

Ive realigned quite a few just so you know, and it's not exactly rocket science. as with the rate that sky dishes rust its quite easy to go back to the original position the dish was set to.

So unless you have aome helpful advice for the OP, then on your bike!

hju6

hallo dare wrote: »

Ive realigned quite a few just so you know, and it's not exactly rocket science. as with the rate that sky dishes rust its quite easy to go back to the original position the dish was set to.

So unless you have aome helpful advice for the OP, then on your bike!

That's some cryptic sh1te man

flynnlives

realigning a dish with no sat finder is quite difficult if the dish has been blown off a fair bit.

Its not simply a case of moving it a few cm's

If you dont know the general direction you could be hours messing around and getting no where.

ours has been blown clear off 28.2 and im no where near finding it again. And then the wind and rain arrived today so il try again tomorrow with the app.

Sky have told us it will be the 3rd of January before someone will come out.

if anyone is in galway and can lend me a sat finder that would be great! pm me!

mdwexford

Just tell them to fix it for free or you are cancelling in future.

You are paying them for a service. Up to them to provide it, I've never paid for anything that's gone wrong with a dish or box.

Vego

mdwexford wrote: »

Just tell them to fix it for free or you are cancelling in future.

You are paying them for a service. Up to them to provide it, I've never paid for anything that's gone wrong with a dish or box.

This ..tell them fix it or your gone/won't renew ...bet you it goes from 60 to 0

Getoffmytrain

I rang them up today with the same problem, said they can't send an engineer round until the 13th of January.
I thought he was joking but no, he was serious.
Back to UPC for me anyway.

gctest50

flynnlives wrote: »

If you dont know the general direction you could be hours messing around and getting no where.

ours has been blown clear off 28.2 and im no where near finding it again. And then the wind and rain arrived today so il try again tomorrow with the app.

Very rough direction : point it towards where the sun is at about 11am

Find your house on this :

http://www.dishpointer.com/

Egass13

hallo dare wrote: »

I am yes. It takes two seconds, and if you're able to climb a ladder then that's half the battle, and if you can't im sure there's a family member or neighbours that would oblige. €60 to move a dish a cm or 2 . ridiculous.

That's great if you can do it yourself , what I'm saying is if you can't and you are left with no option but to have an engineer out , then €60 is not a bad price to pay !

hallo dare

Egass13 wrote: »

That's great if you can do it yourself , what I'm saying is if you can't and you are left with no option but to have an engineer out , then €60 is not a bad price to pay !

That's fair enough, but at the end of the day if they are providing a service then all their equipment is up to them to have right to provide that service and it shouldn't cost the customer.

My F. W. A broadband provider has a dish mounted on the side of my house for my broadband service and if ever i have a problem they call out to it and there's no charge, because they are providing a service and if they are providing a service then equipment has to be setup correctly for that service.

Peter Rhea

hallo dare wrote: »

My F. W. A broadband provider has a dish mounted on the side of my house for my broadband service and if ever i have a problem they call out to it and there's no charge, because they are providing a service and if they are providing a service then equipment has to be setup correctly for that service.

How likely is it that you would use this equipment to receive your service from another provider? Much less free-to-air internet.

There is no danger of your current provider giving repairs FOC, only to see you dump them in the morning & that's their 'investment' down the drain.

winston_1

hallo dare wrote: »

That's fair enough, but at the end of the day if they are providing a service then all their equipment is up to them to have right to provide that service and it shouldn't cost the customer.

My F. W. A broadband provider has a dish mounted on the side of my house for my broadband service and if ever i have a problem they call out to it and there's no charge, because they are providing a service and if they are providing a service then equipment has to be setup correctly for that service.

The Sky dish is YOUR equipment and YOUR responsibility. The broadband dish is the broadband providers equipment. That is the difference.

€60 is a bargain for a callout. No other tradesman will come out for less these days. Pay up and stop whinging.

winston_1

BogManInc wrote: »

Just to update - got a call back from sky and an engineer is coming out on Tuesday to realign the dish for me - for no extra charge!

No engineer is coming out. Sky don't use them for this. They couldn't afford to with free callouts. At best you will get an installer, but probably a contractor.

hallo dare

winston_1 wrote: »

The Sky dish is YOUR equipment and YOUR responsibility. The broadband dish is the broadband providers equipment. That is the difference.

Then why have sky taken back dishes and equipment after people have cancelled? It has happened.

flynnlives

winston_1 wrote: »

The Sky dish is YOUR equipment and YOUR responsibility. The broadband dish is the broadband providers equipment. That is the difference.

€60 is a bargain for a callout. No other tradesman will come out for less these days. Pay up and stop whinging.

Thats rubbish!

if you were right then i would be perfectly entitled to change/hack/flash the box and equipment and do what i liked with it. If that were possible.

The phone eircom gave me is mine because i paid for it. However if the phone line goes down its their problem.
The same applies with the ESB and any other service coming into your house.

If sky want my business then they need to provide me with working equipment and timely repairs if it breaks.
this 60euro call out is bs. Its just sky attempting to pass the cost of the contractor back to the customer. I threatened to cancel and the call out fee suddenly disappeared.

This mentallity of "pay up and stop whinging" is one of the reasons we have such poor services in this country.

Peter Rhea

flynnlives wrote: »

The phone eircom gave me is mine because i paid for it. However if the phone line goes down its their problem.
The same applies with the ESB and any other service coming into your house.

If sky want my business then they need to provide me with working equipment and timely repairs if it breaks.
this 60euro call out is bs.

Do you pay a standing charge/line rental to Sky?

White Heart Loon

A decent satellite meter is 300+, public liability insurance 600+, run a van is a few hundred a week, all adds up. 60 quid is a bargain, I charge 60-80 depending on how easy it is and an extra 50 if I have to take the roofing ladder off the van.

Aligning a dish without a meter isn't all that easy, you're picking out something the size of a car 23,000 miles away, the slightest touch or even tightening of a nut can throw you off. Also, you aren't aligning one transponder (which is what signal test is showing), but finding the happy balance of signals from over a hundred, both vertical and horizontal

winston_1

flynnlives wrote: »

Thats rubbish!

if you were right then i would be perfectly entitled to change/hack/flash the box and equipment and do what i liked with it. If that were possible.

The phone eircom gave me is mine because i paid for it. However if the phone line goes down its their problem.
The same applies with the ESB and any other service coming into your house.

If sky want my business then they need to provide me with working equipment and timely repairs if it breaks.
this 60euro call out is bs. Its just sky attempting to pass the cost of the contractor back to the customer. I threatened to cancel and the call out fee suddenly disappeared.

This mentallity of "pay up and stop whinging" is one of the reasons we have such poor services in this country.

It is NOT rubbish. Sky give you the equipment (isn't that nice of them) when you join. It's a loss leader to entice new customers. However the software in the box is Sky's copyright (if that is the right word). I'm sure if you were to change, hack, or flash the box, if that were possible nothing would happen to you. You can change and modify the dish and people do (align it to other satellites, add additional LNBs etc) and Sky does not chase them.

Your phone analogy is good, if the phone breaks you pay as you should if your Sky box or dish break. If the phone line goes down its Eircom's responsibility, likewise if the satellite feed goes down it's Skys (or maybe CLTs ) responsibility.

Do you expect your local garage to service your car free because you bought it there and buy petrol there every week because if they want your business it is up them to provide you with a working car?

As I said these days €60 for a callout is a bargain and you should stop whinging and pay up.

steveon

winston_1 wrote: »

It is NOT rubbish. Sky give you the equipment (isn't that nice of them) when you join. It's a loss leader to entice new customers. However the software in the box is Sky's copyright (if that is the right word). I'm sure if you were to change, hack, or flash the box, if that were possible nothing would happen to you. You can change and modify the dish and people do (align it to other satellites, add additional LNBs etc) and Sky does not chase them.

Your phone analogy is good, if the phone breaks you pay as you should if your Sky box or dish break. If the phone line goes down its Eircom's responsibility, likewise if the satellite feed goes down it's Skys (or maybe CLTs ) responsibility.

Do you expect your local garage to service your car free because you bought it there and buy petrol there every week because if they want your business it is up them to provide you with a working car?

As I said these days €60 for a callout is a bargain and you should stop whinging and pay up.

Totally agree that a €60 is a great deal for a callout, sky indeed give a free box, and dish and as a result it often takes them 8-9 months just to turn a profit from that customer, if it continued to forever give free dishes, service calls and equipment it wouldn't be in business for very long and therefore the service wouldn't exist. It is also in the terms & conditions of all policy that the equipment becomes yours after 12 months. For years many people have taking advantage of this and cancelled their policy after the term and used the equipment to provide them with the fta channels.

Also Wind damage is classed as an act of god and as such Insurance companies wont insure against it....so why should Sky or any other company for that matter.

Eircom only fix the lines outside the home and this is because part of your bill includes a line rental which is for such an issue, however it does not cover you for any deliberate or internal problems sky do not charge a line rental to cover problems that occur but you can take out an insurance policy if you should wish.

However I personally feel as an independent installer that and I'm sure many other independent installers would vouch for that in many cases Sky should carry out some regular checks on some of their Hired help whom carry out far from perfect installs in the first place which leads to many unnecessary service calls from happening.

flynnlives

winston_1 wrote: »

It is NOT rubbish. Sky give you the equipment (isn't that nice of them) when you join. It's a loss leader to entice new customers. However the software in the box is Sky's copyright (if that is the right word). I'm sure if you were to change, hack, or flash the box, if that were possible nothing would happen to you. You can change and modify the dish and people do (align it to other satellites, add additional LNBs etc) and Sky does not chase them.

Your phone analogy is good, if the phone breaks you pay as you should if your Sky box or dish break. If the phone line goes down its Eircom's responsibility, likewise if the satellite feed goes down it's Skys (or maybe CLTs ) responsibility.

Do you expect your local garage to service your car free because you bought it there and buy petrol there every week because if they want your business it is up them to provide you with a working car?

As I said these days €60 for a callout is a bargain and you should stop whinging and pay up.

This maybe the case 10 years ago when there was no choice and no competition.

But now there is plenty of options for TV.

you go ahead and happily pay your 60 euro but as far as I'm concerned sky are providing a service to me. If their equipment breaks it's their problem.
Sky should be paying the local contractor to fix their equipment and not trying 5 pass it off to customers.

And Sky are desperate to keep customers. Sky made an absolute killing here for years particularly in the countryside were there was no ntl or chorus. That's what happens imo when a company gets complacent with their monopoly which is crumpling.

dobman88

Ring sky back and tell them to cancel the account. That's what I did. My sky went on Christmas Day and I rang them on the 27th, they told me it would be the 24th of January before someone would be available and would cost €60. I told them to cancel the account straight away. They rang me back today saying an engineer would be out on the 7th of January free of charge. Some cheek trying to charge €60 when we pay enough every month. It's an extortianate fee for something they are in charge of.

winston_1

flynnlives wrote: »

If their equipment breaks it's their problem.
Sky should be paying the local contractor to fix their equipment and not trying 5 pass it off to customers.

You still don't get it do you. It's YOUR equipment and YOUR responsibility not Sky's. I and others have already told you this. Again, it is YOUR equipment.

winston_1

dobman88 wrote: »

Ring sky back and tell them to cancel the account. That's what I did. My sky went on Christmas Day and I rang them on the 27th, they told me it would be the 24th of January before someone would be available and would cost €60. I told them to cancel the account straight away. They rang me back today saying an engineer would be out on the 7th of January free of charge. Some cheek trying to charge €60 when we pay enough every month. It's an extortianate fee for something they are in charge of.

Another one too mean to pay a reasonable call out charge for his own equipment. Why did you lie to them and tell them you want to cancel when you didn't? I hate liars. What you pay every month is for the programmes not insurance for your equipment. By haggling the fee away like this you are the cause of the high costs for every other Sky sub. Tell me how are Sky in charge of the weather?

And they won't be sending an engineer on the 7th. They don't use engineers for this, they can't afford them with people like you expecting free call outs. It will be an installer and most probably a contractor.

Boggles

winston_1 wrote: »

By haggling the fee away like this you are the cause of the high costs for every other Sky sub.

He isn't stop with the hyperbole.

Over a month lead time for a call out from any service provider is ridiculous and would be a good enough reason to cancel as is.

Sky should be trying their best to hang onto their current customers as financially in the long run it is in their interests, playing russian roulette with the cancellation department is silly, but seems to work, so all power to the people who do it IMO.

Rippy

Yesterday I managed to squeeze in a call to a woman yesterday , despite being very busy and the weather being awful. I looked up on arrival and saw a rusted out dish dangling by its cables . Rang the doorbell , greeted her and informed her that the dish would need to be replaced . At which she said she would have to wait for sky. I asked her why that was and was told sky would do it for free.....
This was a youngish woman in a big house in a wealthy neighbourhood .
The sense of 'entitlement ' and sheer lack of manners or consideration astounded me . I could do nothing but shake my head as I retreated to the van in the driving rain...

Guy:Incognito

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

You are paying Sky for a service. If the ESB wires fall down do you pay an additional fee for them to reconnect you?

If a socket breaks in the house do you call the esb out to fix it ?

How much would you charge to drive out to a client/customer of whatever job you do if asked?presumably you'd hop in the car that no one had to pay for and use the free petrol to get it to the house. Obviously if you slip and break something (your self or something belonging to the customer your free insurance will pay for it to be fixed too)

gctest50

Rippy wrote: »

Yesterday I managed to squeeze in a call to a woman yesterday , despite being very busy and the weather being awful. I looked up on arrival and saw a rusted out dish dangling by its cables . Rang the doorbell , greeted her and informed her that the dish would need to be replaced . At which she said she would have to wait for sky. I asked her why that was and was told sky would do it for free.....
This was a youngish woman in a big house in a wealthy neighbourhood .
The sense of 'entitlement ' and sheer lack of manners or consideration astounded me . I could do nothing but shake my head as I retreated to the van in the driving rain...

How old was the dish ?

flynnlives

esb power line to your house breaks, the means by which they provide their service, they will fix it.

Phone line to your house breaks, the means by which they provide their service, they will fix it.

Sky satellite service breaks, the means by which they provide their service, yet i have to pay?! i think not.

Yet some here beleive Sky are some how excempt from this principle, i simply dont get it.
The satellite dish is the same as the powerlines and phone lines, its the means by which the service enters your house.

The esb and phone campany both factor faults and repairs into their costs. I see no reason that sky should be any different.


Nobody is suggesting that the installer or contractor shouldn't be paid. Sky should be absorbing this cost and not attempting to pass it on to the customer.
And to suggest that people haggling or threatening cancelation is one of the reasons things cost so much here is laughable.
The opposite is in fact true, its the average homeowner who has seen the brunt of pain in this current recession.

Peter Rhea

flynnlives wrote: »

The esb and phone campany both factor faults and repairs into their costs. I see no reason that sky should be any different.

So you would prefer to pay Sky a standing charge to cover maintenance & repair costs that you might not actually incur during your subscription period?

White Heart Loon

It's been said before, the difference is that when you sign up for Sky they give you a satellite dish as part of the first years subscription, you own the dish, it is yours to maintain and thereby repair if something goes wrong.

Sky provide a terrible quality dish, I do not see the value in them at all and do not sell them as they barely last 4 years. If you really want a proper setup that will last, get a private installer to install a decent plastic coated aluminium dish on a proper bracket, it should last 15yrs+ and save you money in the long run

Guy:Incognito

flynnlives wrote: »

esb power line to your house breaks, the means by which they provide their service, they will fix it.

Phone line to your house breaks, the means by which they provide their service, they will fix it.

Sky satellite service breaks, the means by which they provide their service, yet i have to pay?! i think not.

Yet some here beleive Sky are some how excempt from this principle, i simply dont get it.
The satellite dish is the same as the powerlines and phone lines, its the means by which the service enters your house.

The esb and phone campany both factor faults and repairs into their costs. I see no reason that sky should be any different.


Nobody is suggesting that the installer or contractor shouldn't be paid. Sky should be absorbing this cost and not attempting to pass it on to the customer.
And to suggest that people haggling or threatening cancelation is one of the reasons things cost so much here is laughable.
The opposite is in fact true, its the average homeowner who has seen the brunt of pain in this current recession.

You own the dish and box. If your fuse board in your house breaks, you fix it. The power lines would be equivalent to the satellite in space imo. If that stops getting the signal to the equipment you own, that's sky's problem. Just like if the esb can get the power as far as your fuse board , it's yours from there.

How long should sky be liable? What happens after the first year when you cancel and use it for free services , why is the equipment suddenly your problem but if you use sky on it its theirs? If you have a setanta sub and no sky one would you expect setanta to fix it?
who fixes your freesat dish once it's out of warranty?

flynnlives

Peter Rhea wrote: »

So you would prefer to pay Sky a standing charge to cover maintenance & repair costs that you might not actually incur during your subscription period?

this cost is imo part of their monthly subscription