Are SKY TV trying it on?

[modtinbasher]

For many years now I've paid my £36/month into the system and 2 things needle me greatly!

Firstly, Sky are always advertising new advances, and I'd dearly love a Sky+ box, but I'm resisting getting one because I can't get one at the promotional price!

It seems that despite the fact that you've paid your monthly subscription for what must be half your life, and are told you are a 'valued and loyal customer', but as you are not 'a new customer', you are denied any discount!! So much for loyalty.

Secondly, I wonder if any Ppruner can comment on this experience. Through most of its life my first Sky box worked with little problem, and, when it did, the £7 a month maintenance that I paid covered the engineer's visit. But, towards the end of its life I was frequently pulling the card out and re-setting the thing. On the last visit the engineer just gave us a new box, I think he'd become bored with our furniture!

So, the cunning plan! I commented to Tinbashette that in view of the fact we were becoming jaded with all the TV repeats, we'd cancel the Sky and the maintenance contract, sell the new box on and put the £43 to other good uses, like additional alcohol for instance, and make do with Freeview! Well, as the new box was covered by a new guarantee for a year, the maintenance contract was cancelled within days. But the box sat there, waiting.......watching.......

The months wore on, and a new offer of maintenance arrived, which we declined. Right, I'm sure you are all ahead of me now! At about it's 1st anniversary, the boxed stopped working, so card out, re-boot etc. Went on for a while, then some days the box would work, but the remote wouldn't work the box. Not a new battery, no, nothing as simple as that, just re-set the box and all is fine, until a couple of days later, and so on.

I'm convinced that "they" send a signal down the wire, despite unplugging my telephone connection after the 1st year of contract, it's funny how history seems to repeat itself.

I said to Tinbashette, 'one of these days I'm going to "wee" that box'....... 'not on it, I hope' was the reply.

No I said, that's the noise it will make when it goes through the window!

Any similar experiences?

[planecrazy.eu]

Well i had Sky free through work for 12mths, i canceled it a few weeks back, but when i rang up and said i didnt want it anymore they tryed talking me around, as a last attempt they said, "we can do you a new subscriber deal" Bingo, Sky+ deal it was.

So now i play this with all my contracts, just got a killer deal from 02 on my phone...

My Sky box is working fine still after 12mths, and never had any problems, i still have it despite having Sky+ because you can use the old sky box and dish as a over gloryfied free view box... After 12mths its your box you see, so make good use of what you have paid for...

The sky maintenance package is a rip of too, where i worked i paid £60 for three years warranty on it...

As for Sky trying it on, sure they are, they have done since day one, but yet again, Telewest or NTL try it on just as much...

Sky+ Box is great by the way, i very rare watch live TV now, i just watched what i missed in the day time, as that seems to be when all the good stuff is on, apart from Disc Wings, but for some reason the good stuff is always on when the soaps are =( this is where Sky+ is a god as i can record it and watch it when the soaps have gone... And when an annoying sales person calls i dont miss half of the programme...

[James 1077]

Well i had Sky free through work for 12mths, i canceled it a few weeks back, but when i rang up and said i didnt want it anymore they tryed talking me around, as a last attempt they said, "we can do you a new subscriber deal" Bingo, Sky+ deal it was.



As someone with a Sky Plus box already I couldn't do that myself - but then, what with the rugby being on Sky more and more now, I decided to get Sky Sports. Phone them up; "hi I would like Sky Sports and I want it for free", "I'm sorry sir you have to pay for it", "In that case I would like to cancel my contract", "Let me just talk to a manager ... Certainly sir, we have activated your Sky Sports subscription - free for 6 months".

Used the same thing with O2 to get a £150 phone down to nothing as well! :)

[BRL]

Does anyone else with Sky+ get the picture and sound dropping, like stuttering, every couple of seconds.... I get it on certain channels and it is extremely annoying when you have saved a programme and it replays like that too.....

[modtinbasher]

because you can use the old sky box and dish as a over gloryfied free view box... After 12mths its your box you see, so make good use of what you have paid for...
..

Thanks for the above, but I'm a real novice at this stuff. Do you mean they gave you another dish, as well as a new sky+ box? And how do you use the old spare ordinary box, is it plugged into another tv and do you actually receive sky through this as well?

And more to the point, do you have to pay more per month for using the new sky+ box?

basher

[modtinbasher]

Does anyone else with Sky+ get the picture and sound dropping, like stuttering, every couple of seconds.... I get it on certain channels and it is extremely annoying when you have saved a programme and it replays like that too.....

In East Anglia we get frequent power cuts, sometimes for just a few seconds, at least one a week, which seem to affect it, and I know what you mean about the stuttering. If we get bad weather then the picture breaks up, we thought all this stuff was normal, but it's having to take the damn card out 3 or 4 times a week that really gets me.

You see, in our house, Tinbashette and I have colour graded jobs. Mine are 'blue jobs' and hers are 'pink jobs', for example, attending to the washing m/c and the iron are pink jobs.

Tending to the car, garden, DIY, cleaning windows (on occasion) buying food, cooking it, writing letters, general complaining, specific complaining, etc are blue jobs.

There are also 'purple jobs' which could be shared, but generally are not, apart from the odd burst with the window leather.

But I get to do these as well as my blue ones. Aren't I just the lucky one! No surprise here then that re-booting the box is a very blue job with purple stripes and not the slightest hint of pink. Telephoning SKY would be navy blue!

Please do not ask me what colour conjugal rights are, I'm sure you know that anyway!

[BEagle]

Hope I'm wrong! :ooh:

[modtinbasher]

Hope I'm wrong! :ooh:

Yep, quite normal there :{ :yuk: := !

[airborne_artist]

Bill for new keyboard for Mr BEagle in the post tomorrow...:ok:

[spannersatcx]

Thanks for the above, but I'm a real novice at this stuff. Do you mean they gave you another dish, as well as a new sky+ box? And how do you use the old spare ordinary box, is it plugged into another tv and do you actually receive sky through this as well?

Not always, the LNB is different (so that has to be changed) so to be able to use Sky+ to view one channel and view another you need two inputs, hence the new LNB (the LNB is the bit that sits in the middle of your dish and has the cable to your Sky box from it), anyway you don't have to pay for that as it's in the installation fee, which can be free.


And more to the point, do you have to pay more per month for using the new sky+ box?

Yes, £10 unless you subscribe to 2 premium channels then it is free.

Some useful info here (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35&daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=lastpost).

[Gertrude the Wombat]

For many years now I've paid my £36/month into the system ...
Over five hundred quid a year!

To watch telly!!!!!!!!!!

Boggle.

[kissmysquirrel]

I was paying £40 month for SKY. Decided it was too much for the amount I watched. Rang to cancel subscription and ended up getting 50% knocked off. I never plug my box into phone line and have had no box problems in over five years. I did get picture and sound breaking up. Engineer costs £60 and they swapped box over. No good. Again got engineer out (free this time) and they suggested it was trees over in neighbours garden blocking signal. Chopped trees down. No good. Next engineer (free again) said it was to do with microwave signals from local train line signals (1 mile away!!) causing interference. Bollox I thought.
Aerial people came out and fitted new dish to side of house as they said it couldnt be fitted to chimney. Again, bollox.
No change. Another engineer came out and fitted the new dish to chimney.
Still rubbish.
In the end, I bought a new LNB off internet for £7.50. Still no good.
The only thing left was to fit good quality cabling in place of original stuff. £12. Picture is perfect as the old stuff had a connection between two pieces and had filled with moisture. This wasn't even checked by the so-called engineers.
I now have a perfect picture and can again spend all my time watching adverts.
So, check cable/LNB etc before spending loads on anything else.

Absolute rip off !