Sky Nightmare - Please Help / **WON**

[Electricmayhem705]

This is a long one, so pelase bear with me.

 

In May 2009 I had SKY+ installed on a communal dish in my flat. It was installed by Sky's contractors but I purchased it through SKY. Upon leaving, the engineer told me that everything 'was working fine'. Since installation the whole thing has never worked properly and I could not record programmes, also the box would not respond / come out of standby for hours on end.

 

I ran Sky Technical Help who told me I would need to speak to the installing contractor to have it rectified. The contractor came out and told me that there was 'Something wrong' with the sattelite cable feeds, but as it was communal it wasnt his job to fix it. For this they charged me £50 call out charge and left.

 

I spoke to the person responsible for the communal dish, and was informed that the SKY socket in my living room only had one connection wired, and not the two that were needed for SKY+. I was pretty mad at this as surely the two engineers that came out should have spotted this?

 

After a letter (Phone calls were just ignored) to the company I was promised a refund of the £49 installation fee and the £50 call out charge. (Which I later found out I shouldnt have been charged as it wa sunder warranty!!) however the contractor came the next day and took away the SKY box.

 

I rang SKY to explain my problem and after being transferred to 8 different people during a 40 minute call, I was told to email customer services, as I had only had SKY for 5 weeks and couldnt cancel. I emailed the same day and heard nothing back for a week until I got an email written in appaling english, telling me my Subscription was cancelled.

 

Then two weeks later I got a letter from SKY telling me that they were charging me £120 as an early cancellation charge unless I rejoined within the next few weeks.

 

To top this off the contractor is now denying I was promised a refund.

 

I'm getting pretty frustrated as SKY just want money and dont care, they just transfer me from person to person, and the cowboys that did the installation are just abusive on the phone!!

 

Any help would be realy realy gratefully received.

 

Thanks

[Conniff]

You firstly make sure no direct debit is set up to pay month fees to Sky, if they are then you should cancel it.

Tell Sky that you are not cancelling as you have not had the service and cannot cancel something you haven't got.

 

Now that the installer is denying any refund, you should write giving them 7 days to refund you or you will start court proceedings.

 

Do it all by letter recorded so you have a paper trail to refer to should it have to go to court.

[Broomfield]

If you still want Sky+ you could ask a good independent engineer to fit one of these stacker destacker unit

It is a neat way of getting sky+ to work on a single cable, I have used them on many jobs such as yours.

G

[IdaInFife]

You were installed by an independant company and can cancel sky within a 30 days.

 

As you say you are were outwith that time then sky can charge you for the remainder of the contract, however we can try another approach.

 

i'll come back

 

Ida x

[buzby]

The stacker isn't much use for communals as it can cause problems for others who are happy with their single feed.

[Broomfield]

Not if you fit it to the cable feeding the OP's flat/house, it does depend on a spare port from the distribution amp being available, but you can usually find one:)

Edited August 15, 2009 by Broomfield
Typo

[Electricmayhem705]

You were installed by an independant company and can cancel sky within a 30 days.

 

As you say you are were outwith that time then sky can charge you for the remainder of the contract, however we can try another approach.

 

i'll come back

 

Ida x

 

My point is though Ida, I didnt want to cancel, these cowboys have taken my SKY box, are with-holding the refund, and SKY wont give me a new box and just dont care!

[IdaInFife]

Sky cannot provide you with any equipment because you live in a MDU.

 

 

If you still want sky you have 2 options,

 

ask your installer to swap to standard STB or buy a second hand STB.

 

Sky cannot do anything as they are not at fault as they did not and cannot provide the equipment.

 

Ida x

[Electricmayhem705]

Sky cannot provide you with any equipment because you live in a MDU.

 

 

If you still want sky you have 2 options,

 

ask your installer to swap to standard STB or buy a second hand STB.

 

Sky cannot do anything as they are not at fault as they did not and cannot provide the equipment.

 

Ida x

 

Do SKY not have a responsibility to ensure that their contractors operate to the correct standard?

[IdaInFife]

Yes but you were not installed by a sky contractor. You were installed by an indepenadant company.

 

Ida x

[Electricmayhem705]

But SKY sent them, I rang SKY and said, ''I want SKY'' and they said 'OK' and sent this dude round with a box.

 

 

This is what I dont get.

[IdaInFife]

no,

 

there are two options that happened here,

 

you called sky and they have put you through to the local mdu installer or you have called the mdu installer number.

 

Sky will not install sky with anyone that has a communial dish.

 

ida x

[majik]

Hi

 

Sky installed my box and i have communal dish, i know it was sky as it was arranged via a sky man on a stall at local shopping centre, they also arranged my phone line to be activated.

[IdaInFife]

Hi

 

Sky installed my box and i have communal dish, i know it was sky as it was arranged via a sky man on a stall at local shopping centre, they also arranged my phone line to be activated.

 

not all people in shopping centres are sky agents, the indep companies in the area do this as well.

 

i would be careful as if you do have a communial dish and a sky engineer attended to do a service call they may not complete the job.

 

there is a dipsute here as to who installed it as we know it wasn't sky themselves that installed it

 

ida x

[Electricmayhem705]

Well the isnt this mis-representation then?

 

I called the SKY number off the SKY website and a man in a SKY van came and installed SKY, so you can see where I'd get the idea that SKY were the installer....

[buzby]

Like all firms, SKY sub-contract to third parties. Even Virgin Media vans are driven by sub-contractors, so it is hardly unusual.

[Electricmayhem705]

But my point is that I as the consumer, rang SKY and asked them to provide me with THEIR service, they agreed but have failed to do so.

 

Whether it was a SKY, a contractor or the A-Team that installed it I just seem to be going round in circles with each blaming the other.

[buzby]

But the issue is this; If you have an concern (ie 'complaint') then it is the firm that actually did the job that is liable. If the A-Team installed your dish, then it is they who need to sort the issue with you, SKY, even though they were instrumental in choosing the contractor, gives you moaning rights and possibly a shoulder to cry on, but not legally. Even call centre staff don't work for Sky Television (but Sky Subscriber Services Ltd) and even then, they pass many calls to 3rd Party Call Centres answering AS SKy!

[Electricmayhem705]

Fair enough, but SKY have possibly the worst customer service I'v ever dealt with (And I've dealt with CapOne.)

 

What do I do about the installer who refuses to refund me?

[IdaInFife]

you would need to write to them giving 14 ays to refund the payment stating that if not pament isrecevied then you would proceed with court proceedings and you would need to follow it through

 

ida x

[galaxygooner]

I would recommend you email [email protected].

He is the M.D. of the company.

I had a problem with Sky Talk. I was cut-off through no fault of my own and the CS Agent said that it would take up to 72hrs to re-connect. I was not re-connected for 8 days or so and after being pushed from 'pillar-to-post' I decided to email the above with my complaint.

Imagine my delight when 2 hours later his secretary replied saying the fault had been resolved and because of the inconvenience they would give me half price sky telly for 6 months.

Try this route, it may work

 

' The higher up the food chain you eat, the better the grub'.

[buzby]

No argument from me on your first observation. They are not an honourable company when it comes to dealing with consumer issues - flat refusals to be fair and reasonable take court action to resolve.

 

As to your second point, a letter (by recorded delivery, anf keep the receipt) to the installation firm to their Registered Office, giving all the details - just the facts, what the problem is, and what you would like them to do to resolve it.

 

Give them 28 days to resolve the issue, or refund all the money you have paid to them for their services. Explain that if there is no satisfactory response you will without further notice seek to recover your payment and costs for their inability to provide a satisfactory service. Gor good measure you could note Sky Subscriber Services at their Hounslow address as an 'interested party', to keep things tidy.

[Electricmayhem705]

Wahey! Sorted it finaly.

 

After calling to find out why my letter had been ignored (and being cut-off three times..) I spoke to the first person that a random pressing of keys in the automated menu would get me to and told them it was their lucky day as they had been chosen to sort my problem

 

After being transferred to Customer Services where I was told ''Theres nothing I can realy do for you, but I'll pass you on to a manager and see what she says,'' I was passed on to a lovely manager who listened and seemed interested!

 

After explaining my problem I was told to leave it with her and she would call me back. 30 minutes later I received a call from her with the following:

 

 

• Sky are going to send an actual SKY engineer to install a free SKY+ box in my flat, free of charge.
  
• My account has been suspended so no further payments are required until I have the box.
  
• As a goodwill gesture they will send me a cheque refunding me all my SKY subscriptions paid to date!!!:D:D
  
• They will launch an internal investigation into the installing company and I should receive my full refund from them in 14 days!
  

 

I have to say that that is way more than I expected from them

 

When it is all finaly over I will write a nice letter to thank this lady, as she is only person who has actually helped me at SKY in the past 4 months!

 

If I can work out how to change the thread title to show 'Sorted' I will, lol.

[IdaInFife]

well done

 

ida x

[citizenB]

Excellent news, thread title amended to reflect success