Sky+ box

[Steven1964]

Have had this for over a year now, but it has developed a fault. When I phone up to ask for it to be fixed I am told that it will cost me for a new box and an engineer to come out. When I say that it should last longer than a year I am told if I don't want to pay then they cannot fix it. Anybody have any ideas how to get them to fix it, do I phone them quoting sale of goods act or write to them or even try trading standards?

[valtonia]

Usually, threatening to cancel your subscription makes them a little more accomodating.

[blacksheep1979]

Keep everything in writing - it may take a little longer but then you always have a record.

[monstermind]

The box only comes with a 12 month manufacturer's warranty, so I'm afraid that Sky aren't obliged to cover repair costs after that. As previously mentioned, if you call back and tell them you're cancelling, you WILL be offered a free service call. If they're unable to repair the fault on-site, they'll replace the box for you.

[cleungs1]

threat to cancel work wonders avery time

[Allyxia]

Actually the sale of goods act, does state that goods should work for a reasonable amount of time regardless of Manufacturers warrenty or extended warrenties. A Sky + box should be expected to last around five years. So despite what they say they should fix or replace it for you. Look up the Sale of Goods Act for correctlegalk jardgon on this, Ive used many a times for electrical goods where they keep blabbing on about 1 year blah blah blah is rubbish trust me!"!"!

[MrsFroogle]

My 7 year old Sky+ box also developed a fault recently, a couple of days after cancelling the subscription but that's not relevant, when we phoned to discuss it transpired that Sky had been running update programmes/messages and ours froze. They tried to get us to pay £60 for an engineer, thankfully it was MrFroogle who was speaking to them and he put his foot right down, and basically said you broke it you fix it, engineer was here next working day... hubby is better at that sort of thing.

 

I'd get back on to them if you think its a similar problem.

[Rich44]

To expect a sky+ box to last 5+ years under SoGA is to be blunt unreasonable. Just the box part yes it should last a decent amount of time but there is also a mechanical part in there - The hard drive I would say expecting a 40GB hard drive that is more or less always spinning to last 5 years is not reasonable, however it should definitely last longer than 12 months without a shadow of a doubt.

 

The old cancel trick works a treat every time though, also if you want some freebies try this one

 

Phone up and say you're thinking of cancelling what channels would I get free if I do, they will then launch into their spiel and you'll probs get half price everything for 3 months then wait a few months after that 3 months and try it again lol

[ED1237]

Rich44 is right. I worked for Sky's sales team when I lived in Scotland and they employ a whole team just to persude you to stay with them, They offer incemtives by giving away free channels ect.They also don't like confrontation and will back down if you stand fast and demand it be fixed or you will take your business to NTL.

[Steven1964]

Success, I finally mangaged to not get bored and hang up after all their optons and waiting. I was amazed how quickly they caved and are sending an engineer out on Monday. No charge. Thanks for all the help.

[tim2718281]

The hard drive I would say expecting a 40GB hard drive that is more or less always spinning to last 5 years is not reasonable

 

I am an IT professional with expertise in designing reliable data storage systems, and I completely disagree with that statement. Since the early 1990s, the mean time between failures of low-cost disk drives has been over 25 years.

 

According to its web pages, Seagate warrants its low-cost drives for five years; see:

 

Barracuda 7200.9 - ST3402111A Product Family

 

Tim

[Rich44]

Yeah well i'm an IT professional too shall we turn this into a peeing contest?

 

Do you really trust the word of the ppl who make the drives in the first place? Thats like believing HP and Epson when they quote their ppm speeds.

 

UNDER IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES maybe there is no way in real world applications that you can expect a constantly spinning hard drive to last 5 years.

 

Remember that the Sky+ boxes are under cooled to start with, we're talking in a small sky+ box here NOT in a large fan cooled PC. Have you actually taken a Sky+ box apart and seen the cooling involved??

 

MTBF figures never work in the real world they are estimated under lab conditions or are you claiming they develop a drive and test it for 25 years prior to release its also why its referred to as Reliability Prediction Procedure

 

The key word is prediction its not real.

 

Seagate may well warranty their HDs for this long BUT again thats in a PC rather than a home appliance and besides if you took it to court its a mechanical part a judge is going to look at the cost of the box and the length of time you claim it should last and say tough IMO.

 

Not to mention this whole discussion is totally irrelevant to this thread as the fault was nothing to do with hard drives it was either a fault with the LNB, cabling or the sky electronics side of the box

[tim2718281]

"Yeah well i'm an IT professional too shall we turn this into a peeing contest?"

 

No, I think it's adequate that people note there is a difference of opinion, and seek whatever confirmation they are comfortable with.

 

Tim