Devildog

Box finally died. been running for 6 years so no complaints.

Amazon/Ebay seems like the place to buy a replacement (Sky want £135) but I have a couple of questions which I hope the knowledgeable among you can answer

1) What's the best make? Pace, Thomson and Amstrad all seem to be quite popular

2) Any issues with buying one as regards matching it to Sky card? Is it simply a case of slotting in the card and good to go?

Cheers in advance

DD

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

mate ring sky back and tell them your canceling because you can't afford to buy a new box, and its no good you paying for something you can't use. Stick to your guns and i'm pretty certain they will send you one out at the very least give you half off the price.You can still cancel and get a better deal in your wifes g/friends name. I gave them the old "i'll cancel then i've been a loyal customer for the past 4 years" when my box packed up! they wanted £90 to come repair it, by the time i got off the phone they were coming to fix it and give me 12 months warranty for free.

HTH

Aaron

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

Pace usually best make but I have never had one die on me

Plenty 2nd hand from about 20 - 30 quid, card might take a couple of hours to activate

edit to say - 1st do what he says above

Devildog

Tried that mate..

Told me to get one on ebay..LOL....

We're on multiroom, so harder to make that one stick - although I've been using it on phone contracts for years with great success

Devildog

Cheers

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

still tell them your canceling, you can always reconnect in your wifes name or even your name they will never turn custom away. i got all the way to the accounts departement before they agreed.

Aaron

Dan Gleebits

Amazing!! Sky call out charge has been a flat rate £65 for YEARS



*DD .. where in the world are you ?

Gerard_M

would reccomend a sony one, mines packed in a few months ago after 6 or 7 years with no problems and i picked one up for £30 off ebay.

BOB.T

We changed our box, got one with a bigger memory, really easy to swap. Sal says you have to ring Sky and get them to pair the card to the box...can't remember how long it took but don't think it was too bad.

Dan Gleebits

Usual 'shpiel' is anything up to four hours, Bob

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

whats that supposed to mean

Dan Gleebits

It means what it says on the tin... Sky's callout charge has been £65 for years... not £90.

*or the other bit was referring to DD's location #

Lee247

Our Sky box went on the blink a few weeks ago. Paid the call out charge, Guy came within 10 minutes of the time he was supposed to arrive. Could not find the problem so replaced the box, no extra charge.
Has been fine ever since.

We've been with Sky for years and have no complaints at all, they have been spot on

DD, am surprised they are charging you for a new box, when they replaced ours FOC

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

well thats how much some guy on the end of the phone told me it was so don't get all clever and make out i'm lying, because the box wasn't provided by them it was going to cost £90, if they couldn't fix the problem they would replace it, i said that as there was a dish already there and i put my own box in and paid full subscription for 4 years that surely they wouldn't charge me, he said yes i said no, i then proceeded to cancel at which point a supervisor came on the phone and told me it could would be sorted for free.

Dan Gleebits

ooooOOOOooooo

*clutches handbag to chest *





£60. End of

BOB.T

So it's it's gone down by a fiver then?

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

how grown up, your intelligence is quite something

Dan Gleebits

Mates rates, Bob

Dan Gleebits

Well just think on, next time your sky box is fubar'd Im the TECHNICAL one that repairs them


and at least im not remiss of a decent sense of fun
take a chill pill dude, and stop giving it the biggies

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

ok pill taken, i also have a sky techy as a friend.

Aaron

Dan Gleebits

why didnt he look at it for you? cant be much of a pal

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

He wasn't with them when all this happened, he's coming round to put it into my bedroom this week though

Aaron

mit

iTrader: (10)

Sky are rubbish at keeping existing customers happy,i went down the cancel then get the girlfriend to sign just to get a free box route too.
So your telling me they will get a 'tech' to fix a 6 year old box? Think not,as the tuner that usually goes aint worth fixing!

Dan Gleebits

I assume you ARE still talking about the skybox here

no worries fella, Im all for repairing /replacing free , after all its a small price for the long-term gain

Devildog

Cheers for the additional advice guys

DG - We're in the Scottish Highlands. No cable, and no digital yet. Sky is the only current option.

Spoke to the engineer, he's confirmed box is fubarred and they won't try and fix it (as per mit's post above). Its £135 for a new box or nothing.

However, we know someone who may have a spare box, and he's asked me to help him with something, so I see a deal to be done.

If not, I'll phone a local satellite installer or pick one up off the web.

Wenker Man

We had this problem with sky when our box died. I swapped the LNB first with a known good one to rule it out (as they are easy to swap and are only £10). But it was the box at fault.

We got the same extortionate callout and new box charges offered when calling sky. So we cancelled, they then offered some concession on the box or moved to sky+ (yet paying even more).

During this, we phoned Virgin (already had phone and 'net with them) and they could beat the basic standard box charges but I would get a V+ box instead (although I did go through cancellations, as my internet was playing up at the time). V+ for £75 all in.

Sky couldn't beat that with their +box so they were binned.

Week later after cancelling, Sky called back asking if there was anything they could do to win us back.

I told the girl it was too late as I had signed up to a new Virgin contract (truth is, I couldn't be bothered, I was fed up with the hassle. They should have been upfront with the discounts for loyal users who have paid their bills without fail for 6+years ).

But it maybe handy to note for other people on here that if you don't get the deal you want with cancellations, cancel anyway. And keep the phone manned. There's a chance they will call you back during the same week to offer you a better deal.

Living with 5 channels isn't that bad, epecially when you can watch TV programs on catch up via a computer