Problems with Sky HD
13-March-2010
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Problems with Sky HD

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I originally registered with Sky for upgrade to HD and bought a new TV to take advantage, several weeks prior to the World Cup.  The earliest date for installation they could give me was 14th August.  On the appointed date, the engineer arrived and promptly told me that the chimney on my house, which is a normal 2 storey detached house, was too high and he would have to arrange a "qualified climbing team" to come out and install.

Close up of a TV screen

Because I have had previous bad experiences with Sky, I didn’t let him go until he had arranged a new date which was the Thursday of that week.  Not too bad, I thought.  The "climbing team" arrived and duly installed. When they left they said it would take up to 2 hours to provision the new system.  After 2 hours nothing had happened.  I then negotiated the increasingly frustrating myriad of menus and suffered the "please wait patiently, your satisfaction is important to us" type messages interspersed with adverts extolling the virtues of SKY and its various extra services.

Next stop India then a transfer to the Call Centre in Scotland.  The Call Centre operatives are always friendly, sympathetic and helpful but very rarely able to do anything.  Eventually the operative said that she would initiate activation from her end (why had the installing engineer not done that when he installed the box?).

Then disaster struck - none of my SKY package was operational at all - SKY Sports, Premiership Plus etc. and all that during a Test match and with the first day of the new football season imminent.  Then I was informed there was a problem with my account which would take 24-48 hours to resolve.

I was very frustrated by this time and insisted on more detail and what they were going to do to resolve it.  It became obvious that I was in a queue and that there was absolutely nothing that could be done.  Friday came and still no SKY or HD.

Many phone calls later, further waiting and more frustration with no hint that this would ever be resolved.  By this time it was Saturday and the problem had not been resolved.  After a 40 minute wait on holding listening to the adverts and apologies on speakerphone I spoke to India who soon transferred me to Scotland.  By now I am VERY frustrated but immaculately polite.  The response was that he had sent another "e-form" to escalate the issue but left me with no confidence that my issue would be resolved.

A sky satellite dish

On applying further pressure and seeking to escalate the process, I was told that this would not be solved this week-end.  He would not supply me with any names to escalate this quoting the Data Protection Act but eventually I got to speak to his manager who was also very polite and helpful.  She gave me her email address and promise to give me progress reports.  This was a step forward at least.

So there we end the saga so far, however all this followed a complete billing debacle which went along similar frustrating lines when I changed credit billing details.  This ended in at least 4 successive months having my SKY account terminated for a significant period and always affecting peak evening viewing when I return from work.

My gripe is the frustration of the processes in place to address customer problems and the appalling quality of technical support given to customers of SKY.  Polite platitudes are not enough and the eternal frustration that my voice is not being heard by SKY to improve the future of their service.  I would certainly not recommend people to upgrade yet.  I can only guess at the problems they are likely to encounter launching their Broadband service.

What would I like to see?

  1. Simplified call answering system and menus.
  2. Reduced waiting time for calls by ensuring more staff availability at times when customers are likely to call.
  3. Proactive follow up of problems, even if only emails.
  4. A better escalation procedure.
  5. More empowerment for installation engineers - not leaving until card handshaking etc completed.

By: CJ


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Having recently upgraded to H.D. ihave the very annoying prolem playing back recorded programmes. Whilst in playback mode watching the recorded programme the TV screen will go totally blank, a on screen message saying "No Stalite signal is being recieved". To get any further programmes back on the TV the system as to be unpluged from the mains and plugged back in some minutes later.
Contact with SKY was to re-boot the system upgrading the software which did not solve the problem...........any suggestions?
*pixie pete  29-Dec-2009 08:35

 
Problem sorted (I think), problem is a compatability issue with Sky HD and my Philips TV, installed some new software from the Philips website and it seems to be working, I have been told that Sky are aware of the compatability issues but don't tell you!!!!!!
*LAW  20-Dec-2009 21:35

 
Had the SKY HD+ box installed over a month ago. No subscription services available on installation and despite numerous calls and e-mails to SKY no resolution of the problems and no feedback on what they were doing. Eventually I e-mailed their CEO and managed to get some action. Most of the services are now working though I am still waiting for an engineer to come to fix SKY+ and box-office. Did get some compo from them for all the aggrevation. Trick is to stay calm and polite no matter how frustrated you feel.
*Old Scroat  26-Nov-2009 12:44

 
I had Sky HD installed in June 09 after waiting nearly 4 months for them to process my upgrade, virtually almost straight away I had the same problem as Mike with the screen going black but volume still on, Sky replaced my box straight away but said they had never heard of this problem before!!!! The Engineer replaced the box and cables and low and behold the same problem happened whilst the engineer was still in my house, they thought it was my TV, but I had only bought it in February and it works perfectly fine with the x-box 360 connected with the HD leads, is there anybody else out there with the same problem? I am sure Sky won't admit there is a problem as I also have problems with my Sky+ box which when you pause it the screen and volume go out of sinc and its a nightmare trying to record anything on it!
*LAW  11-Nov-2009 19:27

 
Oh my God! I am so mad! I was a sucker and I got seduced by Sky HD, more importantly by the new EPG (the guide), I switched over and was surprised that despite the constant advertisng and bombardment about switching to it, that I had to wait 2 months for it. Anyway I finally got it and looked forward to the new guide (as I am a channel hopper) and to my second suprise no guide - I rang and got completely confused by the menus, as there did not seem to be an apporpriate menu for what I wanted to query, but managed to speak to 3 people who seemed to know no more than each other. They couldn't tell me when the guide would be switched on, I would just have to wait, no timescales, no approx time, nothing!! I said this was ridiculous how can you not know when the guide is being switched on was told it was nothing to do with them! I said it wasn't anywhere on the website, wasn't on the literature or marketing that you would have to wait for the new guide. I complained on the website (where you can only put 200 words - clever eh!) and got a fairly similar response - it depends on your set top box and the software, because apparently the software has a mind of its own and will update when it feels like. so here I am some 5 months down the line, still no guide, still no reasonable explanation, spoke to a idiotic drone - who told me that she likes her job (what???), I didn't actually ask her that, I asked her to escalate my complaint and ask why there is nothing said to indicate that you mayhave to wait for the guide anywhere. Feel frustrated and really irritated
*Shez  01-Oct-2009 21:25

 
Had HD+ box installed 3 weeks ago. Sky can not put the service on my account. Waiting for IT to deal with it. Has anyone else got similar problem, or is mine an isolated case?
*Simreb  22-Sep-2009 15:05

 
We are on our 19th SKY+HD box the "Engineer" From First Line Digital insisted that our Samsung box was faulty after only having that box for less than 8 weeks. He left us with an Amstrad box that after only a few hours AND NO USE other than to load the planner, started to smell and overheat! Leaving the video shimmering and an electrical buzzing on the sound! Low and behold Sky tech told us to unplug it (It was unplugged long before we got the the end of the adverts on the phone) 3 phone calls later! no further advanced. They have a cheek and should be investigated by the Advertising Standard Commision for using the words Engineer & Customer Service.
*DragonFly  14-Sep-2009 22:34

 
Had skyhd box installed last week,while watching the cricket everytime bowler starts to bowl the ball picture freezes and then jumps meaning the ball is in the wicket keepers gloves before you see the release of the ball, Telephoned sky waited on telephone over 20 minutes in total listening to piped music and that I was 2nd in the queue then 1st in queue before some stupid message came on rambling about how I could make telephone calls abroad.After listening to all that rubbish I was told I was know 2nd in the queue 1st in the queue and again wonder boy with is message again in how to telephone abroad. Then e-mailed sky explaining the above, received sincere apology but only way I could get any satisfaction was to go telephone again. At this moment in time I am trying to find out myself how I can rectify the problem. SKY SERVICES ARE PATHETIC.
*Alf.  10-Aug-2009 14:37

 
Within the past two weeks, we have had three engineers to see to our signal problems and, apart from changing boxes (more than once in some visits), they have done more harm than good, leaving our system with very few available channels, error messages 28 (no satellite signal) and 03 (insert your new viewing card), no HD channels, no Anytime, unable to record (Smart Card is absent). Also, while the engineers were in our flat, everything was totally fine, we could see and record anything we wanted, contrary to what happened the moment they left.

My many calls to Sky Customer Services have not achieved much and I have been unable to obtain a service call earlier than in 10 days’ time. It seems Sky is completely oblivious to the problems of their customers, especially when their engineers are not doing their jobs properly. Also, my e-mails only get a polite and apologetic answer, but no quick results.

I have read in other forums people talking about starting a pressure group to highlight the bad service provided by Sky. It may be a good idea that all disgruntled Sky customers would get together to complaint at the same time. Sky is not a cheap option in satellite viewing and I believe their customer service should be better.
*elenam  15-Jul-2009 16:12

 
Sky HD+ installed Oct 22 08, Box failed after 8 weeks with an intermittent black TV screen, new box lasted 5 months before same fault began, then finally "no satt signal" and a complete failure of box. All along this six month period Sky deny any problem with hardware, telling me it was my TV (rubbish as TV works perfectly with video signal). So sky and two separate sky contarct engineers, and a third box installed 16 June 09 that after three hours started an intermittent Blackout TV Screen (no loss of sound) just like before,

A complaint to sky produced a response that ingnored the technical fault, said sorry and put £20 into my viewing account.

What I really want is a technical answer - why are they continuing to sell and replace with or without a charge something that is basically faulty - it must be down to luck that some viewers never get a problem. The number of sky van men around and the fact that it takes a minimum 48 hrs to get a techy to visit, from as far afield as 100 miles must surely say something about the number and variety of technical problems encountered by viewers.

Is there an answer out there ?
*Mike  17-Jun-2009 06:26

 
Message for Diamond. Your comments helped me a lot as I have a humming noise on my Sky HD+ box. Is my electricity bill being affected by this noise of the hard drive? It only stops when I turn the tv off at the mains.
*Sapphire  07-Apr-2009 16:14

 
I have a Sky HD Box. Approx 18 months old..No problem until about 4 months ago. Then my TV whilst using the Sky box began to display the following message " This display does not support HDCP Call 08702 404020. Please disconnect your HDMI Connection. Press backup to cancel".
Firstly wrong phone number.. Conntacted Sky 4 times they were unable to resolve,I was told I would need new box. But as I had an insurance on it I called out an engineer. The engineer had the box for 3 days and was unable to find any faults but did say Sky had sent over the telephone software that was not compatable to my TV. The TV is a Plasma Hitachi cost me £1500 18 months ago. The only solution to deal with the problem was to disconnect HD or for Sky to send me a new box. Well.. after I had negotiated the minefield of the options and dealt with several cut offs I was told by Sales that NO they would not send me a new box. I would have to buy one. Lovely!! that will not only cost me it will invalidate the £119. insurance I carry on the current box...and all because Sky put new software in a good working box. What has happened to customer care? Anybody any ideas?
*Joy  02-Apr-2009 14:49


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