Sky HD+ was a waste of money

Having been a Sky customer for 20 years, I was appalled that we would have to pay £60 for an "engineer" to run a cable from the LNB to the SKY HD+ box and be charged £60. Sky show no loyalty to their long standing customers whatsoever.

We're about to leave them for Virgin Media, had the HD + box for two and half years and like the vast majority of them it's now slowly dying. No problem with Sky tprogrammes as such (we're dropping Sky Sports as we hardly watch it) but we can't record anything anymore it can take about 5 minutes to change channels, the planner freezes etc. Contacted customer services twice, saying we're unhappy its only lasted for the time it has, and their offer is pay £65 for a engineer if he can't fix it he will give you a refurbed box with 90 days guarantee. Then what? it happens again?. I know from other forums that when we do actually ring to cancel in the next day or so there's a good chance they will offer us a brand new box, but life's too short to keep having to take it to that level to get what you want. Bye Bye Sky!

My gripe comes from a customer I spent a fortune buying sky HD 3D to use in my pub every person who tried the glasses on thought it was fantastic and can,t wait for the season to start but alass I have a friend who said I always buy the most up to date equipment for home but he put on the glasses then turn round LOOKED AT THE TV AND THEN IN A LOUD VOICE SAID OH MY GOD it does"nt do nowt for me. Oh boy was he deflated, it turns out he has a dodgey left eye and the two colours wont mix to give him 3D affect and wants to know if there is any way for him to watch 3D TV there must be more people out there who have the same problem. HELP PLEASE IM GETTING EARACHE!

I have a question can I order a normal sky box then buy a sky + hd box then simply replace the normal box ?

I have a question can I order a normal sky box then buy a sky + hd box then simply replace the normal box ?

I called to cancel but I was offered sky movies for free over Christmas and the new year by customer services which I declined as we never watch movies enough to justify, I was talked into staying with sky with a free installation and a sky box for £49... after fitting I had no hd signal after 24hrs, I rang to complain and was offered a reduced price movies for 3 months (please rewind tape and listen!) I still didn't get the hd signal and once I got through to an Indian.. he connected me ( that was 4 calls in total!)..I have just been informed my bill will be £79 odd pound! I original rang in December to cancel because sky HD was going to be too expensive and argos sell a HD box for £59 there’s is no way I would have agreed to this... please rewind tape and listen someone has stitched me up like a kipper!... I have been with sky since 1987 (23 years!) but there is no customer loyalty coming from you... I also Note you do not send the bill or state cost until after the 14 days distance selling Regulation something I need to explore with the OFT...

Mon, 25/1/10, Sky Help Centre <help@skycustomersupport.com> wrote in reply:

signal times can take anything from two minutes up to twenty four hours.

Your bill is correct & is billing you from 31st of Dec09 up to 2nd of March, which is your month in advance, we couldn't add it on to your Jan bill, so it has to be added to your Feb bill.


you failed to inform me the cost and had I known the cost within the 14 days cooling off period I am entitled to I would have canceled before, I note with anger you informed me by letter after the 14 day period please explain why? my bill has gone from £30 to £79 I do not even have a second TV for the multi room hence the engineer just left the box in the conservatory I am not happy with my sky hd experience my bill should now be sub £30..

this all makes interesting reading. We have recently moved over to Sky after having Vigin Cable for 7 years, but my husband wanted the sky sport channels as he is an avid Rugby Union fan.

There have now been 3 attempts to install sky talk, all which have entailed a large amount of
reorganistion on our part, and on all 3 occassions the sky installation engineer never botherd to turn up. After the last aborted visit, (cancelled by Sky, but they forgot to let us know) Virgin disconnected our phone line. We now have no phone and no broad band.

Like many of the letters I have just read, Sky's customer service is appalling, but it does make me feel better knowing I am not the only one.

I rue the day we left Virgin, in 7 years we never had any problems either with the TV or telephone.

have been with sky for about 13 years and decided to up grade to hd so when I saw the offer for a free sky+ hd box I decided to register before the offer ended, when I finally get a message saying that I could ring up to sort out instalation they tried to say I had to pay 79.00 so I told them i'd speak to partner and call them back the next day and I did now there saying I have to pay 109.00. so for anyone seeing a deal for sky don't bother as it is all one big con.

To anyone who hasn’t yet done so and is thinking of succumbing to Sky’s glitzy and tempting adverts for a free HD box – DON’T. I got Sky HD in late 2006 shortly after it came out, paying full whack for a new box, and it turned out to be a huge mistake. The box malfunctioned, and then broke down altogether after it was only 16 months old. On taking it to a repair shop I was advised that the original boxes made by Thompson were not very good quality and that to repair it would cost as much as a new box. Rather than pay for a new box and continue to pay £9.75 to Sky for HD which I thought was not particularly good value anyway, I got my old ordinary Sky plus box back out and called Sky to cancel the HD subscription. From that point, I have had no end of problems with Sky and their customer services. I experienced viewing card problems, lost my multiroom viewing, and Sky’s customer services even at one time accidently cancelled my subscription altogether when I was trying to get these problems fixed. I had to go through the rigmarole of getting it reinstated. Then out of the blue this year, after I had not paid any HD sub for 14 months, they started charging me for HD again! I just can’t seem to get the message through to them that I no longer have an HD box even though I have told them on at least three separate occasions, and they are refusing point blank to refund the money they have taken from me for HD subscription this year. They claim there is no record that I ever cancelled my HD pack, and when I point out that my billing history indicates otherwise they avoid answering that point and won’t comment on it. Some of my e-mails have been answered in a very unprofessional manner and I am now seriously thinking of leaving Sky altogether.

Received a letter from sky offering installation of skyH+ box for £60 with a free box , sounded to good an offer to turn down so contacted them and booked a date for installation.
whilst on the phone to the call center made it perfectly clear and made a point of informing them that the dish was on my chimmney of my mid-terraced cottage and that decorative ridge tiles might make it awkward for a roof ladder. Engineer 1 was a former school mate of mine , he took one look at the job and told me he could not install the product due to height restrictions . He checked his palmtop/mobile and showed me that their was information about my concerns ie height and that they shouldnt have given him the job.The second installation date arrived and I received a phone call at 0830 hrs giving me a time scale of 1200-1600hrs for the engineer to arrive, I waited in all day and at 1545hrs decided to phone the engineer to see if he was still coming, he infromed me that all jobs had been cancelled by sky due to high winds and they should have phoned me to let me know of the cancelation.
phoned sky to complain about my wasted time and was promised free installation and a months free viewing , which I thought was reasonable although it did not cover the cost of my two days lost wages due to being self employed.
3rd engineer said he would not be able to install the product and that sky "wouldnt touch the job" due to difficulties in accessing my dish.
Phoned sky once again to complain and was told that sky couldnt install my new product as it was too difficult due to health and safety and that I should get an independent installer to do so.
This as I was informed by the 3rd engineer would cost me in the region of £250-£300 as I would have to buy the box off of the independent installer plus labour.
informed me that they couldnt do this and the only way I could have skyHD+ was to pay up personaly for the installation by an independent installer.

I decided to uograde to sky hd tv using their special offer on at the moment. I phoned to upgrade and was told that they had no equiptment left and would have to phone back once my order had been processed and I was put on a waiting list. Two days later they suddenly had enough boxes and I was able to process my order. I phoned them and spent forty minutes on the phone ordering the upgrade and paying for the install. The engineer then came to install the sky a few days later but told me had incorrect information, being that I was supposedly getting multi-room, yet I had paid the full install and not the reduced multiroom install price. The engineer then left and I spent three hours on old trying to get through to sky. Twice I was hung up on and the rest of the time was spent on hold. I then gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried again. I phoned the follwing day and spoke to someone else who said he could not help me as it stated on the system I already had the upgrade. I am disgusted with the sky. The staff know nothing, for example they do not even know how to spell the address for their complaints department. Disgusting and disgraceful.

I think sky is c**p,i have paid three times,in two months,and they slap an extra 15 quid ontop,saying that I had not paid enough. now they send me a futher bill with the 15.00 quid added with the request I pay again,even though this will be two payments for this month alone.but thanks to there stupid help system,you have got more chance of getting more help out a sloab of concrete on a damp rag,than one person employed in customer services.they are above useless.my rabbits have more intelligence I now am cut off,oh thankyou sky,for your great understanding to problem solving(not/never)instead of finding the fool who charged me twice in august,there understanding to the problem is to cut you off.yes there are great educational channels,but when there,s a problem,they run away,or pass the blame onto the jolly customer.you know the one on the phone you left on hold for three hours then they kindly tell you its your fault,didnt you know that.!!! I had major help even with the email,side.god what a job that was.well I will not hold my breath for a responce as by the time they eventually read my complaint I would of aged and retired to my nursing home.i just think a re think is in order,skills training is a good idea,with also a lot of intelligence to understand that they greatly lack in common sence and understanding .i'm not exspecting much,an appology would be nice,from the head of sky,and not photcopied either,plus the mistake to be corrected by them and the box turned on,but I do not think that will happen . remember they are always right,us customers can whistle for it.