Sky HD In Bad Weather Bad News

peggrinder
peggrinder Posts: 29
edited February 2014 in The cake stop
My Sky system has gone kaput during the ongoing storms, and as I'm outside the warranty period, I'm likely to get shafted with charges for a new hd box / battered dish replacement & engineers fee's or a combination of the aforesaid. Is it etched in stone that I have to grease the Murdocks palm with silver to gain access to the glittering world of professional cycling & the Eurosport team or is there another way which has yet to broaden my viewing horizon, I await your response with a blank tv & a restrictive broadband account :(

Comments

  • Flâneur
    Flâneur Posts: 3,081
    just say you will cancel your contract (both are one year as a rule). Had an issue with the outside cable outside and the guy on the phone told me to do that as it works out the far better deal.
    Stevo 666 wrote: Come on you Scousers! 20/12/2014
    Crudder
    CX
    Toy
  • ravenvrider
    ravenvrider Posts: 198
    I'm guessing but usually if during a storm could be your dish got blown out of alignment, i just bought a cheap satellite signal finder from maplin and realigned the dish myself...easy and pretty cheap.

    Otherwise do as said above say you will cancel usually once transferred to terminations you'll get a deal on a new box etc , i have done that about 4 times.....although the last time they didnt offer anything and went straight to cancelling my contract.....had to swallow my pride and phone up to er rejoin before my time was up though!
  • duckson
    duckson Posts: 961
    Try http://cyclingtorrents.nl/index.php

    Although i've cancelled in the past or threatened too and they came and fixed it for nought.
    Cheers, Stu
  • Flâneur
    Flâneur Posts: 3,081
    For cancelling, just carry on with the threat, even if you do end up leaving they soon call saying have X off. 7 days before I was cut off they offered me free sport and 50% off my HD.

    It is a gamble but one I would go with until the final minute at least
    Stevo 666 wrote: Come on you Scousers! 20/12/2014
    Crudder
    CX
    Toy
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    I trained Sky employees for a while

    s long as you are over one year on all tv products, or payable subscriptions, and you haven't used the free service call before if you say the magic words "i want to cancel" and the account is in your name, you'll get sorted.
  • peggrinder
    peggrinder Posts: 29
    Thanks for the input,.. While I'm without the box, and using a different broadband provider, I've been considering alternatives such as BT Vision etc, and grabbing a bundle deal ...though I'd want to keep Eurosport for obvious reasons :D
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,321
    Condolences...

    What's this got to do with general cycling? I'm moving it
    left the forum March 2023
  • Surfer35
    Surfer35 Posts: 20
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Condolences...

    What's this got to do with general cycling? I'm moving it

    To where....Room 101 or the Circular File 8)
  • Iamnot Wiggins
    Iamnot Wiggins Posts: 685
    Install sky player on your laptop and then plug it into your TV. Bit of temporary measure but means you'll still get sports etc.
  • The Mechanic
    The Mechanic Posts: 1,277
    This is a strange one. I had a problem with my Sky signal. It turned out to be dish alignment after a storm. However, I phoned up to get someone out from Sky to fix it. They said it would be a charge of, I think £65, but that covered everything, even if I needed a replacement Sky+HD box. Sounded like a bargain to me when you consider all sorts of people call you up purporting to be from Sky offering insurance for the box. As I said, it was only the dish so took the guy 10 minutes to fix it.
    I have only two things to say to that; Bo***cks
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Dish alignment is a 10 minute job with the Sat Alignment tool off Amazon (about £6 when I bought mine). That, a ladder & a 10mm spanner is all you need to do the job.

    If anything's broken it's most likely the LNB - pick one up from Maplins for £20 - £30, prob cheaper elsewhere but that was the first place I looked.
  • southdownswolf
    southdownswolf Posts: 1,525
    As others have said, just get them to come out and when they say there will be a charge, tell them they are mistaken....


    If you go through with a cancelling, try going a month without signing up to any other provider as Sky will offer you half price on everything for a year. I cancelled 14 months ago and they still keep sending me a letter every month offering a "special" deal of 50% off for a year.
    http://www.stuartmole.co.uk/
  • gedadz61
    gedadz61 Posts: 30
    After checking that cable ends on both box and dish are okay I would go straight to changing the LNB, about £7.50p on E Bay. Easy ,to change. just take note of it's orientation, usually tilted slightly to the left, most types have notches marked on them 1 to 5. 5min job.
  • Monkeypump
    Monkeypump Posts: 1,528
    So, you want something for nothing, and want Sky to provide a freebie even though they are not at fault?

    Hopefully they will see through your little scam (they MAY just be aware of the recent storms, after all) and call your bluff.

    Just call Sky, be honest, and accept the charge - it shouldn't be that expensive.
  • cornerblock
    cornerblock Posts: 3,228
    Same happened to our Sky connection. £40.00 to put right and that included a new dish. Seems a fairly reasonable price to me for a new dish and an hour of someone's time. And we had the added bonus of missing a load of rubbish tv over Christmas and New Year!
  • moffatt666
    moffatt666 Posts: 30
    Get Youview from BT. I pay £10 per month for Eurosport 1&2, BT's sports offering and the documentary channels (in addition to be and line rental).

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