Beware of bogus Sky TV warranty letters/telephone calls.

[Furry Fred]

Just received the same today from Digital Satellite Warranty Ltd and I had ticked the SKY form to remain anonymous

I assumed that there must have been a leak somewhere in Sky and possibly a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Have reported it to local Trading Standards and to SKY Data Protection. If no action I will contact the Data Protection Commissioner!

I have copied the form, blanked out my details and the bar coding and have returned it (without stamp) to both the Registered Address and the Service address.

I note that they are using the income providing 0871 number. Sure sign of a rip of merchant!

* * * *

By the way - could DSWCMICK be a mole for this firm?

[Lucrativus]

I have fallen foul of DIGITAL SATALLITE WARRANTY.
After receiving a letter through the post I signed up at the beginning of the year and explained to them that I wanted cover for my Sky HD box. For this they charged me extra. I accepted this because the service looked to be what I wanted. After signing up I got a further two application forms, even though I had already signed up.
The box broke down and I phoned them and asked for an engineer. After quite a while on their 087 phone number I was eventually given another 087 number to ring and a stupid password to give to the people there (love the 087 numbers, costs you a fortune and they always keep you hanging on with their press 1 for this 2 for that just so they can earn more money). The engineer came out and said the box would have to go away for up to three weeks and he left a Sky+ box which had seen better days and the hard drive in it is clanking so loud it is annoying. I asked where the replacement Sky HD box was and he told me that they do not carry spare HD boxes. Also Digital Sat Warranty does not employ their own engineers but sub-contract out to a third party.
When the engineer had gone I phones DSW and told them I was not happy with their company and that I thought I had been ripped off because when I originally apoke to them there was no mentions of third party engineers and I was not told that replacement Sky HD were not available. The only reply I got was that the original application form and the agreement I got back only states that I will be left a replacement box and does not specify which box I will get.
As you can see, I am not a happy chappy. I don't mind paying for service but hate to be misled about what they are actually offering. I should have been told that they did not employ their own engineers and that replacement HD boxes were not available. I would certainly have thought twice about using them.

[AndyMc1]

I wish I had seen this a few days ago. I was cold called by Digital Satellite Warranty Cover LTd and signed up. (yeah I know...) I'm just off the phone to them after asking whats covered, was assured that my Sky+ box, remote, dish etc . I'm apparently on their "Gold Option" until 12/01/2010. I'm not sure what to do now... should I be trying to cancel/informing sky or do they actually provide cover ?

Andrew

[Furry Fred]

I had a phone call from them where they addressed me by name. I do not give out our phone number and are ex-directory. The only thing is that Sky run my phone line. It must be them!

I still have no reply to me earlier e-mail to their Data Protection Department.

Will push that one - add my latest episode and tell them if no reply it will the Data Protection Commission

[juhauk]

Aaagh, I think I have been had. I received a call from a very friendly lady, who insisted that she was calling from Sky. I asked her to confirm this several times. She said Sky has decided to lower the £8.25 warranty fee to £5 and that this was only offered to some customers over the phone. I should have smelled the rat when she could not give any other details than my name. Of course Sky gives our subscriber data to other companies unless you especially opt out (there was a small notice of this in a letter attached to Sky magazine a while back).

So this lady insisted she needed my sort code and account number as they could not change an existing direct debit and would send a letter for me to sign again. Now luckily I just checked that a new direct debit had been opened to my bank to SATCOVER LTD due to start on Tuesday. I have now canceled the direct debit, I guess best to call the bank tomorrow as well.

I am furious at myself, as I had read about these things and am always wary of giving my details on the phone. But the lady insisted at least three times that she indeed worked for Sky.

Anything else that I should do, I suppose I should tell Sky that this company is now actually impersonating as Sky themselves... Anybody else had this variation of the scam?

Bit of an update... I got in touch with Consumer Direct who advised me to cancel the policy in writing. I also called the registered office in West Sussex and the gentleman that answered promised to investigate the misselling. I was advised to demand a receipt of the cancellation in writing, but of course nothing has arrived. I got the address for their office from my bank, they had had to give it to open the Direct Debit.

So the other day I get a call from 08716641400, and guess who it is again? After "security questions" the woman says she has my letter in front of her and she did not believe Satellite Direct still needed to lie to sell the policies, as they are so good. She then had the cheek to start selling their policy again and telling me how I was not covered by Sky at all, but by Domestic & General (like I did not know it) and that she could now sell the Satellite Direct policy for only £4.55 a month. I told her in no uncertain terms that I wish not to have anything to do with the company ever again, which did not go down too well. The lady at the other end got rather quite snotty and demanded to know if I really wanted to pay more for my current insurance when her offer was available. I then demanded to get the cancellation also in writing, which she told me I would not get, but that the call was being recorded. Once again I asked them to remove my details from their register, but am not believing it will happen no either.

I suppose I will have to get back to Consumer Direct now to get the cancellation letter.

I suppose they do provide the service they promise, as has been said here before, but I would not want any dealings with a dodgy lot like that.

Sky replied with a long stock email stating that they have not sold my details to that company, but implied it could have been some of their satellite subcontractors that have been also working for Satellite Direct that collects the addresses and numbers.

The main part of Sky's reply:

Firstly, I would like to confirm the circumstance in which Sky authorises disclosure of customer data in the course of providing its services. We disclose data to Sky business partners who carry out necessary installation and repair work for us, to be used for this purpose alone. These partners are bound by strict contractual terms to ensure the safe keeping and storage of that data. They are also permitted to share that data with sub-contractors, again only to enable the necessary work to be carried out, and provided adequate security measures are in place.


The company that has contacted you offering an extended service plan is in no way connected to or endorsed by Sky. Sky has not [disclosed customer data to this company nor] authorised the company to use your personal information in any way. Sky only approves one extended service plan; the Sky Repair Protection Plan offered by Domestic and General.

Sky has successfully obtained judgment for passing off (a form of mis-selling) against a number of companies including Satellite Direct Ltd and Satcover Ltd. The Judge found that these companies had made misleading statements to customers which suggested that they were Sky or were authorised by Sky. Witnesses appearing for the defendant companies stated that the customer data they used was obtained from a variety of publicly available data brokerage services. This evidence was accepted by the Judge.

Sky continues actively to investigate the source of the data used by third party extended service plan providers, working in cooperation with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Please be aware that data brokerage companies may source customer data from many sources, including warranty cards, consumer spending data and questionnaires completed by consumers.

The story goes on...

[audioslim]

The best piece of advise I can give on telephone calls of any sort like this is to start off the conversation by stating that you are talking to them on a recorded telephone system and the details may be disclosed to a third party.

That will stop them in their tracks (if they have any brains) from any dodgy practices.

Slim

[Undecided Adrian]

I am trying a new tack, when I get a selling call I just say that I am already with that company and moved over a few weeks back.

So far nobody has called me back trying a second time when I used that.

[Tricia]

Please take note of the following warning!!

A company named 'Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd' is currently targeting consumers with the following statement either by telephone or by mail.

"URGENT NOTICE - Your Sky Digital Satellite System Warranty Is Due To Expire - Call 0871 423 7974 without delay"

If you receive a letter from this company or any other company stating this or words to similar effect, either ignore it and dispose of it or forward it to your local trading standards office for them to investigate.

It's also possible they may call you prior to sending you this letter from a Merseyside telephone number 01515 475250. If you happen to receive a call from this number or any company purporting to be offering Sky Satellite System warranties decline their offer and hang up, your better off ringing Sky if you need such a warranty.

A copy of such a letter looks like this -

I too have received the letter from Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd. My phone number is ex directory but I had a call a few weeks ago asking me to do a 30 minute survey and I would receive a £10 Amazon Voucher. Did the survey but heard nothing. When I contacted SKy they said they knew nothing about it and NEVER OFFERED VOUCHERS IN RETURN FOR A SURVEY. I reckon this is where these ratbags have got my name and address. Thankfully I was suspicious and am glad to have found this forum to find out that I am not alone.

[Benny]

I used to have these people phone me . I am on the TPS register and so they should not be calling me with their cold sales . So I reported them on the online complaints page here :

TPS Registration

Complaint Consumer Registration Website

The TPS people were very helpful and the calls from the warranty sellers stopped immediately.

[skypaulusplus]

we got afew letters once and theywent straight in the bin , and the name was slightly wrong, but if i answer the calls i say she is busy butis nearly finished can you hold on for a few minutes , press mute, and leave the phone, and guess how long they will hang n for - 30mins record for loans(the admin fee ones)