Terribly betrayed and let down...

[Fiona Berry]

FAO Sky Management,
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have had a terrible ordeal regarding Sky Support , beginning 2 weeks ago was when the problem started. After contacting Sky Several times eventually getting through to the Support Centre 3 times (India) there was no resolve about booking an Engineer for callout to replace a Sky + Box make and manufacture Pace and also to check the LNB and Dish including Cable. Previously after having the Box replaced several times with refurbished Pace Boxes including LNB we were fed up with these Refurbished Boxes failing 3rd replacement ! 2 Weeks ago was the final straw that broke the camels back so to speak.

Finally after no resolve from India and 1 week later I was able to contact Sky in UK and managed to get some resolve after hours of Phone Calls they put me through to Sky Technical and a very pleasant young lady called Louise at Livingston dealt with my dilemma. She suggested I have a New Box replacement after the prior replacements had all failed and she also suggested it be the Pace and finally organised an Engineers Visit to my home.

The Engineers appeared in the afternoon on Tue the 10th this week. He came to the house with a replacement box alright but it was a Thompson and as suspected after the install and replacement of the Pace the same occurred being that a lot of the Channels where unwatchable this is down to the Satellite Receiver on the Thompson and also the Amstrad receivers and the Engineer was of the same opinion that the receivers are very poor in comparison to the Pace make I had and that many of the Installs he does in the N/East of Scotland he has the exact same issue with new Clients not being able to watch a lot of channels with these cheaper Boxes it must be true as the Thompson I have but older Model not the + does the same thing on that Dish and has all the latest Firmaware Updated and LNB is paired with the Box Correctly

Now there where instructions given to the Engineer to bring out a Pace and it was to be a New Box? He had made a note to try and replace the Box when he received a New Pace receiver and we have heard nothing back from them and to top it all off we are left with missing Channels (a lot) and also my missing Pace Spare Box that the donut lifted instead of the Pace that was faulty he managed to mix up the 2 Boxes the Pace Spare my 2nd Backup Box which was in use when he swapped it out with the Thompson.

To make matters worse the chaps that had done the Job had taken my Spare Pace away that was used for backup and left me with the old Pace that was replaced now they have my good Pace Box and we are left with the New Thompson which half the channels are not viewable also we could not watch the recordings made on the Thompson as get this... they did not do an update of Software and pare the LNB up to the New Box. After spending 2 more day’s trying to get this resolved again no joy from Indian Call Centres and always the same telling me they would contact me within 24 hours to give me the Engineers callout time and date because quote

“Our systems have not updated yet and we don’t have the details.”

Finally they said we will call you back within 24hrs we were still waiting 24hrs later!

I finally get through to Newcastle Call Centre for Sky last night after several connects with India and redialling and they passed the message onto Sky Technical Dept in Livingstone and tell me that I will get a call from Louise from Livingstone Ext No 74640 I am still waiting for that call and it does not look good?

It never happened again Sky had told me that they would contact me and after eventually talking to a Manager from Livingston he told me
“We cannot make external Calls anymore.”

Who is lying here? Is it the Engineers and Technical Dept or India or can they make Phone Calls to clients externally? I think we shall never be told the truth here though it is very strange that they can Contact any Engineer on their Mobile and also contact other Contract Companies in the same way

So we finally get resolve from Livingstone again talking to another Manager was the only way to get this sorted out correctly bearing in mind that every time we contacted a Sky Call Centre they are charging 4p a Min and we have in total spent almost £14 in telephone calls over almost a 3 week Period now + 6 hours. The same process all the time you contact there Sky Centres your fed advertising and other Sky crap for on average 2 mins before your finally through to the correct dept that’s assuming they are not busy like some days 10 minutes plus on hold ok so this chap gets us another callout from an Engineer for Saturday 14th March and promises me that they will correct it this time and that the last visit was a shambles and that the Engineers from VNC had made some terrible errors and not conducted a proper install and left us with basically half a package and a missing Pace Box that quote “May have been sent back to manufacturer by now.” The Manager along with various other Tech had contacted these Rouge Engineers several times and asked them to replace the Pace that when by mistake and promised me that we would get a nice compinsation on our billing for the trouble and also the none services we have not been receiving.

Ok so the Engineer turns up finally on Saturday yesterday he called Prior on the Friday Evening about 8.45pm and enquired to if I would be in on the Saturday yes I replied he then said I understand it is to replace your Thompson with a Pace Box is that correct? I replied yes that is correct and to also bring my Spare Box back that your engineers had taken and collect the Pace that was faulty that they should have taken in the 1st Instance oh I don’t know anything about that he replied!

I then enquired and asked the chap if he would contact his Boss as he was aware that he was to either return my Pace or if it had been sent off to replace it with a New Pace after a bit of gentle persuasion he said yes and I sahll call you tomorrow AM and let you know about that (it never ahppened.)

Well he turns up at the door finally on Saturday PM at 7.30 and in the middle of our dinner almost pitch black as well. He comes in with a New Pace and replaces the Thompson now I can see almost all the Channels apart from a few I suggested a problem perhaps with the LNB, Dish or Cable? Perhaps was his reply and he goes to the van for an LNB he then replaces the LNB on the dish without switching of the receiver asking for trouble if he shorts the Centre Core of the Cable to the ground on the LNB and also destroys the power supply for the LNB along with the receiver?

He then comes back in checks the signals with the new LNB and well what do you know they are less than 50% dropped from 95% he scratches his head and looks at me puzzled?

I said to him well does that not suggest that the New LNB is faulty if you ahd simply replaced the LNB and not moved the position of the Dish?

He replies I don’t know we have a few problems with these Quad LNBs recently on New Installs!

Ok by now am almost irate and livid

he said I shall try adjust the Dish he adjusts and no joy all channels missing. He then replaces the LNB with the old and well what do you know some channels are back and he has to go and adjust the Dish again.

This time he returns and says well after all this I guess it could be the cable but it is too late and Dark to install New Cable or other I shall have to come back I shall call you tomorrow oh and about your Pace I can’t give you a Pace after phoning my Boss he said he told me to give him the Thompson you swapped out just now for the Pace this is damn right insulting and almost in my mind theft.

They had taken my 2nd backup box which was a 4 month old Pace that I had bought costing almost £160 and replaced it with a Crap Thompson I said please can I talk to your Boss on the phone he tried to contact him and said I’m sorry he has switched his mobile off. It is now tomorrow and no call almost 2PM? I am about to Call Sky again another waste of time and Money and hope that they will get another Engineer to come out and sort the Signal for all channels and to also give me a Proper replacement Pace.

I keep getting told what seems to be in my opinion lies from various employees at Sky Call Centres I have to completely waste hours reiterating over what they already have on their Systems. I feel badly let down and betrayed totally by the Company that is supposed to care about their customers with the whole damned affair and am almost ready to give up.

To summarise almost 3 weeks of no Sky TV of which we are paying for? Many days spent on the Telephone total in Call Costs

(My phone has a call cost counter on telephone almost £14.)

Absolutely terrible support from Indian Call Centre compounded the whole issue then when finally I thought resolved the Sky Engineer screws it all up by leaving us with a 3rd rate Satellite receiver Thompson Model and a lot of the channels unwatchable he also takes away my good Spare 2nd Satellite receiver instead of the Pace he replaced with a 3rd rate Thompson?

Now left in limbo and no word or contact from Support in Livingstone? What are Sky going to do about this please we feel very badly let down not to mention the TV Shows that have been lost after digital recordings where on the hard drive of the Pace and all been lost, the digital recordings also on the new Box cannot be viewed after recorded I think Sky has let us down very badly as customers in every way possible. It has lost me money having to take a day of work for the callout and then being left with a cheap and nasty receiver that cannot get many of the channels and spending almost 6 or more hours on the telephone with Indian Call centres messing everything up and now all this what are you going to do about it please? Paying for something we can't receive in full pardon the Pun.

I also feel much betrayed as I have family that work with Sky in Pitreavie and Sky lost its entire image now as far as I am concerned the Blogs and information posted on the Internet of which I thought where over exaggerated must be true after all.

Please do something about this we also pay in advance and are current until April. If I get no further with this email then I shall have no option but to contact Trading Standards office and BBC Consumer Watchdog and the Satellite and TV Watchdog.

[Smithy99]

Well that took a while to read

You do realise this website is not Sky don't you? I just want to make sure that you don't think anyone on here can sort this out for you.

You should ring the customer relations number, they deal with these type of things and are much better placed to get them sorted, you should be able to find the number by searching ths forum.

Can you tell me what size of dish and how old it is, this is something that is often overlooked by Sky installers, they can be very slightly out of shape and it can have a huge impact on the picture and channels received, you would be best insisting that the dish was replaced for a 60cm one to ensure a good signal strength.

I had a Thompson Sky+ receiver for years without problems and it is currently fitted in my parents as I have upgraded to HD, the only thing I did with it was to fit another hard drive as the okd one was starting to fail, to be honest, there all as good as each other, some people prefer the Pace and other's don't.

Ring customer relations, push for another call, replacement box and some compensation, also insist that this time the Dish and cable are also replaced, and make sure it is a 60cm or Zone 2 dish.

[dms05]

Smithy99 has given you the best advice you are likely to get. Hope you get it sorted out.

[Isitme]

You should address your letter to -

Customer Relations Department
Sky Subscriber Services Limited
PO Box 43
Livingston
West Lothian
EH54 7DD

It would also be advisable to send it by registered post so they cannot deny receipt.

As mentioned this forum has nothing to do with Sky Management, it is an unofficial forum for Sky users who are having problems or want to pass on information and can do nothing about complaints such as yours.

[Fiona Berry]

Thank you for the reply and the address to send a copy of this Complaint.
Just not long of the Phone to a Call Centre in Ireland the lass was very apologetic and seemed to have a lot of concern about what has happened it is the 1st decent Support I have really had and someone from Management has listened exactly to the whole fiasco that has occurred. On finishing the telephone call with the Manageress in Ireland she assured me that this would be rectified with the New Job for an Engineers Visit booked for Tuesday this week from 12-5 PM and that she had given instructions to replace the Thompson that they gave as a direct replacement for our Pace Box will keep my fingers crossed that this shall be resolved on next visit. Regarding the Channels not being all there and lockups and stuttering she said that shall be addressed as well in the notes to the Engineer Call and not to let them go before it is resolved. I can only but wait and hope this will be the case?

After about 1 hour on the phone to the Manageress she then asked me if I had been offered any form of Compensation for the time that our Package was not complete and also for the amount of time spent on the telephone and the cost involved. I replied simply no she then asked me to hold onto the line she was going to put me through to Customer Accounts and Billing and would tell them about the scenario and to hold on for a few minutes before being put through... I was almost instantly transferred to the above dept but knew there was no way she could have told them in a few seconds what had happened! I guessed correctly of course and had then to be further infuriated with explaining briefly the whole scenario again (I felt like dropping everything.)

Billing told me that that was not possible until the Engineer had called and to then further contact them and that they would compensate from the time of the 1st instance the Support was opened of which they said the 11th of March as far as our records show which is an utter lie and they have records on the system prior to this date that have been confirmed and gone over by other staff at Call Centres with prior contact she then said about your complaint about Tel Cost running close to £15 now you would have to submit a Telephone Bill and letter to Billing officially to appeal and get any compensation.

Ok that’s it am all done in and have almost given up completely now and no more faith or trust what so ever in Sky. I shall submit this complete to the Address you kindly gave me and take it from there is I have the strength left. A word of warning to all if you are treated in the same fashion or manor please do not hesitate to make all aware of it and post your problems with these people and perhaps Sky will eventually do something about it? Otherwise I see it as the demise and erosion of what used to be a wonderful company that really did take care of all their customers in a very professional manner (sign of the times.)

[Smithy99]

To be fair to Sky, for their 1000 000's of customers there are not that many problems like yours.

Although it does seem Sky or their agents have messed up this time and more than once, I am sure if you try to keep your calm and deal with the customer relations people they will eventually get it sorted.

One thing though, you know what you need to sort this, Sky don't know what will appease you, make sure that you tell them and keep telling them what you want/need.

First, you need a new working receiver
Second, you need a new Zone 2 dish (not a little one, you are to far north)
Third, you need a new quad LNB
Fourth, you need new cables to be ran
Fifth, you need compensating for you downtime, money to cover the costs and a gesture to keep you business, only you know what that is worth.

Put this in the letter, the most important is the receiver and dish, I would bet money the problem with missing channels etc has been down to this all along.

[UseLess]

Sixth, A replacement backup box....

[Amaboknaai]

Fiona

Do you realise that this site is not connected to Sky in any way and is independently run?

Good luck with your endeavours with Sky to get your issues resolved and please report back...

[Sam Radford]

There's an awful lot of mistakes in that letter. You should really get someone to proof-read stuff before posting it.
This might help: How to complain

.

[Fiona Berry]

Hi and thank you all for your good advice.
Quote
Smithy99
Re: Terribly betrayed and let down...
________________________________________
Well that took a while to read

you do realise this website is not Sky don't you?

“Thank you for registering at the Sky User - The unofficial support forum
For everything Sky!”

I think I fully understand that thank you Smithy99.

This is more a Rant than anything else and I am fully aware about the content of which should be submitted to Sky thank you for your suggestions.

The Letter was sent and has been received by Sky to the address that was kindly submitted in the thread.

I think it is like I said important that everybody has the right to rant about their good or bad experiences that is why I posted here it is not the same word content that has been submitted to Sky!

Someone said though Sky have Hundreds of Thousands of Customers he did not think there where many examples of my scenario! I would like to correct the gentleman that thought that. I have a daughter that works with Sky Pitreavie in Dunfermline they have on a daily basis thousands of big issues regarding similar examples... (Sorry to disappoint you.) And Sky has over 10 Million Customers now since HD was reduced and there BB Services were deployed.

I won’t reply any more to the thread it was like I said a Rant and to really let people know in detail the terrible ordeal that they may face with Sky.

Sky has also started to Outsource their Call Centre Work to India and started charging Customers 4p per minute for support along with other cut backs that affect everyone connected with the Company Sky Contractors’ IE Engineers are also being stung there Employers that have the contract work for installs etc are paying them lousy money now and they do not get paid per job anymore. It is the demise of once a truly great Company and most of their UK Employees are all wondering about their Job Security it is quite obviously heading down the slippery slopes the same way all other Large Corporate Companies in the UK have gone.