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-   -   Sky+ first year's warranty nearly up (http://www.homecinemabanter.com/showthread.php?t=21046)

CJ November 10th 03 06:58 PM

Sky+ first year's warranty nearly up
 
Hi,

where do you get the £65 from for a replacement? If it's out of warranty then there will
be a call out charge first and then the cost of repair.
I have kept up the extended warranty on my standard Sky Box just because @£7 per month for
10 months I didn't really miss it. It paid for itself this year as I split the cable from
the dish and it needed to be replaced. Remember the extended warranty will cover cabling,
the dish, the remote, and all the boxes.

I've just checked on Sky.com and for Sky+ it's £99 or £9.90 for 10 months.

See http://www.sky.com/skycom/article/0,...078852,00.html


CJ


"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi

I've had Sky+ since last January, and it's been brilliant apart from going wrong
a few times and needing to be replaced.

Due to the unreliability, what do you folks think are the best options:-

a) Pay £65 each time it goes wrong after Jan for a Sky engineer to come out
and replace it
b) Pay for a year's extended warranty from Sky (do they do this? How much
is it?)
c) Replace the hard disk next time it goes wrong with a bigger one and hope it
will be more reliable?
d) Sue them as per Which? Magazine under the Supply of Goods and
Services Act when it goes wromg?
e) Any other option I haven't thought of?

Thanks

Martin




Ben November 10th 03 07:56 PM

One insurance company do a £10 per month (may vary depending on how many
adults live in the house and how many bedrooms there are) cover that covers
all electrical good in your house. You don't even have to tell them what
electrical items you've got so if you buy a new TV, Video, Sky+ box they're
all automatically covered. Can't remember which insurance comapny it is but
it could be worth doing a quick look on the net!

Ben


"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi

I've had Sky+ since last January, and it's been brilliant apart from going

wrong
a few times and needing to be replaced.

Due to the unreliability, what do you folks think are the best options:-

a) Pay £65 each time it goes wrong after Jan for a Sky engineer to come

out
and replace it
b) Pay for a year's extended warranty from Sky (do they do this? How much
is it?)
c) Replace the hard disk next time it goes wrong with a bigger one and

hope it
will be more reliable?
d) Sue them as per Which? Magazine under the Supply of Goods and
Services Act when it goes wromg?
e) Any other option I haven't thought of?

Thanks

Martin




Ferger November 11th 03 12:07 AM

In article , Ben wrote:
One insurance company do a £10 per month (may vary depending on how many
adults live in the house and how many bedrooms there are) cover that covers
all electrical good in your house. You don't even have to tell them what
electrical items you've got so if you buy a new TV, Video, Sky+ box they're
all automatically covered. Can't remember which insurance comapny it is but
it could be worth doing a quick look on the net!


Norwich Union. It is a really good deal if you have a house full of lecky
goods. And demonstrates what a *really* *bad* *deal* extended warranties
are...

--

F


CJ November 11th 03 08:21 AM

Hi Paul,

does that £65 cover the dish, and the cabling?

CJ


"paul" wrote in message ...

"CJ" wrote in message
...
Hi,

where do you get the £65 from for a replacement? If it's out of warranty

then there will
be a call out charge first and then the cost of repair.


It's £65 for SKY to come out and 'get your sky working'. This includes
replacement parts and call out. My digibox blew up last month (I don't pay
for extented warranty), paid them £65, and they came out and replaced my
digibox.







Jomtien November 11th 03 08:23 AM

Martin wrote:

I've had Sky+ since last January, and it's been brilliant apart from going wrong
a few times and needing to be replaced.


Hmm. Sounds like a bargain.


a) Pay £65 each time it goes wrong after Jan for a Sky engineer to come out
and replace it


Nuts to that.


b) Pay for a year's extended warranty from Sky (do they do this? How much
is it?)


Nuts to that.


c) Replace the hard disk next time it goes wrong with a bigger one and hope it
will be more reliable?


If you like, and always supposing that the drive is the source of the
problems.


d) Sue them ... under the Supply of Goods and
Services Act when it goes wromg?


Bingo.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Jomtien November 11th 03 08:23 AM

paul wrote:

It's £65 for SKY to come out and 'get your sky working'. This includes
replacement parts and call out. My digibox blew up last month (I don't pay
for extented warranty), paid them £65, and they came out and replaced my
digibox.


It's £65 for a call-out. This normally includes anything necessary to
get it all working but Sky make no real promises about this. They
could charge £65 plus the full cost of all new parts.

Given that Sky+ units will *always* fail after a few years due to the
nature of the beast, I suspect that at some point Sky will start
charging extra for the servicing of these units, if indeed they don't
charge extra for them at the moment.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Jomtien November 11th 03 08:24 AM

Ben wrote:

You don't even have to tell them what
electrical items you've got so if you buy a new TV, Video, Sky+ box they're
all automatically covered.


I suspect that PVRs will soon be excluded on the grounds of normal
wear. Hard drives will wear out after a few months/years, just like
toner cartridges or VHS tapes. Your insurance won't cover those
either.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

CJ November 11th 03 08:30 AM

Hi again Paul,

what does the £65 cover? Could you please give me a web page link as I can't find it. I
may cancel my extended warranty now......


CJ


"paul" wrote in message ...

"CJ" wrote in message
...
Hi,

where do you get the £65 from for a replacement? If it's out of warranty

then there will
be a call out charge first and then the cost of repair.


It's £65 for SKY to come out and 'get your sky working'. This includes
replacement parts and call out. My digibox blew up last month (I don't pay
for extented warranty), paid them £65, and they came out and replaced my
digibox.







www.kernow-telecom.co.uk November 11th 03 08:31 AM

"Jomtien" wrote in message
...

Given that Sky+ units will *always* fail after a few years due to the
nature of the beast, I suspect that at some point Sky will start
charging extra for the servicing of these units, if indeed they don't
charge extra for them at the moment.


Got my Sky+ replaced last week for £65........plus they re-aligned my dish a
put a better quad LNB on there for nowt extra!

Nice one :)

Simon

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best mobile deals around! Cheap international calls
(India only 10p/min on 0871 570 8216), ADSL from only
£19.99! Cheap O2 sims & more - www.kernow-telecom.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------



Nigel Barker November 11th 03 10:12 AM

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 07:24:05 GMT, Jomtien wrote:

Ben wrote:

You don't even have to tell them what
electrical items you've got so if you buy a new TV, Video, Sky+ box they're
all automatically covered.


I suspect that PVRs will soon be excluded on the grounds of normal
wear. Hard drives will wear out after a few months/years, just like
toner cartridges or VHS tapes. Your insurance won't cover those
either.


The Mean Time Between Failures of hard disk drives is in the order of 100 years.
Why would you expect it to fail after months? On average for every one that
fails after months there must be another one that far exceeds the average MTBF.

--
Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur

Stephen Neal November 11th 03 12:05 PM

Nigel Barker wrote:
On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 07:24:05 GMT, Jomtien wrote:

Ben wrote:

You don't even have to tell them what
electrical items you've got so if you buy a new TV, Video, Sky+ box
they're all automatically covered.


I suspect that PVRs will soon be excluded on the grounds of normal
wear. Hard drives will wear out after a few months/years, just like
toner cartridges or VHS tapes. Your insurance won't cover those
either.


The Mean Time Between Failures of hard disk drives is in the order of
100 years. Why would you expect it to fail after months? On average
for every one that fails after months there must be another one that
far exceeds the average MTBF.


There are a number of reports of Tivo and Sky+ hard drives failing - I think
this is because the discs are running continuously (and in the case of Tivo
recording continuously) Certainly Tivo upgraders are favouring hard drives
with 3 year rather than 1 year warranties - with Hitachi/IBM drives being
the least popular for reliability.

Are the MTBF figures for "average" usage patterns or for continuous
operation?

Steve



Ant November 11th 03 02:37 PM

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 11:05:51 -0000, "Stephen Neal"
wrote:

There are a number of reports of Tivo and Sky+ hard drives failing


That's because they're made by Maxtor. :-)

I think
this is because the discs are running continuously (and in the case of Tivo
recording continuously)


I don't think so - hard discs run for years and years in computers,
there's no reason why PVRs should be any different.


Mark Carver November 11th 03 04:18 PM

Ant wrote:
On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 11:05:51 -0000, "Stephen Neal"
wrote:

There are a number of reports of Tivo and Sky+ hard drives failing


That's because they're made by Maxtor. :-)

I think
this is because the discs are running continuously (and in the case
of Tivo recording continuously)


I don't think so - hard discs run for years and years in computers,
there's no reason why PVRs should be any different.


Except in a typical domestic environment they could get knocked.
Vacuum cleaners bashing into them, or smacked when non technically
inclined household personnel ( :-) ) are fiddling about under the TV.
Allowed to overheat etc. Though much the same could be applied to
home PCs.

All in all a harsher environment than an HDD in a server, in a rack, in
a nice air conditioned equipment room. Umm, maybe I should build
myself one at home.






paul November 11th 03 06:50 PM

"CJ" wrote in message
...
Hi again Paul,

what does the £65 cover? Could you please give me a web page link as I

can't find it. I
may cancel my extended warranty now......


I don't know what it covers, all I did was call sky, we went through all the
tests, and they confirmed it looked like the digibox would need replacing,
they then checked my account and said I am not under maintenance, and that
it would cost £65 to fix the problem. I said "so the total to get my sky
running again will be £65?" she said yes, and billed me for £65 on the phone
(before the engineer had even been booked ...).

Since the replacement box comes with 3 months warrantly, i think the sky
maintence cover is a waste of money, fingers crossed tho ..



Jomtien November 12th 03 09:58 AM

Nigel Barker wrote:

The Mean Time Between Failures of hard disk drives is in the order of 100 years.
Why would you expect it to fail after months?


Lies, damned lies, statistics and hard drives. :-)

I fully expect any hard drive in any PVR to die within a few years. To
imagine otherwise would be a simple delusion. Motors running 24/24 at
that speed and that temperature just can't last.
Many don't even get past the first year and this is why there is a
general trend to reducing drive warranties to 12 months from 36.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Jomtien November 12th 03 09:58 AM

paul wrote:

Since the replacement box comes with 3 months warrantly


You can ignore this. It must be fit for the purpose and of
merchantable quality, with no specific time limits.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

QrizB November 12th 03 07:01 PM

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 17:36:39 -0000, "paul" wrote:

Since the replacement box comes with 3 months warrantly


You can ignore this. It must be fit for the purpose and of
merchantable quality, with no specific time limits.


But won't sky just say tough if it breaks down, say, on the 5th month?


They might say it, but that doesn't stop them being liable. You can
take them to court, as others have successfully:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...threadid=90921


--
QrizB

I sound like I know what I'm talking about, but don't
be fooled.

Jomtien November 13th 03 09:17 AM

paul wrote:

Since the replacement box comes with 3 months warrantly


You can ignore this. It must be fit for the purpose and of
merchantable quality, with no specific time limits.


But won't sky just say tough if it breaks down, say, on the 5th month?


Then you pursue them in court. That's what courts are for. The "small
claims" procedure is designed for this.

Many shoddy companies rely on the fact that most people won't pursue a
claim, even if it is very sound. Sky is one such company.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

R W November 13th 03 09:45 AM

paul wrote:
Since the replacement box comes with 3 months warrantly


You can ignore this. It must be fit for the purpose and of
merchantable quality, with no specific time limits.


But won't sky just say tough if it breaks down, say, on the 5th month?


If they do they are breaking the law and it would be worth threatening
to sue them.



At

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/c...V0054-1111.txt

They give an example....

Q. I bought a fridge/freezer about 18 months ago, and the freezer
section has completely failed. I went back to the shop, but they refused
to do anything as it was outside the original 12 month guarantee. What
are my rights?
A. Firstly, when you buy goods from a shop, you enter into a contract
under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended). This holds the shop
liable for up to six years after purchase (Limitation Act 1980),
providing that you can show that the problem is down to an unreasonable
fault and not normal wear and tear. Secondly, remember that the
guarantee is in addition to these statutory legal rights. Don't be taken
in by the shop's argument here - they are using the issue of the
guarantee as a red herring to try to avoid their legal obligations
toward you. See our leaflet 'Buying Goods' for more information on your
rights.

You would be in a similar situation. If you bought your sky or sky+ box
from sky themselves, then they are regarded as the "shop" here.




Keith Porter November 13th 03 07:55 PM

In message
Jomtien wrote:

paul wrote:

Since the replacement box comes with 3 months warrantly

You can ignore this. It must be fit for the purpose and of
merchantable quality, with no specific time limits.


But won't sky just say tough if it breaks down, say, on the 5th month?


Then you pursue them in court. That's what courts are for. The "small
claims" procedure is designed for this.

But before you go to court, contact Trading Standards. They were very
helpful when I had a problem with my Sky+ modem just out of the 12
months warranty. They pursued Sky for me and got the repair paid for
along with some rebate on my subscription for the trouble caused.

--
Keith Porter

Jomtien November 15th 03 09:37 AM

Keith Porter wrote:

Then you pursue them in court. That's what courts are for. The "small
claims" procedure is designed for this.

But before you go to court, contact Trading Standards. They were very
helpful when I had a problem with my Sky+ modem just out of the 12
months warranty. They pursued Sky for me and got the repair paid for
along with some rebate on my subscription for the trouble caused.


Indeed, though the threat of going to court will usually have the same
effect. You rarely actually have to go to court.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)


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