Digital TV Cost Cutting Article - Discuss What You've Been Offered

sexyvampire

Is it worth takin out insurance on sky+?
years warrenty is up and have been inundated with different offers for sky+ ranging between £5 per week to £10pw
in the first year had different probs with sky and did have to get some1 out to have a look, ( couldnt get signal on itv) they changed the box and itv still dosnt work!
But anyway do any of you have the insurance and if so what one and is it worth it?
Cheers

amandajim36

i had the insurance for a year never used it then sky box broke bout 6 months after when i phoned up about it they wanted to charge for someone to come out to fix it. i said no way was i paying when i pay near £50 a month for my package just cancel it. straight away they offered someone out to fix it for free. they dont want u to cancel so i would never get the insurance again

BexTech

No, insurance on products isn't usually worth it.

The official Sky insurance is from Domestic & General, others offering it just randomly call people / write to people hoping they hit someone with a Sky box, or some walk around areas looking for dishes.

It's best to put the money these insurance firms are asking away each week / month into an high interest account, just in case you do need to get a repair and for some strange reason telling Sky to cancel the lot doesn't get you a free call out.

Middle_Sister

We cancelled Sky in November. We took the £1 for 2 months Setanta trial which I cancelled within the timescale. During this time we have been able to use the Sky controls and select from the Sky menu i.e all channels, entertainment, news, films, etc. However this weekend the satellite said "No signal being received". We did the usual turn off & turn on again procedure and now all it says is "searching for listings". My husband says its because our trial with Setanta has run out. Now we cant even get Film4 or FiveUS. Would I get these channels back if I bought a freeview box? Any advice?

BexTech

lesleyfb wrote: »

We cancelled Sky in November. We took the £1 for 2 months Setanta trial which I cancelled within the timescale. During this time we have been able to use the Sky controls and select from the Sky menu i.e all channels, entertainment, news, films, etc. However this weekend the satellite said "No signal being received". We did the usual turn off & turn on again procedure and now all it says is "searching for listings". My husband says its because our trial with Setanta has run out. Now we cant even get Film4 or FiveUS. Would I get these channels back if I bought a freeview box? Any advice?

Note: Freeview and Freesat are two separate services.

I'm not sure with your post whether you realise this as you mention cancelling Sky.

If you do understand that Freeview is the service using an aerial then yes you will get Film4 and Five US.

The satellite "No Signal Being Received" is just simply coincidental with you no longer subscribing to Setanta. You should still be receiving the 200 or so FREE TV & Radio channels (eg BBC, ITV, Film4, True Movies, Zone Channels etc)- As the majority of these are Free To Air there isn't a way for Sky to block them, the other few Free To View channels (Ch4, Ch4+1, Five, Five US, Five Life & Sky Three) just require the viewing card to remain in the box - when you cancel your Sky subscription your viewing card turns into a Free To View card (FTV Card aka FreeSatFromSky card) The viewing card is just needed for the FTV channels, you can watch the FTA channels without the card as they aren't encrypted.

It sounds that either the box or the LNB (on the end of the arm on the dish) has developed a fault (rain could have got in to the LNB with all the rain we've had of late) or the dish could have moved off alignment with the satellites the broadcasters use (SES Astra 2 @ 28.2e and Eutelsat Eurobird at 28.5e). It wouldn't be because of cancelling a subscription as you'd still receive all the free channels just as you receive the free channels when you had a subscription as your subscription wasn't for the free channels.

Middle_Sister

Thanks very much. That's the husband up the ladder then!

uskgirl

We're looking to cancel sky to save some money and most of the stuff we watch should be available via freesat. When I phoned sky yesterday to say we were thinking of cancelling they said they needed 30 days notice. Is this stadard as I can't find my original contract. we've been with them for about 10 years

Groovytigger

Hi You can cancel Sky but they switch it off 30 days later. I recently cancelled them just after my direct debit had gone out therefore the most of that 30 days were paid for so my final bill amount was £6 xx HTH

in_debt_again_but_dealing_with_it

Sky have ripped me off!!! Surprise, surprise, not!!! To cut a long story short after deciding to switch to them for phone and broadband I battled last Tuesday to get a decent price after a long day and many phone calls I threatened to cancel and was finally offered the whole lot - Sky +, multi room, home phone and broadband (no £30 activation fee) for £49. After 45 mins on the phone to a lovely man he couldn't find the £49 offer - however spoke to his supervisor and it was agreed they would debit card for £99 and just refund the £50 - call me gullible - they promised it would happen and they'd already done it that way that day for a number of customers!! I was late for a meeting and said okay - guess what - card debited for £99 and NO £50 refund. Wish me luck as I call them today to do battle!!!

PS: Sky+ installed Saturday - installation experience excellent - no complaints there!!

Middle_Sister

What can you do if you suspect the LNB has been damaged by rain/wind. Do I need to get a replacement dish so I can receive the free channels? Or should I buy a freeview box with a new digital aerial? Any views?