problems with sky

helsbels1982

hi
i have had sky + now for over 1 year and therefore my contract is over but also out of warrenty if anything goes wrong and i didnt take the insurance as i cant afford it

whilst i was still in contract i was having loads of problems with the picture freezing whilst watching a programme wether it was a recorded programme or a live paused programme or just the standard programme (hope that makes sense). but it is doing it again but worse. the last time i got them to come out and fix it as it didnt cost me a thing with being in contract/warrenty. the engineer ended up giving me a new box.

its happening again but know its worse. ill be watching a programme that im watching using the live pause part of sky + and then the picture will freeze and then it will stop and go back to the normal part of the programme (i.e. were the programme is up to if i hadnt live paused it) but when i try to rewind it to were i was it wont allow me even though i have not switched channels or touched it at all. so i miss most of the programme (i know its sad that im annoyed and pee'd of that ive missed a tv programme :rotfl:)

also when im watching a programme i have recorded, when i have fast forwarded it to say the start of the proggramme it will be fine whilst watching and then when i go to fast forward through the break with the adverts it shoots back to the begining of the programme. although this isnt to much of a problem as im not actually missing any of the programme it is still so annoying.

any ideas on what and how i can fix it. i know i can ring sky but because i am outof contract and out of warrenty it will cost me to get an engineer out and i cannot afford that at all. i also know that i could threaten to cancel unless they fix it for nothing but im worried incase they just cancel it (because of the credit crunch etc).

aint it sad how life roles around the tv lol:rotfl:

i am just so annoyed at paying nearly £25 a month for a tv system that aint working properly!! its like throwing money down the drain!!

any help or suggestions would be grately appreicaited

thanx xxx

KeithP

helsbels1982 wrote: »

<snip>
any ideas on what and how i can fix it. i know i can ring sky but because i am outof contract and out of warrenty it will cost me to get an engineer out and i cannot afford that at all. i also know that i could threaten to cancel unless they fix it for nothing but im worried incase they just cancel it (because of the credit crunch etc).

I think they charge £65 to fix anything. If it needs a new box, dish, cabling, still that fixed charge. As you say you could threaten to cancel, but there is a small risk.

helsbels1982 wrote: »

i am just so annoyed at paying nearly £25 a month for a tv system that aint working properly!! its like throwing money down the drain!!

Well stop paying for something that doesn't work.
Phone up Sky and tell them you no longer want the recording facility as it doesn't work. If they accept that, that will save you £10 per month... or £120 per year!! I bet they will offer to send an engineer for £65. Refuse that and most likely they will send an engineer for free. The worst that can happen is that you save £120 per year but lose the recording facility - which doesn't work properly anyway. But the most probable outcome is that they will send an engineer to fix it for nothing, just so that they can continue to get that £10 per month from you.

Forris

Hi, have a look at this thread on Digitalspy;

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=455211&highlight=playback+skipping

If this doesn't work, try posting your problem on their site.

vinr

my sky+ box freezes now and again and when run forward at full pelt it has returned to the start of that particular recording. Ok its a pain but not as bad maybe as yours. I presume you paid for the recording box like me so what you pay to Sky is for the programmes/broadband and /or telephone sevice? so if my box breaks done completely I'll wait till I can afford to buy a new one rather than shelling out for very expensive repair.

javkhanuk

i would consider getting an engineer out to have a look i persoanly think it requires re alignment or worst case scenario a new lnb

jackieb

Try unplugging it from the wall and leaving it off for a while. Now and again when something happens to my Sky HD box I do this and it's always worked again. My 12 month warranty is up now but I had 3 boxes in the first 6 months - that was okay as long as I didn't have to pay for it! Try leaving it unplugged overnight.

Leopard

jackieb wrote: »

Try unplugging it from the wall and leaving it off for a while. Now and again when something happens to my Sky HD box I do this and it's always worked again. My 12 month warranty is up now but I had 3 boxes in the first 6 months - that was okay as long as I didn't have to pay for it! Try leaving it unplugged overnight.

Hardly ideal if you'd wanted to record something overnight. :mad:

Still, you can always call Sky and let them charge you money to complain about their own deficiency of product and service.

jackieb

Leopard wrote: »

Hardly ideal if you'd wanted to record something overnight. :mad:

Still, you can always call Sky and let them charge you money to complain about their own deficiency of product and service.

Well it would only be for one night, and if it's not working anyway..!

Avoriaz

The symptoms you describe are usually, though not always, disk related.

My advice is to buy a new disk. You can get them quite cheaply on ebay. £40 to £50 new and a lot less second hand.

Download Copy+ from the site below.

Use Copy+ to copy the contents from the suspect disk onto the new disk. Put the new disk in the machine and see how it goes.

You can check the suspect disk in a PC.

A new disk cures most boxes with you symptoms.

If that doesn’t solve the problem you haven’t lost much. You could find another use for the disk or resell it on ebay.

Check out the digital spy site too, especially for advice on removing and refitting disks and the best types of disks to buy.

http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/

davep

I agree with KeithP, our Sky+ box failed out of warranty (we had 2 replacement boxes inside warranty already!!!) and I rang up and they said to send out an engineer would be £65 the guy I spoke to refused to do it for free. I said right I want to cancel and he transfered me to another department who I then repeated the problem to and told them I wanted to cancel becuase it does not work and they said no problem and sent an engineer out within 2 days to replace the box for free. Hope this one lasts longer :-)
Stick to your guns no matter what they tell you on the phone, Sky don't like losing customers!

fox2319

I second what davep says.

We had a box fail out of warranty, phoned Sky up and got the usual callout fee, no exceptions speil. So I asked to be put through to cancellations and someone came out next day. It's in their interest to keep you as a customer, if they refuse then just get freeview instead - it's actually pretty good. They'll then wriote to you in 2 or 3 months with some amazing offer involving a new box and reduced rental.