Got Sky+ HD? Check if your box is faulty, and being recalled

Former_MSE_Lawrence

What's this about?

A manufacturing fault in some early batches of Pace's Sky+ HD boxes has led Sky to recall & replace them. If yours is affected Sky ought to get in touch within the next 3 months to replace it, and give you a 3-month HD subscription worth £29.25 for your trouble.

How to check if your box is a bad egg.

You needn't even leave your chair to find out if your box is on the recall list. Just press the 'Services' button on your remote control, then select 'System Set Up' followed by 'System Details' to find your model number. Those affected are:

Pace 9F3001
Pace 9F3002
Pace 9F3003
Pace 9F3004

As noted above, if you've got one of these Sky will be in touch in due course, but of course there's nothing to stop you calling first.

Also, the Sky site mentions that customers who want a specific brand of replacement box (the consensus holds that Samsung, Amstrad and then Pace boxes are best, and Thomson are worst), can request it. While there's no guarantees, it'll do its best to supply them. All replacements will come with a fresh 12-month guarantee.

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jackthenipper

The actual boxes that are being recalled are Pace boxes so they can't be that good, rumour has it that they need to recall around 100,000 Pace HD boxes due to a bad batch. No garauntee that the box you will get as a replacement will be any better.

oxters

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7894000/7894752.stm
for the story

deanos

Replacement boxes are refurbs and could be years old, Ive got no problems with my Pace and upgraded to a 1tb hard disk, they couldn't guarantee i wouldn't get a Thomson box so i declined there offer at the moment

cumbrialink

how did you upgrade to a 1tb i would like to do that
i have a brand new thompson box

Mark:j

deanos

cumbrialink wrote: »

how did you upgrade to a 1tb i would like to do that
i have a brand new thompson box

Mark:j

http://www.morlocks.co.uk/disc-change-hd.htm

jono_3-2_2

Be careful that you don't get palmed off with a refurbished Thompson box.
The Pace and Samsung boxes are recognised as being the best for features and quality. (Check out the forums on AVForum.com).
There is apparently nothing wrong with the Pace boxes other than a QC issue with these batches. Problem is that Sky cannot guarantee an Pace box as a replacement. So you are in effect being given a refurbished inferior box. (Thompson lost the contract with Sky due to the poor quality of their boxes).
The 3 months free subs is just the sweetener to get people to agree to the swap.

daywalker

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

As noted above, if you've got one of these Sky will be in touch in due course, but of course there's nothing to stop you calling first.


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I called them, very unhelpful and told me to wait until someone called me, they wouldn't do anything to speed it up or deal with it for me there and then.

Shoog

jono wrote: »

There is apparently nothing wrong with the Pace boxes other than a QC issue with these batches.

Any more info on the actual problem with these boxes?

EDIT: From BBC Site:
Sky says the fault involves the internal cabling and the quality of the connections between components but is not a safety risk.

Anyone experienced any problems related to this?

deanos

Pace Sky+HD boxes
We are providing a free replacement Sky+HD box to customers who have one from the first batch of boxes supplied by Pace.

The reason for the swap is that Pace has identified a flaw in its manufacturing assembly process which might have affected some boxes from this first batch.

Pace alerted us to the assembly problem and has since rectified the flaw. Current box supplies are unaffected.

While there were around 90,000 boxes in the first batch (versions 9F3001, 9F3002, 9F3003 and 9F3004), the flaw is likely to have affected only a small minority.

However, we are providing a replacement box to all customers as a precaution.

What is the flaw? The issue relates to the way in which some of the boxes in the batch were assembled. In particular, it involves the internal cabling and the quality of the connections between components.

This means that the build quality of a box that was part of this batch may not meet Sky’s standards.

The assembly flaw does not involve a faulty component, such as a hard drive, or a software problem. Importantly, Pace has confirmed that the assembly flaw does not pose a safety risk.

The box can continue to be used in the normal way, as installed by a Sky engineer, until we come to replace it.

The assembly flaw is not affecting the performance of these boxes. But, because some of these boxes may develop a problem over the longer term, we are choosing to replace them while they are still under warranty.

How does the replacement programme work?

We have started calling the affected customers to fix an appointment for one of our engineers to come and install a free replacement box.

Because of the number of boxes, it will take us about three months to contact everyone.

To make up for any inconvenience, we will give all affected customers three months’ free subscription to our HD pack (worth £29.25) when we replace their box.

In order to avoid problems in the future, we would encourage all affected customers to participate in the replacement programme while their box is still under warranty.

All replacement boxes will come with a new 12-month warranty.

Can customers request a particular make of replacement box?

Customers should tell us if they would prefer to receive a particular make of replacement box.

While we can’t offer a firm guarantee, we will do our best to accommodate their request.

How can customers tell whether they have a Pace Sky+HD box? The easiest way to find out is via the on-screen Sky Guide.

Just press the 'Services' button on your remote control, then select 'System Set Up' followed by 'System Details', and the manufacturer and version number of your box will be displayed.

coz93

What action can you take if no call has been received in the 3 months , bearing in mind that Sky are rejecting calls from customers at this time ?