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

bladeguard

that makes no sense how can they disable hardware in the box . This is not a service change as you indicated.

deanos

If you dont subscribe to Sky then you either pay £10 a month to record or dont have a record facility.

Sky control the boxes via the cards in them by sending signals telling it what services you are entitled to.

Ice_2

bladeguard wrote: »

:mad:My phone bills have risen £30 a month whilst this issue with sky has been going on be careful use www.saynoto0870.co.uk to get a cheaper number to call.

I wrote to them to at this address: 15th Dec 2008, 13th feb2009
SKY Ltd .
Customer relations
Sky subscriber services ltd
PO Box 43, EH54 7DD


Was no help at all Mark A... you know who you are named and shamed on here.


Then wrote to : 6th Feb 2009 to
Senior Executive, Jeremy D...
4 Macintosh Road
Keirkton Campus
Livingstone
West Loathian
EH54 7BW

If you want his full name PM me

Still got no answer even though I have his full name and am going to write with a recorded letter this time as they didnt answer the last one. GOODLUCK

it's worth checking the numbers on saynoto0870 regularly as they keep changing the numbers...I have found this out most recently...this number is no longer being used by sky...this number is no longer in service....no cannot use this number...
then the line goes dead...
:rotfl: are they getting wise to us...:rotfl: or what.

dmaidmen

bladeguard wrote: »

that makes no sense how can they disable hardware in the box . This is not a service change as you indicated.

They don't disable the hardware. When you go to playback a recording your subscription is checked. If you don't have the channel that the recording was made from in your package then you won't be able to view the program.

For instance if you recorded say an episode of Lost or 24 that aired on Sky1 and then rang up and cancelled the variety mix that contains Sky1 then you would no longer be able to view your recording.

Unless you pay Sky some sort of subscription then the PVR functions (record/pause/play etc..) will not work so you won't be able to play any recordings even from BBC1 for instance. I believe the HD mix at £9.75 is the minimium you can pay.

As an aside, all non FTA recordings are stored on the hard disk using a very strong encryption. Free To Air channels such as BBC1 are not encrypted and its possible to access them directly if you end your subscription but this means opening up your box.

HTH

Duncan

bladeguard

You didnt answer my question regarding itv2 just assumed it was sky one. ITV2 is a free channel and should always be recordable as it not a service sky provide so how can they disable my box via its card. Are you telling me if I remove the card I can then record ITV2 nope this doesnt work either so this is why i say you dont own the box sky do and its rubbish otherwise i dont think its legal for them to alter your box from its original specification.

Yep I know they keep changing the numbers probably all the harassment there getting from customers. They are not alone like other companies do this too.

believe me when I say I have no subscription I cancelled it as sky took to much money out of my account over christmas and january and have still not repaid it. You cannot view bbc1 recorded programs and I dont know how sky gets away with this?

dmaidmen

bladeguard wrote: »

You didnt answer my question regarding itv2 just assumed it was sky one.

I didn't see a specific question but my statement about BBC1 applies to ITV2 and any other Free To Air (FTA) channels.

ITV2 is a free channel and should always be recordable as it not a service sky provide

ITV2 is a FTA channel as mentioned above. Its free to view on Sky but its not free to record. Sky provide the free to air channels without subscription, they are available through your satalite dish.

The recording functionality is an extra service that you pay Sky for (Sky+). If you record something from ITV2 and then remove your card you will not be able to play it as Sky is unable to verify that you are entitled to the Sky+ functionality.

They are not disabling the box. When you press 'play' for instance your Sky+ subscription is checked. If you dont't have a card in or you don't pay Sky a subsciption then you won't be able to watch it.

why i say you dont own the box sky do and its rubbish otherwise i dont think its legal for them to alter your box from its original specification.

If you buy the box from Sky you get it at a subsidy. If you cancel your contract which is 12 months in duration then you either pay Sky the full price for the box or give it back. If you buy the box outright from Tesco etc. then you own the box straight off.

As mentioned above the Sky+ funcitionality is a service that you pay for. They are not modifying the box. If you don't pay Sky for the service you don't get it.

Hope this helps.

Duncan

bladeguard

Your quite correct that i cant remove the veiwing card to stop it checking my service has been cancelled and view a previous recorded ITV movie which is free to air.

This is my whole point why buy a sky box hd or otherwise which is a recorder and sold as a recorder from sky or tescos or anywhere and it doesnt record. The service you state sky gives enables or disables this. The Humax HDPVR records the free to air programs without this issue and is a true recording piece of hardware unlike the sky range of boxes they are selling at the same price. In addition the programs sky sells seem to be repeats and children films and not much that is brand new check the dates of the programs your watching or ring up discovery and see when it was made you'll be suprised I assure you.

My question why support a company who isnt able to solve customer problems but is able to sympathise or appologies for its conduct while charging many of its customers full price and then selling this package to new customers at half the price. Further more they invite you to buy a satalite reciever that records that will only record if you pay sky. Bring on the new technology guys I believe Sky is a dinasaur and will find out what happens when it treats its customer like this as its pray. funny that we already know that the dinasurs are all fossils and extinct now I wonder when Sky will see this themselves.

Some of us don't pay Sky cause they owe us money. Not because we dont and havent paid for their service or ever neglected to pay for ther service on time. I was the perfect Sky paying customer until I fell foul of there over charging and belligerant attitued to resolving a problem which they caused.

Also When you pay sky you still dont get it either trust me I paid for january's movies and didnt get them. I was charged for Novemember 98 movies and didnt get them either. Now I am owed for both and get the runaround when I call Sky about it.

Now I know why they didnt offer me an HD box it appears that they have some serious problems and would also of made the situation worse to resolve..

deefadog

Apparently the recall is all down to 2 cable ties that are missing from the box. Basically inside the box there is a divide between the board and the hard drive, the cables coming through the divide are loose, so in theory vibration over time could cause the cables to wear down.

Loads of discussion on the avforums about this.

When i had my box swapped, the engineer agreed that's why the recall was all about.

avqs43

I've just cancelled with Sky after a lot of hassle and abuse and I've now bought a Humax HD PVR. Although the channels are not as numerous as Sky, it does what I want and there will be more HD channels in the future. One thing you have to watch out for is that on Freeview (via your terrestrial aerial) you can get, for example, Sky news and Sky sports update (channels 501 and 405 on Sky) but you can't on Freesat (through your satellite.) You still need to keep your terrestrial connections if you want to watch some channels which are not Free to Air from the satellite.

spaceman5

dmaidmen wrote: »

No. If your Thomson is working well then thats great. Only the Pace boxes are affected by the recall. Some people are lucky and get a good box straight away.

Duncan

sorry to resarect a pretty old thread, what is strange is we had sky hd installed about 6 months ago now, and it is a thompson box, we had a phone call last night from sky saying that the have identified a fault with our box, i had already read this thread so thought it was a bit strange being we have a thompson box, anyway enginear coming round tomorrow to change boxes, what do you think will happen, when enginear comes he will obviously realise we have a thompson box, so will he refuse to change the box over, Dave