Sky Protect - what is it and is it worth it?

katieb168

Hi, I have recently received a letter asking me if I want to activate my Sky Protect - 'the only protection plan endorsed by Sky', as my box is now a year old and therefore is no longer in warranty.

I was just wondering if it is worth it for £8.08 per month on the off chance that something will happen. It says there will be no repair bills, call out charges, parts or labour to pay if I sign up.

Is it better to leave it and see how we get on, and just pay for a call out if and when we need it? Does anyone know how much it would cost for a call out or replacement of a Sky+ Box??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

McKneff

This wont be the first letter you get. They are nothing to do with Sky and are just touting for business as will the next letter you get and the next and the next form different companies misleading you into thinking that they are SKY
If you do want to insure your box etc, contact SKy directly and ask them how much they charge. That way you will know exactly who you are paying your money too. Just bin them all, you will also probably get follow up telephone calls, easiest way to deal with them is to say you have already got it insured with SKY, that gets rid of them sharpish.

Inactive

Interesting to know just how these independant companies get access to the Sky Customer Database?

DebtHater

Sky sell the details to these companies - they are nothing but independent insurers, and not very good ones at that.

One or two of the companies have appeared on Watchdog before now, cant remember the names of them but Watchdog found that they are generally a waste of money and it would be better to approach Sky themselves (as suggested above)

Or, you could try what I am doing. Dont insure the equipment and simply buy it for cheap on eBay. If your box brakes down, and you purchase one from eBay, all you have to do is put in the viewing card to the new box and phone Sky to activate the new box (which they will do from their end for free)
This saves a fortune - they charge roughly between £5-£9 per month depending who you go with, with the average price being £100+ per year. If your equipment brakes down, check the prices on eBay to see how much of a bargain the Sky stuff can be second hand.
And thats IF your equipment brakes, it might never do.

Just dont insure with these firms - complete waste of money.

scotsbob

katieb168 wrote: »

Hi, I have recently received a letter asking me if I want to activate my Sky Protect - 'the only protection plan endorsed by Sky', as my box is now a year old and therefore is no longer in warranty.

I was just wondering if it is worth it for £8.08 per month on the off chance that something will happen. It says there will be no repair bills, call out charges, parts or labour to pay if I sign up.

Is it better to leave it and see how we get on, and just pay for a call out if and when we need it? Does anyone know how much it would cost for a call out or replacement of a Sky+ Box??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

They may be correct in telling you that the manufacturers warranty has expirred. However you are still covered under statutory law. See on this forum the topic headed "Warranty"

Fifer

Why would anyone pay £100 a year when, if the worst comes to the worst and you don't want to buy second-hand from eBay, Sky do a fixed price repair service (£69?) which includes call-out and any labour and parts required including an exchange box if needed?

will-in-estoril

Fifer wrote: »

Why would anyone pay £100 a year when, if the worst comes to the worst and you don't want to buy second-hand from eBay, Sky do a fixed price repair service (£69?) which includes call-out and any labour and parts required including an exchange box if needed?

Not to mention several reputable independent repairers: http://www.digifixltd.co.uk/ in Buxton or http://www.sers.me.uk/ in Sale, Gtr Manchester. (I have used both.) Both are engineers in the proper sense of the word, charge around the £45 and actually repair your digibox rather than just exchange it for a secondhand one.

Inactive

DebtHater wrote: »

Sky sell the details to these companies - they are nothing but independent insurers, and not very good ones at that.

Outrageous, but typical of Sky, glad that I don't have anything to do with them.

DebtHater

Inactive wrote: »

Outrageous, but typical of Sky, glad that I don't have anything to do with them.

Its just one of those things, as we arent in a cable area, we have to deal with them if we are to get more than whats on offer on freeview

And whats more, if you sign up via telephone as we did, there is no checkbox to tick to say you dont agree to them passing details on to "third parties", so we have to put up with weekly phone calls and letters. I like to play around when they phone up, I pretend I dont know what Sky is, they usually hang up LOL

jasmine_lotus_flower

Inactive wrote: »

Interesting to know just how these independant companies get access to the Sky Customer Database?

I had at least a dozen letters and phone calls with simlar offers. Do Sky sell our dedails on i wonder?

scotsbob

jasmine_lotus_flower wrote: »

I had at least a dozen letters and phone calls with simlar offers. Do Sky sell our dedails on i wonder?

Most probably, unless you ticked the box on the application form saying you didn't want them to.

I once accompanied a colleague into PC World and he completed a form to have Sky. The reverse of the form contained all the terms and conditions in very small print. At the very bottom was a minute box to tick. I guess a lot of people don't see it.