When it rains - Sky tv

benjo

I have been a Sky TV customer for years, moved house in April. I pay for the extended warranty and when I moved the engineer fitted a new satalite dish - lovely.

As autumn turns into winter and it starts to get rainy I settle in to watch the TV - alas, when it rains I intermitantly loose my Sky TV picture.

I rang Sky who went through the standard, unplug this, plug in that, change this setting etc and if it doesnt work call out Domestic and General to fix it.

Of course it didnt fix the problem, So I called Domestic and General to be told.....

'it's the rain, madam. It interfers with your dish'

I knew that, but thankyou for confirming this - what can we do about it?

'nothing madam, if the rain ruins your picture then you cant watch sky when it rains - nothing we can do about that'

Well thats fine if I lived in Australia, but this is the UK and winter and it's gonna rain.

I rang Sky back who suggested I wait until a sunny day, ring up Domestic and General again and 'pretend you have lost your picture to get them to send an engineer'

Lie you mean?

'yes, lie to them, lay it on thick - perhaps your signal is weak and you have a bad picture'

Well I dont have a bad picture when it isnt raining, its perfectly clear.

'ah, but you dont know that madam'......

??? OK, is it right that 'rain stops play' as far as Sky/Domestic General are concerned? Should I swap to another provider ie one without the need of a satalite dish?

Anyone had this problem? have a solution?

Many thanks for reading this.

McKneff

We have the same problem and having not found a solution have learned to live with it.

You have answered your own queston, another provider where you dont require a sat. dish.

by the way, how much do you pay domestic & general for your cover.

spike7451

OK,
First off turn off the power to your Sky box,then unscrew the F connector at the back of the box.The stinger,or core, should be dry & bright copper & the braiding wire should also be copper.
If it's tarnished or looks green & is wet,chances are your cable is damaged & water is getting into it & running down to the box.Sometimes,the stinger can rust off & be stuck in the male 'F' fitting on the box.
This normally happens when the cable runs over the roof (caused by constant rubbing against the apex of the roof) or the installer has sealed the F connector on the LNB with insulation tape & NOT Self Amagamating tape.(not really important on Quad or Octo LNB's that have a pull down cover)
If this is the case,call Sky & get an engineer to call & replace the cable asap as this could be dangerous.You may also need a new box.
Secondly,next time it happens,press on your remote;
Services-4-6.
You should be in 'SIGNAL TEST'
You will see at the top,SIGNAL STRENGTH & SIGNAL QUALITY & a grey bar next to each.
Ideally,they should both be above 50%.When the weather gets bad & you loose picture,you will see the SIGNAL QUALITY drop off or go up & down.This is the important one.If your SIGNAL QUALITY is below 50%,then your dish needs re-alignment or the are trees ect blocking line of sight.
HOWEVER,& I have found this on fault's I got sent to,the is a little pin that holds the LNB on the dish are,Sometimes,the 'installers' (who should f***ing know better!!) drop the pin or cant be bothered to fit it.This results in the spring preasure or even winds pushing the LNB out of the arm,which in turn reduces the focal pattern onto the dish which reflects onto the LNB.
Simple to fix if you can reach it,just push the LNB down into the arm,get a bolt or screw (or even a twig!) & gently push it thru the hole running thru the arm & LNB,then wrap some insulation tape over the 'repair'.
HTH,
Spike

benjo

many thanks for the quick response, we pay £10.50 per month for D & G.

The guy at sky said that we should still get a picture when it rains, even if it isnt as good as normal....I think it is a lot of money to pay for insurance only to be advised to lie to my insurer in order to get any kind of service from them. I doubt that this time next month I will be a sky customer or a D & G customer.

benjo

Spike

Many thanks. The copper wire thingie looks fine. Signal strength and quality are both currently around 60% and the picture is currently quite clear (I loose it intermitantly during rainy days) I will keep checking it when my picture goes t1tz up and let you know.

No trees anywhere near the dish/house, wire doesnt go over the roof, I cant reach the dish, so if there is a problem then it would have to be an engineer visit - assuming I can pursuade them to come out at all.

spike7451

Benjo,
You moved house in April & I take it you paid for a house move? 6 months later this happened. My Sky was installed by me about 10 years ago & I've never had any trouble despite me living in the highest part of the town,facing the Irish Sea which is about 1/4 mile away!
I'd call Sky & complain that you paid for a house move,they supplied NEW equipment which should be covered by a years guarentee, & that you want a installer out to sort it.
(sale & supply of goods act & all that)

benjo

Yes we moved in April, but we didnt have to pay anything for the move.

The sky dish didnt work when we moved in, but D & G sent an engineer out who put up a new dish.

countingthepennys

benjo wrote: »

I have been a Sky TV customer for years, moved house in April. I pay for the extended warranty and when I moved the engineer fitted a new satalite dish - lovely.

As autumn turns into winter and it starts to get rainy I settle in to watch the TV - alas, when it rains I intermitantly loose my Sky TV picture.

I rang Sky who went through the standard, unplug this, plug in that, change this setting etc and if it doesnt work call out Domestic and General to fix it.

Of course it didnt fix the problem, So I called Domestic and General to be told.....

'it's the rain, madam. It interfers with your dish'

I knew that, but thankyou for confirming this - what can we do about it?

'nothing madam, if the rain ruins your picture then you cant watch sky when it rains - nothing we can do about that'

Well thats fine if I lived in Australia, but this is the UK and winter and it's gonna rain.

I rang Sky back who suggested I wait until a sunny day, ring up Domestic and General again and 'pretend you have lost your picture to get them to send an engineer'

Lie you mean?

'yes, lie to them, lay it on thick - perhaps your signal is weak and you have a bad picture'

Well I dont have a bad picture when it isnt raining, its perfectly clear.

'ah, but you dont know that madam'......

??? OK, is it right that 'rain stops play' as far as Sky/Domestic General are concerned? Should I swap to another provider ie one without the need of a satalite dish?

Anyone had this problem? have a solution?

Many thanks for reading this.

We used to have this problem.....but then we came up with the idea of cutting a pop bottle (2ltr) and using the bottom of it to cover the lnb and then it was history HTH

McKneff

£10.50 seems a lot of money to be paying out.

Even if your box dies SKY will issue a call out fee of £65 and sort the problem out. Even down to renewing the box included. Its doubtful that more than one thing could go wrong in a year but even 2 faults would still only bring it to £130.
(only in my own experience mind) I have had Sky now for about 10 years and have only had a problem once in all that time, paid my £65 and got a new box installed, apparently the old one died. Paying out insurance as always is a gamble and you have to weigh up the pros and cons.

benjo

McKneff wrote: »

£10.50 seems a lot of money to be paying out.

Even if your box dies SKY will issue a call out fee of £65 and sort the problem out. Even down to renewing the box included. Its doubtful that more than one thing could go wrong in a year but even 2 faults would still only bring it to £130.
(only in my own experience mind) I have had Sky now for about 10 years and have only had a problem once in all that time, paid my £65 and got a new box installed, apparently the old one died. Paying out insurance as always is a gamble and you have to weigh up the pros and cons.

Couldnt agree more - and with the value of hindsight etc etc....

viktory

I am sure I read somewhere that Sky boxes have a two year standard warranty.