Sky+ box inactive after power cut

gandbl

Following a power cut our Sky+ box re started but failed after minutes and eventually stopped working. As the box was out of warranty, Sky customer services unsucessfully tried to re set the box over the telephone then offered an upgrade to SKY+HD or extend the warranty or a one off repair(£60+).
We then read a tip on this web site about contacting SKY customer services team as a customer wishing to leave the service, we followed the instructions given and stated that we were satisfied with the package but did not want to continue with the service because the box had failed.
We were then offered a one off repair (which may include a new box if required) for half price. We stuck it out and said we were determined not to pay for something we were no longer able to receive and eventually were offered a repair visit with no charge. A day or so later a new box was fitted. Aparently Thompson SKY boxes are prone to this fault and are being phased out. Thank you Money Saving Expert - Your forum help works.

will-in-estoril

Good result.

Thomson boxes are much more likely to fail than not to fail: the capacitors on the power supply unit (PSU) are not up to the mark. The symptoms range from the box being stuck in standby, to no satellite signal being received on some or all of the channels to picture break up.

I am on the look out for an HD digibox so that I can watch the World Cup games in HD. I currently have a card for the free to view channels.

They are selling for around £30 faulty on auction sites. A replacement/repaired PSU costs as little as £26 (if you take it out yourself) or £45 (if you take/send the whole box in for repair.)

Once repaired they will last for years.

There is a list of repairers as a sticky at the top of the page.

spike7451

will-in-estoril wrote: »

Good result.

Thomson boxes are much more likely to fail than not to fail: the capacitors on the power supply unit (PSU) are not up to the mark. The symptoms range from the box being stuck in standby, to no satellite signal being received on some or all of the channels to picture break up.

I am on the look out for an HD digibox so that I can watch the World Cup games in HD. I currently have a card for the free to view channels.

They are selling for around £30 faulty on auction sites. A replacement/repaired PSU costs as little as £26 (if you take it out yourself) or £45 (if you take/send the whole box in for repair.)

Once repaired they will last for years.

There is a list of repairers as a sticky at the top of the page.

Thompsons are notorious for this,as are the old standard Grundig & Anstrad boxes.
Once had an entire batch of Grundig boxes go in standby the first time you powered them up or shortly after!