Sky+ boxes

nrsql

Maybe this should be in the warnings/rip off forum.

I notice from watchdog last night that there is a problem with the reliability of sky+ boxes - one lady having hers replaced 6 times.

I had one about five years ago.
It was replaced 4 times in 6 months - the last time they said they didn't know why it wouldn't work. Took two years for them to stop trying to get the money for the remainder of the contract, I gave up trying to get a refund for the time I paid without any service.

I had assumed they would have fixed the problems but at the time the engineers said they expected them to last a few months and I was unlucky as mine lasted one or two.
As watchdog mentioned - you lose everything recorded when it goes wrong.
You also can't watch anything recorded if it can't get a satellite signal.

JasonW_2

Just to balance things up, Ive had mines for over 2 years and its never missed a beat and gets a lot of use.

Matt_Nixon

Sky + boxes are made by Pace, Thomson & Amstrad, INHO the Pace ones are far and away superior, mine is 2 years old on Friday!

Oh and avoid anything made my Amstrad, if you didn't already know.

Noz

my sky+ box has never needed replacing

tigs78

I've had a dreaded Amstrad sky + box for almost 3 years now, it gets a fair bit of use and have never had a problem with it.

Tesscha

I have a Thomson sky+ box for nearly a year now and have never had any major problems with it either, I have had the odd moment where it freezes but that's usually when I'm trying to do too many things at once.

JasonW_2

Yes, mines is the pace. I told them if anything other than a pace turned up, the only other option at the time was the amstrad which is really bad, I told them Id cancel. Installer said he only deals in paces

nrsql

Odd - all posts about working boxes - no posts about problems.
Maybe watchdog have it wrong.

JasonW_2

They get a few complaints, bbc think its a great idea to have a moan about sky/murdoch and get the edge over the shoddiness. I admit there are problems with some boxes, but you usually only ever hear the negative and never the good which is why I thought I'd balance up a one sided view of sky+ that appears on a few forums and watchdog now and then.

Some people have them in cabinets with glass doors and the boxes overheat, don't realise its got a very sensitive and fragile hard drive in and it gets a knock or 40, and no wonder it dies. Others (amstrads especially) the reputation is poor and sky probably should publicly shame amstrad into replacing or fixing them. Also updates to add new features can sometimes contain bugs. There is a whole list of things which can go wrong, and like anything some do fail, but it HAS to be the customer or something in their home including dodgy electrics or power surges, spikes, brownouts that are causing problems if they are going through several boxes.

vickyj

BBC are fab at being drama queens.
If anyone can find me a product that has never been anything other than perfect then tell me and i will buy them ALL !!

vickyj

oh and just to say I LOVE MY SKY+ BOX