Satellite Insurance Scams

[Deleted User]

Lplates wrote: »

have your grandfather write to his bank and notifying them to stop all DDs in favour of the company involved.

This isn't a good idea at all.
The companies concerned (there is more than one) need to be informed in writing prior to cancellation of the Direct Debit. However, this information can be included in a latter demanding the return of the extra amounts he has been charged for significant overlap of cover he already had.
Cancelling the DDs would just set the debt collectors in motion, something the OP doesn't want his grandfather to endure.

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

1. Report them to the FSA for trading while unregistered.

How do you know they are unregistered? The Op never mentioned the name of the firm.

Kurtis_Blue

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

This isn't a good idea at all.
The companies concerned (there is more than one) need to be informed in writing prior to cancellation of the Direct Debit. However, this information can be included in a latter demanding the return of the extra amounts he has been charged for significant overlap of cover he already had.
Cancelling the DDs would just set the debt collectors in motion, something the OP doesn't want his grandfather to endure.


How do you know they are unregistered? The Op never mentioned the name of the firm.

Quite willing to put a very healthy bet on it, even if they were registered (and they are not) they are clearly not trading within the terms if the ICOBS, but thats not an issue, because they are not registered.

miss_trust_2

Just for information, if you do want to take out insurance policy, the only company that SKY has is Domestic and General (D&G) - anyone else is not recommended by sky - recently had a call from one of these companies - trying to sell insurance for my equipment, she said she was from sky, I asked the insurance company name and then said I know sky use D&G so your telling lies and she promptly put the phone down on me, lol

Heinz

Did she give the company name before you told her you knew Sky only authorised D&G?

spike7451

My pov on these insurance protection plans is they are a complete waste of time & money.A service call is only £65,so why pay upwards of £90 for a service you may never need?...If you do need a replacement box & you have to pay £65 for a service call,you get a 3 month warranty with it,but in my view,these plans cancel out that warranty as you're still paying the monthly installments.

[Deleted User]

spike7451 wrote: »

My pov on these insurance protection plans is they are a complete waste of time & money.A service call is only £65,so why pay upwards of £90 for a service you may never need?...If you do need a replacement box & you have to pay £65 for a service call,you get a 3 month warranty with it,but in my view,these plans cancel out that warranty as you're still paying the monthly installments.

I agree. In addition it's usually possible to get a service call free of charge by threatening to cancel Sky altogether.

miss_trust_2

Heinz wrote: »

Did she give the company name before you told her you knew Sky only authorised D&G?

she didn't give me the company name during the call, it all happened when I specifically asked her for the company name - then I knew it was all rubbish because I used to work for sky and knew that it was D&G

mrs_sparrow

I've had an email offering this for £99 a year - however, our HD box seems to be on the way out and I was wondering if it was worth paying the £99 and having the years cover as it costs £199 to replace the box.

Has anyone else got this cover and if so, does it give everything they promise it will give (access to Sky Engineer 7 days a week for example).

macman

Complete waste of money-you can get an HD box on ebay for a lot less than £199 (or £99).
If the box is failing and you are still in your 12m warranty, then get it changed before the warranty expires.
Why would you need '7 day acesss'-there's not a lot to go wrong with a satellite TV installation other than box failure, or extreme weather damage.

spike7451

Complete waste of money!(And I'm saying that as a ex Sky engineer)
A service call itself is only £65 & the box has a three month warranty if it's replaced. (they use reconditioned boxes on repairs)
Why pay the guts of £200 just in case...Over ten years you're paying about a grand,A grand that could be spent on,say a holiday.I've had Sky since it came out & only had an issue with a failing PSU on a Thompson box (probably the same issue you're having)
These repair plans are a good money maker for Sky on a system that if installed correctly,will last a lifetime.
And as for the "access to Sky Engineer 7 days a week" Sky installers work seven days a week BUT if your system goes faulty today,the is no guarantee that an installer will be out to fix it that day.