Sky HD box sold on ebay- buyer says it won't record

jem16

My son sold a Sky HD box (the newest one and less than a year old) on eBay for his brother who has moved abroad.

Box was in perfect working order and never caused a problem at all.

Buyer now claiming it won't record, that he has contacted Sky, tried a reset and it still won't record. Wants to return it.

How do we stand on this? We feel it's a card pairing issue rather than any problem but the buyer says he just wants to return it.

Who pays for return postage if we agree to refund? This would also leave us out of pocket and no guarantee that original box is returned.

techspec

Did you sell it with a card? As you say - its that card that then must have a paid subscription to record.

Buyer pays return postage.

Sky added this feature to make it harder for buyers to avoid their box fees - but thats still not you fault.

I've just bought a 2nd hand sky+ box, and surprise surprise - it doesn't record. But i'm not daft enough to think it would do.

jem16

techspec wrote: »

Did you sell it with a card? As you say - its that card that then must have a paid subscription to record.

No it was sold with no card.

The buyer seems to suggest that he got a message saying you can't record and to contact Sky technical department. Having done this he claims that Sky say the box must be faulty. Now apparently has his old box re-paired and doesn't want to mess around with the settings any more and wants to return the box.

As the box was definitely recording fine before it was sent, this still sounds like a card pairing issue.

Buyer pays return postage. Sky added this feature to make it harder for buyers to avoid their fees - but thats still not you fault.

I assume you mean eBay rather than Sky?

Yes it is still annoying as it only went for £41 and would have to return £51 as I assume you have to pay for initial postage?

Could we insist that box was working perfectly and there is no reason for return?

I've just bought a 2nd hand sky+ box, and surprise surprise - it doesn't record. But i'm not daft enough to think it would do.

Why not if you have a card and sub that says it should?

Jaxer

Almost certainly a card issue. Funnily enough, I'm going through this with a Sky+ box I've just bought off eBay too so I've had a good look into it.

The box itself is just the hardware so if it was working when you sent it, I doubt it's been damaged in transit. In order to be able to record, the card must be paired to the box, and it has to be under a valid/live Sky subscription, ie. if someone just has a freesat/expired card, the box will receive channels but it won't record.

You need to ask the buyer if he/she has a live Sky subscription. If they do, then they can simply call up Sky to pair (their existing card) to the new box and everyone's happy. If they don't then they won't be able to use the record function but that's not your problem, it's a Sky limitation. Having looked into it, you can pay for the recording functionality alone at £10.50/mth (this does not give you any more subscription channels, merely allowing you to record existing free-to-air channels).

Personally, I wouldn't refund if it's the latter. The box is functional but in order to access the recording service, you have to pay Sky.

jem16

Jaxer wrote: »

Almost certainly a card issue. Funnily enough, I'm going through this with a Sky+ box I've just bought off eBay too so I've had a good look into it.

I'm a 100% sure it's a card issue and this can be resolved but the buyer doesn't seem interested in resolving it.

We have asked if there was a card inserted and paired correctly and would be happy to help out. However just got the reply saying he was back at work tomorrow and didn't have time so just wanted a refund!

The box itself is just the hardware so if it was working when you sent it, I doubt it's been damaged in transit. In order to be able to record, the card must be paired to the box, and it has to be under a valid/live Sky subscription, ie. if someone just has a freesat/expired card, the box will receive channels but it won't record.

You need to ask the buyer if he/she has a live Sky subscription. If they do, then they can simply call up Sky to pair (their existing card) to the new box and everyone's happy. If they don't then they won't be able to use the record function but that's not your problem, it's a Sky limitation. Having looked into it, you can pay for the recording functionality alone at £10.50/mth (this does not give you any more subscription channels, merely allowing you to record existing free-to-air channels).

That's a good question to ask.

However he has talked about using a Sky+ box from another room to check the cabling as he suggested it was freezing too. It's never done that and was in constant use.

Personally, I wouldn't refund if it's the latter. The box is functional but in order to access the recording service, you have to pay Sky.

Not too keen on refunding either as the box is working.

prowla

You need a subscription to record, and the card has to be paired with the box.

Our Sky+ HD box is one I got via freegle, and I simply swapped the card from my Sky+ standard box and did the routine to pair it.

jem16

prowla wrote: »

Our Sky+ HD box is one I got via freegle, and I simply swapped the card from my Sky+ standard box and did the routine to pair it.

Yes that is what would normally happen.

However the problem is where do we stand. We know the box works, it does record with correctly paired card and sub. However the buyer insists it doesn't work.

Jaxer

If he's said he's checked Sky+ from another room, that seems to answer whether he's got a live subscription. But it raises another question, as you need to subscribe to Sky "multi-room" to be able to use more than one Sky+ box on the same account.

If you know the box is working, this is really something Sky should be able to resolve for him very easily. It may be that he didn't realise another +box required a "multi-room" sub on top of whatever he's already paying.

Call me suspicious, but it seems a bit odd that he doesn't want to waste any more time in making a phone call to Sky, but does have the time to go through the hassle of re-packing and returning it to you?

techspec

jem16 wrote: »

No it was sold with no card.

The buyer seems to suggest that he got a message saying you can't record and to contact Sky technical department. Having done this he claims that Sky say the box must be faulty. Now apparently has his old box re-paired and doesn't want to mess around with the settings any more and wants to return the box.

As the box was definitely recording fine before it was sent, this still sounds like a card pairing issue.




I assume you mean eBay rather than Sky?

No i meant Sky - they have made the boxes harder to transfer so they get money selling boxes/suscriptions.

This is clearly because the buyer doesn't need it anymore.

You should not have to refund - but paypal will make you. So you can't win.

Just don't pay return postage.

Avoriaz

Frustrating though it may be, you can't force the buyer to keep it. If he returns it you will have to refund the purchase price and the original postage.

You don't have to refund the return costs and, in the circumstances, I wouldn't do that voluntarily, although you risk a negative and poor stars etc.

All you can do is take the loss, relist it and hope the next sale goes ok.

What is the buyer’s feedback record like? There is a small possibility that he will return a broken box rather than the working box that you sold, although that usually only happens with higher value items. Unfortunately, if that happens, there is nothing you can realistically do.

£41 plus £10 postage is about the going rate on Ebay for Sky+ HD 890 (500gb) models. 895 (1.5gb) models sell for a bit more.

Avoriaz

Allison_Haskins wrote: »

Tell the buyer you'll refund on return and confirmation that the serial number matches the item sold.

Jem can say that to the buyer, but the latter part in bold holds no weight with Ebay or Paypal claims. It might scare off a potential scammer.

The buyer could return anything of similar size and weight and get his money back if tracking shows delivery. Neither Ebay nor Paypal have any way of knowing what the item returned is. All they look at is the tracking details.

If that happens, although frankly it is unlikely with a relatively low value item, then Jem can do nothing unless she is prepared to take it to the County Court and that would probably be a waste of time and money.

This is probably a buyer who doesn't understand how to get the Sky+ box properly matched to his Sky card and subscription and he will return the box in the same condition it was sold.

Jem will just have to swallow the postage loss and relist.

If it is working properly I would advise not refunding the return postage costs and explain politely to the buyer that the box was fully functional as advertised.