Sky protect plus - is it legal?

mulvantk

I have had a sky box for c18 months. I have now received a letter from sky advising that the manufacturs warranty has expired and I need to get cover. Is this legal? I am at a loss as to why I shoudl receive such a letter. Surely if I am paying for sky the equipment must work (unless I actually damage it which I have no intention of doing!). The implication here is that if I dont pay a additional £120 then I still have to pay for a service from sky (£1000 per year) which I could not access if the equipment comes to the end of its life?
I assume that - unless I actively give the service up - it is a continuous rental. Presume a way round this is to cancel and then reinstate with someone else who will provide me with a box that will remain in warranty?
Sky only provide details of one provider (one they have teamed up with) so not sure whether there are additional competitor schemes i could join if I need to.

Please help as I feel very uncomfortable here.

Tracy

Kernow666

this maybe a scam , i remember seeing something on watchdog last year where people were been contacted by SKY ( or so they thought ) offering such a service and paying up for it then when a problem arose contacted SKY who knew nothing about it

i would ring them and speak to someone to clarify this

macman

It's not a scam, (or rather it is, but it's a legal one). Your understanding of the Sky contract is completely wrong. You don't lease any of the equipment, it was yours from day one to do as you wish with, and is covered by a 12m warranty. At the end of that period, any repairs are at your cost. A service call is normally about £60.
However, once you are out of minimum term, if you have a fault, a call to Sky asking to cancel as you 'cannot afford a service call' will invariably result in the offer of a free call out. So you don't need any kind of extended warranty or insurance. There's not a lot to go wrong with the dish, LNB or cabling, and should the box fail, there are hundreds on eBay from 99p up.
VM is a different system; the equipment is rented from them, remains their property and is maintained by them.

Kernow666

http://www.michaels.me.uk/post.cfm/sky-customers-beware-of-scammers

Was just saying

macman

If the cover offered is from Domestic and General, then it's genuine. Sky sell the names on after the warranty expires or otherwise get a rake-off from the mug punters who subscribe..

Ypaymore

Yes it is legal.

https://www.skyprotect.com the only one recommended by Sky,when your warrantary runs out.

"Sky UK Limited is an introducer appointed representative of Domestic & General Insurance Plc which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

brewerdave

As per post #3; IF you need a repair just phone for a visit -don't agree to pay -just play the cancellation card -if you are paying £1000+ pa they will bend over backwards to avoid cancellation.
Further point, as you are out of minimum term, give notice to cancel TV anyway -and get a healthy discount on your annual bill which will more than cover ANY repair costs:T

Gordon_Hose

I get these letters regularly. i always thought I'd negotiate a retention deal of a new box, or cancel. Failing that buy a box from Ebay.

Both options are cheaper than the "Sky Protect" option. The letters go into File 13 (the recycling bin) each time I get them.

brewerdave

Reminds me that there was a big push via email sometime in the Summer -they were "offering" a 10% discount if you took out Sky Protect .....at £8.99 pm:rotfl:

grumpygardener

Just my five penn'orth. We've had a lot of problems with 'no signal' especially during bad weather. We took out Sky Protect a few months ago, so were covered. My call to SP was answered quickly, an engineer called within 48 hours, told us we had an old dish which was rusting, connected up his box of tricks, confirmed we had 2 fails, replaced the dish and was gone, all within 30 minutes. Fantastic service (costing £60 for the year, which was a special offer). BTW the Sky Protect engineer who called was in a SKY Van, very knowledgeable, very polite and efficient.

stephenliverpool1

Or just do what we did. Just phone Sky to complain, threaten to cancel your contract (note : we were not in contract) and hey presto Sky will fix anything without any cost. Never been with Sky protect and IMHO it is a complete waste of money and time.

HTHs.