Sky Q Boxes

renegadefm

Can someone clarify are the Sky Q boxes the permanent property of Sky compared to the previous Sky boxes that end up after a 12 month contract the property of the customers, there seems to be a lot of debate over this on the official Sky forums.

Basically I tried cancelling with Sky to reduce my out going bills at the time, and had my Sky Q box for over 2 years at the time so knew the contract was over, but during the cancellation process the woman said they will require me to send the Q box back or pay for the box, which I wasen't happy to do as I have kept other boxes in the past, plus I had plans of using the Q box for freeview as our normal tv reception is poor in my area.
My point is are Sky using this as a lever to lock customers into being customers from not allowing them to keep the Q boxes as it was the one thing in my case that persuaded me to withdraw my cancellation and stay with Sky.
What use are a load of old Sky Q boxes to Sky? They probably through them in the skip, as a customer I certainly wouldn't want a second hand or referbished box as a new customer or otherwise. Surely its better to let the customers to use them.
The other problem is I have seen Sky Q boxes for sale on Facebook sale sites, how were these people able to keep them?

[Deleted User]

renegadefm wrote: »

Can someone clarify are the Sky Q boxes the permanent property of Sky compared to the previous Sky boxes that end up after a 12 month contract the property of the customers, there seems to be a lot of debate over this on the official Sky forums.

Basically I tried cancelling with Sky to reduce my out going bills at the time, and had my Sky Q box for over 2 years at the time so knew the contract was over, but during the cancellation process the woman said they will require me to send the Q box back or pay for the box, which I wasen't happy to do as I have kept other boxes in the past, plus I had plans of using the Q box for freeview as our normal tv reception is poor in my area.
My point is are Sky using this as a lever to lock customers into being customers from not allowing them to keep the Q boxes as it was the one thing in my case that persuaded me to withdraw my cancellation and stay with Sky.
What use are a load of old Sky Q boxes to Sky? They probably through them in the skip, as a customer I certainly wouldn't want a second hand or referbished box as a new customer or otherwise. Surely its better to let the customers to use them.
The other problem is I have seen Sky Q boxes for sale on Facebook sale sites, how were these people able to keep them?

Yes, you are in effect only renting the Q boxes from Sky and they have to go back at the end of the contract (they do send packaging post paid), the fact that you could keep a HD or HD+ box is neither here or there. These are the T&C's you agree to when signing up for Q.

It's Freesat from Sky, not Freeview (which is through a terrestrial aerial) and if you did have a Q system then to use it you'd have to find yourself a HD or HD+ box and a new LNB to put on the end of the dish arm.

They do use them as refurbishments at least and as long as they check out then there's no reason to reject it as a new customer.

The ones on Facebook are in effect stolen and Sky are quite capable of blocking them from use entirely.

NittyGritty

afraid so, they are not like the old sky boxes where you could keep/sell , once your contract ends and don't wish to stay with them you need to send them back or they may charge you for the box

renegadefm

But dont you think this is a crafty ploy to prevent customers cancel? It worked for me.

JJ_Egan

How can it be a ploy you already agreed to it .

[Deleted User]

renegadefm wrote: »

But dont you think this is a crafty ploy to prevent customers cancel? It worked for me.

Why would it prevent you from cancelling? You are still at liberty to have Freeview from your aerial or use the satellite dish provided by Sky ( but with a new LNB) to view Freesat.
You won't have to pay any subscription to Sky in those scenarios, so why haven't you cancelled?

Although many of the Sky decoders in the past have been given away "free" (as part of the interactive discount) many others were purchased. In either case, they remained the property of the customer after cancellation. However Sky Q has only ever been rental and will simply fail to operate at all if you refuse to return it or (worse) sell it on.

This is no different to Virgin cable TV decoders which have always been rental only and which has done nothing to prevent customer "churn" over the years..

renegadefm wrote: »

there seems to be a lot of debate over this on the official Sky forums.

There really should be no "debate", it's part of the Sky Q contract.

Inner_Zone

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

This is no different to Virgin cable TV decoders which have always been rental only and which has done nothing to prevent customer "churn" over the years..

There was a report on another forum that BT introduced a similar loan / rental scheme to customers from mid December 2019. If so no major UK provider now lets you keep the box once the subscription ends. Not sure if it also affect new EE and Plusnet customers.

For customers who joined us or changed contract and got new equipment after December 13th 2019

"If you decide to leave us or you move to a new plan that includes a new BT Hub and/or BT TV box, you’ll need to return the old kit you loaned from us, or you may face charges."



https://www.bt.com/help/tv/how-to-return-and-recycle-your-bt-broadband-hub-and-bt-tv-box-fo

renegadefm

I didnt realize it was part of the new contract compared to the old when I signed up. I have always kept the old boxes in the past.

[Deleted User]

renegadefm wrote: »

I didnt realize it was part of the new contract compared to the old when I signed up.

You would be wise to read, digest and understand any and all such contracts before you sign up to them in future...

[Deleted User]

Inner_Zone wrote: »

There was a report on another forum that BT introduced a similar loan / rental scheme to customers from mid December 2019. If so no major UK provider now lets you keep the box once the subscription ends.

Far from being the "ploy" to somehow prevent cancellation the OP alleges, I wonder are these moves due to the implementation of WEEE Regulations?

These regulations encourage the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

It would show Sky's "green" credentials and the fact that BT have also moved to a rental model would seem to back this up.

Does anyone know for sure?

renegadefm

Well let me be frank, I have heard the boxes that get sent back are thrown away if they look even slightly used, ie sctratched etc. So why not let the customer have them and make use of them.