Sky - major issues and lack of resolution

vikkimcd

We have had problems with connectivity since Feb 2020. On ongoing battle ensued through the pandemic, with three separate engineers coming out as they were unable to find the source of the problem. We changed our router as 1000s of errors were coming in. They kept telling me to change to fibre, and I gave in Sept 2020 as I was so desperate for it to work (for working from home). It did not solve the problem, and when it did work, it was just as slow. A few months ago we had a booster sent, and this seems to have worked. Now I am asking for compensation and Sky are arguing blind that as they had not been able to get hold of me (three times) via telephone, they have closed my complaint. I work for the NHS with COVID-19 data and am in meetings constantly, something which I have explained, and requested times to call, which they have not done. Now they are willing to offer me £80.00 as a goodwill gesture, and that is it. I cannot explain enough how many times I have telephoned and been stressed out of my mind, being unable to work due to lack of connectivity, had to wait for engineers (I am clinically vulnerable), and the snotty way I have been spoken to by Sky. They say if I do not accept the £80.00, that will be it and I need to contact the ombudsman. My question is, has anyone been in this situation, and is it worth me pursuing it? Or just accepting the money? After this battle, I am screaming to fight, but would it be worth it?

Neil_Jones

vikkimcd said:

We have had problems with connectivity since Feb 2020. On ongoing battle ensued through the pandemic, with three separate engineers coming out as they were unable to find the source of the problem. We changed our router as 1000s of errors were coming in. They kept telling me to change to fibre, and I gave in Sept 2020 as I was so desperate for it to work (for working from home). It did not solve the problem, and when it did work, it was just as slow. A few months ago we had a booster sent, and this seems to have worked. Now I am asking for compensation and Sky are arguing blind that as they had not been able to get hold of me (three times) via telephone, they have closed my complaint. I work for the NHS with COVID-19 data and am in meetings constantly, something which I have explained, and requested times to call, which they have not done. Now they are willing to offer me £80.00 as a goodwill gesture, and that is it. I cannot explain enough how many times I have telephoned and been stressed out of my mind, being unable to work due to lack of connectivity, had to wait for engineers (I am clinically vulnerable), and the snotty way I have been spoken to by Sky. They say if I do not accept the £80.00, that will be it and I need to contact the ombudsman. My question is, has anyone been in this situation, and is it worth me pursuing it? Or just accepting the money? After this battle, I am screaming to fight, but would it be worth it?

"1000s of errors"?  What does this even mean?

As you make mention of booster (Wifi booster?) that suggests your entire issue was caused by wireless.  Which the provider is not responsible for in a nutshell.

brewerdave

If your internet connection is critical for your job ,then you really should have a business connection with some form of S.L.A. Or invest in a second line . As above if a booster has solved your issue ,then the problem wasn't your connection per se.

milgo

I've a couple of questions for you before I'd be willing to comment on what I'd do if I were in your situation...

Q... You were on adsl when the problem 1st started, then switched to fibre and the problem did not go away and the fibre did not give you any increase in speed? 

Q... Has the problem now been fixed?

Q... What compensation would you be happy with? 

vikkimcd

Replying to all above:
'1000s of errors': I was told by the first engineer that over 20,000 errors had accumulated in the router and had to be cleared? He bombarded the system with everything until he was satisfied that they had been cleared. 
Sky are responsible for wifi, the whole package is advertised as 'wifi guaranteed', thus the booster, if this is what is being referred to?

The fibre did not give any increase in speed. We did not have any signal whatsoever for periods several times per day just about every day for the whole of last year, plus we lost Sky Q box connection, and multiroom mini box connection. I was literally calling several times per week, thus my frustration. And the excuses they were coming up with were pushing ridiculous by the end. 

The booster has helped and the signal seems to be remaining now. 
I want this to be over, but I have to be honest, the way I have been spoken to, and how this has been dealt with has been appalling. 

Neil_Jones

vikkimcd said:

Replying to all above:
'1000s of errors': I was told by the first engineer that over 20,000 errors had accumulated in the router and had to be cleared? He bombarded the system with everything until he was satisfied that they had been cleared. 
Sky are responsible for wifi, the whole package is advertised as 'wifi guaranteed', thus the booster, if this is what is being referred to?

Wifi guaranteed within reason.  https://www.sky.com/help/articles/wifi-guarantee

"We’ll give you money back on your Sky Broadband Boost subscription if you can't get 3Mbps WiFi in every room.  ... You’ll get money back if you can’t get 3Mbps WiFi in every room of your home after troubleshooting it on the phone with one of our agents, or in your home with an engineer.

Money back won’t apply if:

• You’re using WiFi extenders, boosters or routers other than those provided by us.
• "'Every Room' excludes Any exterior buildings like garages, sheds, annexes, etc. and an unconverted loft – one that is not furnished"

The "20,000 errors had accumulated in the router" is horse manure (to put it bluntly).  Routers either work or they won't, there's no in-between.  The Wi-Fi on Sky routers is crap and has been for ages.

vikkimcd

So that provides more questions.
They provided me with a load of 'horse manure' via one of their engineers.
We did not have any extra equipment whatsoever until the booster recently.
The signal dropped (as in we did not have a connection) on almost every day at some point since Feb 2020, with one period of eight days where we had no signal whatsoever for the whole eight days. No reason could be given or found for this. I have followed all instruction asked of me, and had three Sky engineers in to look, each coming up with different suggestions that did nothing. The only difference that has been made is when we received the booster, which was never once suggested to me over the whole period. Considering the length of time, and utter inconvenience, I do not believe £80.00 covers this. Over this period, I have paid roughly £1,100, for a sometimes non-existence service. Am I wrong to think £80.00 is unreasonable?

Neil_Jones

People use the term "connection" interchangeably.

You need to decree whether you mean the wireless signal went (ie you worked in one room and there was no signal but if you moved into the room with the router the problem fixes itself) or you mean the actual internet itself ie (ie nothing else in the house had internet connection INCLUDING wired devices in the same room as the router).

Your post seems to suggest the former is more the case rather than the latter.

vikkimcd

No, it was everything. We couldn't even get access to Sky Q TV, multiroom etc. Laptops did not work upstairs, in other rooms. It was saying no internet connection, even though the router lights were all green.

milgo

@vikkimcd apologies for labouring this point but just to be totally clear.  During the times that you experienced no connection did you have any devices directly connected to you Sky modem/router with a network cable?  If you did, did those/that device also have no connection to the internet or were all of the devices that you lost connection on connected to the Sky modem/router wirelessly?

Were you asked to do this test by Sky support at any time?

Carrot007

Neil_Jones said:

The "20,000 errors had accumulated in the router" is horse manure (to put it bluntly).  Routers either work or they won't, there's no in-between.  The Wi-Fi on Sky routers is crap and has been for ages.

Yes there is. Errors at the router would mean error packets. These will happen if a. the router is bad or b. the line is bad.

Happened to me after I got my line fixed and a steady 80/20 conection. Router died, used my backup, back down below the guaranteed rate. I just bough the heapest router with a decent chipset (£30, bad old wifi, not that I wanted it but without was more expensive! I turned it of and used my own wifi solution anyway).

(I had 115,000 downstream erro packets after 39 minutes FYI).

TO OP, yes sky guarantee wifi in as much as they will let you leave if thats the problem (they aint gonna pay to fix it)(yes there is a slight bit of wiggle room). Alwasy test without wifi so you can tell them where the issue lies. It sounds like a bad router to me. But you also sound like you have bad wifi. They will fix one which may make the seocnd tollerable (or buy a router, all these provided ones are useless and on the cheap bad chipset (my provider will recomend chipsets, the one in their router is not recomended, go figure (not that I used it for more than a month 6 years ago)).