Prisoner of Sky

Beryl49T

Hello

i have been a Sky customer for 12 years , using the same set top box and dish for this period the contract is for Sky TV only 
I tried to cancel the contract in June 2022 due to the cost , but was kept on the phone by their customer services for around 1 hour until I agreed to accept a new 18 month contract at a reduced rate of £19 per month . In April of this year this increased to £33 a month . At this time the reception signal appeared to weaken and has now deteriorated so that there is no reception at all ( we have done all the usual cutting back trees and checking cables , dish etc ) . I have contacted Sky and completed a remote service check over the phone but no improvement .
I phoned Sky today to cancel the contract , I was advised that I could not physically cancel until after the contract ends in December 2023 . I was not happy with this and after a long and lengthy discussion with the customer assistant I was put through to a technical services assistant . They went through the same process as before to repair the box over the phone . This did not work . The Sky techie then advised that I should get out a repair technician for £60 . I said no , as the equipment is 12 years old and out of warranty . I do not want new equipment either as this will perpetuate my contractual relationship with Sky , then I was offered a call out for £30 . Again I said no.
the Sky techie then transferred me back to customer services and some considerable time later of offering me various special deals ,  they finally allowed me to cancel my agreement in December but the term must run in full with my paying £33 per month until 26/12/23 
this whole debacle took 69 minutes of my life on the phone . 

I am not happy to be paying for a service where the equipment provided no longer works , and I must purchase new equipment  or enter in to a new agreement with another lengthy contractual term .
I understand I own the dish 
Sky owns the box 
the contract for Sky TV is classed as services and is separate to the equipment 
Has anyone got experience of a similar situation ? I would be happy to pay an early penalty to end the contract but I feel £ 33 for 6 months is extreme ….!

Detail_Merchant

Beryl49T said:

Hello

...
I understand I own the dish 
Sky owns the box 
...

I am pretty certain, given that you have been with Sky for 12 years, that you own the box (a Sky+ box) rather than Sky. Unless you have switched to Sky Q (where Sky keep ownership), but you said "same set top box and dish for this period".
I don't think Sky even produce new Sky+ boxes now.
When mine broke a few years back I ended up having to buy a new one off eBay - e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154421789584 (not a specific recommendation, but just to show the price isn't high).
I haven't wanted to switch to Sky Q partly to avoid having to look after their property.
So one option could be to buy a cheap new Sky+ box - but of course that won't help you if the fault is in the cable or the dish.
Re the contract, I think legally you are stuck until the end of the year, since you accepted a new 18 month contract last June.
The email or paperwork after agreeing to that contract should have made it clear if (as it seems is the case) the discount didn't last the full length of the contract. It's a sneaky thing that I have heard of Sky doing before.
Sorry I don't know of any way to escape from Sky sooner.

born_again

There is the option of getting a local dish fitter to replace the dish. 
At least that way you would have a working dish & could switch to freesat in December when the contract ends.

Neil_Jones

Beryl49T said:

Hello

i have been a Sky customer for 12 years , using the same set top box and dish for this period the contract is for Sky TV only 
I tried to cancel the contract in June 2022 due to the cost , but was kept on the phone by their customer services for around 1 hour until I agreed to accept a new 18 month contract at a reduced rate of £19 per month . In April of this year this increased to £33 a month . At this time the reception signal appeared to weaken and has now deteriorated so that there is no reception at all ( we have done all the usual cutting back trees and checking cables , dish etc ) . I have contacted Sky and completed a remote service check over the phone but no improvement .
I phoned Sky today to cancel the contract , I was advised that I could not physically cancel until after the contract ends in December 2023 . I was not happy with this and after a long and lengthy discussion with the customer assistant I was put through to a technical services assistant . They went through the same process as before to repair the box over the phone . This did not work . The Sky techie then advised that I should get out a repair technician for £60 . I said no , as the equipment is 12 years old and out of warranty . I do not want new equipment either as this will perpetuate my contractual relationship with Sky , then I was offered a call out for £30 . Again I said no.
the Sky techie then transferred me back to customer services and some considerable time later of offering me various special deals ,  they finally allowed me to cancel my agreement in December but the term must run in full with my paying £33 per month until 26/12/23 
this whole debacle took 69 minutes of my life on the phone . 

I am not happy to be paying for a service where the equipment provided no longer works , and I must purchase new equipment  or enter in to a new agreement with another lengthy contractual term .
I understand I own the dish 
Sky owns the box 
the contract for Sky TV is classed as services and is separate to the equipment 
Has anyone got experience of a similar situation ? I would be happy to pay an early penalty to end the contract but I feel £ 33 for 6 months is extreme ….!

If you have Sky+HD you own the box.  You were given it when you first joined.

If your reception problems were of the type where only certain channels worked and others didn't, and those channels that did work now don't work, then that's a problem with the LNB, the "microphone" looking device on the dish.  If it is a faulty LNB any local company who knows about these things can fix it in 10 minutes probably at a cheaper rate than Sky.  The £60 is Sky's  standard call out charge for anything, but depending on what needs to happen that's all you would pay (its usually added to your next bill), regardless of what needs to happen to get you back up and running, so if the dish has fallen down,, the LNB has dropped to pieces and a fox has chewed all the cables, £60 one off would be relatively cheap.

As to cancellation and not being able to, yeah that's unfortunately what you agreed to.  See your T&Cs.