Sky TV Insurance Cover

blackqueen

Hi all,

I've had a quick look on here but can't find what I want to know about.

I have Sky+. A company called Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd have written to me to say that I am going to be out of warranty soon and that they can offer me cover as otherwise Sky charge £88 a callout - well that's what I was told when they rang but their form says £72.

Can't remember what they said the charge was - looking for bit of paper right now. Okay, found it. Says it's £9.59 a month or £95.99 one off fee. Says I'd have no repair bills, call out charges, parts or labour to pay.

But should I go with it or not bother? Is it worth the money? Are there better deals out there?

Confused about what to do, so thought I'd ask the people who know EVERYTHING there is to know... YOU LOT! :T

Many thanx.

hjb123

I got a few of these letters last year and didnt bother with them, havent had any problems with them. They did ring me at one stage but they didnt have a clue what package I actually had:D Personally if I were you I wouldnt bother, if anything goes wrong you can always either ask on here or get a cheaper local independent engineer

Fifer

We've had these calls. The sales tactics were exposed on Watchdog recently. They have no idea if your warranty is about to expire, nor even that you are a Sky customer. They just spin that line, give the impression they are associated with Sky and take your money.

Do the sums. If a callout is £88 and they are charging £96 a year, how often do you expect to need an engineer's visit?

spaceman5

and another way to look at it, is your original warranty lasts for 12 months, after 12 months you wont be tied into a contract with sky, so if you do have any problems with the sky + box after 12 months, phone up sky and tell them your problem, they will then say it will be £88 call out fee, you then say, well in that case i want to cancel my subscription, they will then say ok we will send out an enginear out on such and such a day, free of charge

[MaccA]

Hi blackqueen.

I agree with spaceman5. If you're Sky+ box warranty is about to run out then you will also be out of your contracted terms meaning you can cancel at any time. If anything does go wrong cancel Sky and reapply, then you'll get another box for free.

Sky boxes are fairly stable pieces of kit with very few things that go wrong and a fairly low failure rate. If something does go wrong you can buy a second hand Sky+ box off of ebay for less than £88 (mine cost me £50 almost 2 years ago).

[MaccA]

Conor_3

Also if you threaten to cancel simply because your equipment is faulty, they sometimes offer to do it for free.

taff007

I've had 4 or 5 broken boxes replaced free over the past 10 years just by phoning up, going through the technical support script they give and then threatening to cancel when they ask for a £70 call-out fee. In my experience Sky will bend over backwards to keep your subscription and forking out on an expensive insurance policy would have been a waste for me.

dunk

Sky's call out charge is £65 and they will either repair or replace your box. If you want to cancel due to technical problems they will do their best to keep you rather than have you leave either half price service call or free. They recently had withdrawn free service calls but still cheaper than extended warranty.

blackqueen

You guys are brilliant! I knew you were the right people to ask. Thanx a million. I will take your advice and rip up the insurance thingy and take great delight in putting it in the recycling bin. :T :j

Thanx again everyone... :beer: