Sky + HD / Warranty
Discussion
Hmmm, might not be exactly the right cat, but I fancy this is a bit 'low ball' for the finance section. Here's hoping.
Got a call from Sky last night telling me that now our box/dish is a year old and no longer covered under warranty, however they will kindly extend it for us for 'only' an extra £8 a month.
OK, not a huge amount of money, but two things stopped me saying, yes 1) my pathological hatred of 'extended warranties' from back in the days when Currys / Dixons etc used to spend 10 mins selling you want you wanted and half and hour bothering you about spending the same again an a warranty. 2) Our bill has steadily grown from £30ish a month to £55 as we've added things like unlimited broadband etc and there has to be a limit.
As far as I know the modern HD sky+ box is a pretty reliable thing, and short of being blown off your house the dishes are pretty robust too.
Plus given how hard they fight to keep customers and win new ones - if it did ever break down and I said I wanted to leave because of it, I'm sure they'd ether fix it for free, or once I'd left welcome me back with open arms and the offer of free box and installation as they did before.
Anyone had cause to call the Sky man out, or see a glaring hole in my logic?
Got a call from Sky last night telling me that now our box/dish is a year old and no longer covered under warranty, however they will kindly extend it for us for 'only' an extra £8 a month.
OK, not a huge amount of money, but two things stopped me saying, yes 1) my pathological hatred of 'extended warranties' from back in the days when Currys / Dixons etc used to spend 10 mins selling you want you wanted and half and hour bothering you about spending the same again an a warranty. 2) Our bill has steadily grown from £30ish a month to £55 as we've added things like unlimited broadband etc and there has to be a limit.
As far as I know the modern HD sky+ box is a pretty reliable thing, and short of being blown off your house the dishes are pretty robust too.
Plus given how hard they fight to keep customers and win new ones - if it did ever break down and I said I wanted to leave because of it, I'm sure they'd ether fix it for free, or once I'd left welcome me back with open arms and the offer of free box and installation as they did before.
Anyone had cause to call the Sky man out, or see a glaring hole in my logic?
I have had HD since the world Cup in 2006 so I have some experience of this one.
I am on my third box in those six years. The new ones have a 12 month warranty whilst the refurbished ones they palm you off with later only have three months cover.
The first one went after twelve months and the Sky engineer said "I am supposed to give you a refurbished box but if I do that I'll only be back here again in a few weeks so I'll give you a new one...."
Price was about £70 and I had no insurance.
Surprise surprise this one failed after more than 12 months and this time they gave me a refurb and charged me £70 or so and this has worked fine ever since.
So I've spent £140 in the five years since my first warranty expired. If I'd bought insurance at £8 a month that would be 60 x 8 = £480.
They can't charge you too much to come and swap out your dead box or you would tell them to poke it.
Self insurance - you know it makes sense.
I am on my third box in those six years. The new ones have a 12 month warranty whilst the refurbished ones they palm you off with later only have three months cover.
The first one went after twelve months and the Sky engineer said "I am supposed to give you a refurbished box but if I do that I'll only be back here again in a few weeks so I'll give you a new one...."
Price was about £70 and I had no insurance.
Surprise surprise this one failed after more than 12 months and this time they gave me a refurb and charged me £70 or so and this has worked fine ever since.
So I've spent £140 in the five years since my first warranty expired. If I'd bought insurance at £8 a month that would be 60 x 8 = £480.
They can't charge you too much to come and swap out your dead box or you would tell them to poke it.
Self insurance - you know it makes sense.
As above - I don't think it's worth the cash - I have had them call me, but after a short conversation it turns out they weren't even Sky, just a 'partner' company.
My HD box hasn't gone wrong in the 3+ years I have had it, and I have had it to bits to put a bigger Hard Drive in it.
There are deals to be had on new boxes if you are prepared to negotiate a bit, I doubt you would do better with an extended warranty.
My HD box hasn't gone wrong in the 3+ years I have had it, and I have had it to bits to put a bigger Hard Drive in it.
There are deals to be had on new boxes if you are prepared to negotiate a bit, I doubt you would do better with an extended warranty.
joe_90 said:
I would agree, customer retention is key to them.
I've read from a few people who have tried this and Sky have let them walk. But it seems to work for most.We're on our 3rd box and we only paid for the first one. Our street has cable, and Virgin now have Tivo boxes, so our last threat to leave was totally valid
First - I'd check it is actualy Sky who called you. When my initial warranty ran out I had a similar call. I challenged them hard until the caller admitted they were not from Sky but from someone completely different.
I didn't take out the extra warranty.
Then when my box died (card melted - a common theme as I understand it) I called for an engineer and they Sky sold me a warranty then and there for a year, which worked out cheaper than the cost of the engineer coming out to fix it. So there was no obvious benefit to buying the cover up front. Seems it is better to wait until it breaks and then call them up.
I didn't take out the extra warranty.
Then when my box died (card melted - a common theme as I understand it) I called for an engineer and they Sky sold me a warranty then and there for a year, which worked out cheaper than the cost of the engineer coming out to fix it. So there was no obvious benefit to buying the cover up front. Seems it is better to wait until it breaks and then call them up.
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