Sky box stuck on Amber light, Sky refuse to replace

[zed4]

Hi,

So I went into my spare room (usually let to my brother when he's in the country) to check on the Sky box to make sure the HDD wasn't full. I haven't been in there for a couple of weeks. Tried to turn on the Sky box but it was stuck on the amber standby light.

I switched it off at the wall and switched it back on. Screen says "Sky + HD Please Wait" then it goes black and the standby light turns amber again. Nothing else.

I've tried switching it on and holding backup to do a forced update, it went through the process, but still wouldn't turn on. Tried holding left and right buttons, but that did nothing at all. Broken. The man on the phone said there's nothing else they can do, they need to send an engineer round at £45 and he will most likely just replace the box at a cost of £250!!!

The box was new in March 2012, so it's less than 2 years old. Sky say they don't need to replace the box free of charge as it's over one year old. But I disagree. It should be covered under the SOGA for a reasonable period of time and one year is far too short for a £250 box that sits in a room getting used for just 6 months of the year. Failing that, EU law says it should be covered for at least 2 years.

I record all the F1 for my brother whilst he's on operation in the Middle East, so he can watch them when he gets back. Hence we have he 1TB box in there.

I'm really annoyed about this. I've gone a bit mad on their Twitter page with my user account @danyeates so we'll see if that comes to anything, but I doubt it. What do you think? Anything I can try to get the box to work again? Any advice on getting a new Sky box? Might go to the CAB to get advice on what to do next. I hate being fobbed off by this. The guy on the phone had no authority and said no one in the office did either.

Dan

Edited by zed4 on Saturday 16th November 22:43

[sjj84]

Mine does that every time the power is turned off to the box. It's a massive pain in the arse. Try turning it on like you have, then when the screen goes black just leave it. Mine comes to life after 5 minutes or so. It's a similar age to yours.
You could try asking for a new box, if they refuse say you might as well cancel your package then, I know people that have done that and got HD free or half price bills for months. There's always the risk they'll just accept and cancel though.

[zed4]

I've left it on all day on the black screen, but no joy. Sucks. What's worse is I'm still paying £11 a month or whatever it is for the multiroom, which we can't use.

[stevensdrs]

Cancel the whole package. The retention team will give you a replacement box to keep your business.

[zed4]

Would you bloody believe it?! After turning it on and off for 3 days, the day I decide to lodge a complaint it starts working again! It's just turned on!!! Weird.

[1888jcr]

check out here ......this may help
http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f11/sky-box-e...

[zed4]

Argh! It won't turn on again this morning. Completely non responsive, tried switching it off and on at the wall, but no joy. Sky will have to send a replacement box.

[Mashedpotatoes]

Same happened to me at the start of the week. It's over two years old but sky sent me a very groovy looking new one and only charged me £2.95 postage

My apols I've only just bothered to read your post rather than just the title. It was my router that was up the swanny

Edited by Mashedpotatoes on Sunday 17th November 09:43

[Burrito]

Have a look on eBay. We picked up a refurbed unit for £60 when Sky wanted £250.

[miniman]

stevensdrs said:

Cancel the whole package. The retention team will give you a replacement box to keep your business.

This worked for me.

[Silent1]

zed4 said:

Argh! It won't turn on again this morning. Completely non responsive, tried switching it off and on at the wall, but no joy. Sky will have to send a replacement box.

When you do get it to turn on go into the settings and turn auto standby off.

[JustinP1]

miniman said:

stevensdrs said:

Cancel the whole package. The retention team will give you a replacement box to keep your business.

This worked for me.

I've been with Sky 10 years, two box multi room.

I've been through between 6 and 8 boxes in that time.

It was my rule to never, ever pay for a box. Every time, I told them I would rather cancel. You get put through to people who are allowed to make decisions and they ask you when the engineer can be with you for free with a new box.

That said, for the first time ever I broke that rule at the start of this week. The 3+ year old HD plus box died.

I asked what they could do to keep my business. They told me I could either have an engineer visit with a recon box for £40, or if I were willing to self-install I could replace that box with a brand new 2TB box with WIFI for the princely sum of £49.

So, for the first time, I bought a new box...

[Marvindodgers]

A others have said, just phone up and cancel. They will do everything they can to keep you as a customer and you will almost certainly get an engineers visit and new box sorted out pretty quickly.

[littlebasher]

When mine have broken, i just pop onto Gumtree or similar and find a replacement for £20

Quick call to Sky to pair the card to the box and jobs a goodun

[zed4]

They've offered to send an engineer round for £15, I assume this would include repairing or replacing my box (for a refurbished one).

Not a bad offer I suppose, but I have fired over a few emails requesting they send me a box for free.

[budgie smuggler]

Marvindodgers said:

A others have said, just phone up and cancel. They will do everything they can to keep you as a customer and you will almost certainly get an engineers visit and new box sorted out pretty quickly.

Heh, they didn't do that for me. I just ended up cancelling Sky TV anyway and moving my broadband from Sky to O2.

[evoivboy]

zed4 said:

They've offered to send an engineer round for £15, I assume this would include repairing or replacing my box (for a refurbished one).

Not a bad offer I suppose, but I have fired over a few emails requesting they send me a box for free.

they did that to me for a reposition dish, engineer put up a complete new system all for £15

[onesickpuppy]

Marvindodgers said:

A others have said, just phone up and cancel. They will do everything they can to keep you as a customer and you will almost certainly get an engineers visit and new box sorted out pretty quickly.

[zed4]

I sent an email to the CEO knowing full well it will go to an executive customer services team for angry customers!

I've just had a reply saying they are very sorry for the service and support I've received so far. They've arranged for an engineer to visit on Sunday, for free, and they've applied a credit of nearly £50 to my account to compensate for the loss of F1 races, which I had saved for my brother, and have given me a month's subscription for free!

Happy days.

[budgie smuggler]

zed4 said:

I sent an email to the CEO knowing full well it will go to an executive customer services team for angry customers!

I've just had a reply saying they are very sorry for the service and support I've received so far. They've arranged for an engineer to visit on Sunday, for free, and they've applied a credit of nearly £50 to my account to compensate for the loss of F1 races, which I had saved for my brother, and have given me a month's subscription for free!

Happy days.

Result Bit of a ste that you had to go chasing but still, can't complain at the end result.