Sky TV, Ripp-off Merchants!

We have had Sky television on and off now since the old Days of BSB! and I have noticed that their service has gone down loads over the years, Since moving the the Isle of Man we have had many issues with them but we kept going, especially as at the time there was no real alternative, but thankfully of late we have now gone digital so at least we can get the standard channels via Free-View.

My issue with Sky is that unlike most people out there, we had to purchase the units including the dish and installation ourselves, mainly because the local Sky installers either wanted stupid money to install a new dish where we we, or that they would not do it without installing scaffolding and a site survey along with health and survey etc, basically all crap and any excuss to up the bill and make more money out of us, especially as we had very easy access to a flat roof which has proven perfect for the dish which in the end we had purchased ourselves and installed with very little hassles, thanks to a local friend of ours. I then purchased 2 Sky boxes, a Sky plus box at £175 and a normal Sky Digibox at £80 from the local Sky shop, the same shop that would not have installed the system without a site survey, etc. We had to tell them that the units were replacements else they would not have sold them to us.

All is well until 6 months later when the Digibox died! called the sky shop and there comment was to call Sky as the warranty for the box was with them and log a call so that the unit will be swapped out ‘Free of Charge’! BUT, the problems start here.

Sky could not fit in a call out for over 2 weeks! I would not have really mattered about this, but they said that I would have to have an engineer call out to check the system over, and because Sky had not installed the system then I would have to pay not only for the visit but also for the replacement Digibox, and this is where I feel really pissed off!

Having been a customer with Sky TV for many years, either personally or via the partners account, you would have thought Sky would give us a bit more lee-way, and especially as I had to purchase the units myself whereas most of the people in the UK got there Sky installed for around £40, and especially since the move to Free-View they have been offering Sky Plus for the same cost. but no, because I had got the system installed by myself and also because I had purchased the units myself, even though it was Sky that would not supply the units which left me with no choice but to purchase the units myself, the Sky think it is fair to ripp me off again by charging me yet more money….

So I have now canceled my Sky subscription for both units, I was happy to keep the Sky Plus box going, but they refused to just cancel the Sky Digibox off the contract as I had only had this contract for less than a year, as we had only just moved to this address, they don’t care that you have been with Sky TV for many years, nor that you have had to purchase your own equipment, and they also don’t care about customer services…

Basically if you are thinking of installing Sky in the Isle of Man, don’t! The local installers are a bunch of ripp-off merchants and are out to scam you out of anything that they can, go Free-View, it is cheaper and so much less aggro, Sky have gone down-hill big time, and hopefully they will maybe work out that they are turning people away, and with Free-View costing around £20 a box, instead of the £45 per month, then it’s their loss…