Page 1 of Sky problem

Slightly off topic this, but I was wondering if anyone else out there is having trouble with Sky TV.

Over the last few weeks we have been getting quite bad distorsion on our picture. The picture breaks up and the sound goes off and breaks up also, as you can imagine a program quickly becomes un-watchable under these conditions. I was wondering if anyone else is having trouble or whether it`s our setup that is at fault?

I`ve had a few complete crashes over the last few days. It may depend on what channel you`re watching as I think some are more compressed than others. Film Four has gone to pieces for me since it went to four channels a couple of months ago. Before then it was quite stable but I find that it is becoming unwatchable. I was going to cancel my sub but Peckinpah`s Killer Elite is on tonight so I`ve left it for this month. It`s not one of his best but I love the 2nd half and it`s not on anywhere else.

Hi Rob, I work for sky in their technical department and can tell you that it is a problem with your system. Best thing to do is give them a call on 08702 435000 and get some help either on the phone or organise an engineer to visit.=) .

Thanks for that I`ll give them a call and see if they can help

What happens when you are out of warranty?

The call centre will try and help you out as much as they can but if you need an engineer and you are outwith warranty the call out charge is £50. That usually covers everything, if the engineer finds that the box is faulty they replace that within the £50 too. However as some customers think, the warranty doesnt start again for another 12 months even if you get a new box, after a charged call the customer gets a 90-day guarantee for that particular fault.

The dish is different, if the engineer needs any extra parts for the dish such as brackets or extra wall mounts then the price goes up. Also if memory serves me right the guarantee for the dish if it has been moved be the weather is something like 14 days as the weather is outwith skys control obviously.

Most problems are solved within the initial £50 charge.

whilst we`re on the subject of sky, can you tell me where i stand on upgrading my box? i have one of the original pace ones having paid £160 for it, but now compared to the newer ones its s*** slow!!! the sky guide is painful to use and i cant use open as it sticks and again is ridiculously slow! can we not just exchange our existing one for a newer one?

Thats a bit of a weird question because the old and new boxes have a very slight noticable difference in speed and dont seem to be that much better. I have an original one too and its not too bad compared to the new ones. Anyway try turning it off, unplug it, check all the leads are in especially the dish input cable, plug it back in but leave it on standby for 1 minute then turn it on. That resets the box so that will get it working as fast as it should be, hopefully better for you.

Sky dont offer any kind of upgrade at the moment. The only thing I or they would recommend is to see if their is any being sold privately in the yellow papers or anywhere.

My dad`s got sky Digital and so has my girlfriend`s parents. My dad got it when it first came out and has one of those old Pace boxes, where as my girlfriend`s parents got it recently. The speed difference between the two is amazing. I find a lot of the games on my dad`s one are un playable. Even after switch off / switch on.

my brother recently had sky fiited and has a new panasonic box and the difference is unbelievable. my mate also had it installed a few weeks ago and he has a new pace one. again the difference was huge. i know theres nothing wrong with my box as many people i know have very slooowww boxes too, but i dont see why someone who has showed loyalty to sky by shelling out £160 for one of the first boxes should be penalised. i mean the boxes are given away so why not let people whove been there since day one upgrade??? i understand that original subscribers pay a few quid less a month, but im told that the price freeze expires in september anyway!!! so if sky dont offer an upgrade, its actually better to cancel our subsription in september, then re-subscribe. surely itd be a lot easier fo sky to offer an upgrade istead.

anyway im not having a go at you, its just i think skys customer service leave a little to be desired sometimes.....