OzTennis

Yep, Mr and Mrs OzT were sitting watching the tennis from Hamburg, it had been a hot, sultry afternoon (yes, I know, in Scotland!), next minute a lightning strike and the satellite receiver, video recorder and telephone line all blew up at the same time. No 'after the horse has bolted' warnings about surge protectors, disconnecting when it is thundery etc please. I also didn't bother taking out an extended warranty on the digibox when the guarantee expired a long time ago.

Anyway, the point of this is I am wondering whether to get the Sky technician out to repair/replace the digibox or whether I might be better off upgrading to Sky+? I'm expecting to have to pay the standard call-out charge of £60 or more at least for a repair/replacement so wondered how much a new Sky+ installation was? Is it worth the extra subscription compared to Sky? Any advice gratefully received.

I'm going off to Tesco tonight for a £39.99 video - if I got Sky+ it has a hard drive for recording anyway so just want a cheap basic video.

OzTennis

tinaj

The good news is at least you weren't going to bring it out with you!

Videos come in handy out here as most of the stuff on at watchable times is dross. Some of the best programmes are on later.

Jimbo9

Men & Motors I bet !!

OzTennis

I've just checked out the sky.com website and unless I'm missing something it says you can get Sky+ installed for £1 if you take out the Sky World and Family Pack (which we have now) and the subscription is £40 per month (currently £32 I think). If you choose other packages (more movie channels, which we don't want) the installation charge is £100. The difference between the Sky+ installation and the call-out charge for the repair or replacement of the Sky box will pay for the first year of higher subscription and we'll have a much better system as well - watch one program, record another etc, etc.

OzTennis

Bix da Boss

Just looked at the latest SKY MAGAZINE - advert within this mag states:

Sky+ box £199
Sky+ subscription - FREE - if you subscribe to more than one Sky premium channel, otherwise £10 per month
Standard Sky+ installation £50


The £10 extra subscription on top of your current package if you haven't got the premium channels is they say to cover the Personal Video Recorder features the Sky+ box offers.

Hope that helps.

vicky o

Same thing happened to us. Took out the modems in computer and sky box. Wasn't worth replacing as it was only there bog standard box. We got a panasonic sky box from ebay!!

Andy66

Completely endorse the ebay thing. There are a lot of technicians selling off brand new digiboxes - expect to pay £30 - £40.

What is wrong with it? Our 'box went and I had exactly the same debate as you. I phoned the sky helpline and they took me through all the diagnostics and - miracle! - fixed! Apparently they build up static between the box and the dish head and stop working. By knowing how to switch everything off and reset it (you will never work out how to do it yourself due to "hidden" menus) you can cure many common problems.

But as they say, "If it's f@cked, it's f@cked" so I hope you get a cost effective solution.

FWIW I don't know anyone who has got Sky+ and HASN'T said it is totally brilliant!

All the best

Andy

Mike & Zoe

AFAIK it's against eBays Ts&Cs to sell stuff like digiboxes, so tread carefully.

wmoore

Mine went on New Years Eve and I checked out eBay and all the local ad mags but decided the safest thing to do was give Sky £60. At least you know where it's from and if it goes wrong again (as mine did) then it is under warranty.

Andy66

Easiest way to check it out is have a look at someone's feedback rating, look at items they have sold, and contact previous buyers of the item you are looking at. If they are happy, then you have nothing to worry about.

Don't know about T & C's, but given the amount of electronics and stuff on ebay I would be very surprised if it was against the rules. Perhaps selling cards would be though.

Andy

OzTennis

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions, here's the update:

I rang Sky and asked for the £1 Sky+ installation after establishing that the existing Sky digibox was bound for the digibox graveyard in the er sky; sorry that's only for Sky, it's £1 installation and £199.99 for the Sky+ digibox; right, then I'll just have a £1 Sky installation and digibox; that's just for new customers, you are an existing customer so will have to pay the £65 call-out to have the box replaced; right, so I'll cancel my current agreement and start up as a new customer for £1 thanks; no, that still makes you an existing customer, but ......., I'll refer it to my supervisor; yes, you will be classified as an existing customer no matter what.

So I've booked the technician to come and fix it on Friday! I thought about buying a digibox elsewhere but we will not be able to use it in Oz so it's better to effectively rent it from Sky and get the one year warranty that comes with it. In the meantime we're missing the Hamburg tennis - but not Men & Motors.

OzTennis

Oh, and BT report there is nothing wrong with the telephone line so the phone itself must have been 'knackered' by the lightning (being connected to the digibox) so it and the video will have to be replaced!!

OzTennis

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions, here's the update:

I rang Sky and asked for the £1 Sky+ installation after establishing that the existing Sky digibox was bound for the digibox graveyard in the er sky; sorry that's only for Sky, it's £1 installation and £199.99 for the Sky+ digibox; right, then I'll just have a £1 Sky installation and digibox; that's just for new customers, you are an existing customer so will have to pay the £65 call-out to have the box replaced; right, so I'll cancel my current agreement and start up as a new customer for £1 thanks; no, that still makes you an existing customer, but ......., I'll refer it to my supervisor; yes, you will be classified as an existing customer no matter what.

So I've booked the technician to come and fix it on Friday! I thought about buying a digibox elsewhere but we will not be able to use it in Oz so it's better to effectively rent it from Sky and get the one year warranty that comes with it. In the meantime we're missing the Hamburg tennis - but not Men & Motors!

OzTennis

Oh, and BT report there is nothing wrong with the telephone line so the phone itself must have been 'knackered' by the lightning (being connected to the digibox) so it and the video will have to be replaced!!

OzTennis

Sorry for the above stutter but as has been noted in Ceri's thread there are strange things going on in BE's at the moment. When you reply you get a message about database problems and you think your reply hasn't gone into the thread but it has. However, the thread doesn't get bumped to the top and the number of replies and last poster doesn't change. Hopefully the moderator whoever is onto the problem.

OzTennis