I will try and remain calm and collected about this subject.
I bought a sky+ system about 2 years ago and found the system to be a revolution. Briefly Sky+ allows you to record TV to a hard disk which allows you to pause and rewind live TV. It allows you to setup a series link which will record ever programme in a series, i.e. The Simpson’s or Battlestar Gallactica, which I would often miss if I didn’t have this facility (funny enough I tend to remember these programmes more now than before anyway!). Its a very convenient way of recording and watching your TV, no need to watch adverts anymore, just fast forward through them. No need to miss the programme you have been waiting for because the phone rings or you want a cup of tea or need the toilet. Its a brilliant system and I could go back to watching a standard TV for this reason. The fee for this facility is not free, it costs an additional £10 per month for the hard disk recording facility, if you subscribe to two or more premium channels then the Sky+ fee is waived (that’s very good of them).
HOWEVER
You would think that after paying £199 for the Sky+ system (which basically offers the hard disk recording over a normal satellite receiver) that if you no longer wished to subscribe to sky for their very expensive TV packages I would still be able to use the hard disk facility, after all why did I pay £199 for the equipment?
The answer is no. If you cancel your subscription to Sky then you also loose the hard disk recording facility! Yes, the hard disk recorder you bought will be locked by Sky if you stop your subscription to sky, Just imagine if you bought a TV and had to pay an additional £10 per month so you could use the AV channels? How would that make you feel? Or if you bought a car and had to pay every time you used the electric windows? This is an unfair and unjust fee and I want to see it stopped.
On top of this Sky+ keep upgrading the system, this should be a good thing, and on the whole it was, during one of the 1st upgrades my system saw was to enable two recordings at the same time and still be able to watch a previously recorded programme, brilliant. But then Sky decided in their wisdom that they would change the way the planner worked and this had significant effects on how the Sky+ box worked, it often crashed. If a programme was paused or rewound whilst another programme was being recorded the box would crash, meaning a reset was needed which meant you either stopped watching TV or interrupted a recording whilst you reset the machine.
A friend of mine wrote to Sky and complained about the problems he was having and said if it was not rectified he would be cancelling his subscription after 15 years of loyalty to Sky. Sky’s reply was basically, oh well, it was nice having you as a customer.
When I wrote to sky via a contact us link on the website they replied "We cannot deal with this matter any further as your customer account number has not been included". All I asked was when the system would be more stable and what other changes and problems I should expect!
It is apparent to me that there is no competition to sky, even if you opt to view your TV with Telewest or NTL you are still paying sky for their channels. The only difference is the customer service.
And now Sky are Launching their high definition (HD) channels. HD allows you to view TV at a much higher quality; this will come at an extra cost of £10 per month, unless you subscribe to two or more premium channels.
Whilst on the subject of HD on Sky. I was flicking through the channels after buying a HD ready TV and happened across a few channels offering HD viewing with a banner across the screen that read "For information on how to subscribe to this channel call Sky on 0870 XXXXXXX, now take into account that 0870 number are charged at national rate, it takes around 5 minutes to get through the switchboard at sky to speak to a human and then your lucky if they can deal with your request. I was told "We have no information about the HD channels; you will need to call back again when we have more information"
"When will you have more information?" I asked
"We have not been given that information?"
"Why does it tell me to call you at 0870 rates on the screen for more information about subscription?"
"I do not know, I’m sure the screen doesn’t say that"
"I can assure you it say, and I’m reading this of the screen new" I read the screen to her.
"I can’t help you with that"
"So, you have just charged me 10 minutes call on an 0870 number to tell me what I already knew?"
"I can’t help you any further, would you like to speak to a supervisor?"
"No thanks, I’m already paying for your ignorance"
I’m sure I have something on my file saying I’m an awkward customer.
I hope someone organises a walk out for sky customers, Id join it.
I understand that Sky has to make a profit, but the customers should not be fleeced!
Im sure I can think of other things but Im too wound up now and have to go and calm down.
D
