Sky charges for repairs to non-faulty digiboxes

[TheBlueRaja]

From The Register:

Exclusive British Sky Broadcasting has denied accusations that the company tried to profit from a known software fault in its digital video recorders, after customers were charged £65 for engineers to visit their homes.

A recurring fault in the Sky+ system software causes recordings to fail for no apparent reason. The bug eats up space on the digibox's hard disk and, even after the failed recording has been deleted, the disk space is lost.

Although the problem has dragged on for two years, coming and going through various software updates, recent complaints from Sky+ customers have revealed an interesting development:

Customers whose digiboxes are still under warranty are told by Sky that the fault is known about and will be fixed with an automatic software update, downloaded by satellite. But customers whose digiboxes are out of warranty are told that it is a hardware fault and will require an engineer visit. This incurs a £65 call-out charge.

[Paul M]

and people say ntl are bad .......

[Bifta]

Don't the automatic software updates happen ... automatically regardless of whether your box is in warranty or not?

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by Bifta

Don't the automatic software updates happen ... automatically regardless of whether your box is in warranty or not?

Probably, but if they are telling the average joe that they need an engineer as its a hardware fault - who are they going to believe?

[themelon]

Makes ntl look like angels

Hardly surprising really, I have long known and championed the fact that Sky are rip off merchants and no better than ntl in anyway.

This is proof in the pudding!