Sky - Pay Once Watch Forever - My Blog

[TheOne]

* This blog will be all about my dealings with Sky as i have just ordered the Pay Once Watch Forever deal @ £73.40p giving me the installation (Dish, box, remote and viewing card) plus 4 packs for 4 months for free, which i have to cancel by the end of the 3rd month, if i no longer wish to receive them.....sounds reasonable?
* http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/pay-once.aspx
* I want to see if Sky have actually changed their ways after a few YEARS as many people have had problems with this offer - see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=711597
* In the current economic situation and digital switchover, many people are turning to this alternative, rather than paying alot to have an ariel fitted.
* Hopefully, this will help inform others about how ruthless Sky, may be ....so read on


Tips

* I keep every letter i receive in a folder
* I log down all calls i make to Sky, inc. tel number, time, date, dept and a summary of what was said


10/04/09
Took the offer up on 10/04/09 on behalf of my parents, for 2 main reasons:
1. A far cheaper alternative at £73.40 to Freesat (BBC/ITV), to get the box, dish, card, installation etc
2. After the 4 months, it will offer us most of the decent ethnic minority channels for free that Freeview cannot, Virgin Media will not (despite being with them for 10years) and Freesat is too expensive at the moment

I tried dialling the 01506 number on saynoto0870.com, but kept getting passed through to some bizarre depts so hung up and re-dialled the number given on freesatfromsky.co.uk

Got through after 5mins of music asked him that i dont want to set up DD and dont want it connected to a phoneline, he said no DD will be set-up and box has to be connected for 4months then i can disconnect as its mainly for interactive services.

He only took payment of £73.40 from debit card, gave me the job no, contract no and set up a password.

Told him that im aware of the problems with cancelling, so he said he would put a note on the account, so when i ring up to cancel in 3 months the CS rep will see it (fingers crossed) and will go smoothly

So far, installation is scheduled for Sunday 19th April (but an engineer will ring to confirm in the next few days)


15/04/09
I received my Sky Viewing Card today (a blue card with a yellow house on)

On the confirmation letter it said:
Digibox (subsidised) - Nil (price)
Installation - Nil (price)
Total cost - Nil

So that sounds good so far.

But...all the T&C's seem to be for normal customers

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

I have Sky + (monthly subscriber). Will I get freestat channels through my sky box?

[NoKnowledge]

The second link on the first post I think is http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=711597

---------- Post added at 15:21 ---------- Previous post was at 15:19 ----------

Originally Posted by Saaf_laandon_mo

I have Sky + (monthly subscriber). Will I get freestat channels through my sky box?

Channels are the same aren't they?

[AndyCambs]

Not according to Revoo

Stuart, Manchester

June 16, 2008

Good pointsThis was advertised as "Free Sat". What I got was Sky TV. I do get SKy TV basic package, but this is not what I wanted. It also will cost £19 per month after the first 4 monthsBad pointsThis is Sky TV NOT "Free Sat". When I cancel Sky, I will get less channels than are available on Free Sat. I feel mis-led

[Paul]

There is a comparrison chart here:
http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/pay-...-compares.aspx
It even tells you on the freesatfromsky site about the monthly costs after 4 months.

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by Saaf_laandon_mo

I have Sky + (monthly subscriber). Will I get freestat channels through my sky box?

Yes but unless you either a) Have a subscription or b) Pay Sky £10/month you won't have access to any of the Sky+ features (IE it will work as a normal Sky box)

[Hugh]

Here's a list of the Channels on Freesat from Sky - List

[TheOne]

19/04/09

* Engineer arrived a little late than expected
* Fitted the dish, phoneline under carpet as requested, a brand new standard Sky box and remote
* Put the card in and set it all up and showed us how to use it all.
* Was done in under 45mins
* Have got the 4 packages on, working fine

Overall, a happy customer

Lets see how it goes over the next 4 months !!

[m419]

I find it a little pointless when Freeview is available offering similar features and you can get freeview boxes from as little as £20.

Then theres Virgin Media's M TV package which comes with the phone service,unlike Freeview and Freesat, it comes with Catch up TV.

Freesat from Freesat.co.uk is provided by ITV and BBC and find that a complete waste of time and money! 140 poxy and unwanted channels for all that installing and spending and an unsightly dish.

But that Freesat from Sky, its not really pay once,watch forever, its just for 4 months and is a technique to get you to subscribe, its a like a taster and because you get used to having all those channels, you will then feel like continuing with them and then subscribing!

However out of the two Freesat offers, I think freesat from Sky is a better offering than the one offered by ITV and BBC. I would use it if I already had a Sky dish,not actually allowed to put them up anyway.

[Hiroki]

I did this not so long ago and it was quick and painless to do.

Took them around 30mins to set up and was a nice neat job (the bloke even put a quad lnb on the dish and wired up the bedroom for an extra tenner!) Was easy to cancel too. And was nice to be left with the box so I can watch Scuzz which is something that's not on virgin or freeview.

[TheOne]

30/04/09

Over the last 2 weeks ive received 2 letters telling me to complete Direct Debit instructions.

I've just got off the phone to the Sky call centre, explained that im on the Pay Once, Watch Forever deal, and that ive already paid the one-off £73.40p charge and nothing more is required. To which she replied ...that i was right!!! and i only need to fill it in if i want to become a customer or have movies, to which i said no !!
Asked her to leave a note on my account, to say ..stop sending me DD instruction letters, which she did and confirmed my service should not be affected.

So far so good.

I only call from my mobile now, as i can record all calls to the phones memory and have that as evidence should Sky get up to anything.

I too asked the private sub-contractor to fit me a quad-LNB for £10, so im all set for a HD PVR soon