This is hardly a great way to introduce yourself as a new member to a forum but needs must i'm afraid. I'll try to keep this as short as possible. Basically i fitted a new TV for my missus mother (well, gave her a TV) on Monday, it wasn't until i disconnected all the ancillary equipment from the old TV that i noticed the actual Sky Box. It was an old Panasonic silver digibox, the EPG was blurry on the display and the picture wasn't too great either. I asked her if she'd ever had a Sky box changed and she said no, bear in mind she has been with Sky for twelve years and has the full TV package minus the Sports package. She is 72 years old, partially disabled and suffers from partial deafness.
I told her the box was knackered and would need changing, she insisted that i leave it there as she could do without the hassle of phoning customer services and being messed about. So i told her that i would speak to CS on her behalf if she stayed beside me in case they needed to clarify any information, she reluctantly agreed. I eventually got through to Customer Services and was instantly told ( please bear in mind i informed them of how long she'd been with them, her age and circumstances) that she would have to upgrade her package to get a new box! I explained her position again but it was pointless. The line broke and i had to ring again, again i was put through to a call centre in India.
I ran through the details again and this time the bloke said he could do a HD box for "two ninety nine". He kept calling me Mr.Davies, assuming i was her partner and thinking i was of the same age, i kept telling him i wasn't but he wouldn't listen. Bear in mind that if somebody says "two ninety nine" then you would automatically assume the price to be two pounds and ninety nine pence. I said to him that it was a cheap price for a HD box and he changed the subject and asked if i wished to proceed with the purchase of the box. So i asked him to confirm the price, again he said "two ninety nine", to which i replied " two pounds ninety nine?", he said no, it was two hundred and ninety nine pounds!
I told him to do one and asked if he could just supply a new box as this box was clapped out after twelve years of use. He said the only thing he could do was send an engineer out which would cost £65, i told him he was having a laugh and he instantly dropped the engineer call out price to fifteen pounds! Again i reiterated the facts of the twelve years custom and honoring of all payments. He said they couldn't do anything until an engineer confirmed the box was knackered. She refused to pay the call out fee so i asked him to be put through to his manager, another Indian bloke. Got nowhere with him and asked to speak to somebody British, was told that i would have to disconnect the call as they were based in India and couldn't transfer the call to the UK. I would have to keep calling until somebody British answered the phone!
What a joke! You know what, i was so ****** off with Sky's shoddy customer service that i have purchased a used Sky+ HD box from EBay with a 5 year warranty for £60, just to sort it out myself. I dread to think what might have happened if she had rung Sky herself and been duped into paying £299 for a HD Box, i think it's disgusting. I will probably end up getting her a Freesat card so she can cancel her Sky contract altogether, what a way to treat a loyal customer.
The upshot of this also is that in view of this disgusting treatment i will also be cancelling my Sky contract too. I have no time for the people who treat the elderly in this manner, people who have fought wars for us. There is no respect for the elderly today, that's not just from Sky may i add, just communities in general.
If an old lady rang me up and asked for help then i'd go out of my way to help her, that's how it should be.
Apologies for a first post like this but i feel it is imperative that people know stuff like this goes on, it could be your mother or grandmother that gets treated like this.
I told her the box was knackered and would need changing, she insisted that i leave it there as she could do without the hassle of phoning customer services and being messed about. So i told her that i would speak to CS on her behalf if she stayed beside me in case they needed to clarify any information, she reluctantly agreed. I eventually got through to Customer Services and was instantly told ( please bear in mind i informed them of how long she'd been with them, her age and circumstances) that she would have to upgrade her package to get a new box! I explained her position again but it was pointless. The line broke and i had to ring again, again i was put through to a call centre in India.
I ran through the details again and this time the bloke said he could do a HD box for "two ninety nine". He kept calling me Mr.Davies, assuming i was her partner and thinking i was of the same age, i kept telling him i wasn't but he wouldn't listen. Bear in mind that if somebody says "two ninety nine" then you would automatically assume the price to be two pounds and ninety nine pence. I said to him that it was a cheap price for a HD box and he changed the subject and asked if i wished to proceed with the purchase of the box. So i asked him to confirm the price, again he said "two ninety nine", to which i replied " two pounds ninety nine?", he said no, it was two hundred and ninety nine pounds!
I told him to do one and asked if he could just supply a new box as this box was clapped out after twelve years of use. He said the only thing he could do was send an engineer out which would cost £65, i told him he was having a laugh and he instantly dropped the engineer call out price to fifteen pounds! Again i reiterated the facts of the twelve years custom and honoring of all payments. He said they couldn't do anything until an engineer confirmed the box was knackered. She refused to pay the call out fee so i asked him to be put through to his manager, another Indian bloke. Got nowhere with him and asked to speak to somebody British, was told that i would have to disconnect the call as they were based in India and couldn't transfer the call to the UK. I would have to keep calling until somebody British answered the phone!
What a joke! You know what, i was so ****** off with Sky's shoddy customer service that i have purchased a used Sky+ HD box from EBay with a 5 year warranty for £60, just to sort it out myself. I dread to think what might have happened if she had rung Sky herself and been duped into paying £299 for a HD Box, i think it's disgusting. I will probably end up getting her a Freesat card so she can cancel her Sky contract altogether, what a way to treat a loyal customer.
The upshot of this also is that in view of this disgusting treatment i will also be cancelling my Sky contract too. I have no time for the people who treat the elderly in this manner, people who have fought wars for us. There is no respect for the elderly today, that's not just from Sky may i add, just communities in general.
If an old lady rang me up and asked for help then i'd go out of my way to help her, that's how it should be.
Apologies for a first post like this but i feel it is imperative that people know stuff like this goes on, it could be your mother or grandmother that gets treated like this.