Stream remote completely unresponsive

[Bordonbert]

I keep stressing to everyone, and I promise this will be the last time.  Sky themselves have confirmed to me...

YES the remote is a known problem.

YES Sky do know about it.

YES they have identified the problem and know the fix.

YES Sky have corrected replacements being delivered now and presumably sent out to us as soon as they are able.

...and if we are honest we all know...

YES it is irritating to not be the first one to get our hands on one.

YES somebody has to wait, (personally I don't mind it being me because that means someone else is having a better experience and I have my own temporary solution which works so I'll catch up when I can).

Now, Sky are getting rocketed for selling systems when they know the remote is unreliable.  It's not disastrously wrong in that every one won't work out of the box.  Remember that, even though there are a lot of us here complaining about the fault, there are many many more people out there who are not experiencing it.  It's the luck of the draw.

In the meantime...

Is it better to go on repeatedly shouting into the storm about losing Christmas viewing and what scoundrelks Sky are or to calmly try simple procedures to possibly fix the action of your existing remote until the new one arrives?  The latter will give your family their Christmas viewing, granted with occasional irritating glitches, until your new remote arrives.  It's a compromise and it does seem the art of that is dead in today's world.

I can completely understand that Sky can't simply stop selling systems because of this issue.  They are shipping out their kit in the hope, (actually the knowledge), that the vast majority of people will still have a problem free good experience.  Those customers will wait to discover the problem which will appear later I'm sure.  It means Sky can replace the remotes of those who experience it right from the outset first and, more importantly, keep themselves in business and your TV up and running.  Stop selling and we all lose out if they fold.  Keep on selling and help the problem sufferers as soon as you are able.  It's a sensible business way to approach it.

And no, I have absolutely no connection with Sky, up until a couple of weeks ago I was an absolute Sky hater.  Sky the mega-corporation I still detest, their basic service that I have finally chosen to take on board I quite like.  I'm an ex design engineer who worked in a fast moving mega-buck electronics/software environment myself so I have seen this sort of cleft stick they are stuck in before.  Consequently I am prepared to cut them a little slack and put up with an amount of initial sorting out - as long as it doesn't stretch out for too long.  It isn't the attitude for everyone but those who can adopt it will be a lot less stressed.

I would urge us all to calm our frustration and simply LOOK UP THE ADVICE RE TWISTING THE REMOTE BODY AND STRETCHING THE REMOTE POSITIVE TERMINALS TO RE-ESTABLISH BATTERY CONTACT TO THE PCB.  It only takes a few seconds and may get you temporarily back on track.

[Mjstrong]

Completely agree with pretty much all of that. 

I know is sounds like **bleep** kissing, but I honestly don't think they could have dealt with this any better?  

 The decision to replace as faults arise, rather than halt all sales and recall all remotes will have been decided based on numbers of complaints vs. number of happy customers.  

Yeah it's a horrible thing, but to go from an issue arising, to be (almost) solved in a couple of months is pretty good. 

The only caveat for me would be credit.  People really should be credited for AT LEAST the period they have paid for and been unable to receive,. Perhaps a little more as a goodwill gesture If this period has been prolonged too?  A free month or something 🤷‍♂️

But I have to admit, I've had far worse CS from Sky in the past, and feel they've done pretty well on this one.

[Bordonbert]

Perfectly put Mjstrong.  I entirely agree with everything you have said (much more succinctly than I did 😂).  You're point about credit is a good one too.  I hadn't addressed that at all.  Now the Sky service may be pretty good but the Sky corporate business analysing and decision making machine is a different animal.  My guess will be that they will watch closely how many people leave because of this and work out how many more they will potentially lose if they offer nothing and how much revenue they will lose by giving everyone who reported it free credit.

Faceless emotionless uncaring corporate entities are all the same beast at heart.  I would also agree, the fix has been quick and Sky support has been great for me.  Mind you, I always wear a broad smile and take a big stick which I keep behind my back until it is needed.  An "all guns blazing" approach rarely gets you everything you could with a more friendly one.

[Tom+Leader]

My remote won't work at all even after following the instructions was working fine then stoped so your not really improving my experience when it doesn't even work 

[Pc195]

I can turn the tv on at the puck but the control is completely unresponsive dosent even light up. 
I've tried 7&9 4&6 & 1&3 but nothing happens. 

Not happy 

[Bordonbert]

I can understand you not being happy about this of course but, don't despair.  Read the last few posts and give yourself a little time to step back from the problem.

Sky help page for Battery check and Remote pairing 

If you can turn the TV on and off then the IR side is working which means there is some power to the PCB. Your problem seems to be either in pairing the remote to your puck or that the power is not sufficient to turn on the Bluetooth side which is what is used after the TV is on.  Sky say:

"An easy way to check is to cover the buttons slightly on your Sky remote with your hand. You should see a white backlight behind the buttons. If you can't see the backlight - try pressing a button. If there's still no light, check the battery compartment to make sure the paper used to protect the battery has been fully removed. It might have ripped when being removed leaving some behind.

"Still can't see the backlight? It’s likely you need to replace the two AAA batteries."

My guess is you would have the paper strip removed as the IR works.  I would try it with two new batteries if you can.  Putting these batteries in another device to test them is not guaranteed as the Sky remote is a Bluetooth device and they are more power hungry.  The batteries may be on the edge of dying.

That said, step on to the next page and follow the advice there:

"Re-Pair your remote:

"Press and hold 7 and 9 together on your Sky remote for three seconds.

"Press and hold 1 and 3 together for three seconds.

"Wait until you see the connected message and select Continue."

Is that the procedure you are following?  It is a two stage thing with both button pair presses for the correct time required.

[Mr-fix-it]

Hi everyone,  I've been reading through this rather long thread as my sky stream remote also stopped working today just 1 week after getting it.  After looking through the posts I can confirm mine is definitely faulty and a replacement is needed.  I've spoken to sky and expressed my extreme disappointment, that they seem to have knowingly sent out devices with faulty remotes for months without addressing the situation directly with customers.  There is no mention of issues on their website except on these threads.  Sky customer service agents are well aware of the issue as my discussion with an agent today confirmed, and their solution is to send you a replacement, which can take 5 working days, which over Xmas probably means longer.  I have demanded a refund for lack of service whilst I wait for a replacement and they have agreed to do so.  It still doesn't help that my sky stream box is now a useless paperweight over Christmas with no tv to watch with the family.  I found this shocking for such a large company to act I such a way to all their customers and more complaints will be made in due course,  but I do have a solution for everyone that may help. It's not ideal but it may help others over the festive period who also have an otherwise useless sky stream puck or glass tv.

 I've bought a sky stream remote from AMAZON for £29.99 and you can get NEXT DAY delivery from them.  (It's strange how Amazon can help when sky cannot) This will allow me to use my sky over Christmas when the family is round instead of looking at a screensaver.  I will then charge sky for the remote control, via demanding a credit to my account for said remote control and if they refuse at least Amazon accept returns, which I will do when the replacement arrives.  

This is not an ideal situation in way shape or form but at least I will have some tv over Christmas.  It's a shame that Amazon can provide a delivery quicker than the manufacturer for their own equipment and you can even choose a colour for your remote.  They sell the official remote and it will only work with sky glass and stream not Q  as sky Q remotes are not compatible with sky stream or glass. 

Again this is not ideal and I'm angry that Sky continues to send  faulty devices to new customers without any hint of an issue on their website, sales over returns I'm afraid seems to be the policy.  In other words they'll send them out and deal with the issue when you the customer has to contact them to tell them of a problem they know about!  I work in IT and have had a look inside my broken remote and  the battery contacts to the pcb are just friction contacts no soldering at all, so it is definitely a design flaw considering the remote housing is quite flimsy, meaning they can lose connection to the board which means no power to remote.  

I hope this is of help to others over Christmas who also run the risk of a Christmas with no television.  

[Pistonhead]

@Mr-fix-it Agree with everything you've said other than Sky Q remotes not being compatible. Many users on here have paired their Q Bluetooth remotes with Stream (me included) and they work very well. Some even prefer them to the slippery Stream/Glass remotes.

I hope you are up and running in time for the Christmas festivities. 

[Neil4444]

Sky Stream remote has stopped working after 48 hours. tried holding down numbers, changed batteries etc etc.
Can anyone offer any help or solutions please?

Thanks 

[lee9160]

I finally got mine 23 days, so at long last I can now enjoy streaming again

[Steve+Knipe]

a quick fix, try pulling out the battery contacts a bit, as they get compressed. 

[Pistonhead]

@Neil4444 Have you tried the 'twist trick' suggested by @AntInBristol in this very thread? It's worked for many that have had remote problems.

[Bordonbert]

Anyone who has this problem, you only have to look back a page in this thread and you should find plenty of advice about the fixes.  It absilutely is a problem but it isn't generally a showstopper.  However, you have to be prepared to look here for yourselves.  I'm now sick of posting repeated advice on this issue only a few posts later than the last time I did it.  Your help is here but you must do a little work yourselves andr find it.

 Then when you have found it and it has helped you, why not make a post telling the next crop of sufferers that the solution is just XX posts back in this thread?

[Jjesso]

Twist method sure works I have two sky streams and only one the remote has played up looks to me that manufacture load dodgy ones got on to it then manfucture a fix and look of draw.

I do have say remote problems aside it's amazing piece of kit.

[MURF1102]

Folks, my replacement remote arrived within the 3-5 working days window as promised by Sky, and appears to be fine.

Thanks for all the preious advice and tips.