Sky Q install - installation engineers - dont want to do the job

[Kmcleod]

Hi,

So after being told Sky + was end of life I finally took the plunge and went for Sky Q, and re contracted my package.

Roll forward two weeks and Sky installation engineer turns up at 08:35 this morning;

 - first question from him - are you getting one box or two ? (I assume two because we are a multiroom customer), but shouldnt he have known this ?

 - then - where's your dish - point to dish on side of house, this is greeted with - 'oh I dont know if I can do that I'll need to speak to my boss', follwed by phone call and multiple pictures of the dish and location, (its on the side of the house, with a flatroof beside it, and can easily be reached from standing on the flat roof)

 - then get told - I need to put in eye bolts for the ladder so I can get into the roof - now this presents an issue, as its a stone house, so normally masonery drills wont cut it, and when he fills it in after, he cant use the normal silicon because that instroduced damp into the stone - so I tell him all of this and quesry why he cant climb onto the flatroof from a ladder and do the work standing there

  - the response - its health and safety

So the engineer leaves, and i call Sky..and after three hours of calls, during which;

 - I offer to put the new LMB in - no not allowed

 - I offer to get a third party to put the lmb in - ok, but you will have to pay the cost, (so now I'm paying because a Sky engineer cant climb a ladder)

 - I'm told that I can cancel my Sky subscription

The last is the most frstrating - I've been with Sky for 23 years - and because someone doesnt want to climb a ladder 2.1 metres onto a flat room, to stand beside a dish and swap out an LMB, I am being told that I should just cancel my subscription !

I've read through here and there are lots of instances of the same complaint....does anyone else think the installation department are out of control and law unto themselves ?

And to put this into context - BT came out three weeks ago and installed broadband into the same house - climbed multiple poles, ran cables and it was all done with zero fuss....

[Daniel0210]

@Kmcleod 

Skys health and safety policy is much stricter than that of an independent company and it would be more than his jobs worth to climb onto a flat roof. 

Although you had Multiroom with Sky+ unless you ordered a Multiscreen subscription and a mini box it's not automatically ordered. 

[PandJ2020]

Installation has changed a lot over the years.

They will not climb a ladder without the eyes to secure it and they definitely won't walk over flat roofs.

The H&S policy is a strict job condition.  Is there not another suitable location?

As above, Q multiroom is totally different to Sky HD - you may wish to enquire what you've got on your account.

I would have expected they would have known whether a mini box was being installed too.

[Kmcleod]

So the flat roof is more than solid - we had the building re-pointed last year and at any point there were 4 or 5 guys walking back and forth on it with no issues, however, I appreciate companies have processes - but my point here is that the engineer didnt even attempt to look at the solidity of the roof, nor didn he explain that it needed to be assesed.

likewise, securing the ladder - we live in a stone building, (its over a 100yrs old), so no masonary bit is going to drill it, so again, there was no discussion about bolting, or where that ladder needed to be secured to.

So complete lack of customer engagement and communication.

Re the multroom - was very clear when re contracting that we had two sky boxes in different rooms and were watching/recording on both - and thats what needed to be replicated when we went to Sky Q......

[Daniel0210]

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@Kmcleod wrote:

So the flat roof is more than solid - we had the building re-pointed last year and at any point there were 4 or 5 guys walking back and forth on it with no issues, however, I appreciate companies have processes - but my point here is that the engineer didnt even attempt to look at the solidity of the roof, nor didn he explain that it needed to be assesed.

There would be no need to attempt to take a look nor assess it as it's a big no no.

likewise, securing the ladder - we live in a stone building, (its over a 100yrs old), so no masonary bit is going to drill it, so again, there was no discussion about bolting, or where that ladder needed to be secured to.

So complete lack of customer engagement and communication.

Re the multroom - was very clear when re contracting that we had two sky boxes in different rooms and were watching/recording on both - and thats what needed to be replicated when we went to Sky Q......

Have you had confirmation from Sky in your contract emails that a Multiscreen subscription has been added AND a mini box ordered?

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[Kmcleod]

@Kmcleod wrote:

So the flat roof is more than solid - we had the building re-pointed last year and at any point there were 4 or 5 guys walking back and forth on it with no issues, however, I appreciate companies have processes - but my point here is that the engineer didnt even attempt to look at the solidity of the roof, nor didn he explain that it needed to be assesed.

There would be no need to attempt to take a look nor assess it as it's a big no no. - Well the folks at Sky disagree - the roof needs to be assessed - their words not mine, and they are sending someone to do that.....

likewise, securing the ladder - we live in a stone building, (its over a 100yrs old), so no masonary bit is going to drill it, so again, there was no discussion about bolting, or where that ladder needed to be secured to.

So complete lack of customer engagement and communication.

Re the multroom - was very clear when re contracting that we had two sky boxes in different rooms and were watching/recording on both - and thats what needed to be replicated when we went to Sky Q......

Have you had confirmation from Sky in your contract emails that a Multiscreen subscription has been added AND a mini - yes, two boxes....

[Mister_Dalek]

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@Kmcleod wrote:

@Kmcleod wrote:

So the flat roof is more than solid - we had the building re-pointed last year and at any point there were 4 or 5 guys walking back and forth on it with no issues, however, I appreciate companies have processes - but my point here is that the engineer didnt even attempt to look at the solidity of the roof, nor didn he explain that it needed to be assesed.

There would be no need to attempt to take a look nor assess it as it's a big no no. - Well the folks at Sky disagree - the roof needs to be assessed - their words not mine, and they are sending someone to do that.....

likewise, securing the ladder - we live in a stone building, (its over a 100yrs old), so no masonary bit is going to drill it, so again, there was no discussion about bolting, or where that ladder needed to be secured to.

So complete lack of customer engagement and communication.

Re the multroom - was very clear when re contracting that we had two sky boxes in different rooms and were watching/recording on both - and thats what needed to be replicated when we went to Sky Q......

Have you had confirmation from Sky in your contract emails that a Multiscreen subscription has been added AND a mini - yes, two boxes....

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Worth mentioning that there's no way to replicate recording on two boxes with Sky Q. You can only ever have one main box which does all the recording. All minboxes are slave devices without any local storage. You can set recordings and view recordings on a minibox (in HD only) but these recordings will all be made to the main Q box and streamed to the minibox via a WiFi mesh network generated by the main Q box.

[Daniel0210]

@Kmcleod 

In that case they may be sending a Special Heights team with different equipment to assess but a standard engineer will not go onto a roof. 

[nigea99 · Accepted solution]

@Kmcleod 

BTW You may, also, wish to read some notes I have made for people considering switching from SKY +/HD to SKY Q

SKY +/HD to SKY Q 

[Kmcleod]

@Daniel0210 

So this is where Sky arent communicating with their customers.

When the Sky Q discussion was had, at no point was it mentioned about a requirement to change the LMB, at that point could have started the discussion about dish location, and how to access it.

Likewise, if installation engineers are 'banned' from going onto roofs, then that needs to be communicated to customers, otherwise you are forcing customers from satellite TV to a streaming services with less functionality.

Equally, being clear and trasparent about what installation engineers can and cannot do and the contractural implications, would help customers, both new and old, make better informed decisions, rather than hiding everything in the small print.

[Kmcleod]

Hi thanks for the notes

To be honest, I'd happily stay with Sky +, the change to Sky Q is being forced upon me, because Sky are 'end of lifeing' the Sky+ service.

I've been with Sky since 1998, and its been pretty dependable, (apart from when we went from a panasonic box to an amstrad one (yuk)), but other than that, no major complaints.

[nigea99]

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@Kmcleod wrote:

@Daniel0210 

So this is where Sky arent communicating with their customers.

When the Sky Q discussion was had, at no point was it mentioned about a requirement to change the LMB, at that point could have started the discussion about dish location, and how to access it.

Likewise, if installation engineers are 'banned' from going onto roofs, then that needs to be communicated to customers, otherwise you are forcing customers from satellite TV to a streaming services with less functionality.

Equally, being clear and trasparent about what installation engineers can and cannot do and the contractural implications, would help customers, both new and old, make better informed decisions, rather than hiding everything in the small print.

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Indeed it is a shame that various points are not covered and discussed. 

Whilst probably few customers (in real terms) do have limitations I always feel it is better to find out up front.

In the past there was the fall back to keep SKY HD but SKY are now probably doing their best to move everyone off

[Daniel0210]

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@Kmcleod wrote:

@Daniel0210 

So this is where Sky arent communicating with their customers.

When the Sky Q discussion was had, at no point was it mentioned about a requirement to change the LMB, at that point could have started the discussion about dish location, and how to access it.

Likewise, if installation engineers are 'banned' from going onto roofs, then that needs to be communicated to customers, otherwise you are forcing customers from satellite TV to a streaming services with less functionality.

Equally, being clear and trasparent about what installation engineers can and cannot do and the contractural implications, would help customers, both new and old, make better informed decisions, rather than hiding everything in the small print.

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I don't disagree with you. Having said that the agent you spoke to won't know where your dish is, or of any issues with fixing a ladder to the building and the questions won't necessarily be on their guide. 

[nigea99]

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@Kmcleod wrote:

Hi thanks for the notes

To be honest, I'd happily stay with Sky +, the change to Sky Q is being forced upon me, because Sky are 'end of lifeing' the Sky+ service.

I've been with Sky since 1998, and its been pretty dependable, (apart from when we went from a panasonic box to an amstrad one (yuk)), but other than that, no major complaints.

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It is very unfortunate that the recent communications from SKY seem to be indcating that  the lack of Software updates is a bigger issue than it currently is - they have not had software updates for a long time

[PandJ2020]

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@Kmcleod wrote:
...you are forcing customers from satellite TV to a streaming services with less functionality.

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Well, that is inevitable.  The satellites are likely to be decommissioned within 5 years and it's unlikely they'll commission replacements...

Q's days are numbered too!