Sky-box insurance. A Warning

[bluemoon]

An elderly lady we know has been paying insurance to a company called Satellite Direct UK. Apparently to insure her Sky box.
This is a SCAM. No-one but Sky is allowed to mess with your box, so any damage caused by their untrained engineers could leave you in a worse position than if you had no insurance at all. Further this company keeps making the 'mistake' of getting the decimal point in the wrong place and thus charging you 10 times the monthly premium. The cheque they sent to this lady to cover their 'error' has just bounced. She is not a well woman and I was speaking to her this morning and she was in tears. She is a friend of my mum's and Mum asked me to get involved and to try to find out what I could about them as I have internet access. What I've read so far is frightening. So, if you are insured by anyone other than Sky or Virgin for their boxes cancel your policy immediately, then tell your bank what you have done and why as they keep attempting to take payments apparently months afterwards.
Sorry if this is old news to the rest of you, but if I can save one vulnerable person from the distress this lady is undergoing then it will have been worth it.

[SarzWix]

Oh, bluemoon, how utterly disgusting.. The poor lady
Have you got Trading Standards involved?

[jacob marley]

I have my Sky dish insured with Domestic and General based in Bedworth in north Warwick's they are the one's that Sky put me on to many year's ago well worth it the payment go's out with the Sky payment other people have tried to get involved and the last time Sky rang up to push some thing i said the very chap i want to talk to .
Some body in your outfit is giving out my ad and i do not like and i explained why i am so sorry he said i will fix that for you and promtly forgot why he had phoned and said good bye but it worked so do not forget when Sky ring up they do not like getting stick so give em some ....jacob

[bluemoon]

Unfortunately I haven't involved anyone as she's not a relative so it's not my place. I've just searched the internet for her some information. Some of the things I've read I haven't written here as it might be too inflammatory, but suffice to say she's not the only one this has happened to. I feel really sorry for her as the initial overpayment made her overdrawn and she's incurred bank charges so her account is currently down by more than a week's pension. She was apparently without money or food for 4 days. She's a lovely old dear who loves her football, which is why she has Sky, my son often has long, footie related chats with her. She's not too mobile anymore so the T.V. is a bit of a lifeline, though my mum drives her to church each week.

Jacob, I believe the company you are referring to is the one which Sky approve and they are perfectly safe.

[FionaH]

Absolutely disgusting. I know your not family but I would be tempted to contact trading standards

[SHAZSULL]

im sure this was on watch dog/rogue traders,all these scammers should be ashamed of thenselves!they are disgusting & have no scruples or morals

[bluemoon]

It gets worse! The post arrived this afternoon and the lady received a direct debit mandate from these people which they expect her to sign. Unbelievably it is dated October 2005! Naturally she has no intention of signing it and Mum is driving her to the bank tomorrow so she can have a chat to someone there and get their advice. Mum is also drafting her a letter to her MP. Mum has telephoned the company on her behalf, but got nowhere, the staff are aggressive from the moment they answer. I've suggested trading standards, but I think they are leaving that until after the chat with the bank.
Thanks everyone for your advice.

[Matt.]

In my opinion its one of those items not worth insuring. Sure be very careful about these non-sky insurance companies but why insure anyway? If it breaks phone sky and say so - if they say tough you say tough and quit the contract. Sky will cover the box for your first 12 months or so when you're committed to the contract so either way you're ok.

Also I bet right now you can pick up a sky box second hand no probs. With the credit crunch a lot of people will be quitting sky as one of their first steps to reduce the monthly bills. I know I'm currently on half price after threatening to quit so I'm sure they're under a lot of pressure to maintain customers.

[jacob marley]

In my opinion its one of those items not worth .

Also I bet right now you can pick up a sky box second hand no probs. With the credit crunch a lot of people will be quitting sky as one of their first steps to reduce the monthly bills. I know I'm currently on half price after threatening to quit so I'm sure they're under a lot of pressure to maintain customers.

That is ok if the box go's down what about the dish or the lnb i have both of these replaced 1 dish and 2 lnb's you don't pick them up any where .
I am insured an happy to be so .
If you ring Sky up and say it is broke and they say standard call out fee£75 pound's well worth it if it is a 1 of not if they come out regular....jacob

[bluemoon]

I wouldn't insure it either, Matt. But this is an elderly lady who tries to keep her finances in order and listened to the salesperson. I feel so sorry for her as she is part of that generation who hates to go into debt, which is why it's taken her so long to 'confess' what has happened to her. She's always so cheerful and sprightly too, so hearing her cry was just awful. She's your typical, genteel old dear in every way except that she knows more about football than just about anyone I know. If it weren't for the old-lady voice you'd think my son was chatting to one of his friends. And one of her few pleasures has now brought her all this distress, it makes me really angry.

[NOG]

Why insure your sky box. The First Year is under warranty. Then Sky do a £60 call out. For that you get a new dish, cabling and box (if needed). My box went up the wall after 5 years..so I phoned up to cancel my account. So I could get Virgin. Sky Gave me SKY+ plus new dish and cabling and moved the dish then charged me £30. The old dish went on Freecycle and was fixed.

[selfraising]

I think this is disgraceful. I hope it gets sorted out for her sake, poor lady.

[bluemoon]

Well the good news is the bank are going to return the money and bank charges to her account (she's been a customer since she left school) and are going to chase the people themselves. They are also considering informing the FSA as, being an insurance company, these people come under their remit. The lady is feeling so much better and mum took her for tea and cakes after the meeting at the bank, by which time she was almost back to her old self.

[SarzWix]

Oh that is good news Bluemoon, so happy to hear that . It seems that banks can be quite helpful on occasion too, that's good news too

[coreopsis]

At least they won't be too aggresive with the bank-I bet they have damn good lawyers on their side.Hope they'll sort out this scam.