Here is a copy of a letter that has been passed onto Sky Digital.
To date, I have not recieved a written appolgy, or any reason why these problems were allowed to continue.

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Mr Chris Simpson
Director of Sky In-house Service
PO BOX 43
Livingston
West Lothian
EH54 7DD

September 15^th 2000

Dear Sir,
This letter is to bring to your attention the problems we have been having with Sky In-Home Service during the last 3 months, and provide you with an opportunity to comment and take action where needed.

I have listed a diary of events, which highlight our experiences.

June 15^th 2000
After various problems with sound dropping out whilst viewing programs on the Sky Network, our receiver could not display any Programs. The receiver was displaying an error message ‘No Satellite Signal Received’.

A call was made to a Sky call center at 22:01 on June 15^th, and following a discussion with many operators, it was agreed that in light of the problems with sound, an engineer would visit to resolve the problem free of charge.

The date of the visit was approximately 1 month from the call. I mentioned that we would be without service until the problem was resolved, I was assured that ‘once your system is up and running to your satisfaction, contact us, and we will credit your account with the time you have been without service’.

This was to our satisfaction, and we waited for the engineer to visit.

July 10^th 2000
An engineer arrived complete with a new receiver. This was slightly surprising considering he didn’t even investigate the fault prior to fitting the net system. Once the new receiver was connected and powered up, he proceeded to detail a procedure to my Mother-in-law that was necessary to let the receiver ‘update’ itself. Once this information was passed on, the engineer left our premises, leaving the receiver ‘updating’.

I am very surprised that this happened, as the visit was not really complete until the system was running properly.

Once a 10-minute period had lapsed, and the instructions followed, the receiver exhibited the same problem as our original system, i.e. ‘No Satellite Signal Received’.

A call was made to Sky, and we were told that they would attempt to contact the engineer and call him back to resolve the problem.

The engineer never returned, and we Sky did not contact us. We therefore called Sky that night to find out what had happened. They didn’t comment on the engineer, and so a new visit was arranged for the 3^rd August.

August 3^rd 2000
An engineer arrived, but didn’t bring a new receiver, and after investigation, confirmed that our system was faulty. He said that he would arrange for a new receiver and a new visit.

A telephone call to Sky later that evening revealed that he was not authorised to make such arrangements, they arranged a visit for the 13^th August.

August 16^th 2000
We received a call from Sky saying that the visit would be chargeable as the system was out of warranty. We disputed this, and quoted the above history. Sky then agreed that the visit would be free of charge.

The engineer arrived, and following extensive tests, confirmed that the receiver was at fault (as known by us on July 10^th). After a conversation on the telephone, the engineer took the receiver away for a repair, which was agreed to be free of charge.

September 13^th 2000
An engineer arrived with a repaired receiver, but would not leave as we refused to pay a £50 call out charge.

I made a call to Sky at 18:28 on the 13^th, and as a result, a new date was made for the return of the receiver. This new date was the 22^nd September, and unacceptable to us. As the engineering office had shut for the day, this date was booked, but I was told to call again on the 14^th as a better date could be arranged.

September 14^th 2000
I telephoned Sky from my office, and was told that the original date still stood, and could not be improved on, I voiced my dissatisfaction on this, but decided to talk the matter over with my Wife.

We have agreed that Friday 22^nd is too long to wait, and I telephoned Sky to check that the date had not changed. I was then told that the visit would be chargeable, which I disputed. The operator was not aware of the circumstances, and after a brief history of our problems was conveyed to him, his conclusion was that that we should be paying.

At this point, I decided that I needed to make communication with someone in authority, and so the reason for this letter.

As you can read, we have been extremely patient with Sky during this period, we have endured direct debit payments of £27.50 over the last 3 months, numerous telephone calls to Sky (cost of £4.22 on last telephone bill), and the wasted annual leave from our workplace.

Research on the Internet suggests that many Amstrad receivers are failing, and this has been confirmed by Speaking to friends and relatives.

I feel that systems are not in place to detect problems like we have been experiencing, and the fact the I have had to repeat the whole history, every time I have had to call, defies belief.

As we are currently without a receiver, and I have totally lost faith in your customer service system, I ask the following.

• I would like an engineer to install a working receiver at our home, by Monday 8^th. This should be a very quick visit as we can ensure that all cables are ready to be connected. I imagine this would be a case of connecting the system to our cabling (UHF, Telephone, LNB, and Power), and switching on.
  
• Our 3 x £27.50 (£82.50) direct debit to be credited to our bank account in the next 7 (seven) days.
  
• A written apology from Sky In-Home Service, with assurances that these customer service issues are being investigated for the good of subscribers and the Sky corporation.

You need to be aware that a copy of this letter is publicly available on the Internet at:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/jpc/sky/index.htm

Our requirements are very reasonable, and at this point, we are not adding any interest to the money owed. However, if a reply is not heard by Monday 17:30, we will instruct our Bank to cancel the direct debit to Sky, pursue our financial loss through the appropriate legal channels, and voice our grievance in a more public manner.

The dept will then start to accumulate interest at the Bank of England base rate.

We will also require the return of our receiver, which I understand is our property.

I find it very surprising that an organization such as yours cannot handle a simple problem such as mine.

If we were told on our very first call that this would be chargeable, we would have canceled on the spot, with no further expense to ourselves. As the problems and visits have continued, and we have invested time and money in the Sky service, we feel that we deserve a working system, and reimbursement of our subscription.

I have been reading reports on various Internet sites that highlight problems with the Sky service, I am warned that letters get ignored with no reply.

I trust this will not be the case for this correspondence. This letter will be faxed to BOTH numbers given to me on the 14^th September, and a letter will be send via registered post today (15^th September)

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter in is entirety, and I hope you join me in wishing for a swift and amicable solution to the problems outlined above.

Jason Clark

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