well done rhodie...................these experts really think it is so easy..........why ? ............because they have NEVER EXPERIENCED WHAT WE HAVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am getting really fed up with the experts comments on this site..................about time they offerred PROPER ADVICE, or otherwise leave it to the public to advice based upon FACTS .......see my many many posts...................


keep with it and take SKY to court and get a ccj put against them.....!!!!

Hi Jason
Picking up from your advice to 'leave Sky and switch to a new provider', I would like to add that it may not be as easy as you think.
Up to the end of September, I just had a BT line with a dial-up ISP.
In October, after comparing various providers, I opted for Sky's 'Broadband with TV' package. I could get the broadband I wanted plus have additional TV channels. I choose the mid package and paid for the broadband installation.
Two weeks later the satellite dish and Skybox were installed.
In November, Sky asked me to re-apply for broadband (they said that they had lost the first application).
The broadband unit arrived a week later. I waited two weeks until the activation date before trying to logon but could not. The password provided by Sky did not work. One letter was a reverse letter 'J' making it impossible to logon.
I contacted Sky Customer support and after some discussion, was put through to a technician. He told me that Sky did not have communication ports in many locations throughout the UK (Milton Keynes, Newbury, etc). This had been the position since October and as it was unlikely to change in the future, he suggested that I cancel.
I did so immediately with Customer Support and wrote to Sky's Marketing Director Mr Anderson. I told him that I was not interested in the TV subscription if Sky could not provide the broadband service advertised. I unplugged the Skybox.
Two weeks later, I sent a second letter of complaint (recorded mail), reiterating my terminating the Sky TV and Broadband contracts.
Sky eventually replied in January. They have cancelled the non-existent broadband but have refused to cancel the 12-month TV contract. I am seeking legal advice, as I do not intend to pay Sky dot con. I hope this will warn other potential broadband users.

that's really clever Jason...................any "non-expert" could have written that.........................please please offer expert advice !!!!

This is my first post so if I've done it wrong I apologise!

Sky Broadband... sigh...

We subscribe to the full sky satellite package and when we had the option of taking sky broadband for a £0 monthly cost for the same service we were paying £21.99 for well who were we to refuse when it bacame active in our area... hindsight I wish we had refused...

We signed up on 3rd December 2006, the activation fee was taken on 6th December and the hardware arrived a few days later... the letter from Sky stating that their broadband would be activated on 18 Dec was sent on 4 December - this was never received which was the start of the problems.

On 18th December, I came in from work and couldnt get onto the internet... called Orange who said 'oh there must be an outage in the area' - there wasn't, 24 hours later I called again and was told the same and to wait a few more hours but still nothing... eventually on 20 Dec someone managed to find out the problem of no Orange BB - the line had ceased as Sky had taken it over, which I didnt know as I had not received Sky's letter.

So I called Sky, first person was so unhelpful, the screen said nothing so they didn't know why it wasnt activated... had I gave my MAC code, well if I hadnt the order wouldnt have went through I said... called day later and the guy went through a lot of technical things with my sky modem etc, it didnt work but at least he did something...

5 weeks later I still have no Sky Broadband activated, numerous calls to their customer services prove very unhelpful, the screen says the order is still pending... 4 weeks after ordering Sky BB they managed to notice an alleged fault showing up which is why it isnt activating... a fault with the cabling at the exchange? Why did I have no problems with orange? Why is my phone line ok? Why is my Sky interactive ok? Why is my current dial-up working ok? And why has this cabling issue arose AFTER Sky get access to the line?

I was told to call back 3 days later and was told by an again unhelpful member of staff that they had called for a BT engineer to go out to the exchange and rectify the alleged fault - which could take up to 15 days so it will probably be Feb before there is a possible activation! And she said it if it was ok, that I should be grateful!!

I may not be paying a monthly fee for my Sky BB but I still expected better service than this but there are so many horror stories about Sky's BB I'm considering just taking my business elsewhere even if it means taking on another 12 month contract.

They just dont seem to be able to cope with advertising a product and actually giving it to customers.

I would just like to say one thing ;
Sky is intended for domestic use only. not business. not home business.

Ok, two ;
And when sky's technicians were saying "what do u want us to do?" .. they're being honest, there is nothing we really CAN do if BT's engineers wont give up 5 minutes of eating sandwiches at the side of the road to put a card in a slot. yes it really is that simple. And who says there is no monopoly???? ..BT have a lot to do with Sky BB's bad name. ;)

Just an update to the thread to say what I've done.

1. Rang up BT last night "threatening to cancel". Said I fancied the Sky £5 a month offer instead of my £24.99 BT current one.

2. BT support lad quoted permanent virus protection, free support, id protection and the fact that Sky have had lots of complaints and it's not up and running great yet.

3. He then said he'd do a free wireless home hub (90 quid) for me as I was a loyal customer. I mentioned I had an offer in front of me for their 8MBit offer (option 2?) that included the home hub for £22.99. Up to 8MBit but he said my phone line would do around 4.5MBit.

4. He mentioned the voice over IP telephone number and connection for free. This was nice to know as we do lots of international calls.

5. I said I wanted to stay with BT for at least another 12 months but they had to lower their price.

6. He "spoke to his manager" and came back with £19.99 a month for 12 months. He also mentioned that they now have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field now that the monopoly thingy had been removed recently.

I stayed with BT...

...for 12 more months. Will watch the Sky-BT battle with renewed interest.

Thanks for the advice folks. I hope this post may help others.

Sky is NOT in the Business Broadband market sector and I would never recommend that anyone whose business depends on 'up' time goes anywhere outside the Telco markets. Only Telecoms providers are NEBS compliant (99.999%) and that is what you need.

You should also look at "end-to-end" communication solutions. If you have to pick up the 'phone to BT, then to Sky, then to Belkin, then back to Sky before anyone will take you seriously, then your business WILL fail.

Hi Hammy,

I also run my own web business ... I had my broadband provided by Zen internet and had many years of completely hassle free, reliable service. I made the mistake of being tempted to save money by switching to sky ...It was nothing but a complete disaster.

After being without a connection for over 10 weeks I finally managed to get Sky to fix the problem, but only using some heavy weight contacts in the Broadband sector.

My advice is if your broadband is critical to your business don’t take any chances with Sky.


Collision

Jason,

I've been with BT for over four years paying my £23+ a month for broadband.

Yesterday I was all set to go to Sky for their £5 a month 8Mbit option. The fact that the relevant BT staff were out of office is the only thing that stopped me.

I run a small web business from home and cannot afford to be off line for over a week. After reading the stories on this forum I am now thinking of staying with BT a little longer.

What would your advice be to me please?

Hammy

Hi SGray

My best advice is if Sky continue to fail to deliver you any kind of service you have two options:

i) check out Skyuser.co.uk first to see if they might be able to help

ii) leave Sky and switch a new provider.

By taking Option 2 I just want to warn you that you might have real problems switching to a new deal but it could be worth it in the long run.

Cheers

Jason

Hello,

My only advice would be to get out of the whole Sky BB tragedy...

Read this moneysupermarket thread for beginners...

http://forum.moneysupermarket.com/forums/thread/1458.aspx

Personally I went to hell and back over a 4 month period with Sky BB and ended up (luckily) escaping.

Otherwise - Good luck in your Sky quest.

I paid the £40 activation fee in August and as of today's date I am still waiting for my broadband to be activated.

Every time I call I'm told that its BT's fault and that they haven't done their job at the exchange.

Sky are very unhelpful and keep saying "what do you expect us to do?"

I am at my wits end now.

Any advice??