In which I name and shame SKY NOW TV for terrible customer service

[callmemadam]

I’ve always refused to have Sky, partly because, you know, Murdoch, and partly because I won’t fork out a hefty monthly subscription when all I want is the cricket.

Then I found out about the SKY NOW TV box. For £9.99, including delivery, you get BBC iPlayer on your TV, Sky News and various other options including Spotify. Cricket? You can buy a one day sports pass; rather expensive but I wouldn’t be using it much. I researched this quite thoroughly and saw only favourable reviews: ‘at this price it’s a no brainer’ etc. So I ordered a box and it came quite quickly.

I set it up, got as far as having the start up menu on screen but couldn’t go any further because the remote wouldn’t work. I checked all the troubleshooting help in the manual but nothing there applied. Yes, I’d checked the batteries and pointed the remote directly at the screen and no, the light on the box didn’t flash when the buttons were pressed.

My first port of call was to try Live Chat, as recommended. Hopeless, couldn’t get through. I emailed help. In order to do this I had to sign in fully giving all details including a security question and choosing a PIN. I was told by email that I would have to send the box back, but that the writer couldn’t order a replacement *because I hadn’t signed in*, which I had. Since then emails have flown back and forth, I’ve tried over and over to sign in as requested, which I do but never get the correct prompts to proceed. Today’s advice was to go to Live Chat (link provided) but the button wasn’t even on screen. It’s not just me. I’ve been searching the Community for help and here’s a typical query: ‘Will someone PLEASE tell me how to access Live Chat?’ Someone, (from Sky) did. I followed all those links but still no luck. I don’t blame the person who’s been emailing me at all, he’s following correct procedures. It’s just that their system *doesn’t work*.

So I have a useless box, Sky have my money and we’ve reached an impasse. I shop a lot online and I have NEVER had this trouble in getting faulty or damaged goods replaced.
It’s at times like this I wish I were on Facebook or Twitter, which seem effective channels of complaint. I have two options, it seems. One, the very random chance that someone from Sky sees this and says, ‘Oh, we’re so sorry for your inconvenience, we’ll send you another box’. Or I just return the thing and demand a refund.

Comments

[dozydormouse.livejournal.com]

Send them a letter telling them unless they replace it you will go to small claims court. Cite the Sale of Goods Act. I sorted Sky by being so difficult I talked to their retentions team who suddenly could and did help when they realised I wasn't going to drop it and go away quietly.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Good advice, thanks. I made a note of the address the other day, in case I couldn't find it again.

[auntyros.livejournal.com]

I would be happy to tweet about it with a link to this post, if you'd like? I've never been a Sky customer, but I've had good experience getting customer service from other rubbish companies via twitter.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

That's a very kind offer, thank you. This has been going on for four days and I'm fed up with it.

[lizarfau.livejournal.com]

How annoying. I can tweet and link to this too, if you like. Or maybe this is a sign that you need to go on Twitter?

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

That would be kind. I've resisted Twitter so far, it seems to take up a lot of time!

[lizarfau.livejournal.com]

Done.

I only really tweet during the cricket or football. You only need to use it as much as you want, really.

[cornflowerbooks.livejournal.com]

Very tiresome!
I'll offer my tweeting services, too, if that would help. I did once get immediate action from a company when I complained about their service on their Facebook page, email having proved fruitless.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Wow, another offer, many thanks. The more the merrier!

[cornflowerbooks.livejournal.com]

I've just tweeted a link to your post, so fingers crossed.

[cornflowerbooks.livejournal.com]

Here's the response from Sky's @nowtvhelp on Twitter:
"Hi, thanks for contacting us. Sincere apologies about this issue. We're looking into this right now. Thanks. ^MC"

NOW TV Box

[now tv help from sky (from livejournal.com)]

Hi callmemadam,

We’re very sorry to hear about your issues with the NOW TV Box. We’ll be very happy to resolve this for you as soon as we can. Could you please contact help@nowtv.com with your full name and email address linked to your NOW TV account? We look forward to sorting this out for. Sorry once again.

Regs,

NOW TV Team

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Coo, thanks! The power of Twitterdom!

[gwendraith.livejournal.com]

How irritating. I have had Sky for 6 years (tv, telephone and broadband) and have never had a moments bother. I think with these new 'ideas' they don't think through the customer care properly and there's always problems getting into the system. Once there you are fine. I do hope you manage to get it sorted and quickly, B.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think the problem is with their website, which is terribly hard to navigate.