warranty for a sky box

[kia cat]

My Dad [who's 88] took out or was talked into taking out, an extended warranty on his Sky box. Never having had Sky, [we're with Virgin, so pay a monthly fee for the service and the kit] I thought a Sky box was Sky's and any repairs would be done by them.

Do you buy a Sky box? in which case when he upgraded to a Skyplus box; shouldn't the old box be left behind? So if the box was his, presumably now he's done an upgrade, the two years left to run on his warranty [till August 2014 - about £80 worth] is money lost? Hope that makes sense! I did ask Sky chat advisor, but didn't get very far.

[Dee Sa]

ring Sky again and demand the money back say it was "miss sold" to an elderly person who did not understand.

[puternut]

You do own the box as such and some advise insuring it. I cannot recall having any warranty (with Sky) when I first got it.

About 3 years later I had a problem with my Sky+ box - it basically packed up - and I either had to pay £99 for a new one or sign up to a warranty for a year. From memory it was about £8 or £9 a month. When I cancelled Sky both the box and dish remained here and I now use the dish for FreeSat.

Be warned if your Dad has signed via a 'cold-caller' it might not be Sky but another company saying they are but basically nothing to do with the satellite provider.

[puternut]

Meant to say the warranty was a minimum 12 month period. Cancellation meant heavy penalty payment.

Also this was the only problem I had with the equipment in quite a few years.

[ChuckFickens]

I wouldn't bother taking out a warranty on a sky box. if it breaks just go into your local cash converters or similar type place and you can buy a fully working one for about £25-£30 then all you have to do is call sky and ask them to pair the new (second hand) box with your viewing card.

[grffindoor2011]

Are you sure it was sky that got him to take out the warranty.

Several companies phone people up on the off chance 'i'm phoning about your sky box'. They didn't even know who I was. At that time I had only ever had cable.

Those companies have been on watchdog and other programmes before. Despite skys aggressive sales push to get you to go with their services, surprisingly they don't really push the extended warranty thing nearly as much.

Check your dads documentation closely and check the address and telephone number up. If it turns out to be the aforementioned, makes sure the it is not on a recurring deduction every couple of years.

And if you speak to thi company don't believe any nonsense that sky sold his details to them.

[kia cat]

thanks all, will get full facts from my Dad and go back to Sky [not the Live chat call centre]