SKY TV/Broadband "Service."

horusd

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I'm with SKY around 2/3 years. In the first year with them, I had to call to sort out the BB, and the hold times were awful. To boot, I got a very high bill for the call to SKY, I think one call cost me 10 Euro. Last year, conscious of the high call costs, I contacted them via Twitter. I agreed a lower amount on my last annual bill - dropped to 65 Euro a month for essentially BB & basic TV package. I get speeds around the 70mp mark, and it's adequate. The contract deal expired and now the bill went to 93 Euro a month. I'm abroad and cannot use the local 0818 number to contact them. They no longer respond to Twitter, and the customer service on boards.ie is closed (COVID I think). I've logged into SKY and queued on the 'webchat' only to be told I was on the UK site and asked to call IRL, I explained I'm away and told they they don't have any other ways to contact SKY Ireland. I eventually contact SKY (UK) and they tried to transfer me to SKY Ireland, and I was left on hold for nearly an hour before I finally hung up.

I finally found an email "[email protected] " (should anyone need it) and sent a complaint - still no essential response, despite promises to do so in the procedures. I have now told SKY I will be canceling my package when I return to Ireland irrespective of any response they give me now. My point is at least twofold. I will LEAVE SKY no matter what they do now, so they have lost a customer and over 1100 Euro a year because of terrible customer service. On the flipside, they offer price incentives to 'new customers only' to entice new customers in. I noted from the website that, if I was a new customer, I could get to webchat straight away - it appears only existing customers are sent to the back of the queue, or basically told to' go away' in not so many words. At several points on their website 'service' areas they sent customers in a loop to 'self-help' sections which are mostly useless. The facility to change 'my package' informs the customer that it is 'having technical difficulties' and try again later, and these difficulties have been experienced every time I've gone to their website, and that has been many times, believe me.

My points?

* There's more money in serving existing customers better than new ones.

*Make retention a key objective of the business.

* Make sure the website works.

* Self-service facilities only work up to a point -customer care agents are needed.

* Webchat/email and telephone customer care are not optional extras for any modern business.

* Customer care can be a great selling point.

I will be leaving SKY regardless of any offer they make and I mean that. They will not see me as a customer again, and I will tell anyone who asks me about my experience. They are losing a customer, 1100 euro a year, and all the reputational damage an irritated customer can do. There has to be some smart service company who can capitalize on that.
 
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* There's more money in serving existing customers better than new ones.

The fact that they, and most other providers, still prioritise new customers and put them to the top of the queue tells you that we are still too slow to switch providers here.
 
Which company are you moving to? I have virgin media and wouldn’t rate them highly on customer service. If I’m trying to get through I ring the sales team (answered instantly-what a shock!) and feign interest in an upgrade “but trying to decide given poor service to date...”. Usually get put through to service fairly quickly.
 
This is the unfortunate side of 'accountancy' reviews. They are told what each sections cost and then simply stop or filter that service to save money. There is no price or cost on collaboration with customers except the actual figure of hiring the people so get rid of the people and save instantly.
 
Not sure if you want to contact them again or if you can use a 1800 number from overseas but to contact Sky I use this free phone number 1800 92 74 76 ... might save you a few euro.
 
When did you send the email?
Last week. Got an acknowledgement, two in fact. No contact since then, but the complaint reference will be useful in case of a problem.

I'm planning to go back to Virgin as I had good service from them, and the offer is 24 Euro cheaper with higher BB speeds (I've got the Virgin wallpoint already) tho I had toyed with trying Vodafone, altho the reviews online aren't great. The Eir offer would be far the best, but deffo not going there with the reviews!.

The 1800 number doesn't work from abroad -I did try that.

My main point is that SKY are kissing goodbye (or slamming the door) to an existing, paying customer, no add'l expense in getting him, and chucking money, service and deals to passing strangers discounting 370 euro from the standard price. Now, I would have haggled to get my price down, and probably would have stayed paying around the 830 mark, a new customer would have paid 830 so in effect, they have expended costs in advertising and setup/equipment and made no gains whatsoever, except to really annoy an existing customer who's going to share the terrible experience, and not come back. To me, this approach makes no sense on any level - either from a business or a customer service prospective.
 
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Now, I would have haggled to get my price down, and probably would have stayed paying around the 830 mark, a new customer would have paid 830 so in effect, they have expended costs in advertising and setup/equipment and made no gains whatsoever, except to really annoy an existing customer who's going to share the terrible experience, and not come back. To me, this approach makes no sense on any level - either from a business or a customer service prospective.

They run the numbers, €X spent on advertising will bring in a certain number of new customers. Customer service problems cost them a small number of existing customers and €Y revenue. So long as X far exceeds Y, they will continue to prioritise new customers over existing. It's only if a lot more people take your lead and cancel as a result of poor service that they'll be forced to do something about it.

Sky report combined results for the UK & Ireland, customer cancellations have hovered around the 10% mark for the last 10+ years now, improving somewhat since they introduced the VIP loyalty program before taking a dip as a result of the pandemic halting all major sports.
 
Thanks Leo. That's really very informative and hard-nosed. I'm not an accountant, but I cannot for the life of me see how buying in a new customer with all the ancillary costs etc. works out profitably unless they're paying a lot more, (which they're most certainly not), and will equate to losing a customer and the reputational damage and all that goes with that, but there ya go. There are costs you simply cannot account for, such as reputational damage which surely has lingering effects on a brand.

I know I will not be going back to SKY, and I know I've already sent at least one new customer elsewhere (a friend looking to switch). I used to manage a large corporate customer service operation, with lots of competitors, and we were very clued into retention and the value of those customers, and how easy it really was to keep them provided we gave a reasonable level of service. We didn't have to jump throught hoops - people just wanted respect and to be treated well. Not rocket science - but maybe I'm old school.
 
Thanks Leo. That's really very informative and hard-nosed. I'm not an accountant, but I cannot for the life of me see how buying in a new customer with all the ancillary costs etc. works out profitably unless they're paying a lot more, (which they're most certainly not), and will equate to losing a customer and the reputational damage and all that goes with that, but there ya go. There are costs you simply cannot account for, such as reputational damage which surely has lingering effects on a brand.

Good customer service is expensive, and in a competitive market, consumers are more influenced by up-front price than customer service levels.

If customer complaints and reputational damage factored highly in consumer decision making, the likes of Ryanair and Eir would have gone out of business years ago. People keep going back because they like the price, others don't move because they perceive switching as a hassle.
 
Good customer service is expensive, and in a competitive market, consumers are more influenced by up-front price than customer service levels.

If customer complaints and reputational damage factored highly in consumer decision making, the likes of Ryanair and Eir would have gone out of business years ago. People keep going back because they like the price, others don't move because they perceive switching as a hassle.
Rightio. I don't really get this, but I accept customer service might go the way of extra bagage on a Ryanair flight, ya gotta pay for it. What strikes me about BB & TV is that these services aren't particularly cheap, or at least they don't seem to be to me, but with shareholders expecting a return I suppose companies go for costs and customers don't vote with their feet. Anyway, done for me now, I'll pack my TV, my PC and take a walk to someone else. ;0)
 
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Hello,

I previously experienced very poor service from Sky, but found their CEO (JD Buckley) most helpful, when I ultimately contacted him.

At the time, I contacted him via private message on LinkedIn. I see that he still has an account there, and he's also on Twitter, if anyone wanted to reach out to him.

Notwithstanding the above, I subsequently left Sky TV, due to their extortionate prices, and extremely poor broadband service.

I now have a far superior broadband service from Virgin, and a couple of Saoirview & FreeSat combination boxes, for TV. I'm saving about €700 a year (excluding the initial capital outlay, for the TV boxes - which paid for themselves in about 9 months), and it was definitely the right decision.
 
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Hello,

I previously experienced very poor service from Sky, but found their CEO (JD Buckley) most helpful, when I ultimately contacted him.

At the time, I contacted him via private message on LinkedIn. I see that he still has an account there, and he's also on Twitter, if anyone wanted to reach out to him.

Notwithstanding the above, I subsequently left Sky TV, due to their extortionate prices, and extremely poor broadband service.

I now have a far superior broadband service from Virgin, and a couple of Saoirview & FreeSat combination boxes, for TV. I'm saving about €700 a year (excluding the initial capital outlay, for the TV boxes - which paid for themselves in about 9 months), and it was definitely the right decision.
Thanks MrEarl, I've given up on SKY so I'll not be in touch with anyone other than to finalize leaving them. I understand I keep the SKY dishbut must return the Q box thingie, I've asked them to clarify that. I must check into the Saorview as it ma well work in combo with SKY dish. Did you get both and do you need a dish?
 
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Hello,

Yes, you get to keep the dish - regardless of what Sky tell you, the simple fact is, that it would cost them a lot more to remove it, then it's worth. They also get the benefit of it being a marketing aid for Sky, given just about everyone thinks of Sky, when they see a dish.

There are lots of combo boxes, offering both the free to air satellite channels, and Saoirview channels, through one box, with one remote control. Lots of different specs, almost all have EPGs, some offer record, pause live TV etc.

The Sky dish will plug straight in to the new box, no card needed etc. That will get you the various free satellite channels. However, you will need a seperate, small antenna, for the Saoirview channels. Even if you are told that an indoor antenna will suffice, I would recommend that you get an outdoor one, as it'll ensure a better signal, during bad weather etc. They aren't expensive to buy, and have installed.

Have a look here to get an idea on what channels you can get etc.

I've no connection with that website or supplier btw, I just put a search into Google and selected the website, to illustrate the selection of channels etc.

.
 
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The market should really deal with these issues and focus the minds of the JD Buckleys and Carolan Lennons of this world.

The real value in these businesses is their annuity-type income streams. In a 0% interest rate environment, the market applies a very high multiple to recurring income. But if that’s threatened by poor customer service and reputational issues, it should have a disproportionately negative effect.

The smarter play would be to ignore the beancounters who just look at this year’s P&L and to spend the money to resolve these issues.

In Sky’s case, it’s particularly disappointing because in my view the product is superb.
 
The Sky dish will plug straight in to the new box, no card needed etc. That will get you the various free satellite channels.

I don' think so - this would work with the older SKY dishes that go with the SkyHD system. The OP mentions Sky Q. This uses a different LNB and afaik it will not work with a free-to-air box, unless there was a specific request made for a hybrid LNB at installation.
 
The market should really deal with these issues and focus the minds of the JD Buckleys and Carolan Lennons of this world.

The real value in these businesses is their annuity-type income streams. In a 0% interest rate environment, the market applies a very high multiple to recurring income. But if that’s threatened by poor customer service and reputational issues, it should have a disproportionately negative effect.

The smarter play would be to ignore the beancounters who just look at this year’s P&L and to spend the money to resolve these issues.

In Sky’s case, it’s particularly disappointing because in my view the product is superb.

I really do hope this happens for the benefit of companies and customers alike. It seems madness that a policy which serves neither customer or company is continued to the detriment of all concerned.


As for the SKY dish thingie. I ll chat to someone tech saavy before I do anything. I know I did use my old SKY dish for 'free- to - air.' but maybe things have changed and that's no longer a runner.
 
I like the Sky product. Their menu and interface is, in my opinion, far better than Virgin.
I have previously found their customer service excellent, with wait times of 3-10 minutes. When I was with Eir for broadband the wait times were 25-90 minutes. So, if Sky are now uncontactable are any of the others any better? Is moving from one to the other a case of out of the frying pan and into the other frying pan?
I'd happily pay an extra €10 a month to know that someone will just answer the phone when I call them.
 
I've been with Sky for over 15 years. We had our broadband with Eir and had no problems. I switched broadband to Sky to reduce the overall costs and got the Q box for €10.

Issues with Q box getting internet connection - they sent me a booster immediately.
Internet was dropping, driving my son mad when he was playing games. They asked me to do a few things, none really worked. They then had a look and saw themselves the internet was dropping. They scheduled to call me back so I wouldn't have to wait on hold to speak to someone again. I told them the problems were still there. They stopped charging me for internet and said an engineer would look at the exchange and if needed, come to the house. The engineer called out yesterday (4 days after call) and did a few things. My son tells me the broadband is fine and I've haven't heard him giving out about the Sky broadband connection. I found their service to be very good. I may have had to wait 30 minutes to get through, but with earphones in, I can do other stuff while waiting. Compare it to Eir, I could be waiting 2 hours. They went through all the possible problems and solutions and eventually got it fixed.

As for cost, most of my bill is for Sky Sports and BT Sports, which I am not giving up. Once I see my bill creeping up, I give them a call and ask them to reduce it. They give me a discount on something and tell me to phone back on that expires and they'll put me on a new deal.
 
In all fairness, if you think Virgin will have a better customer service you may be in for a shock. As Leo pointed out, it's not cheap to have customer service and people are drawn to the price at the moment. I am old school and was used to the customer service but nowadays people have changed and value cost more than service. Having said that, even I would prefer to pay €50 to cross the Irish Sea now and not get a free drink and peanuts than to pay £200 in the 80's.
 
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