It is interesting after a few weeks occasionally visiting the 'Sky Complaints' Facebook group and reading news coverage of Sky's satellite woes, that they are getting worse.

The satellite issues are beyond Sky's control.  Sky has a choice - offer satellite broadcasting through Optus or don't. When Optus service fails there is little \sky can do.  With current issues with D2 and 11 satellites, it is clear that customers with poorly-focussed dishes or dodgy LNBs will have problems that require techs to visit and fix.

What is inexcusable though is that Sky decided to totally revamp the way tech support personnel are managed, choosing to outsource the service to Downers, who have never provided these services before, at a time when high demand for service was known to be needed.  Some Sky customers have been waiting months for a tech to call and fix their reception issues, with appointment times being offered only to see a no-show.  Many experienced Sky techs will not sign with Downers and a few Sky customers are opting to pay a private serviceman (potentially an ex-Sky contractor) to get the job done.

On top of this, Sky have opted to drop their 0800-759759 customer support service, using their Auckland number instead.  To contact Sky now not only do you have to be prepared to wait over an hour on hold but you also need to budget the cost of 80 minutes or so to come off your cell-phone plan or toll-call cost.  While there are chat options and Sky's Facebook page available as an alternative, these are not as well publicised as the phone number.

All this adds up to the fact that if anyone is having difficulties using or understanding how to use Sky services (hardware or software), then this forum is a more desirable option than trying to get help from Sky.