Poor experience with a contractor of Sky

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darkraid

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#81062 7-Apr-2011 19:59

Has anyone had any poor/bad experiences with any contractors of Sky?

One contractor came round today and he was suppose to install Sky Multiroom into a second room in the house and MySky into the lounge. He said he would be round anytime between 12-4pm today. 4 hours? Really?

When he finally turned up at 4.30pm. We showed him our current configuration and what room we wanted the second decoder in. We then told him how we would like him to install it. Put the splitter in the roof and then run the cable down the wall cavity and out a wall socket (which would use less cable and surely must be easier as the next paragraph shows...). He replied with "no I only do external and then in the wall (Great nice and ugly).

He then took a look outside as to where the satellite dish is (at the back of the house out of sight on the roof). He then said "there was no way he would be getting up there as it will be slippery as sh!t" as it had been raining during the day. At that point I just felt like saying give me the equipment and I'll do it myself.

We discussed how he was going to install it and I said just throw the cable up outside the house and then put it in the air vents in one of the bricks and then up through the floor and then when you have gone I'll take it out and do it the way I want it.

Since he wasn't willing to get up on the little bit of roof (which I doubt is slippery as the house is 20+ years old and all the weathering is gone off the old tiles) he offered to reschedule for another date when it wasn't raining. We didn't arrange a date and just left it "open" because I am now going to have to go out and buy the cable I need to create the congifuration I would like (all internal) and then he will come back place the splitter on the back of the satellite and plug in the cable I run, then give me my new MySky box and card and put the old decoder in the second room.

While we were doing that I asked if he could do just the MySky decoder now but he said "No it's a deal so I have to do both at the same time or none at all".

What an experience and I also took time off work (5 hours) to wait for him to show up.

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#456540 7-Apr-2011 20:37

complain to sky, if he was this rude to you , im sure other people have complained about him, if sky contractors only installed on fine days there would be a huge backlog, i have had them fixing my dish in weather i wouldn't let my dog out in, its what they are paid for.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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networkn

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#456565 7-Apr-2011 21:38

Personally I think you are overreacting. Those guys get paid crap and why should he risk his neck to install your SkyTV. I agree he was quite late, but then install work can run overtime for no fault of his, as things can be more complicated than initially thought.

I think you would have got a better result if you yourself had handled it differently, but I wasn't there and can only go on what you have written.

He didn't appear rude, perhaps a little unhelpful, but not really rude.

alisam

827 posts

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#456567 7-Apr-2011 21:41

When I had Sky (not MySky) installed, they made, what I think was a good job. I did tell them at the time that I didn't need the phone line to taken to the Sky box. They ran the cable through the wall and got the cable up to the dish on a small roof. They even, ran a second cable, up to the roof space, so that I could have Sky in all rooms (same channel of course).

PS Initially, a Sky man (1) turned up and took one look at my 2 storey house and then left, saying he wasn't going up there. My wife complained to Sky and when my wife complains, she goes as high as possible in the organisation. Anyway, a new team (3) arrived, found a better (and lower) position and we were happy where they put it. It just took a bit of looking at the possibilities and talking it over with us.

About 6 months ago I paid to be upgraded to MySky, they said he would be there about 4pm. He turned up well after 5pm and was obviously in a hurry to finish up for the day.

What I wanted him to do (and wrongly assumed I guess) was that he would install a phone jack next to the MySky box. There is a phone socket in the kitchen where the MySKy box was to be and I assumed he would get into the roof space (as they had to previously) to take the phone line about 2 metres over the roof and down the same path as the RG6 cable. If he had said that there would be an extra cost, then I would have paid it (within reason).

It was obvious that he wasn't going to do that and his only solution was to run a cable from the present telephone jack, around the door frame, to the MySky box. We declined.

So, it was $99 for a quick 15 minute installation. Of that, the explanation of how to use the remote, must have taken 5 minutes max. Fortunately, it didn't worry me too much, because I knew that I would use my Logitech ONE remote to control the box and I do read the manual.

It is quite possible that I expected too much from the man from Sky. After, the initial installation, I just assumed they would do what I thought was reasonable when I upgraded to MySky.

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jjnz1

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#456569 7-Apr-2011 21:42

vexxxboy: complain to sky, if he was this rude to you , im sure other people have complained about him, if sky contractors only installed on fine days there would be a huge backlog, i have had them fixing my dish in weather i wouldn't let my dog out in, its what they are paid for.

Ah no actually.

Contractors are not permitted to breach safety standards to install/maintain equipment etc.

The ladder is suppose to be secured at the top, and positioned on the right angle.
If the roof is wet, they are not permitted on it at all.

There are a few other ones as well.

I'm not saying that it works like this all the time with all contractors, but it should.

networkn

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#456573 7-Apr-2011 21:49

I think the general level of service has dropped in all service and trades people, as a reflection of a greater amount of work expected of them, for less and less money and tighter and tighter restrictions on them by the companies that employ them. It's not ok, but it's somewhat understandable, and something to consider when you are calling 19 companies to get an additional 5% discount on a $100 purchase.

The OP really should I think realized that for 99 you are getting a basic installation and that if he wanted someone to spend hours cabling nicely, he should have offered the guy additional funds, which would have solved the problem for everyone.

In this instance my personal opinion is that the OP had unrealistic expectations.

JonnyCam

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#456597 7-Apr-2011 23:10

on top of that, you don't book a sky contractor for a time, but they give you the 4 hour morning or afternoon block.
If found asking them to call when they were 30 mins away meant I didn't have to take time off work and wait adround the house.

The 4 hour block is a common thing with electricity contractors (such as when you move into a new place with no current supply)

Dunnersfella

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#456598 7-Apr-2011 23:15

Hmmm - Sky is coming tomorrow to install a dish / MySky, it'll be interesting to see the results. They have given us a 2 hour time-line...
I guess it's easy for them to run behind, especially if the customer prior makes things particularly difficult for them - must be frustrating for them, especially on the so called 'free install' offers.

trig42

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#456618 8-Apr-2011 06:43

Yep. I think asking them to run cables inside walls when they are getting peanuts per install (I don't know what Sky pays them, but it won't be much) is unreasonable. If you want nice tidy cabling, be expecting to pay for it (or do it yourself before they get there).

When I moved into my new place (on poles, so easy to move around underneath) he ran a new 4-way cable all the way from the existing dish, under the house (cable went down externally) and up through the floor in 3 locations (2 to MySky, one to each of the bedrooms I wanted it in). He was freindly and helpful and had it all done within the hour. I would not have expected him to run it down inside walls or terminate it at faceplates - I am happy to get that done myself if I need it.

networkn

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#456623 8-Apr-2011 07:48

Chances are if you had offered to pay him to do it, he either would have had an attitude change and done it for free, or accepted a smallish cash payment which would have got the job done better than you could have done it, faster, and you both could have walked away happier.

darkraid

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#456655 8-Apr-2011 10:07

I was happy to do the install myself. All I wanted from the guy was the cable needed, splitter, and the new MySky box with card then he could of left and finished for the day as this is what looks like he wanted to do and I would have installed it internally, put the splitter inside the roof space and then run the cable to the second room.

I think that what I offered him would have been easier and use less cable than his plan.
My plan was put the splitter in the roof space and not outside and then run the second cable from the splitter over to the right wall and then drop the cable down the wall (Internal walls aren't filled) and then through the floor (inside the wall) and then back up into an existing hole in the floor.

With my plan there would have been no need to get on the roof onto the "slippery" roof tiles. He would have also used less cable and the splitter would have been inside which must be better for it.

It would have also been a lot better if the contractors did call say 30mins before they arrive so I can go home from work and meet him rather than taking 5 hours off work just to waste 4 and a half hours waiting around.

The contractor that installed our Sky the first time was much better and he agreed to run it through the roof space and down the wall and out a wall socket behind the t.v instead of some ugly external install.

mattRSK

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#456673 8-Apr-2011 10:45

I think it is a disgusting practice to run cabling down the exterior of walls. It would take a professional an extra half an hour to have the cables in the wall cavity. Sky installers are cowboys.

networkn

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#456676 8-Apr-2011 10:50

I don't think you understand that it's not permitted for them to variate from the set plan they are given. To do so puts them at risk of not being paid for the job. If he had given you the cable and then you tried to install it yourself and your sky installation hadn't worked properly he would have needed to make a second call out at his expense to fix it.

I understand the frustration re the timing issue, I don't disagree with your suggestion of an alternative way to deal with it, but regarding your complaint that he didn't do a job to your expectations is more about your expectations than his failure, and secondly you were lucky the first time, you wouldn't likely get that level of service normally.

networkn

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#456677 8-Apr-2011 10:53

MattRSK: I agree, but then the installation fee's will go up.

I wouldn't mind personally. The problem is it might be a 30 minute job to run inside the walls, but other places like mine that could be a major issue.

mattRSK

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#456680 8-Apr-2011 11:00

networkn: MattRSK: I agree, but then the installation fee's will go up.

I wouldn't mind personally. The problem is it might be a 30 minute job to run inside the walls, but other places like mine that could be a major issue.

Yes I agree, but interior cabling should be the norm not the exception. We have recently moved into a brick house where it would have been faster to run the cable in the wall. Instead we have this ugly black cable clipped to the outside where the dog can chew on it.

Handle9

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#456681 8-Apr-2011 11:01

mattRSK: I think it is a disgusting practice to run cabling down the exterior of walls. It would take a professional an extra half an hour to have the cables in the wall cavity. Sky installers are cowboys.

You are correct when you say it would take an extra half hour - which they don't have. They're contractors who work on a fixed price per job, not on hourly rate. I don't think that they even get to make a margin on parts, they get free issued by Sky.

It's not the installers fault that they can't afford to do a good quality job, if they spend a half hour per job extra (on a 90 minute job) that's probably one less job per day they can do. I don't know for a fact but I'm guessing that is most of their margin for the day tied up in that last job.

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