Phoned up to complain that my router has been continually dropping connection since yesterday. (This is the tip of the iceberg, an unbelievable amount of issues since connecting three months ago).

“Hullo, your through teh Sky, canne help”

“Hi my broadband router is on the blink, I’ve tried every possible permutation of diagnostics and I can confirmed its buggered”

“Canye call bak tomorrah, hour systems eh down an I canne do anything teh help today”

“how about accounts? are they available?”

“nah, tis all doon, call tommora”

Bollocks. I’m cancelling the contract tomorrow.

“Sky are hopeless”

yeap

Have you tried turning it off and on again at the wall?

now there’s an idea YESOFCOURSEIBLOODYWELLHAVE!!!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgM9sfZkAL0[/video]

YESOFCOURSEIBLOODYWELLHAVE!!!

[img]http://www.theguvnorsassembly.com/wp-content/forum-image-uploads/corky/vic_bob_handbags.jpg[/img]

Talk to CST at your earliest opportunity. Front line are nothing more than “is it plugged in, is it switched on, what colour cables are you using?”

If you think Sky are bad – try explaining to Virgin Media that you’re dead.

let me get this right!!

1/You have problems – fair enough, every one gets them whether your with sky, virgin etc. Its an unfortunate part of life

2/ you phoned sky and because the person who you spoke to doesn’t answer in your ideal accent or with words of your choice your instantly on the negative. On this point, i’ve lived in about a dozen or so parts of the country; yorkshire, london, anglia, glasgow, edinburgh so i’ve become natured to different dialects and accents. I’ve learned not to be so racist against other people’s upbringings, its what makes them who they are

3/ He admitted that there having systems failures so cant help. He could of told you to wait but instead told you the truth and the best solution was to phone back in the morning

I’m very happy that the job you work in never ever has any issues.

Idiot

double post

3/ He admitted that there having systems failures so cant help.

From experience, I doubt that not having system failure would’ve made much difference.

because the objective of big companies is to pee of their customers

Most large companies are pretty hopeless but IME Sky are better than the rest, at least you get to talk to someone within the boundary of our country.If you want to try real frustration go to BT!!!

My Sky router has lost connection before, first time it was the power supply, second time it just started again after disconnecting filter and restarting… weird.

3/ He admitted that there having systems failures so cant help.

It’s amazing how often you call a call centre and they’re really busy and their systems are down. Someone would think it was a way of clearing a load of call backlog.

“Hullo, your through teh Sky, canne help”

What does ‘canne help’ mean? I presume you’re suggesting the sky employee is Scottish and your post suggest you have an issue with that. Why is that?

Anyway have you tried switching the router off at the socket?

I spoke to them yesterday after an issue with my Sky+ box – it lost picture totally, I ran through the online diagnostics tool they’ve got, that sort of worked in that I got some channels back but not all of them and then that Live Chat thing popped up with some Sky Advisor asking if he could help.

And he could, he was very good. Got most of my channels back, the HD ones are still being a bit iffy but it’s going to need an engineer out to fix that.

Although he did still come out with the “we’re doing service work on some aspects, it might be that” which is an excuse I’ve heard before, notably from Orange when I phoned to tell them my mobile kept dropping service and not recognising the SIM, the immediate answer was “oh, there’s a mast down in your area, phone back later”.

I rang them last night to chase up about a fault with my broadband which has been going on for over a week now. Gone from getting 5-6mb to 0.6! Given the price I pay I was fuming to hear that the system was down and they could only do general inquiries. He wasn’t amused after I asked if the system was down because it was probably installed by Sky engineers.

I’d suggest using the skyuser.co.uk forum for initial help. They might resolve any issues before calling sky.

Remember when you first get through to sky, you will always get 1st line support, who read from a script when diagnosing issues. The trick is to get them to escalate to 3rd line support at the quickest opportunity.

By using the skyuser forum, you might get the correct diagnosis and wording to get past 1st line with ease.

I have to say if you can get past first line support, second line are actually pretty good.
Oh and if there is a mast down in someones area, or other pre-existing fault, its pretty difficult to troubleshoot something if there is a known fault in the area already. Hence the suggestion to phone back.

Honestly I think Virgin are the best of a bad bunch, with BT bein the worst of a bad bunch! Everything breaks from time to time, it’s how its dealt with at the time that makes the difference i reckons…..

had a text from them shortly after posting saying they’ve been trying to get hold of me! Hmmm. Got to ring them back tonight when at home and when their system is a little less flaky!

because the objective of big companies is to pee of their customers

After getting nowhere on the phone with Sky with a previous issue, I tried email as a method of contacting them with a more recent request. Here’s a transcript of the conversation I had with them. Apologies for length.

>>

Me (13/6):
Hi, A while ago I was experiencing stability issues with my Sky ADSL connection. This eventually proved to be a faulty router; the router was replaced and the problem resolved. However, at the time my line speed was capped to 13Mbps as a troubleshooting step. It would seem that this cap is still in place. Can it be removed please? Thanks, Alan.

Sky (14/6):
Hi Alan

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

Your connection is showing A large number of forward errors. Forward errors relate to
the setup from the faceplate to the router.

Please carry out the following.

Unscrew the bottom half of the bt faceplate.
Insert a micro filter into the test socket behind , make sure you use a different micro filter, from the one thats already in use.

Connect the grey adsl cable to the modem side of the filter and the phone to the phone side, connect the adsl cable to the adsl port on the router and switch the router on.

Make sure nothing else is connected, (eg) double adapters, extension leads.

Let us know when this has been carried out.

Leave the setup as above until we let you know the results of the second line test.

I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our Technical team on 08442 410 515, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.

Thanks

Gerard

Me (15/6):
Hi Gerald.

I’m not aware of any problems or errors on the line. Have you actually found a fault, or is this just a standard email template sent out in response to the email subject line?

The BT faceplate on my master socket has been replaced with an ADSLNation XTE-2005 faceplate which has an integrated microfilter. Nothing else is connected to it. Plugged in are the Sky router (into the ADSL socket), and my landline telephone and the Sky HD digibox (on a two-way splitter in the Phone socket).

As per your email I’ve now replaced the faceplate with an an old filter into the test socket as requested, but I can’t sit here without a telephone for two days waiting for a line test and an emailed reply. If you can ring me on my mobile when the test is to be carried out, I can unplug the phone and Sky TV box for the duration of the test.

I should stress that my original email was a change request, not a fault report.

Alan.

Sky (15/6):
Hi Alan

Thank you for your recent email regarding your slow broadband connection.

From running a speed test on your line and I can see that you current download speed is 7MB. I have managed to reconfigure the speed of your line to 13.3MB and this is the maximum that your line can support. Yes we offer up to 20MB but that depends on what your line can handle and the maximum in your case is 14MB. If you are still not happy with the speed of the Internet there are additional steps you can carry out. Could you ensure the following is correct :-

– You are connected into the master telephone socket ( usually the first socket you come across upon entering your property).
– Ensure you have a microfilter connected to every telephone socket in your home.
– Check that you do not have any extension cables as they will slow down your Internet connection.

If your setup is as above could you replace the microfilter you have connected into your master socket as there is a possibility that it could be the issue. If you are still having a slow connection after you have the microfilter replaced, could you please carry out the following :-

– Remove the microfilter from the master telephone socket.
– Half way down the faceplate of the master socket you will see a horizontal line.
– On the bottom half of the faceplate you will have two screws one either side of the faceplate.
– Unscrew the two screws and the bottom half will lift off.
– Underneath the faceplate you will see another socket
– Connect the microfilter into that socket and test further for 24 hours.

After the 24 hour period has finished could you email us back letting us know if the connection is still slow or rectified.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,

Paul

Me (15/6):
Hi Paul.

I don’t know where this 7Mbps figure comes from, but my ADSL reliably connects at around 13Mbps, it has done for many months.

The line is currently capped at 13Mbps (according to http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/mysky/broadbandservices which reads “Your connection has been set to a download speed of up to 13.0Mb”). This cap was put in place as a temporary measure over a year ago in order to attempt to resolve a stability issue which eventually proved to be a faulty router. Prior to the capping, it regularly trained at around 14-15Mbps. I appreciate that it’s not a huge practical difference, but I was hoping to have this artificial limit removed in order to see how it performed now that I have a working router.

As per my previous email, I’m directly connected to the master socket via an ADSLNation faceplate. Nothing else is hard-wired in and the only other devices on the phone side are my land line and the Sky HD box. I work in IT for a Comms company and I went through all this when I originally moved to Sky, so I can say with some confidence that there’s no issues with my internal wiring.

So we’re clear, I’m not reporting a connection fault, it’s just that “slow connection” was the best fit in the drop-down on your web form; this is more of a change request.

Cheers,

Alan.

Sky (16/6):
Hi Alan

>
>

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

In order for us to establish the cause of your connection issues with your Broadband Box, can you please follow the steps outlined below and supply us with the necessary information in the spaces provided then kindly return our email so that we can assist you further:

How many telephone sockets do you have in your property and out of these how many are in use?
>
>Your Answer?

Is your Broadband Box connected to the master BT telephone socket?

This is usually the first socket at the point in which your telephone line enters your property. If you are still in doubt please call BT to check which is the master socket .

Your Answer?

In order to connect your Broadband Box to your telephone socket are you using only the cables we supplied or have you added different cables or telephone extensions? The preferred set up is shown below.

The microfilter should be the first piece of equipment plugged into the master socket.
The grey cable we supplied should then be connected into the ADSL/Modem side of the microfilter with the other end into the back of the Broadband Box.
All other telephony equipment should be plugged into the phone side of the microfilter, an adapter can be used here if necessary.

>

Your Answer?

Can you make us aware if you have a pre-filtered faceplate as shown below?

>

Your Answer?

If you do not have a pre-filtered faceplate have you placed a microfilter on all of your telephone sockets which are in use?

Your Answer?

Can you please let us know which lights are displayed on your Broadband Box and what colour they are? (Delete as appropriate)

Router colour: Black / White
>Power Light: Green / Flashing Green
>Test Light: Amber / Flashing Amber / Off
>Wireless Light: Green / Flashing Green
>Internet Light: Green / Flashing Green / Amber
>LAN status: On / Off

>
>
>

>

The image below shows a typical Master socket. If you have one of these can you please unscrew the two screws on the socket and remove the lower half of the faceplate to reveal the test socket behind. Please switch and use the test socket to see if your issue is resolved.

>

What was the result?

If your issue is a slow or intermittent connection and you are connecting wirelessly, have you tried the yellow Ethernet cable to see if the issue is the same?

What was the result?

>
>

For further assistance, you can visit our help centre online at http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/skyhelpcentre

>
>

Thanks

Seamus

Me: (16/6):
Hi Seamus.

Here are the answers to your questions. I understand the difficulty you must face in obtaining this information, obscurely hidden as it was in the previous two emails I’ve sent to Sky.

I have one telephone socket. It has a telephone plugged into it, along with the Sky HD box, using a splitter (labelled “adpater” in your diagram).

The router is connected to the BT Master socket. I have no other extension sockets in the house.

I am using the cabling supplied by Sky.

I am using a pre-filtered faceplate, an ADSLNation XTE-2005.

On the black Sagem router, I can see a steady green power light and flashing green Internet and Wireless lights. I can also see flashing green lights for each connected ethernet device.

Will using the test socket and a wired ethernet connection help you to process my change request, or will I have to give you all this information again tomorrow?

Alan.

Sky (17/6):
Dear Mr [Redacted]

Account Number 621110916882

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your Broadband connection.

I have checked your Broadband line and it is showing 1118 critical errors, these errors can have an impact on speed.

Before we can reconfigure your line we need to resolve these errors.

I can see by your e-mail that you have a prefiltered faceplate, do you have a test socket behind this faceplate.

Can you please reply to this e-mail with a convenient day and time I can call you to discuss this. I am on shift from Friday to Monday 10.00 – 20.00.

I look forward to receiving your reply.

Kind regards

Susan

Me (17/6):
Hi Susan.

I do indeed have a test socket behind the faceplate (are there any Master sockets that don’t?). I’m actually plugged into this test socket currently, using a Sky-supplied microfilter, after “Paul” asked me to try without the faceplate.

I should be in from 11am onwards on Saturday if you wish to call to discuss this.

Alan.

—

Me (27/6):
Hi,

I’ve not heard anything further on this in ten days. Can someone please process my change request.

Thanks.

Alan.

—

[received a phone call from “Killian” who was very nice and promised me a call back from “Tier 2,” which never happened.

Sky (27/6):
Dear Mr [Redacted]

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

Just to confirm after speaking with you on the telephone. I have passed your details to the CST department who will check your external equipment. That department will be in contact with you within 72 hours on your mobile number and the reference number for your case is 1000 4379 8120. I really appreciate you taking time with me today on the call and I hope your issue is resolved soon.

I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our Technical team on 08442 411 411, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.

Kind regards

Killian

Me (1/7):
Hi,

Please be advised that 72 hours have passed and I’ve not heard from CST. I initially raised this ticket on the 13th, almost three weeks ago, and apart from being asked the same set of questions six times by Tier 1 I’m still no nearer getting anything resolved. Please make arrangements for CST to call me on my mobile today, otherwise I shall be talking to Retentions regarding my future as a Sky broadband / TV / phone customer.

Alan.

Sky (7/7):
Hi Alan

Sorry for the delay in replying to your message.

Having checked your account, I can see that your technical issue has now been fully resolved. If this isn’t the case, please get in contact again and we will be happy to help you.

Thanks

Jayne

Me: (8/7):
Hi Jayne.

Nothing has been resolved to my knowledge, but that would involve someone talking to me at some point. Three and a half weeks later, I’m *still* waiting to speak to someone who can manage a communication that consists of something more than getting me to check my home wiring. Again.

I work in IT support myself, and if I handled calls like you lot do I’d be sacked. Not good enough.

Alan.

Sky (9/7):
Dear Mr [Redacted],

Thank you for your email in regard to the Broadband issue, and regret that you feel let down by our service, obviously Sky do try and provide excellent customer service.

I have tried to contact you in regard to this issue on your land line today but was unable to make contact.

If you could email ourselves to arrange a suitable contact time for yourself we can try to resolve any issues you have.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for contacting the Sky Help Centre.

Kind Regards,

Richard.

Me (9/7):
Hi Richard,

Thanks for your email. Had you taken the time to read any of mine you might have noticed where I suggested you ring my mobile. If you had an issue with your broadband that wasn’t resolved four weeks later, would you say that you’d experienced “excellent customer service?” Or would you be a bit cross at paying fifty quid a month to a company whose idea of service is somewhat far from “excellent”?

I shall be working from home next week and will be available between 9:30am and 2:30pm every weekday, should you need to speak to me whilst in front of my equipment. Alternatively, my mobile is with me at all times.

Alan.

Sky (10/7):
Dear Mr [Redacted]

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

I can see from looking at your account that our customer solutions team has looked into your issue and closed it of as resoled.

After checking your speed I can see the speed to your router is set at the correct configuration for your line.

Trained In Download Speed 11998 Kbps
Trained In Upload Speed 932 Kbps

This is not a slow speed by any means, for your area. But there is obviously an issue here. Have you tried restoring your browser and do other applications on your laptop take time to open? I would suggest running a tool that defines how many applications are running in the background of your PC that could be causing this lag, just follow my guideline below:

Click the windows icon.(start icon bottom left corner)
Select All programs followed by accessories.
Select the command prompt.
Type netstat and press Return.
This will provide a list of the current active network connections.
Count the number of established entries.

Please provide the number of active entries and the contact mobile number for your callback.

I hope this helps with your enquiry.

Kind regards

Thomas

Me (10/7):
Thomas,

Please read my original email. I’ve copied it below for your convenience. I’ve never reported a “slow” connection, and I don’t require help in troubleshooting a non-existent fault with a “laggy” PC as I’m a senior server engineer for a large telecommunications company and am quite capable of diagnosing and supporting the various connected devices on my LAN.

My initial mail read:
>>
A while ago I was experiencing stability issues with my Sky ADSL connection. This eventually proved to be a faulty router; the router was replaced and the problem resolved. However, at the time my line speed was capped to 13Mbps as a troubleshooting step. It would seem that this cap is still in place. Can it be removed please?
<<

Now we’re training at 11mbps. So, after umpteen emails, you’ve actually managed to make the connection worse. Awesome.

Alan.

Sky (11/7):
Dear Mr [Redacted]

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

I have reconfigured your connection this morning and I am confident that your issue is now resolved. However I would be grateful if you could monitor the line for 24 hours and then please let me know if it requires any further attention.

For further assistance, you can visit our help centre online at http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/skyhelpcentre

Kind regards

Robert

Me (11/7):
Hi Robert.

Can you please confirm what has been done to resolve the issue? I don’t mean to doubt your engineering skills, but my experiences thus far have lead me to severely doubt Sky’s ability to read emails and it’s hard to resolve an issue without a clear understanding of what the issue actually is.

For clarity I’ll give you a recap, because it’s been a while now. We have three issues:

1) I asked for an artificial cap to be removed from my line. Not a difficult request, I foolishly thought.

2) Following my initial contact I was informed on more than one occasion that there were a lot of errors on my line. This was news to me as my line was working just fine. Has a cause for this been found? Is it now resolved? Did it ever exist in the first place? Who knows.

3) I’ve haemorrhaged an unacceptable amount of time and patience dealing with a succession of Tier 1 “engineers” who are unable to deviate from Sky’s “is it plugged in?” script. I do understand the need for this, I’ve worked in support myself and I know all too well the pain in dealing with the general public. However, breaking out of this loop and speaking to someone in Tier 2 / CST who has both the authority and the ability to diagnose an issue which isn’t handled by a script is seemingly impossible, even for a simple query. Callbacks are promised but never happen, or when they do it’s to a different number so I’ve missed it.

I’ve had no explanation of work that’s been carried out other than “we think it’s fixed,” I’ve had no apology for being endlessly cocked about, and as I’ve said in a previous email, it’s just not good enough.

Please arrange for someone to call me to discuss this. I can be contacted on my mobile number which is [redacted]. I’m about to take the phone in for repair so there’s an outside chance that this may be unavailable momentarily, in which case I can also be reached on my work mobile which is [redacted].

Alan.

Sky (12/7):

Dear Mr [Redacted]

>
>

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

In order for us to establish the cause of your connection issues with your Broadband Box, can you please follow the steps outlined below and supply us with the necessary information in the spaces provided then kindly return our email so that we can assist you further:

How many telephone sockets do you have in your property and out of these how many are in use?
>
>Your Answer?

Is your Broadband Box connected to the master BT telephone socket?

This is usually the first socket at the point in which your telephone line enters your property. If you are still in doubt please call BT to check which is the master socket .

Your Answer?

In order to connect your Broadband Box to your telephone socket are you using only the cables we supplied or have you added different cables or telephone extensions? The preferred set up is shown below.

The microfilter should be the first piece of equipment plugged into the master socket.
The grey cable we supplied should then be connected into the ADSL/Modem side of the microfilter with the other end into the back of the Broadband Box.
All other telephony equipment should be plugged into the phone side of the microfilter, an adapter can be used here if necessary.

>

Your Answer?

Can you make us aware if you have a pre-filtered faceplate as shown below?

>

Your Answer?

If you do not have a pre-filtered faceplate have you placed a microfilter on all of your telephone sockets which are in use?

Your Answer?

Can you please let us know which lights are displayed on your Broadband Box and what colour they are? (Delete as appropriate)

Router colour: Black / White
>Power Light: Green / Flashing Green
>Test Light: Amber / Flashing Amber / Off
>Wireless Light: Green / Flashing Green
>Internet Light: Green / Flashing Green / Amber
>LAN status: On / Off

>
>
>

>

The image below shows a typical Master socket. If you have one of these can you please unscrew the two screws on the socket and remove the lower half of the faceplate to reveal the test socket behind. Please switch and use the test socket to see if your issue is resolved.

>

What was the result?

If your issue is a slow or intermittent connection and you are connecting wirelessly, have you tried the yellow Ethernet cable to see if the issue is the same?

What was the result?

I hope you find this information helpful, if you have any further questions or queries please contact our technical team via the link below or call us on 08442 410 515, thank you.

Kind regards

Sean

Me (12/7):

No. You’re taking the piss.

Please forward my emails to someone who can read.

—

Me (12/7):

Actually, don’t bother. I’m ringing accounts tomorrow to cancel my Sky broadband, TV and phone package.

Alan.

Sky (13/7):
Dear Mr [Redacted]

>
>

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre with regards to slow Internet connection

Account number 621110916882

I am sorry you are experiencing issues with the connection speed

I have tried calling both mobile and landline numbers this evening and was unsuccessful

I have checked the line speed this evening and can see that the speed has dropped , I have then tried to reconfigure the line speed and again the speed has dropped , on checking the details there are alot of errors on the line and further assistance is required to resolve the issue. I would like to apologise for not receiving the correct information regarding what steps have been done to resolve the issues you are experiencing.

I would like to advise that I have scheduled a call back forthe 14/7/2011 between 7pm and 8pm

I would like to take you through further steps to help resolve this issue, if this is unresolved then the next step would be to have this escalated to the next level of support , who then do further background checks regarding the line etc.

>

I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our broadband team on 08442 41 05 15, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.

>
>

Kind regards

Vicky

—

Vicky did indeed ring; she rang my landline when I was out, and my work mobile which I don’t carry outside office hours. Despite claims to the contrary I had no missed calls on my personal moble.

—

Me (13/7):
Hi Vicky.

Thanks for calling. Unfortunately my work mobile is unlikely to get answered outside of work hours, and oddly I can see no evidence of missed calls on my personal number.

After being perfectly stable at 13mbps for the past 18 months before I made the mistake of contacting you, my line is now training at 5mbps. Is this someone’s idea of a joke?

I shall be waiting by the phone at 7pm tomorrow as requested. If you’re thinking of asking me about my home configuration I suggest you familiarise yourself with my previous emails beforehand.

Alan.

Sky (14/7):
Dear Mr [Redacted]

>
>

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

Sorry to hear about your on going issue.

After further investigation I have managed to reconfigure you line speed as shown below.

As stabilization is currently running on your line, keep your router switched on for the next ten days.

Trained In Download Speed 13021 Kbps
Trained In Upload Speed 828 Kbps

>

I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our Technical team on 08442 411 411, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.

>
>

Kind regards

Thomas

—

Me (14/7):

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for undoing whatever damage was done to my connection. It will be interesting to see what happens when DLM re-profiling completes.

We’re very clearly not getting anywhere by email. I would like to speak to someone in CST to discuss the situation.

Alan.

Sky (14/7):

Dear Mr [Redacted]

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

I have read and familiarised myself with your ongoing issue that, to be honest, has not been dealt with correctly and has been going on for too long. I have checked your account, and I can see that Vicky has called you back this evening as promised. I can also see that Vicky has escalated your case to our CST department, so any other information that you have receive since Vicky’s email can be ignored.

I would like to apologise that this case has not been dealt with properly previous, and some agents were sending you standard email templates that we not linked to your problem. This is not something that I’ve ever seen happening in a chain of emails before, so I would like apologise again. I have passed the details of this to my superior to make sure it does not happen again.

I can see that Vicky has arranged a callback with you on 03/08/2011 to check if your issue has been promptly resolved by CST. If not, then please do not hesitate to contact us back, and we will aim a providing a better standard of customer service than what you have experienced in this case. I apologise again.

I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our Technical team on 08442 411 411, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.

>
>

Kind regards

Janine

Me (15/7):

Hi Janine,

Thanks for your email. I’d agree with your assessment, and having spent a lot of time in and around call centres I could probably hazard an educated guess as to why it happens.

The bottom line is that as a customer, it really shouldn’t be this difficult to get a simple question fielded. As I said to Vicky last night, the reason I submitted my query via email rather than telephone was because of the difficulties I experienced in getting to speak to an engineer the last time I had an issue. With respect, I doubt that my experiences on this ticket are unique.

On the whole, the actual service I receive from Sky is very good, but the “support” is diabolical. Again, I could probably guess where the problems lie, but to be honest that’s not my concern; ultimately, when I’m paying fifty quid a month to Sky and it takes four weeks for someone to even bother to read what I’m saying, let alone do anything about it, it’s simply not acceptable. When I contact technical support I expect to be dealing with someone who knows more than I do (otherwise, what’s the point?); I don’t expect to receive semi-literate missives full of pagination errors asking me for information that I’ve already provided. It’s not exactly presenting a professional image.

On the upside, credit where it’s due, I’d like to thank Vicky for actually managing to take the time to stop and think. I bent her ear for about 45 minutes, and she was professional throughout.

Regards,

Alan.

Sky (15/7):

Hi Alan

>

Thanks for your reply email.

I fully understand your point that you are making, and the case should have been dealt a lot more efficiently than it has been. I have also updated your account to include how you feel about the situation. It should not have been this difficult to get this case dealt with and I again do need to apologise for the way you have been treated.

From here, going forward, your case is with our Tier 2 agents, and they will be able to figure out what is happening with your line. I can see Vicky has completed all front line troubleshooting, therefore, there is no further steps I can take to try to fix the problem. However, our Tier 2 agents will call you back on the number specified with Vicky ([redacted]) and it should be after 6pm as requested. The average response time for our Tier 2 team is currently sitting at 4 working days. As the case has been escalated to them yesterday (Thursday 14 July 2011), you should be receiving a callback on or before Tuesday 19 July 2011. I will give you a call on the mobile number stated above at around 6.30pm, to ensure they have called you back in time. If not, I will be able to transfer your call to them directly. Also, if there is a time that would suit better, then please advise.

If there is anything else that I can do personally for you until I call you on Tuesday, please reply to this email. I have kept ownership of this case, so any replies you send on this case will come through to me directly.

>

I hope this helps with your enquiry.

>

Kind regards

Janine

Me (15/7):

Hi Janine,

Thanks for the email.

I don’t think there’s anything further that you can do at this stage, to be honest. I’d like to think that this case might highlight a problem to people who are in a position to affect policy, but realistically I suppose that’s a big ask.

Sincerely though, I appreciate your comments and for you taking the time to talk to me. Call ownership seems to be an alien concept at Sky, so again I’m grateful for you efforts (and Vicky’s) here.

Thank you.

Alan.

Phew!
So would you recommend Sky to friends and Family Mr Cougar? 😆

I’m actually tired after reading that.

I tried to cancel my services last night and got the same thing. After the terrible service recently there will be very little that they can do to stop me leaving now.

would you recommend Sky to friends and Family

To be honest, I actually would. The service – ie, the TV / ADSL etc – is great, and their CST / Tier 2 / whatever they call it this week are mostly pretty good. It’s just that their front line support is utterly rubbish.

As I mentioned in my email chain above, I could probably guess why. Speaking from experience of working in customer-facing support, the vast majority of calls are likely to be very basic in nature. Also, the nature of ADSL is that it’s very susceptible to home wiring issues. There’s no point in feeding “is it plugged in?” questions to senior techs, it’s a waste of resource and all that will happen is they’ll get bored out of their skulls and quit. So you put a buffer in place, where non-technical staff can go through a checklist of simple, common issues before passing callers through to support proper. It’s a sensible approach. I expect that front line have it hammered into them that under no circumstances can they escalate a call without first going through their script.

So this is all fine, but Sky fall down on two points IMHO, or at least they did last time I had cause to contact them. They may have improved by now, I don’t honestly know.

The first, as we see here, is that when you ring up with an actual technical problem / query, they’re knackered. There’s no leeway for them to actually think, they have to stick to the script and if you fall outside of that scope it’s game over.

The second is that when you do actually talk to a proper tech, as soon as you put the phone down they close the bloody ticket. So when you need to follow up an issue, you’re back to square one with the “what colour are your cables” nonsense again.

It’s frustrating because it should be fairly simple to resolve, and it’s a huge black mark against what’s otherwise a great package.

It’s amazing how often you call a call centre and they’re really busy and their systems are down.

You’d be amazed how often these huge and complex CRM systems do go down. I wonder if it’s anything to do with their being huge and complex….

And you wouldn’t believe the amount of money that companies lose (there and then and through churn) as a result of their front end agents being out of action.

CRM systems are by nature Pants. Not the tight white slim fitting kind that flatter the wearer, ohh no, but Huge Frilly Bloomers with Flowers on.
Sky use the latter.
Frontline staff try to be helpful, honest they do. Shouting at them doesn’t help nor make their day any easier either.

radoggair,

Let me set you straight:

1) Continual problems, ongoing, never ending problems with my Sky service, you are correct in this matter.

2) I didn’t have an issue with his language or him, he was really helpful and a good laugh.
How you determined that I’m a racist from a phonetically typed conversation is anyones guess, you may notice that I also made myself sound like an arse in the quoted dialogue.

I’m surprised that an educated man such as your self didn’t know that a Dozen is twelve, not five. Also I’m sure you know that someone’s upbringing does not dictate their race rather “race” is commonly determined by all sorts of heritable factors, none of which I have any prejudices towards, ever.

3) He did, and I thanked him for it, I was bitching about Sky the service/company, not the advisor.

My job is continually beset with technical challenges, objections and such like, I actually enjoy it.

…thats a lovely chip by the way, where did you get it?

Just got off the phone to the advisor who was really helpful and couldn’t believe how crap my internet was. He’s done something from his end and waiting for it to stabilise again so got to watch it for 24hours. Fingers crossed I should get at least 3.5 by tomorrow.

Sky have always been good (and polite) with me and always willing to give me offers when I threaten to leave because of the price of nappies. Currently getting free line rental.

Broadband connection is fine never had a problem.

Mr Nutt, have you tried unplugging the router…………………………………..and throwing it at the farest wall.

Also a sky related problem, we live in an appartment with afew residents dishes outside, so a company comes along and puts up a comunal dish,get a leter off sky saying we are now communal, i phone up and ask the very nice lady how much for a connection, she cant tell me without my phone number,i expalin i dont want a date or loads of sales calls so she cant have it, she also cant give out details of the instalation company who will connect it without a contact number, so i cant ring them,so a nice new big dish and box, been there for 6 months and not one connection to it, as sky want realease any details.

oh and i only want freesat

Just cancelled my SKY broadband. After midnight I get 8mb but between 5pm and 11pm most days it peaks at 5kps. Apparently this is normal…

Three 30+ min phone calls so far, first I’m told to to cancel to get a MAC code, do that but code is out of date, can’t have a new one because I’ve cancelled, put on hold then back in the que, told to ring back tomorrow.

Going to Zen if I ever get it.