Huge Phone Bills

**Shaun** · 15-11-2002

I heard somewhere that some Sky Boxes are making erroneous phone calls (e.g. to the talking clock) and running up huge phone bills? I wonder how widespread this problem is and whether we should all just disconnect our Sky Boxes from the phone lines?

**PoloMint** · 15-11-2002

…better still don’t enter 123 as a dial prefix in the hope that you will get free PPV.

**rolfw** · 15-11-2002

LOL, yes Shaun, as PoloMint indicates, these are self inflicted bills, purely caused by attempts to receive free box office and Sky along with BT are fully aware and probably laughing their socks off.

**Shaun** · 15-11-2002

I didn't see the details. It seems these folk deserve what they got then.

**PoloMint** · 15-11-2002

I saw it on WatchDog recently, it wasn’t even mentioned that the users could have entered 123 themselfs (or why they would) – they were presented as being completely innocent and the programme has probably won them the sympathy of many people.

I wonder if they think that by playing along with it Sky/BT will pay up, or if one member of the family (husband, teenage son etc) entered it without telling the rest of the family then kept quiet when the bill arrived…

**rolfw** · 15-11-2002

Hmm, I don't tend to view Watchdog anymore, I feel that they are sometimes less than objective in their investigations.

I'm sure that Sky now will not accept that the numbers spontaneously enter themselves into the digibox.

Stephen · 26-11-2002

Whether it's changing the phone number prefix or the 9v battery trick, you just can't beat $ky!

04-12-2002

Of course you can you can tell them to stick their subscriptions when the min 12 month expires, and youve gotyour digi box.

Most people with an once of intelligence will realise its all a load of crap anyway.

**rolfw** · 04-12-2002

Surely you're not saying that all six million Sky subscribers have not got an ounce of intelligence between them haveagoade? Admittedly there is a lot of rubbish on there, but the same applies to the 5 UK terrestrial analogue channels and all of the European channels that most hobbyists strive to receive.

Agreed though, if anyone doesn't like what Sky put out and how much money they charge, then they should vote with their feet, if enough preople did it it would certainly hit them where it hurts. I for one went from the top package to the £16 package when they made notification that they were raising the charge and made sure that they knew that was the reason.

**malling** · 04-12-2002

$ky are greedy they take huge amounts of money from their subscribers and advertising partners and then show loads of repeats and ads every 10 mins or so. I know a lot of people that subscribe to Sky and are unhappy with the service they receive.

One day a company will come along and take Skys monopoly away. Lets hope its soon!!!

Perhaps a poll on how popular Sky are would be a thought. Wonder what the outcome would be??

1million subscribers to Sky full package a year = £444million!! + other subscription packages = ?????

Malling.

**rolfw** · 04-12-2002

I agree with you malling that a poll would come out heavily on the dissatisfied side if it were conducted on this or any hobby satellite board. If it were to be conducted in the average town centre though, you may find a different result, I wouldn't mind betting that the main gripe would be price, but not content and the balance would be in favour of satisfied.

**malling** · 04-12-2002

Agreed Rolf but I dont fancy standing in a town centre in this weather, Ill freeze to death.

Maybe a phone poll would be better.

Are you dissatisfied with sky:

0908 GIVEMEMONEY = YES

0908 MONEYGRABBER = NO

Calls cost £1 a second at all times

If you cant beat em join em!!

Malling.

***bigrandydavid*** · 04-12-2002

Rolf,
Why not stick a poll up then and lets have a vote!

Is Sky any good??

Category 1 - No its absolutely rubbish and costs a packet

Category 2 - Its OK but too expensive

Category 3 - all in all its good value for money

Category 4 - Yes its excellent, wouldn`t be without it

I`m tempted to suggest Category 5 - Its crap because you can`t break the encryption and get it for free,

(which I think is the problem most people have with it

)

**rolfw** · 04-12-2002

Done.

04-12-2002

All the good stuff on bloody sky comes from the bbc and itv,
its a shame that the british people are so stupid to pay for it twice over.
AND YES , you can Never underestimate the intelligence of the tv viewing public.
Ask any tv programme schedule maker, the viewers just become more sophisticatedly stupid.

04-12-2002

Category 5
Well it was still crap when it was free on Itv digital, or have you forgotten that bigrandydavid, just goes to prove my point.
I never watched it when paying my min sub or when it was free, nor even in the days when they offerred you free subs to keep you from leaving and adding to their churn rate.

**rolfw** · 04-12-2002

The problem with this type of discussion is that it is subjective, I happen to like a lot of the output from the Sky platform channels, particularly the Sci-Fi and certainly can't think of much programming with a UK terrestrial origin that I consider to be particularly outstanding these days.

This doesn't however mean that I am brainless, it means that I have different tastes. I also enjoy a fairly healthy diet of news and documentary coverage, historically Sky has offered a good selection (even if some of it did originate from UK terrestrial) and I can watch it at times more suitable to my lifestyle.

**Channel Hopper** · 04-12-2002

you can Never underestimate the intelligence of the tv viewing public

Surely that should be overestimate ?

**Shaun** · 04-12-2002

I have to own up to having a Sky box, I didn't want one, I still don't and there's nothing on it that I watch. But I do have two very persistent children (9 and 5 years) and anyone who's a parent will know just how persistent children can be when they want something. My 9 year old even insisted on a separate dish so that when the motorised dish is not pointing at 28.2E, he can still watch his programs. Believe you me, for the peace and quiet that its bought me, its money well spent.

Never underestimate the persistence of Dragon Ball and Bay Blade followers.

06-12-2002

channel hopper, think about it, you might see the meaning and escape .

**Channel Hopper** · 06-12-2002

Thought about it and mine still makes more sense

Anyhow I escaped years ago and theyre still after me

06-12-2002

The cruicial words are NEVER UNDER....estimate
ie your estimate can never be low enough.
QED
mine is just that bit more subtle.

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