Tags: Scams
Junk Mail from Satellite Direct UK
November 29th, 2006, by Rich.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen complete mindless determination in the face of utterly overwhelming odds, but Satellite Direct have shown a lack of comprehension that is quite staggering in their recent marketing campaign. Today, they have raised the bar of ineptitude.
The Odds against Satellite Direct
The odds stacked up against Satellite Direct are not just high, they’re positively gargantuanly mind-bogglingly insurmountable; but this plucky little company won’t give up.
Satellite Direct want to sell us a warranty for our Sky satellite television receiver and they don’t give a stuff that we don’t own one.
It matters not a jot to them that we’ve never had one - why let a trifling little detail like that get in the way of a good marketing opportunity?
Disregarding Things
If you’re disregarding important things like checking that your victims potential customers have a need for your warranty then a few other forgetful moments won’t go amiss either, like forgetting to check if your victims potential customers are registered with the TPS.
We for example are registered with the TPS, so it’s unlawful, for Satellite Direct to call us and even try to sell us anything, but that’s not stopped them calling us twice (1,2) already, and comments are starting to arrive from others who have also been tele-spammed.
Satellite Direct Junk Mail
So if your tele-marking operations were facing repeated TPS complaints, what do you do?
Well I was most impressed today to hear from John Campbell whose 96 year old mum-in-law received a letter from Satellite Direct informing her that she too had an expired warranty on a Sky satellite receiver which has (like ours) never, ever, existed.
So that’s what Satellite Direct do, they switch to junk mail. We’re also registered with the Mailing Preference Service, so it’s also unlawful for Satellite Direct to directly send us junk mail.
It will therefore come as no surprise that we too have received a letter from Satellite Direct UK which opens:
The initial manufacturer’s warranty on your digital satellite (Sky TV) system has now expired and this leaves you open to expensive call out charges and repair costs should anything go wrong!
Profiting from Dishonesty?
If Satellite Direct can repeatedly badger us with this specious nonsense about the expiry of a warranty on a device which has never existed, then we must question how many real Sky customers are buying unnecessary warranties on machines that are still covered perfectly well by the original warranty?
Add todays letter to the call I received earlier this year telling me I’d won a flight to Turkey thanks to Data Partnership Solutions and One4Travel - which work in partnership with Satellite Direct UK and that makes four occasions when they’ve ignored the TPS and MPS and contacted us, then attempted to mislead us.
Countrywide that could scale up to a lot of unsolicited and unlawful telephone calls and junk mails, and a lot of unhappy customers.
Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB.
April 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Just a quick update.
I have spoken to Satellite Direct this morning and they now say they will credit my account in 2/3 working days. This warranted a retort that they only had to add another two days and they would match bank transaction times. They did however admit to actively competeing with Sky.
I also pointed out that they appeared to be unpopular in forums such as this.
My passing shot was to tell them that failure to fulfill their promise to me would result in the issue being passed to Trading Standards
April 30th, 2007 at 8:58 am
hello again the anon sat d worker here again ok here is something interesting for everyone; as a result of the injunction being slapped on sat d the company will no longer be ringing anyone or sending anyone letters! now i know your all thinking that this is a good thing, but its not. you will now be hounded by ’satlink services’ an equally annoying company. in fact probably even worse, as there is no injunction in place on them so they can say absolutely anything they want to try an get your money! their data is also about 7 years old so when they do contact you it probably wont even be you they want to speak to! so heres how it worked. sat d gave all of its call agents their p45s on friday 23rd of march. on monday 26th they all signed contracts for satlink services. and so it begins…..
i understand that if there are enough complaints about a company they really will end up being shut down so please anyone with any compassion at all start complaining and lets get redundant!
April 30th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
It appears I am in the position as jeff. I too had a contract with Nationwide digital Satillite Warranty Services Ltd, I paid them last year £129.99 using my debit card, this expires August this year.
March I received a phone call appertaining to be from Sateillite Direct, to which I replied, I do not deal over the telephone and ended the call. On checking my on line bank details I found that £129.99 had been taken using my debit card details by Satellite Direct. Appears that this company had taken over Nationwide and obtained my details from them. After several phone calls I am still waiting for my money.
My next port of call will be reporting the incident to my bank as a fraudulant transaction.
May 1st, 2007 at 10:58 am
I have just received a letter from Satellite Direct UK Ltd about my warranty on my Sky TV running out. Have had many of these in the past but ignored them as I didn’t have satellite but six months ago I signed up with Sky. Phoned Sky who said they only deal with Domestic and General so I reported them (Sat. Direct UK Ltd not Sky) to Trading Standards.
I am not giving away credit card or bank details to any suspicious company. Anyone actually had good service from them? Decided to Google them and guess what - came across this site! Most companies these days that are as sucessful as they claim to be have a website. I can even contact my doctor’s surgery by email for god’s sake but this site is all I can find out about them.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:02 am
I just got a letter identical to the one in this article, not only do I not now or have at any point in the past subscribed to Sky, but it was addressed to my surname but a first initial which fits no-one in my family!
May 5th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Well a week has passed and as you can guess, no refund yet from that pillar of commercial probity, Satellite Direct UK Ltd.Don’t despair readers, much can yet be achieved if we all stick together.
On the advice of Trading Standards,I have sent a recorded delivery letter outlining their two breaches of contract, particularly that relating to data protection. My credit card company have been notified and and I will be completing a compalaint form to enable them to pursue and take action
Trading Standards are also investigating and said that it would be good to hear from others affected by the activities of this company.
So get in touch with Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or on
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk. The more people that do this, the better the chance of Trading Standards getting them sorted out.
Just one other point. When I asked to speak to their Finance Director, I was told they did not have one. Strange for a company handling what must be a large financial pot. They do allegedly have a Managing Director whose name is Mr David Reynolds. Don’t try to call him; apparently he does not take calls.
I’m just boarding up the family home now for when Mr.Reynolds decides to ‘SEND THE BOYS ROUND’
May 9th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Have the boys been round yet Jeff? According to the anon sat d employee on 30/04 they were closing down???? How come they still sending letters out?
May 10th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Hi Gillie,
Miracles do happen.
Satellite Direct have at last credited my account and I hope, removed my credit card details from their data base. However they don’t read the written word too well as they have also cancelled my original contract that has six months to run.
Never mind I’m glad to be out of their clutches.
I am still completeing the complaint form for my credit card comapny as I beleive that Satellite Direct may give in when a ‘tougher cookie’ starts saber rattling. Also everthing I have seen and read about this company’s activities and its possible dirivitives they need to be investigated by the relevant authorities.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Hi Jeff
That’s good news - at least it’s some sort of result. These companies are like parasites. People who work for them must be so desperate for work or they don’t have any scruples. Keep up the good fight.
Gillie
May 16th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
received one of the warranty letters this morning,did’nt think that people like this still existed anymore lets hope they disappear and creep back under whatever stone they came from.
glasfryn