Tags: Scams
Phone Spam from Satellite Direct UK
November 23rd, 2006, by Rich.
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I just got another call from Satellite Direct UK telling me that my Sky warranty needs renewing. Oddly enough, nothing has changed since their last call. We are still registered with the TPS so it’s unlawful for them to phone us and we still don’t have a Sky box, so it’s definitely not out of it’s warranty period, which they again suggested. Satellite Direct UK you are not morons: stop ignoring the TPS.
Update: Looks like we’re not the only recipients of their unwanted sales calls: Longrider (also called twice) points out a host of others.
Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB.
Update 2008/03/10: Satellite Direct UK are investigated by BBC Watchdog (it’s available on iPlayer for 1 week after broadcast).
November 25th, 2006 at 12:03 am
i am sick of these calls & have informed tps about it; where do they get your number from?
November 25th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
It appears they just go through the phone book.
November 25th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Had the same problems, first they sent my son a letter to renew a warranty, then phone calls from 08702 402491 which we didn’t answer - they failed to leave leave messages on the answering machine. We are also TPS & MPS registered.
See also Alan Wylie’s discussion of this topic and follow the links - it’s a scam, do not reply or contact them, they have been at this for about 6 months using several schemes, mainly premium rate phone nos. After calls daily for 7 days thankfully no more since yesterday I’m not sure they go through the phone book as my son is not registered to our home number. We think is from registering for SKY over broadband.
These sort of people do sell on contact lists, they get 10 to 50p each, so be careful out there.
November 29th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Those nice people at Direct UK Ltd have written and offered a whole new service agreement to mother in law as they say her initial manufactures warranty on her digital (Sky TV) system has run out. So kind, EXCEPT , she has an OLD SONY ANALOGUE TV -which was bought about 8 years ago from a shop that sold reconditioned tv’s- and it’s still going strong!! What sort of company would send such letter to a 96 year old lady?
A copy of this will be sent to my local trading standards and to the West Sussex Trading Standards, and lets do the MP’s for both aera’s for good measure.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Hi John, I was halfway through a response where I would have said “scan it and put it on the web” when Em arrived home from work clutching an envelope marked: “Important news for all Satellite tv viewers. Please open and read carefully.” Once I read that I knew what would be inside.
November 30th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Have the same problem phoned them up told them they are harrassing us and I would be taking action under the telecommunications act. Waiting to see…
November 30th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Hey! stop worrying…they were really looking for us all the time!
We had a phone call last week telling us that our SKY warranty was about to expire. We checked and they were right.. so we have indeed renewed it… needed to as we have had SO many problems with faulty connections during the year!
So …. clearly, all the phone calls were because they were anxious to locate US… so now that they have found us, I’m sure they’ll leave you all alone at last. Lets hope so anyway, before they drive somebody into hypertension
November 30th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Satellite Direct get your phone numbers off Sky. They are an insurance company who will look after your system for a agreed sum. You can call them out every day if you wish and the price will not alter whereas sky will charge you £65.00 callout.
They buy a list off sky with everybody’s name address and phone number; that’s how they obtain your details.
[note]
November 30th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Hi John, do you know this, or are you speculating?
You might be interested to learn that Sky offers an official warranty service called the Sky Repair Protection Plan which costs £69 per year after which there are “No repair bills, call-out charges, parts or labour costs to pay.”
This seems a little more agreeable than the £65 you quoted (given that it has the backing of Sky and costs about the same).
BTW you’ve arrived and joined the discussion out of the blue, so may I ask what your interest is in all this?
December 1st, 2006 at 8:44 am
the first contact I have had with this company is seeing a charge on my bank statement with their telephone number as the reference, I spent most of yesterday trying to ring them even as late as 10.00 to constantly hear how busy they were and that I was in a queue. I do already have extended warranty on my sky box as Rich says and never had a problem with Sky sorting out the machine. I would really like to know how these people have obtained by bank details and Sky rang last night re the renewal of my existing warranty, so I explained what had happened, I was assured that they do not pass our details to these people as they are in direct competition with them. I have also tried to email them via their website to have the email rejected…..