Tags: Scams
Phone Spam from Satellite Direct UK
November 23rd, 2006, by Rich.
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).
January 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hello,
I just had a call on my mobile at work but luckily on my break. A gentleman asked if I was Nicola and then proceeded to tell me that my warranty for my Sky box had expired and I could renew it for £5 a month etc etc. The man spoke very fast and I felt like I was being rushed into something that I did not understand fully especially as he did not give any introduction as to where he was calling from. I had to interrupt him a couple of times to ask him firstly if his company part of Sky, to which he replied it wasn’t and it was Satellite Direct or Assured (He spoke so fast I couldn’t quite understand everything he said!)and continued to rattle on about the warranty he was selling. I also interrupted again and asked him where he had received my details and the answer was because I had a satelliate dish which didn’t really explain anything. Eventually I asked him to call back on my day off as I was working and have just Googled the name and found this web site.
I am so glad I have not signed up for anything. I can see how the company’s caller can bombard the person on the other end and make it sound like there’s a good deal to be had when really your signing for something with someone you have no knowledge of whatsoever, and which you can easily believe is Sky if you don’t think to ask.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
My mother had a call a few months ago from satellite direct and signed up with them.
Shes had no problems whatsoever with this company and im appauled at some of the feed back theyve had!
The sky box in our home has had its faults whilst weve been in warranty with them and we were seen within 2 hours and the second time we waited just under an hour. When we were with domestic and general we was without sky tv for 3 days!!
It really dosent sound like the same company your all talking about!!
Sam
January 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
We were contacted by a company called Satellite Assured and thought the satellite insurance was all part of Sky. We have been plagued by letters and phone calls. We made one initial payment of £18.00 and then cancelled. They disputed this and continued to send letters and make phone calls, with lapses of about three months. This began in 2005. By June 2007 they threatened us with court action. We sent letters to Satellite Assured Chichester and Bognor Regis both cancelling their so called warranty.
By October 2007 we were contacted once again with demands of payment for £18.00 per quarter. Unfortunately we sent a cheque dated 22.10.2007 thinking this was the end of the matter - £126.00! On Thursday night 10.01.2008 at 6.00 p.m.
Satellite Assured rang my husband to say we owed money. They wanted our credit card details and full payment!
The cheque was cashed on 5th November. Our bank is now investigating this.
They say they have never received any of our letters of cancellation!!
We were enlightened to discover this website - thanks to everyone. Keep highlighting these people. It has cost us dearly.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I have just had the same problem and are currently in the process of trying to get my money back from this company.
Their email address is admin@satelittedirectuk.com.
Hope this helps
January 25th, 2008 at 11:18 am
my dad (89 yrs old) just been caught by Satellite Direct! Gave his bank details. We’ve cancelled with bank and e-mailed Satellite Direct to cancel, but having read the above don’t know if this will be enough!! He is TPS registered lot of good that does.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Do not trust Satellite Assured!! Thay have tried to charge me £85 for warrenty renewal which I never took in the first place. When finding out they were not part of Sky and telling them this they were rude and abusive. An absolute scam!!
January 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I am among the 650,000 customers of satellite direct, after paying sky £75 to wait 5 days my system worked for three hours and then broke down. I joined with satellite direct in august last year and had my system fixed on THE SAME DAY I RANG!!! I rang when i saw this blog and yes the company have have problems in the past, however their service now is second to none.
Tim Harris
Portsmouth
January 30th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hi Tim, that’s nice to hear, though it’s not something that I personally find important because I don’t have a Sky satellite system and never have (you may have noticed that already). Nevertheless it may be of use to anyone that does not have the officially endorsed Sky warranty, so it’s a very welcome addition.
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:31 am
We subscribe to the TPS and do not (generally) get unsolicited phone calls. In December I had a call from “Sky” telling me that my service contract was due for renewal at the end of December (correct) and that the contract now covered my HD box as well (also correct). Did I want to carry on paying £99 per annum, or would I like to buy a 2– or 3- year contract – and I agreed to buy a 3-year contract for £170. I asked that they take this through me existing Sky DD, but they said it had to be by a Credit Card (that’s not unusual for Sky). Then the paperwork arrives from Satellite Direct UK – I’ve immediately phoned to cancel and asked for a refund – the call centre guy agreed that I could cancel with a full refund, and asked me to e-mail, which I did and also confirmed by post asking them to also delete my personal information and never to contact me again.
Two weeks later, with no refund I phoned their call centre who claimed the person I’d spoken to earlier didn’t exist, that my letter arrived too late, and after I pointed out that I could cancel and they must return my money under the distance selling rules, claimed that they were investigating my complaint and might refund me after that investigation in a couple of weeks time. After saying that if I didn’t get a refund there and then I would approach both the police (as I believe they behaved fraudulently by taking money from me by pretending to be Sky), and Trading Standards, I got my promise of a refund, which duly arrived a few days later.
Then, two days ago, I get them on the phone again, this time to my wife, trying the same scam, claiming that my service contract had expired and would I like to renew with them! Given my letter to them asking them to delete my personal details, and my membership of TPS, they are in flagrant breach of both the TPS and UK Data Protection Laws. I’ve complained to TPS and, if that is unsuccessful, aim to complain to the Information Commissioner.
I’ve read the positive reports of this company on this blog, I assume they’re genuine and not planted by the company themselves (?), as this company clearly doesn’t believe in fair play or acting within the law in its sales activities.
But where are these guys getting the information from? They knew that my contract was up for renewal – and that I’d added an HD box. I’ve spoken to Sky and they don’t appear to know – but it all looks very fishy to me. Satellite Direct is clearly breaking the rules of the TPS and UK data protection laws – and is it getting the Sky subscriber information legally or illegally? Come on Sky – get these guys closed down – they’re passing themselves off as Sky and by my understanding that’s enough to sue the pants off them, if not close them down…..
February 5th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I recently returned from working in Germany to learn that
my wife had been persuaded to take out a policy with
Satellite Direct for 3 years of cover for our Sky system.
My research on the web gave me no comfort but I phoned them
to explain the situation. I explained what had happened and
that I felt that there had been a degree of misselling -
and added that as we were registered with TPS, they should
not have called us in the first place.
They explained that there had been problems in the past
but they now have an almost entirely new management team. They
asked for a copy of our existing insurance with Domestic
& General to prove we were already insured and then they
refunded all on the money. Result!!!!!