Tags: Scams
Suspicious BSkyB Warranty Telesales
October 20th, 2006, by Rich.
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We just got a telemarketing call. Regular readers will know we’re registered with the TPS, so such calls are unlawful. The call went like this…
Sam: “Hello, can I speak to Ms Reeves please?”
Me: “Sure, what’s it in connection with?”
Sam: “We notice that your Sky warranty is about to run out and … blah blah blah.”
Me:”Right, so who would be providing the cover?”
Sam: “Oh, Sky Engineers … blah blah blah.”
Me: “Right, so who, which company would be providing the cover?”
Sam: “Satellite Direct. Sky don’t do warranties so they subcontract them to companies such as ours.”
Me: “Right. We don’t have a Sky box.”
Sam: “Oh; must be a system error, we’ve been getting a lot of them today, we get all our names and numbers from Sky.”
I took the guy’s name and the company’s number (08702 402 483) for good measure.
Satellite Direct say they got our number from BSkyB. We do not have, and never have had a contract with BSkyB!
And they called using Emma’s maiden name?
Satellite Direct are Telespammers.
I’ve mentioned their call to the TPS.
Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB
December 21st, 2006 at 7:44 am
hi just received a letter from satellite direct telling me my warranty has expired got a bit suspicious so went on to the web glad i did won.t be seeing my 60quid thanks
January 25th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I too, recieved a call from the hoax company “Satellite Direct uk” quoting my “Warranty” had Expired, I hear that they have recenty lost a battle against ‘Sky’ in court, and have lots of trouble with Trading Standards! They are also found to be using other names apparently, like, Satcover, Homecare, Skycare service agreements and probably loads more! I’m with an independant warranty company “Satellite Assured” ,they have Sky approved Engineers, I’ve been with them for 3 years now, 6 callouts, with 2 replacements,I havent had any trouble with them at all and am only paying £65p/y, really good! I know quite a bit about the company if anyone wanted some info, every little helps! email me christyn_121@yahoo.co.uk
February 5th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Many thanks, hit on your website as there was definitely a bad smell from the letter ex Satellite Direct. They’d tried a phone call previously under a different name. What made us suspicious was that they did not get my wife’s name right!
March 12th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Having been caught out by Satellite Direct previously and got a refund and cancelled all dealings with them,they have now charged my credit card again for extended sky warranty - not happy and seeking way of putting a stop to these people, any advise welcome
March 17th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I’m trying to get a refund from Digital satellite warranty company Ltd of Kirkby (same as satellite direct?) but no luck so far. How did you get your original refund Audra? Does anyone know who to complain to? I have emailed knowsley trading standards but got no reply. I’ll try phoning on monday.
March 17th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Hi Rose,
“Digital Satellite Warranty Company Ltd” (DSWC) are a separate company. There’s a little more information about them here:
March 28th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
‘Tis nowt but a scam
April 3rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
we had a phone call to say our sky equipment was out of warranty and would we like cover for it they said they were phoning from sky, we agreed and found several weeks later that we our account had been debited £90 with a telephone number quoted, we realised after phoning sky that this was nothing to do with them, and luckily were able to cancel the direct debit and get our money back immediately.Our equipment was not out of warranty having only been purchased 6 months ago.What would be the chances of getting any repairs done if needed? pretty slim I imagine. so watch out
April 21st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I did get a refund, but only £24.99. Was told £35 deducted because of administration charges and it was out of 7 day cooling off period. I’ve written again and yet again informed them that as they sent no paperwork, gave me no contact details and i thought they were Sky originally I could not cancel within 7 days. Only when i got my credit card statement was i able to find contact details through google searches and unhappy customers on forums like this.
April 27th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I work for a Sky sub-contractor. I have just received a call from an elderly customer whose system we serviced several months ago. He had received no fewer than 12 “demands” in just two weeks from Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd. Thanks to this site, I was able to tell him that this is a scam and to send the letters to Trading Standards.