Sky HD Party - Ordering film through Box Office

cs638 · 11-12-2009, 6:01 PM

I'm due to have one of the HD Parties this evening, with a free HD box office movie. I've never had my HD box connected to the phone line, or orderded anything through box office before, so wasn't sure what I should or shouldn't be doing.

I connected my box to the phone line without a problem and when into my account through the box to test the line worked, which I did. I've now tried to order the film which starts at 9pm this evening, but nothing seems to happen when I click 'order', I get a message saying that it'll cost £3 odd but then when I accept all that seems to happen is that a reminder is saved in my planner. At no point during the process was any connection made through my phone line. Can anyone tell me if something's went wrong, or if this is normal?

I need to disconnect my broadband in order to plug in the Sky box to the phone line, so I'm unsure whether I need to keep it connected to the phone line until after the film, if I need to plug it in again just before the film starts, or if I don't need to bother. Any help / advice is appreciated.

sizedoesmatter · 11-12-2009, 7:20 PM

Have you tried hitting the record button to convert the reminder into a recording?

Otherwise I guess at 9pm it will expect you to watch it "live".

I'm having difficulty booking it, it says I have no credit on my card !

I phoned them & apparently my box office limit was set at zero (what limit I asked myself) but they've now reset it to £35, the standard amount but I'm waiting for that to update my card.

If its not through by 8.45 I'll phone up & order & argue about the procedures for ordering later.

cs638 · 11-12-2009, 7:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sizedoesmatter

Have you tried hitting the record button to convert the reminder into a recording?

Otherwise I guess at 9pm it will expect you to watch it "live".

I'm having difficulty booking it, it says I have no credit on my card !

I phoned them & apparently my box office limit was set at zero (what limit I asked myself) but they've now reset it to £35, the standard amount but I'm waiting for that to update my card.

If its not through by 8.45 I'll phone up & order & argue about the procedures for ordering later.

Is the booking stage the point at which it tells you the price of the film and says press 'select' to buy? I've managed to get past that bit, with the film currently sitting as a reminder in my planner. I was planning on watching it 'live' at 9 pm anyway, just doesn't seem like it actually processed any kind of order or payment, as soon as I pressed 'select' to buy that was it. Guess I'll just need to wait till 9 to see if it worked for sure.

sizedoesmatter · 11-12-2009, 7:43 PM

What my email says is;-

Quote:

Step 1: You must book your Sky Box Office HD film on the day of your party. To do this, enter the channel your film is being shown on, as outlined below, and then follow the on screen instructions. Please note you must have a phone line connected to your Sky+HD box to allow you to order your Sky Box Office HD film.

which isn't strictly true as when I phoned up they said they could book it for me, but I wasn't sure at the time whether that fits with the offer

Quote:

Your movie details:

Movie: The Hangover
Movie Date/Time: Friday 11 December 21:00
Party Time: 18:00
Channel: Sky Box Office HD2 (753)

Step 2: You may need to enter your 4 digit pin to view your chosen movie. This is the last 4 digits of your viewing card number, unless you have changed it.

Step 3: Please note the film will show as a cost of £3.91, however once you accept the film we will apply the offer and there will be a zero charge on your statement.

Recording your film
You can record your Sky Box Office HD film but this must be done on the day you selected to view your chosen movie. You must also watch the film on the day you chose to host your Sky+HD Party or you will be charged for your film.

Watching your movie again
You can continue to watch your film until it expires and is deleted from your planner providing you have also watched it on the day of your party.

so I would expect you to be able to have it set as record, rather than remind

sizedoesmatter · 11-12-2009, 8:37 PM

I phoned them again-why can't the first person at Sky you ever speak to do what they're supposed to?

I can now order properly & set it to record, after it goes into planner, if you can't that sounds unusual.

Knyght_byte · 12-12-2009, 2:28 AM

HD party? something tells me I didnt get the memo

if you book via box office button, it goes on your sky bill (apart from in the case of a special offer)...its also cheaper than booking by telephone (with PPV events anyhow)

I had that 'out of credit' thing once tho, on the same day as I wanted to watch a PPV.....phoned them up and the girl said she cant get the limit reset on the box until the next day so I'd have to order it through her. I said gopher it....she then mumbled about the extra £1 admin fee for processing it by telephone....didnt take long to make her realise she needs to waive that because its not my fault...lol

*Skizm123* · 12-12-2009, 4:54 PM

Was scheduled to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince tonight at 9:00 on channel 753 (as stated on the party pack) however it is showing The Hangover. Will try giving them a ring in a minute but just wondering if anyone else is having this problem?

cs638 · 12-12-2009, 5:41 PM

Everything amazingly worked fine last night. Movie was good too

roxyskinflint · 12-12-2009, 6:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skizm123

Was scheduled to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince tonight at 9:00 on channel 753 (as stated on the party pack) however it is showing The Hangover. Will try giving them a ring in a minute but just wondering if anyone else is having this problem?

Yep having same problem on phone as we speak, whey on hold

roxyskinflint · 12-12-2009, 6:53 PM

Phoned sky and the only option To watch it at 9pm tonight is watch it SD On channel 701
and it's still free, might ring tomorrow and see if I can record tomorrow in HD for free

sizedoesmatter · 12-12-2009, 7:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cs638

Everything amazingly worked fine last night. Movie was good too

Yep I watched the Hangover & it was pretty funny, some real LOL moments.

I just hope the credit appears properly on the account.

Bribrian · 12-12-2009, 7:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roxyskinflint

Phoned sky and the only option To watch it at 9pm tonight is watch it SD On channel 701
and it's still free, might ring tomorrow and see if I can record tomorrow in HD for free

So our HD party is in SD.............

Are Sky for real.?

HD Monkey · 12-12-2009, 8:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skizm123

Was scheduled to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince tonight at 9:00 on channel 753 (as stated on the party pack) however it is showing The Hangover. Will try giving them a ring in a minute but just wondering if anyone else is having this problem?

We had this problem, and rang them.

They said on "their" planner it is showing Harry Potter and Hangover shouldn't be on, so go to the channel at 9pm and enter pin and it should show Harry Potter.

No idea if it will work, and why do Sky have a different planner to us??

I'll let you know what happens.

HD Monkey · 12-12-2009, 9:09 PM

Well, we went to the channel, entered the pin and now have Hangover on

So now I suppose we'll have a battle with Sky to get that refunded, since they will charge us for it!

Another great cock up. How hard can it be?

paxo · 12-12-2009, 9:12 PM

i had my hd party booked for 21.00 hrs but when i try to book it it was hangover so i rang sky . . . i was on the phone for ove a hour no one seemed to know about these hd party's lol i had to book a standard one not hd and there refunding me for that they also said i can watch hangover for free but what makes my blood boil is that you spend a hour on the phone to them getting past to operator to operator and at times getting cut off because they don't know what your on about i think should have a free number for these sorts of offers with operators who know about the offers lol i would not have any thing to do with any offers again lol i have put a complaint in about it but i dont think im going to get a answer.the £10 marks and sparks gift voucher i have paid back in phone calls. WELL DONE SKY

gezzs · 13-12-2009, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paxo

i had my hd party booked for 21.00 hrs but when i try to book it it was hangover so i rang sky . . . i was on the phone for ove a hour no one seemed to know about these hd party's lol i had to book a standard one not hd and there refunding me for that they also said i can watch hangover for free but what makes my blood boil is that you spend a hour on the phone to them getting past to operator to operator and at times getting cut off because they don't know what your on about i think should have a free number for these sorts of offers with operators who know about the offers lol i would not have any thing to do with any offers again lol i have put a complaint in about it but i dont think im going to get a answer.the £10 marks and sparks gift voucher i have paid back in phone calls. WELL DONE SKY

...I called Sky's 0844 number, sat on hold, got thru to someone, got put on hold, got thru to another person, and they cut me off! Phoned AGAIN, on hold AGAIN, finally got thru to 'a supervisor' and asked why I could not see Harry Potter in HD at 9pm (as planned). All he could tell me was "they were trying to sort it". Not much consolation for the family and friends sat waiting to watch a FAMILY film - and obviously an 18 rated film was not acceptable.

In the end, we watched a DVD, but not before I wrote an email to the CEO of B Sky B (found on Google search)

B Sky BJeremy Darroch, Chief Executive jeremy.darroch@bskyb.com (FTSE100)23 Oct 2009

Thanks Sky for a monumental cock-up!!! Unsuprisingly the guests I invited were NOT impressed with Sky, which I assume was the point of the marketing exercise. At least I got to spend the £10 voucher, although I've not yet worked out how much the multiple calls to an 0844 number cost me.

*Skizm123* · 13-12-2009, 5:23 PM

A bit of a follow up.

After ringing customer service I was put on hold for 15 minutes. Hung up and tried again. This time I got transferred about 3-4 times and finally talked to someone who understood what was going on. He said it was a fault on their part about mixing up the planner and the manager had received an e-mail about the situation. I was told it would be sorted for me and wait "a couple of minutes". 25 minutes later and having got that most annoying on hold tune stuck in my head, he told me I could watch Harry Potter in SD for free

Didn't bother watching it last night and TBH didn't feel like it after being on the phone for an hour trying to get it sorted.

Will be sending an e-mail although can't see it doing much use now.

HD Monkey · 13-12-2009, 6:24 PM

What kind of an answer is that? "You can watch it in SD for free". That's a disgrace. The whole point of the entire thing was getting it in HD. THEY offered it, THEY promoted it, and THEY have decided that "You can watch it in SD for free".

I've sent a stinging email to jeremy.darroch@bskyb.com telling him exactly what I think. I just can't believe their attitude towards something they messed up, after it was a promotion which they heavily promote with numerous emails to customers.

Shocking - absolutely shocking.

dan yeates · 14-12-2009, 8:41 AM

Yep, I was told by Sky CS on the night that they had messed up and that they were sorry. The phone operator then proceeded to tell me that it wasn't his job to sort this out - I don't care! I'm missing more and more film!

It was a choice of watching 3/4 of The Hangover (because I missed 1/2 hour due to being on the phone and trying to figure out what was wrong with my Sky Planner, or watching Harry Potter in SD. We ended up watching it in SD, and it looked really really awful.

Not happy at all. I am sorely tempted to cancel my HD and movies subscription and take up a blu-ray rental service, the quality on blu-rays is much better anyway, and I get HD sound!

dan yeates · 14-12-2009, 9:07 AM

I've sent an email to that address too.....we'll see if he replies.

Bribrian · 14-12-2009, 7:51 PM

Like everyone else i got cut off by customer services when on hold on sat night trying to find out what was going on. Poor Mr. Darroch must have been inundated with complaints as he hasn't replied to mine yet...
I just can't believe a company like Sky could so majorly screw up on the night they were showcasing their crown jewels............

One of my mates there for the big event summed it up by saying... 'and Sky would want me to pay good money to sign up for this level of service'.......

dan yeates · 15-12-2009, 11:36 AM

Sky apologised, that's nice of them!

Quote:

Dear Mr Yeates,

We’re really sorry Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ was not shown at 9pm on Saturday 12th December as advertised for your HD Party. Unfortunately this was due to a rare scheduling error which we were unable to rectify for 9pm. Please accept our sincere apologies for any problems this may have caused you or your party guests on the night.

We really appreciate that you took the time to organise your own Sky+HD Party and we will, of course, ensure that a credit is applied to your monthly bill if you watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ and The Hangover over Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th December.

To say sorry, we would like to give you another complimentary HD SBO Movie of your choice, to be watched at your convenience between 22nd Dec 2009–22nd Jan 2010. Please note, when ordering the film, this will show at a cost of £4, however, once you accept the film, we will apply the offer and there will be a zero charge on your bill.

Once again, please accept our apologies.

The Sky+HD Team.

choddo2006 · 15-12-2009, 12:29 PM

Chances of that £4 being credited seamlessly?

Not 100%, I venture to suggest.

*Skizm123* · 15-12-2009, 3:20 PM

Just had a phone call from sky saying to check my inbox for an e-mail they sent out apologising. Got the same message as the above poster had posted. Happy with this outcome TBH, at least I will get to watch the film I wanted to see.

gezzs · 17-12-2009, 3:32 PM

Apparently someone called Vannessa Marques Da Silva (Vanessa.MarquesDaSilva@bskyb.com) read the email I sent to Jeremy Darroch (I used read receipt). I didn't get a personal reply from him or this person - who I assume is a PA.

I did get the same crap others did:

We're really sorry Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ was not shown at 9pm on Saturday 12th December as advertised for your HD Party. Unfortunately this was due to a rare scheduling error which we were unable to rectify for 9pm. Please accept our sincere apologies for any problems this may have caused you or your party guests on the night.

We really appreciate that you took the time to organise your own Sky+HD Party and we will, of course, ensure that a credit is applied to your monthly bill if you watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ and The Hangover over Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th December.

To say sorry, we would like to give you another complimentary HD SBO Movie of your choice, to be watched at your convenience between 22nd Dec 2009-22nd Jan 2010. Please note, when ordering the film, this will show at a cost of £4, however, once you accept the film, we will apply the offer and there will be a zero charge on your bill.

Once again, please accept our apologies.

The Sky+HD Team.

This (in my opinion) is the LEAST they could have done, and does nothing to make up for the wasted evening my guests had.

I'll be amazed IF they get this right...or even if they'll care once they've had another four quid off me!

Load of old loblocks!

paxo · 19-12-2009, 8:19 PM

i had the same letter lol and the phone call there lucky i was at work and i also got a stupid survey on how the party went,you have a chance to win a prize lol they can't be that thick can they ?

gezzs · 08-03-2010, 4:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by choddo2006

Chances of that £4 being credited seamlessly?

Not 100%, I venture to suggest.

Well done Sky! Despite cocking up the HD Party, and telling me i could watch a Box office film which I would be credited for...guess what appeared on my February Sky Bill!!! Yep £3.91 charge for a box office film watched on 2nd Jan 2010!

I've just spoken to them, and am told it will be refunded. i won't hold my breath....