Standard of Sky installation

the_sanguine

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I had my £49 sky plus fitted yesterday. A real quality job. The Old LMB thrown on the lawn along with an empty wooden cable drum and the cable just tacked onto the wall halfway round the house at knee height. My 9yo son could have done better. I tried to post some pics but they are too big. If anybody can resize and post them, I'd appreciate it....
 
Complain. We had the same situation, sky+ installed a couple of weeks ago, dish on the front of the house, cables down the front instead of down the side which is what we wanted, as well as cracked brickwork on the front of the house. Called Sky to complain, they told us that it was down to the installation company, so we were put in contact with them. They sent someone out to take down the dish, and put it on the side of the house, as well as redoing all the cabling. Its a pity that you have to complain these days to get a decent job done.
 
In my experience it is worth standing over the insallers while they are doing the job, or at the very least spend some time when they arrive confirming dish position, where the cable run is going, where they're putting the hole into the house etc etc. If not they'll do the easiest option every time.
We have to take some responsibilty to communicate what we want clearly
 
We spoke to the installers when they arrived, and they said that they couldn't put the dish on the side of the house because we couldn't get a signal there. It now appears that the actual reason he wouldn't put it there is because he didn't have a big enough ladder with him! Lying sod! :mad:
 
Had the same thing last year. Old parts strewn all over the lawn, a chunk of brick down the side of the house and no instruction on how to use Sky+.

I wrote Sky an email and they gave me a £50 refund straightaway :thumbsup:
 
We had free installation... the guy just tacked the 2 cables round a door frame, no room on the edge for 2 cables so he tacked the other to the face of the frame!

I er-ran them under the carpet, I think the fact he had 7 installs to do that day he just did it as fast as possible and left.. Cowboy!
 
Just coz I'm curious :) , if you want to post pics, upload them at imageshack.us

It's free, they just need your email address.

Cheers

Andy
 
I'm trying to upload to imageshack but am struggling. I'll keep trying though.

I did clear the loft out the other day and did offer to run the cable through the loft (with ythe other cable) with the installer but he wasn't too keen. I did therefore agree that he could run the cable round the house. I did assume that would mean under the eaves though!
 
(Ex Sky Engineer) The engineer is supposed to got through dish position etc with you AND give you a demo of the system once it is installed. The reason you get a ***** job is this:-the engineer will have at LEAST 4 installs to do that day,and anything upto 10 service calls! These can be anything upto 100 miles apart. One reason i left Sky-i take pride in my work but to do that and get all the jobs done meant getting up at 6.30AM and finising at 8PM! All for £13K a year....................yeah right! Pay peanuts get monkeys.........(thank god i went back into my usual trade and now earn more in a week than i did at Sky for a Month!!)
 
Yeh i posted something earlier but my install window wouldd't close cables across the doorway and cable at waist height along the bedroom wall!!! Phoned complanied and i got the job redone unfortunatly it was the same engineer he gave me the 'don't waste my time' look!!
 
(Ex Sky Engineer) The engineer is supposed to got through dish position etc with you AND give you a demo of the system once it is installed. The reason you get a ***** job is this:-the engineer will have at LEAST 4 installs to do that day,and anything upto 10 service calls! These can be anything upto 100 miles apart. One reason i left Sky-i take pride in my work but to do that and get all the jobs done meant getting up at 6.30AM and finising at 8PM!

My installation route in the morning is a round trip of 185 miles - seven standard installs and one sky+ multiroom .
People who complain about their installations are generally thoughtless, inconsiderate, lazy [inappropriate word removed].

How many of you think about your installations prior to us arriving ?

Do you bother cleaning the dogpoo up from your gardens ? or shifting that pile of bricks from the likely cable entry point ? . Do you move your furniture out of the way ? do you bother pulling your tv's out so we can get to the back of them ? Do you ever consider getting an extension phone socket installed near where your sky box will be located ? Or do you just sit on your fat bums and expect us to do everything while tellin us it cost you sweet F.A to have it installed ?

" oh and while your here could you just tune in the video and set the dvd recorder up for us mate ?

" i'm not sure the missus will like the dish on the front "

" do you have to staple that telephone cable on the skirting board ? can't you just put it under the carpet "

" i want a Sony box like my mates "

" can you run the cable in the attic and down through the cavity ? my wife doesn,t like cables round the house ! "

It's easy to slag your installation off and yes you probably could do a better job youself - but you would have to take all afternoon about it and we don't have that luxury - I love the job and try to accomodate where possible - but a little thought and help from the punters would benefit everyone.

Please read the forum rules on use of language - forum moderator.
 
Sorry DRGL meant to put your quote in a box to seperate from mine - apologies !
 
helikopter,

I spent considerable time clearing the loft to make the installation easy so that the cable could be routed round the loft, poked through an existing hole and then run inside an existing conduit. I also pulled the TV out and made sure that all the cables to the Sky box were clean and untangled. Furthermore, I offered to help the engineer to run the cable through the loft and also made him a coffee.

We're not all Ar$eholes you know!!!
 
Im with helikopter on this one ,
the majority of customers are clueless.
When i had it fitted i went up the loft, pulled the cables through, driiled the wall from the outside so you dont get burst brick, all while the installer was having a cuppa.
Why ? because thats the way i wanted it.
Installation is free so what do you expect, these guys are pushed to the limit.
Sanguine a sympathise with you, thats a mess mate , but its not the norm.
 
A very poor experience really. Three installers turned up:
- One to pin the wiring externally
- One to do the Sky+ install and commission
- One trainee

With three it was hard to keep on top of them all! The result was
- Poor external fixing
- Botched internal internal installation
- The trainee could not even fit an f-type to the coax!!

Result:
- I'll have to re-run the external wires

Kevlong
 
I had sky installed a few years ago and they ran the wire around the top of the house but it was all very neat and almost invisible. The telephone wire was stapled to the skirtinboard which looked awful but was removed after a year. They showed me how to use sky.

I then had sky+ installed a few weeks ago on the £49 deal. This guy was excellent, he ran the wire right next to the current one and fitted a new phone extension but he hid it all under the carpet which looks very neat. I am well impressed with my install.

He did not show me how to use sky+ because it took a while to activate.

looking at the_sanguine's pictures i must agree, that wire is shocking. I would ring sky up and get them to tidy it up. I can understand how they are very busy but thats no excuse for that wire being so sloppy.
 
Both me and my parents have had Sky installed in the past couple of months, and honestly I could have nothing to complain about with either installation.

Dish positioning and cable runs options were discussed, demos given and the standard of workmanship was fine.
 
Yes i really should have said that too!!! How many times i visited a house with a million pieces of China on top of the TV! And yes,i too trod in dog ***** and didn't realise until i came DOWN the ladder :mad: Sky engineers are not permitted to go in loft spaces,the engineer would probably shy away from allowing YOU to do it too incase there was ever a service call on the job. The fact here really is it is Sky who govern the standard NOT the engineer-if the install schedule was a little more realistic the maybe you would get a better job ;) Only more complaints and more engineers will ever change that........(if you've ever witnessed the standard of work from a BT engineer that probably won't make a blind bit of difference-they can book themselves on a job for the day,cancelling their other jobs and still to a **** job!)
 
the_sanguine said:
Let's try again...

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Why did you sign the job sheet?? I would have told him to go fourth and multiply!! That is a JOKE,and that is also one of the reasons i left-that CAN be classed as service call,ie,i turn up and have to sort it out! (Which takes LONGER than an install :rolleyes: )
 
I was doing some work in one of the outbuildings and told him to give me a shout if he needed me. He slapped the cable round, got the GF to sign the job sheet (without looking at the cabling), gave no instruction and ******ed off.

If he'd run it under the eaves or below the rendering it would have been OK.

The original cabling was through the loft so I naturally expected this cable to take the same route. That's why I cleared the loft and would have been quite happy to have done the loft work myself.

I know the bungalow is a bit crappy and we are planning to rebuild it soon. My expectations therefore weren't particularly high. I do think it's unacceptable as it is though! Oh, there's also a joint in the cable behind the TV.

Does anybody know whether they are still supposed to use the screw type connectors or whether crimped ones are he norm now?

I have emailed Sky, I haven't complained but have sent the photos and asked them if they feel the installation is acceptable.
 
It's taped over but feels like it is 2 of the screw type connectors plugged together
 

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