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Off topic: Need (urgent) favour from a UK resident
Thread poster: tr. (X)
tr. (X)
tr. (X)
Local time: 01:17
English to Italian
Jan 21, 2004

Hi all,

I need a favour from someone living in UK. I live in Italy, and a couple of years ago I set up a subscription to BSkyB so I can watch UK channels from here. Like many Brit expats are known to do so they don't miss Eastenders (though I'm not an expat and don't watch Eastenders, but I digress...)

The only thing is... a UK address is required, because even though the satellite signal can be received ... See more
Hi all,

I need a favour from someone living in UK. I live in Italy, and a couple of years ago I set up a subscription to BSkyB so I can watch UK channels from here. Like many Brit expats are known to do so they don't miss Eastenders (though I'm not an expat and don't watch Eastenders, but I digress...)

The only thing is... a UK address is required, because even though the satellite signal can be received all across Europe, Sky UK or BBC digital only accepts UK residents as subscribers (due to broadcasting restrictions). It's not illegal, it's a regular subscription in my name, with my personal details, my credit card and all. But if you're abroad you just have to "pretend" to be viewing the channels at a UK address due to those regulations, that's all.

Now, I need to change the UK address I've registered with and used so far for my subscription. So I need someone to let me "use" their UK address for this and only go through the one-time trouble of forwarding me the new viewing card. It's changed periodically as an anti-piracy measure, once a year or even less often, so that's the only thing I'll need forwarding. I'll arrange with a courier so I get to pay for shipping myself on delivery.

I would really, really be immensely grateful if any of you in the UK could do me this favour. I'll send a gift package as well

Please let me know by email as soon as possible (use the Proz form to contact me). I'm thinking of this option which is even more convenient but is only open til the end of the month.

Thanks a million in advance,
Monica ▲ Collapse
 
louisajay
louisajay
Spanish to English
+ ...
hi Jan 21, 2004

while I'd love to think of this as just doing someone a favour, I think you should be aware that there are risks involved for the person who offers their address - if you default on the monthly payments, the address becomes linked with your defaults and it can affect the credit rating linked to the address. If you were to default for an extended period, bailiffs could be called and the address/contents would be their target.

I'm honestly not saying you would default, I'm sure you're... See more
while I'd love to think of this as just doing someone a favour, I think you should be aware that there are risks involved for the person who offers their address - if you default on the monthly payments, the address becomes linked with your defaults and it can affect the credit rating linked to the address. If you were to default for an extended period, bailiffs could be called and the address/contents would be their target.

I'm honestly not saying you would default, I'm sure you're genuine, but this is a risk when you don't know someone! ▲ Collapse
 
tr. (X)
tr. (X)
Local time: 01:17
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
paying by credit card eliminates that risk Jan 21, 2004

louisajay wrote:

while I\'d love to think of this as just doing someone a favour, I think you should be aware that there are risks involved for the person who offers their address - if you default on the monthly payments, the address becomes linked with your defaults and it can affect the credit rating linked to the address. If you were to default for an extended period, bailiffs could be called and the address/contents would be their target.

I\'m honestly not saying you would default, I\'m sure you\'re genuine, but this is a risk when you don\'t know someone!


Hi Louisa,

I can understand what you mean above, but I guess you\'re thinking of a different situation where payment is via a bank account (which you can do for the Sky subscription too, but you\'d have a UK bank account).

Here, it\'s different, because I\'m paying with my own credit card, clearly, which is linked to my address, my legal residence in Italy, so there\'s nothing risky at all. From the credit card address, they *do* know I\'m in Italy. So in case I was so masochist as to for some reason let my one credit card balance drain... they\'d get in touch with my credit card company which has my own address, not the forwarding UK one.

(But I can\'t even think of a case where that would happen. It\'s the same credit card I pay my bills and Sky Italy subscription with so, it\'s so obviously in my interest to keep it \"alive\"!)

Actually, both Sky or BBC or whoever you purchase those satellite services from, do know that there are many customers outside of UK too. The providers still get the subscription money directly so if it was up to them they wouldn\'t have that restriction. But they do have to stick to broadcasting regulations when selling subscriptions so it\'s got to be UK residents only. (Also for copyright regulations on the viewing cards, they can\'t be \"expatriated\").

So it\'s more of a technicality really.

I\'d understand someone may be puzzled if they\'re not familiar with the whole process or have never heard of people setting up the whole thing outside the UK, but the person doing the forwarding would have my contact, my address, my phone, plus it\'s obviously in my interest first of all to remain in touch, otherwise I wouldn\'t be asking this favour in the first place

Actually, that kind of \"risk\" (of losing touch) is more on my side, as happened when my friend moved and I never got my replacement card forwarded, in spite of him having left instructions to the other people in the house. They didn\'t reply to letters so I gave up.

Anyway, for a few references about viewing those channels outside the UK see:

http://www.astra2d.co.uk/germany.htm

http://britishexpats.com/arch/55/2002/10/105320

http://www.howtogermany.com/tv_radio.html

There\'s some companies who take care of everything and some of them even provide the forwarding address, but when they do so it\'s for an extra periodical \"administration fee\" which goes from 120 GBP a year up, so you bet I\'d rather avoid that.

Also because I don\'t need to set this up from scratch, I have already set this up four years ago (actually, five... I got my digibox in 1999), so I only need this one-time forwarding favour now.
The cards are replaced very rarely, this was the first time in five years so there would really be no ongoing hassle. (Except you\'d get the Sky magazine with tv listings each month... just have to put up with that spam )

So I can assure you again it\'s no big deal, and nothing illegal or risky for you. I\'m not giving Sky any residential telephone address so they don\'t call anybody (which they wouldn\'t need to do anyway).

And if I go for the free-to-view option, then I\'ll just cancel my Sky subscription altogether, and all I\'d need is the one-time-only forwarding of the free to view card.

I hope I have explained it a bit better... sorry if it wasn\'t that clear.
 
Anjo Sterringa
Anjo Sterringa  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 01:17
English to Dutch
+ ...
BBC channels are free to air Jan 21, 2004

Hi!
As far as I remember the BBC channels are free to air - which means you do not need a smartcard.
All BBC channels are on Astra 2d, with the only disadvantage that you need quite a large dish as the footprint is so small (which is why they moved it to Astra 2D - the BBC did not want to pay anymore for codification). e.g. in Mallorca we need a 2m dish, in the Algarve it is only 1.4m (do not ask me how that is possible)
Free is LOTS cheaper than Sky of course.

Anj... See more
Hi!
As far as I remember the BBC channels are free to air - which means you do not need a smartcard.
All BBC channels are on Astra 2d, with the only disadvantage that you need quite a large dish as the footprint is so small (which is why they moved it to Astra 2D - the BBC did not want to pay anymore for codification). e.g. in Mallorca we need a 2m dish, in the Algarve it is only 1.4m (do not ask me how that is possible)
Free is LOTS cheaper than Sky of course.

Anjo (watching Dutch TV in Mallorca)

[Edited at 2004-01-21 17:14] ▲ Collapse
 
tr. (X)
tr. (X)
Local time: 01:17
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
Mallorca... Jan 21, 2004

Anjo Sterringa wrote:Anjo (watching Dutch TV in Mallorca)


Hmm

Now I'm properly green with envy - not about tv but about living in Mallorca... *sigh*

Anjo, you're right, BBC is free, and I do get it, with a 1m dish. I just really miss Channel4 though, not to mention all the other channels and radio stations... some of them are included with the free to view card.

I don't know what to do there. On the one hand, once I get BBC channels and radio and Channel4 I'm already happy. On the other hand, if I cancel with Sky, it's going to be a lot more complicated to set it up again should I change my mind and want to subscribe again. And since I went through all the hassle of setting this up five years ago, it would be handier for me to keep my subscription, which is the basic package so it's really not that much for me.

In either case, I need someone to rely on for the address.
 
tr. (X)
tr. (X)
Local time: 01:17
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
Solved Jan 22, 2004

I cancelled my subscription to Sky, and I found someone in UK to forward me a free-to-view card, which doesn't need any subscriptions at all because it's, as the name says, free, so I'm sorted now.

Thanks to everyone who replied.
 


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Need (urgent) favour from a UK resident






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