Great Sling Media Support

[Scott Greczkowski]

Today I went to login to one of my Slingbox Pro units (this one is hooked up to my DirecTV HR20, My BellTV HD DVR and my Fortec Mercury II Free to Air satellite receiver.) and couldn't connect to it. (I was working fine yesterday)

So I came home and this Slingbox Pro was blinking at me, the Sling Logo Light would blink then the network light would blink and then it would repeat itself.

So I went online with Sling Support and had an agent named Gaby. With all my boxes on my account Gaby was easily able to tell which one of my boxes was not working. Then she gave me some bad news that my unit was out of Warenty and it would cost me $29 for Tech Support.

I need my Slingbox so called the 800 number she gave me with credit card in hand. Called in and got a rep named Michael. Michael asked me what was wrong so I told him and he told me that even though my warranty had expired that Sling would help me out for no charge on this issue.

He then had me try resetting the unit but the problem remained. We unplugged the box and still same issue. We also removed the network cable and still the lights kept blinking.

He put me on hold for a moment then came back and noticed that I had 5 Slingboxes on my account and that Sling would ship me a new unit to replace this unit which we both feel has died.

He then asked me for a credit card so they could advance ship me a box and once I got the new box I would ship them back the dead one.

This level of support makes me happy and is one of the reasons why I am happy with Sling Media.

Thanks Sling!

 

[riffjim4069]

Sling Media downgraded my SlingBox Classic with a firmware update...

My experiences with Sling Media have been quite the opposite. Sling Media downgraded my SlingBox Classic with a firmware update...and their solution is for me to purchase a Sling PRO HD at $250 to use a Sony HD DVR (composite output) that I've been using with the Slingbox Classic for more than two years.

I used my Sony DHG-HDD500 for almost 2-years without a problem using a generic Sony Standalone DVR (Code 1?, which performed all of the YM-823 remote control functions). However, after having not used it for a while, I updated the Slingbox firmware and SlingPlayer software and now it doesn't work.

According the SlingMedia support site, the Sling Pro HD supports the HDD250 (same as the HDD500 but with a smaller hard-drive), but the Classic does not. I loaded an older version of SlingPlayer but apparently the video support settings are in the Slingbox firmware. I sent an e-mail to Support requesting a firmware downgrade since the update actually degraded my Slingbox Classic to where I cannot use it for its intended purpose and given configuration, but they won't answer my question unless I pay them $30 for a support call. Of course, they did tell me I could pay $250 for Sling PRO HD.

I am not happy right now, I am considering filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, complaint with the FTC, and filing suite in small claims court since Sling Media broke my working systems with a firmware update, and they refuse to fix it (if they will even fix it) without first paying them $30 for a service call. I am looking for a way to reload old firmware on the Slingbox Classic so I can use it with the fully functional YM-Y823 remote prior to their breaking it with their firmware update.

I would avoid Sling Media or any Sling-based technology like the plague! Their customer support and horrendous. I would opt for a competing technology such as Sony LocationFree TV.