Dealing with Hills Signalmaster over a faulty freeview box

I have a hills signalmaster satellite box which has failed. From day one it always performed poorly, but the retailer said that as long as it worked, and menu freezing, crashes and reboots were relatively normal. Some time ago it failed and wasn't able to detect the satellite signal, and I thought it was the satellite, but after getting someone to check it and test it with a replacement unit, they diagnosed it to be a faulty box. The replacement unit they supplier works fine so it is a problem with the box. I have contacted Hills about it, for a claim under the Consumer Gurantees Act, as the retailer has since closed down. They said they can't help and to go back to the retailer. They said they don't deal with consumers. I emailed them back to say that the manufacturer must sort it out if the retailer no longer exists, and to please provde a solution. So far after a week they haven't replied and I have sent a reminder to them a few days ago, but no reply. Has anyone had problems dealing with this company.

Did this help? Click to mark!

1 member promoted this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by willis on October 24, 2014 at 0:22

see you have the hsm 075 sat box ,smallish white unit where the chip dealing with lnb power always expires before the rest of the internals

box is then unusable on its own but still works when there is a second sat box to provide lnb power

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Max Edge on October 24, 2014 at 0:29

Thanks, yes that is the one, and that is the problem. The box powers up ok, just can't detect any satellite which would imply a problem with the power to the LNB. The replacement that was lent until Hills replace it works fine. Sounds like it was a known defect with these boxes and they are lemons, as lot os negative reviews about them online. Just communicating with Hills and getting them to honour their obligations under the CGA looks like it is going to be a challenge. Is Hills a NZ company these days? Looks to be an Ozzie owned one, so maybe they don't know the CGA.