Freesat Reviews 764

I have had this Arris freesat box for over 5 years it has been very unreliable, has been replaced twice and I had to replace the hard drive in the one I have now. The good news is it has been discontinued and Manhatten are releasing a Freesat box this month. Prices are similar to the price of the Arris box, but surely it cant be as bad.

New 4k freesat box constantly freezing, this box is rubbish and not fit for purpose, will be returned ASAP, you have been warned AVOID

Well I tried a lot of channels no longer available but got the 4k one terabit box picture top class but noticed a lot of recordings have no end it stops recording early thought I could alter it extend finish time by a few minutes you can on every other box I have had but not on this box it say's if you no it's going to overrun record TV the prog after sheer rubbish unplug it for back to Humax whoever programmed these want sacking it's rubbish

I bought 2 boxes both don't work properly they made cheap and not too last company obviously don't care about its customers

Just had one of these 4k boxes and it seems ok. One problem is that I cannot find a way of extending the recordings so I miss a bit of the end. Can be very frustrating

Freesat 4k DVR. Marketed as 4K, delivers 720p apps, outdated OS, poor long-term value.

Limited apps. YouTube only streams at 720p! Slow interface. Often fails to record with no errors. Hardware is slow and O/S looks ok. Don't buy is my opinion

User was able to configure the startup mode (power options) but no more. Now defaulted to low power mode. It means it takes a minute or two to load up when you turn the box on! Rubbish!

I wish I had read the reviews on here before buying a Freesat recordable 500gb box.
Please think very carefully about buying anything from Freesat.
The recordings always jumped from day one. After just over a year the hard drive packed up and the box will no longer record at all.
Freesat customer service have refused to help despite listing their refurbished boxes as a box you can trust that has been vigorously tested
Because I have now seen the reviews on here and understand that Freesat do not care about their customers (and do not do customer service) I have decided that I will do whatever I can to change this.
As such I have made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority as their boxes are either not vigorously tested or they ignore obvious defects.
I have also complained to Trading Standards and made them aware that I am not the only victim here.
And I intend to take Freesat to court via the small claims procedure to get my money back.
**UPDATE: Trading Standards complaint filed with evidence of 2019 HDD in 2024 ‘vigorously tested’ refurb. Awaiting recall **

I’ve got a 4K freesat box for the last 4 years which worked perfectly until the last update. On the same day, I lost all the recordings on the box and am unable to set any planned recordings. It’s says the hard drive is off line. I rebooted the box to no avail. I contacted freesat technical help and was told to try a full factory reset which I did. First it looked like this had worked but within a few minutes the box shut itself down and came back on with the same problem. Again, I contacted freesat and was told if the box is under warranty they would fix the problem. The warranty has run out so I am left with a useless piece of equipment that’s only 4 years old. They assure that the software update had no correlation to the hard drive. I find it very suspicious that my box went wrong straight after the update. Stay away from this product at all cost. I’ve got a 15 year old humax box which is still going strong without any glitches whatsoever.

Our freesat box has been cutting out occasionally which we could handle, but this time the box is dead, contacted customer service and because it’s just out of warranty there is nothing they can do. At £260 this device should last longer than one year. Appalling. I have asked to make a formal complaint but going on the ratings here I don’t expect a satisfactory outcome. Will not be using this company again.

Fraudsters fraudsters don’t buy

This is the second freeway box we have purchased both have ended up with the same problem. They helped reset the box but this only lasted a very short time tried to reset it ourselves now the box says hdd offline. Rung them up they say can’t do anything cos it’s out of warranty
Surely these boxes last longer than 12 months?
Freesat don’t repair these boxes I was told . This tells me it’s because they are crap in the first place . DONT BUY THESE BOXES . The customer service is shocking absolutely disgusting

Don't be fooled by the selling point "subscription free". I've purchased 3 boxes in less than 4 years - a subscription wouldve been cheaper. The boxes are not made to last much beyond the warranty. I won't buy another. My experiences of the customer service staff - of which there were many as there are lots of faults before the box becomes unrepairable - I found them friendly and helpful (they tried).

Freesat box connects when it feels like doing so. Latest issue is when I click on demand it says ready to, click on a channel and it say connect to internet, connect and it says great you are connected. Go back to click on channel same message comes up and round and round we go. Clicking cancel has the same outcome, total useless freesat box.

I should have read the reviews before I bought,the hard drive lasts a couple of years at best before problems arise,constant issues with the hard drive, frankly it's not worth the money,steer well clear.

The HDD on my Freesat recorder unit failed after just over 2 years which cannot be considered to be a satisfactory length of time. I sought a replacement or allowance against purchase of a replacement. The company has so far refused to replace or recompense me. It has no repair service of its own and egregiously disclaims any further involvement/responsibility if the owner seeks 3rd party repairs. The life to failure is not satisfactory and likely contravenes consumer rights.

I have been having problems with my freesat for a very long time now. I am fully connected to my wireless network (I have been in contact with my provider ) it’s so very annoying and frustrating that I can’t get to watch a full episode of a program I’ve been looking forward to watch and having to reboot at least 3 times for one episode!!! What is going on???? My life is stressful enough as it is but having this extra stress really doesn’t help. I spent a lot of money (not for the first time might I add on this product) but yet again FREE SAT has let me down yet again

Never had a problem, easy to navigate!

Well now is the time to dump Freesat. I have been using Humax Freesat boxes since they were evolved and now due to "ongoing improvements", Freesat have decided to shove the Humax box in a very dark place and take away one of the core functionalities and that is to be able to search for upcoming programmes up to 7 days in advance. Probably one of the most widely used Freesat boxes and yet they choose to "upgrade" and "improve" and render it pretty useless. Yes you can use the TV guide and watch TV and if you are lucky use on demand which is pretty useless anyway as it is very slow and now only has BBC iPlayer, 5 and a couple of others that on-one really uses. The on demand services was again cut back due to "improvements" and "security" a few years ago! I suspect Humax saw the light when they stopped making the Freesat boxes. Yes Freesat have got a new "app" but all that is is another TV guide so that is pretty useless too. I think Freesat are hoping I will spend £450 on two new "Freesat" boxes - ur nope!, I'm going back to Freeview and so should everyone else if they can.

The team did manage to resolve my issue however the operator kept using slang like "no probs" and at one point said "let me just ask the group chat" then proceeded to read out responses. Not very professional-like.