Freesat Reviews 

Freesat UHD4X500 box two years old and HDD failed. I bought a new HDD identical in model no. and replaced it two weeks ago - it’s gone again. I contacted freesat and all they could suggest was to buy a new box ( after usual “suggestions”, which had of course already been tried many times). My parting message was “Bring back Humax”. I have 2 13-15 year old Humax Foxsat boxes and they are still going. Terrible box, uncaring company

poor customer service and they nothing!!!!
no help what so ever, if you want to buy a box, buy one elswhere.

box is rubbish , channels don't load it's slugish dreadfull waste of money

Finally given up with freesat following the software upgrade in October. They don’t seem to be resolving the issues experienced by many users. A frustrating GUI that worked when it felt like, setting up satellite, etc. Now have Sky stream, works great and has a GUI that works.

I agree with every negative review about the utterly useless software update in late 2024. Does nobody test beta versions at Freesat? Also, every TV and Radio company, including Freesat, has a downloadable and easy to use IOS app. Freesat’s doesn’t really download and won’t let me login or re-register even though my username and password are correct. Utter junk!

Latest update is useless. Setting up your dish message every day. Menu takes ages to load - no data available and sometimes you have to switch off and on again to get picture. Absolute crap

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM FREESAT
My first Freesat box lasted only 20 months and the second a little more at 26 months.
So not sure that the FREE in FREESAT holds up, would have been more cost effective to have had SKY!
Customer service not interested as both were outside of the 1 year warranty even though consumer rights say that goods should be fit for purpose and last a reasonable time, neither applied.

I purchased a refurbished HD 4k box. It worked without issue for about 3 months. The hard disk failed.
I returned the box, the replacement had a failed HD on first power on. I returned that one. The next replacement had a none working remote.
I have asked for a full refund and been pointed to T&Cs that says no refunds after 30 days.

I guess you'll just keep sending me faulty replacements until the 12 month warrantee ends?

Do not buy any products from this company. You will find yourself having to buy a replacement from else where sooner than you think, and no refund from Freesat. You might as well just pour your money down a drain.

I inadvertently wrote the below review thinking that it was Humax that had made the foul up when in fact it was Freesat. Where I have written Humax read Freesat. I now have to apologise to Humax

Useless but preventable.
This service, if you can call it that. used to be brilliant until about four months ago when they, Humax, in their wisdom, decided to overhaul their user interface and since then the service has been atrocious. It now takes four moves or more to complete one task where before one was sufficient. The box now pleases itself what and when it will record anything. I don’t have the time nor the patience to write everything that is now useless about the STB except to say that when I have the time I shall make it my priority to ditch this useless machine and find one that lives up to its hype. Humax, reverse your stupid update and give us that which we had before that was great and that which worked.

Reasonably happy with the box and the quality of the picture seems very good
I am however slightly confused in that it appears they have stopped the programming remotely using the mobile phone although it does say on their website and on the planner that you can find your box and remotely control your box well you can’t and I have had several communications with a gentleman called Ben who seem to get quite irritated at my questions.I wish that the program guide was not so crammed with information they could make it a little larger which would make it very beneficial
I also am confused because they say that you cannot pre-program the box remotely on your mobile phone which is a shame because if you could, it would put them on a par with sky remote planning
So rather disappointing however I am pleased not to be paying Sky after seven months this box wiil pay for itself and after that I haven’t got to pay a penny so that is a positive.
If there’s any way that this can be reinstated it would be so beneficial

I have patiently tried to come to terms with the October update but no more. It has been an exasperating experience and continues to frustrate me enormously. It is truly dreadful in every way and Freesat should be ashamed for allowing this update. I am by far not alone in my thinking, just read the reviews here and on the Web.

As an example -

According to user feedback, the Freesat software update that rolled out on October 15, 2024, is widely considered to be "rubbish" due to issues like a clunky new user interface, navigation difficulties, and potential problems with channel listings, leading to complaints about the overall user experience.
Key points about the criticism:
New interface issues:
Many users report the new design is confusing and less intuitive compared to the previous interface.
Navigation problems:
Difficulty finding specific channels or navigating through menus is a common complaint.
Channel listing errors:
Some users are experiencing missing or incorrect channel information after the update.

A warning to others - do not buy a Freesat supplied box until you hear of some action by Freesat to address the significant user complaints.

One star is overly generous.

I ordered a refurbished unit. After 3 weeks I had heard nothing, no indication of a delivery date, no indication of what was causing the delay; no information period.

I finally issued an ultimatum, saying that unless I had a definitive date of delivery by the end of business that day, I would cancel.

I then received an email thanking me for returning my box...... a box I've yet to receive, let alone return!!!!

I have subsequently received two emails explaining that my refund is being processed.

A badly run organisation, with no concept of what good customer support or service is.

This box is absolute rubbish let down mainly by its software,this is from a retired tv engineer

I wanted to move away from Sky due to Wi-Fi connection problems with my SkyQ box, very high prices and very poor customer service.

My only alternative was a recent Freesat box as I have a Wideband LNB which is difficult to access. Having read the reviews I was very apprehensive about moving to Freesat.

I decided to buy a refurbished 4K 1TB PVR directly from Freesat on the basis that I was not wasting too much money if it proved unsuccessful.

After receiving the box I switched my two satellite cables and ran through the setup. Unfortunately the box could not find any channels. I contacted Freesat customer services by telephone and was pleasantly surprised to get through to a UK based person fairly quickly (something I have never achieved with Sky). The agent told me that the software in the box was an old version and needed to be upgraded. He asked me to leave the box in standby for two hours and even though it appeared that I did not have a satellite connection the box could see the satellite and would receive an upgrade over the air.

I turned the box on an hour later and could see the software had been updated to V1.6.2. I then performed a channel scan and picked up all of the channels. The box was now working.

The interface is not as good as Sky, but it is free, so you have to expect some compromise. The picture quality is great. The TV guide crams too many channels on a single page so is difficult to read. The recordings page is a bit clunky but it all works. I can pause and resume live TV. For a free service it is perfectly adequate. BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Netflix all work perfectly through Wi-Fi with no drop outs (which I was experiencing all the time on my SkyQ box).

After a week I am happy with the box, although my wife struggles with it a bit due to impatience!

Freesat 4K PVR Box - such promise betrayed by poor management & engineering. I cannot find my earlier review on Trustpilot. However here is an update. I was so fed up with the 15 October software update and Freesat Customer Services, I bought a Fire Stick for streaming from BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ & Paramount+. Such a dream to use compared to the Freesat 4K box and Apps of choice readily available. I also replaced the ailing Seagate hard Drive in the Freesat Box with a Crucial SSD 1TB (£70 on Amazon). It speeded up the Freesat interface a little and smoothed a few glitches but the basic Freesat/Arris design is still not fit for purpose. Manhattan who applied to Freesat/Everyman TV for a license to market a rival Freesat PVR are expecting to get a license to go ahead soon. So the Freesat box monopoly could be broken, I am reliably informed by Manhattan. Lets hope so otherwise the Freesat service will die for want of satisfied viewers.

I emailed Freesat regarding my Freesat TV Box on 18 October 2024, regarding their terrible ‘Everyone TV Darwin update on the 15 October 2024, requesting my system be changed back to the original operating system.The only response I received was to advise me to get help from their manuel on how to use the updated version…my problem isn’t that I’m unable to understand how to use it…it’s the very poor quality of the upgrade. I am now having to unplug and reboot my tv box about every two weeks, and I’ve also been without On-Demand for over a week. Now when I switch on my TV, a message tells me I’m not connected to the internet, even though my box is connected with ETHERNET. This is a completely unacceptable situation. Freesat has never responded to further correspondence from me or my previous Trustpilot Review. If I could have another free satellite system I most certainly would…Freesat have the public over a barrel. Most unfair.

shame you can’t leave a minus on review don’t go near this box since last menu update unusable
out shopping tomorrow for a free view box given up with waiting for the box to boot and give channel list

Since my last revue - I've noticed that I can only receive GB News after I've done a rescan of channels. It stays ok for a bit then I get the 'no stream' message. Freesat really is rubbish these days! Spoke to Freesat on chat and they say it's ok at their end so it must be my box! My signal quality and strength is 100% though. I suspect it's the bit rate they're transmitting ie bandwidth. Absolute rubbish! They haven't yet done anything about the rubbish EPG either after the disastrous October 2024 'update'. Dreadful service!

Don't buy! On our second recordable box, first went wrong at 10months, Curry's replaced no questions, and second has been dreadful since Software upgrade in December 24, several reboots to no avail, finally it gave up with HDD faulty error. FREESAT refuse to service it - told me to buy a new one only 12 days out of warranty! Rubbish service, avoid!

We bought our Freesat box in October after our old Humax box of 9 years died. We thought that the freesat box with the ability to record 4 things at the same time would be good. At first it was ok, but since the middle of December, when freesat did a software update it's been diabolical. Sometimes it won't record, or it says that the satellite signal isn't good, then it can't connect.etc etc etc. I rang feesat, and we went through resetting it, that was ok then 3 day's later it all started again. We are now going to return it to Argos, have a re-think . I only hope that Freesat will read these reviews and see for themselves what is going on here.