Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help?

TwoAnchors

Hi guys

I've been really enjoying playing on Sky Poker. Good structures and a friendly, inclusive atmosphere.

However, as my laptop runs Windows 8.1 I am unable to download the Sky client to play my games and I have to access my tournaments via the browser.  I emailed tech support about this a couple of months ago and was told that Sky are aware that the client won't download using Windows 8.1 and that they "were working on a solution".

The problem with using the browser to play is that it can take ages to load up the table when I initially join a tournament. Especially if I late reg.

I am continually joining tournaments at a disadvantage having lost one, sometimes two or even three rounds of blinds.

Here's a typical example: I just late reg'd the £7.20 satellite into tonight's £33 bounty hunter. By the time I actually got the table to load I had 1760 chips from my initial 2000 and was seated in the BB so about to be under pressure for more!

I know when I late reg I will be short-stacked - I prefer to join satellites late and feel that I am pretty good a making my stack work in these situations.

However I am becoming seriously fed-up with being robbed of a large percentage of my stack before I even sit-down to play.  I won't even mention the times when I've had premium hands folded on my behalf because I'm "not there". Ok I will mention it!

Surely a company with Sky's resources should have this seemingly simple software glitch sorted by now?

Can someone at Sky let me know when this will be fixed and also maybe have a look at the tournaments I have late-reg'd and confirm how many times I've been excluded from hands due to the tables loading so slowly and what that might have cost me?

The laptop (which is dedicated to poker use) is in perfect working order and I have no such problems on the 5 or 6 other poker sites I regularly use.

I'm sad to say that if this can't be resolved quickly I'm going to have to consider whether to continue playing on Sky which is a shame because everything else about Sky Poker is brilliant.

Let's see how quickly someone from Sky responds to this post - that's always a good test!

Happy New Year!

Andy - TwoAnchors

 

Tikay10

Hi Andy,

I'll send this upstairs, & hopefully someone up there will provide a response.

Sorry to hear you've had problems.

TwoAnchors

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help?:

Hi Andy, I'll send this upstairs, & hopefully someone up there will provide a response. Sorry to hear you've had problems.
Posted by Tikay10

Thanks Tikay, you're a star and Sky are lucky to have you representing them.  Let's hope customer service/tech support have the same approach eh?

PS:  I did manage to get into the £33 BH via a £3.60 satellite which I joined early to avoid losing blinds.  Despite this I did still miss one round of "action" but as the blinds were minimal it didn't tilt me too much!

Happy New Year

Andy

Tikay10

Hi Andy,

With so many Clients, it is hard for Sky Poker to respond to every individual query or question, but they do take these questions very seriously, please be assured.
 
I also sent them the (very polite & respectful) Tweet you sent yesterday.

Thank you for your kind words.

Happy New Year to you, too.

TwoAnchors

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help?:

Hi Andy, With so many Clients, it is hard for Sky Poker to respond to every individual query or question, but they do take these questions very seriously, please be assured.   I also sent them the (very polite & respectful) Tweet you sent yesterday. Thank you for your kind words. Happy New Year to you, too.
Posted by Tikay10

Cheers Tikay

I'm (nearly) always polite and respectful!

But it's so frustrating hearing Richard Orford and Ryan Spittles telling me at 11.55 every night that the Sky Poker experience is so much better / easier when using the download client rather than a browser while I'm sat here waiting for tables to load. 

It's made worse by the fact that the audio kicks in on time so even though I can't see a table or any cards I can at least enjoy hearing my big blind slide to someone more deserving!

For Sky to have released a download client that isn't compatible with the current version of Microsoft Windows seems a bit slack to say the least.  That they've not fixed the problem months later just completely baffles me.

I genuinely enjoy every other aspect of the Sky experience.  The players are friendly and everyone working for the brand appear to enjoy themselves and all of the "front of house" team seem keen to enhance the user experience.  An example is how you're interacting with me on here - great Customer Service and keeping me away from the men in suits!  The trouble is all your good work will eventually be undone by the suits and the tech nerds who either won't or can't make the software work! 

Compare the ambience here on Sky with HateHateHate.Com where I also play a fair bit.  Many of the players on there are animals and the chat boxes become a complete free-for-all hatefest, it's so horrible it's hilarious.  Likewise the operators of that site treat all the players like we are a nuisance.

Yet here I am about to go and play a tournament there because I'm guaranteed to play my first hand with my entire starting stack intact!

I hate moaning and I'm a long way from ranting and raving.  In fact, I was having a lovely evening until 55 minutes past the hour and Orford & Spittlespopped on the screen to remind me (again) what I was missing out on.

Take care Tikay and go and kick a techie for me if you get the chance eh?

Andy

Tikay10

Hi Andy,

To tell the truth, I have zero IT or techie knowledge, so I can't really comment, but I did send the thread upstairs, & I'll remind them again this morning.

Please bear in mind that many of the staff have been on Xmas leave, & there is loads going on right now, so they may not be able to respond personally, but I can assure you they will be aware.
 
Lol @ "hatehatehate.com", good name that. I've heard the chat in there gets a tad fruity, to say the least.

Fingers crossed there is a simple explanation for your issues, & they can be resolved.  

Sky_SamT

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help?:

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help? : Cheers Tikay I'm (nearly) always polite and respectful! But it's so frustrating hearing Richard Orford and Ryan Spittles telling me at 11.55 every night that the Sky Poker experience is so much better / easier when using the download client rather than a browser while I'm sat here waiting for tables to load.  It's made worse by the fact that the audio kicks in on time so even though I can't see a table or any cards I can at least enjoy hearing my big blind slide to someone more deserving! For Sky to have released a download client that isn't compatible with the current version of Microsoft Windows seems a bit slack to say the least.  That they've not fixed the problem months later just completely baffles me. I genuinely enjoy every other aspect of the Sky experience.  The players are friendly and everyone working for the brand appear to enjoy themselves and all of the "front of house" team seem keen to enhance the user experience.  An example is how you're interacting with me on here - great Customer Service and keeping me away from the men in suits!  The trouble is all your good work will eventually be undone by the suits and the tech nerds who either won't or can't make the software work!  Compare the ambience here on Sky with HateHateHate.Com where I also play a fair bit.  Many of the players on there are animals and the chat boxes become a complete free-for-all hatefest, it's so horrible it's hilarious.  Likewise the operators of that site treat all the players like we are a nuisance. Yet here I am about to go and play a tournament there because I'm guaranteed to play my first hand with my entire starting stack intact! I hate moaning and I'm a long way from ranting and raving.  In fact, I was having a lovely evening until 55 minutes past the hour and Orford & Spittlespopped on the screen to remind me (again) what I was missing out on. Take care Tikay and go and kick a techie for me if you get the chance eh? Andy
Posted by TwoAnchors

Hi Andy,

The download client is compatible with Windows version 8.1 so it appears there is another issue that is preventing you from playing on the client. Are you able to provide a bit more information? Are you actually prevented from installing the client onto your machine, if so do you receive any error messages when trying to do this? 

Are you able to install it but then unable to play once installed?

Any screenshots of error messages would be very useful and hopefully allow us to resolve this swiftly.

Thanks

Sam

TwoAnchors

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help?:

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help? : Hi Andy, The download client is compatible with Windows version 8.1 so it appears there is another issue that is preventing you from playing on the client. Are you able to provide a bit more information? Are you actually prevented from installing the client onto your machine, if so do you receive any error messages when trying to do this?  Are you able to install it but then unable to play once installed? Any screenshots of error messages would be very useful and hopefully allow us to resolve this swiftly. Thanks Sam
Posted by Sky_SamT

Hi Sam

If you look at my initial post in this thread you'll see that my problem is that the Sky Poker client won't install onto my PC which runs Windows 8.1.  I also mentioned that Sky had confirmed to me that you are aware of the problem.

Below I've pasted a screenshot of a failed installation and also Andy K from Sky's reply to my initial complaint from November last year.

You say there isn't a problem and Andy K says there is a problem.  

For the record .... I'm with Andy K on this!

Andy K Response via email on 05/11/2014 07.22 PM

Hi Andy   Thanks for your E-mail   We are aware of a problem downloading the poker site on windows 8.1 but not from windows 8.We are currently working on a fix for this but unfortunately for the present you would need to use the online pokerroom.   If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.   Kind Regards,   Andy .k Customer Care Team

jondabar

Hi, I had real problems a couple of months ago after buying a new laptopfrom pc world running Windows 8.1. I can't seewhat your errormessage was but mine kept saying there was issues with the installer. In the end I got it to work by totally disabling the free trail of McAfee anti virus that it was running. This worked and I turned it back on after however. I have noticed that it still interferes a bit with the tablescausing them to pause occasionally, getting rid of it and using AVG seems to work fine. I hope this helps as I know how frustrating this was for me playing via the browser.   

TwoAnchors

In Response to Re: Playing via the browser is costing me money! Can Sky Poker please help?:

Hi, I had real problems a couple of months ago after buying a new laptopfrom pc world running Windows 8.1. I can't seewhat your errormessage was but mine kept saying there was issues with the installer. In the end I got it to work by totally disabling the free trail of McAfee anti virus that it was running. This worked and I turned it back on after however. I have noticed that it still interferes a bit with the tablescausing them to pause occasionally, getting rid of it and using AVG seems to work fine. I hope this helps as I know how frustrating this was for me playing via the browser.   
Posted by jondabar

And the award for Sky Poker Technical Support Officer Of The Month goes to ...

... drum roll ...

JONDABAR!!

Yay!, All installed and about to grab AVG having binned McAfee.  

Thanks so much and also to Tikay for his calm assurance!