MSE News: Sky and the AA are easiest to haggle wi...

[MSE Helen]

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Millions get a better price when having the nerve to ask for money-off when negotiating a new deal ..."

Read the full story:
Sky and the AA are easiest to haggle with


Click reply to report your haggling successes

[kingkano]

How do you haggle with an energy provider?? Ask for cheaper unit prices?? Cant imagine this is possible?

[maka]

doubt you will get money off the unit price they may tell you thats what they will do for you just so you sign up to a price fix, but never gonna happen, they may offer you things like extra clubcard points something like that or even some energy saving light bulbs.

have to say I have got nowhere dealing with the aa my car insurance is up on monday but got nothing

[Ed Jogg]

It is worth giving it a go.

I used to have ADSL Broadband through Madasafish. Minimum contract had expired, but still paying the same rate of course. I realised that new customers were paying many % less per month, had a 6-month half-price discount and were given a wireless router (mine was USB). So, I rang them to say I was thinking of moving supplier, and in return for signing-up to a new 12mth contract, I got cheaper monthly prices, 6-mth discount and a new router.

The important thing is that I had to ask them, or I'd still be on the same rate now.

[Butti]

I told the AA that I was going to not renew due to having no job. They dropped the offer down to a one call out for the year for £15. This seems pretty good as I drive a Yaris and it is super reliable (touch wood).

B

[RosemaryK]

My main haggling success story has been with 02 - I was paying £20 per month for 600 free minutes and unlimited texts per month for my main contract and then took out a second contract for £10 per month (the first was suspended for a month - at my request - as my mobile was stolen & I wanted to keep the same number), for 300 minutes & unlimited texts for 12 months. As soon as the 12 months was up I cancelled the smaller contract & told 02 I'd leave if they couldn't do me a better deal on my mobile contract, as I am unemployed student who also looks after my Mum (who has Alzheimer's Disease) full-time & have zero income at present. They immediately almost halved my mobile contract price to £10.50 per month, while still keeping the original 600 mins/texts price, gave me a refund of 2 month's payments (to cover the overpay since the renewal of my previous contract before the changeover) & also a £50 Amazon voucher, which enabled me to get a free external hard-drive and new mouse...result! The other bargain I negotiated, rather than haggled, was with my car insurance. Having been 'insulted' by having my previous insurers (Equity Red Star) up my premium by over £200 - due to my being involved in a small accident, caused by a driver who did not stop after causing me to swerve (to avoid a head-on collision) & skid into a parked car - and following Martin's great advice, I went through TopCashBack & confused.com to Kwik-fit insurance, saving over £188 and getting more than £45 cashback, making it cheaper than last year's insurance and protecting my no-claims bonus of 12 years to boot!

[tracydanmaci]

Hi thank you so much for your money tips email I have just rung sky and even though I had the basic package i.e tv, broadband, phone and phone line which was coming in at about £48 a month they have now reduced this to £36 a month for 6 months which is a great help I didn't think it would work as I did ring them two months ago to try to get it reduced but they said no so I used your tips and it worked thanks again keep up the good work

[16pinter]

For quite a few years I have been covered for my car with Saga. Every year they send me the renewal notice and I go on all the Compare sights and look for a like-for-like. This has always been cheaper than saga. I then ring them up and point this out and tell them that I would like to stay with them but what can they do to match this price. The operator will then usually put me on hold and come back and match the price or sometimes better it. This has saved me between £80 and £100 on my Car Insurance. They are not so good on House and Contents Insurance however.

[tracylong]

its true - it works - in April 2010 the AA quoted me £137 for breakdown cover, i haggled and got the exact same cover for £87 - then in April 2011 they wrote to me again quoting £144 for the cover the year, i ignored the 2 reminders which were sent which prompted them to ring me, they asked why i didnt want to renew, I was straight with them 'its too dear' was my reply, especially bearing in mind the price I paid in 2010 !!!! He asked if they cut the price, would I renew, i said I would think about it - he asked what I was prepared to pay, my response being i dont know, you make me an offer !!!! He suggested a really good price cut down from £144 to £135 which I laughed at and said that i didnt think so, I told him that a quote from a similar company was £90 for the year and told him if he could match that or beat it, I would stay - after a bit more haggling, he came back with a quote of £67 for the year - goes to show that the more you try the more you get - you have NOTHING to lose

[Iduno]

i had a promotion phone call from Sky they started saying how loyal I have been and feel that long term customers don't get get the best deals and these always seem to go to new customers. I began wondering what they were going to offer me. She asked me how I would like free sports inc ESPN. I explained I am not a sports fan and can you offer me something else like reduce my package price. I was given another number to call. He then explained he can offer me half price sky inc broadband and phone for 6 months. This I excepted and am very pleased with the offer. He then said as I have now got half price Sky i could get half price sports but I politely refused.

[parkview094]

We came to the end of our 12 month contract with Sky and rang up to cancel. We liked the Sky+ functionality but couldn't justify the monthly charge. Explained this to the disconnect department, now we're paying just £10 a month for the new basic package with Sky+. Very pleased!

[parkview094]

We use Virgin Media for our Phone and broadband. Came to the end of the contract and were going to move to plusnet who unfortunately couldn't port our number. Virgin disconnections offered to match the plusnet monthly price, so we've now got "L" Broadband and "XL" TV for £22 a month. No hassle at all!

[leclerc]

With regards to AA breakdown, i have the minimal cover. A few year ago I rang up to cancel cos of their price and the advisor said that they could price match so this year I rang up after their renewal amount was £54.80 and asked them to price match their online price of £30.00 and in the end they gave that to me for £28.00.
Never accept the renewal price cos that means you pay over the odds.

[Dot]

We are with the RAC as they do a family of 5 where others are only 4 and, to be fair, their service has been excellent when we have needed them. On renewal I noticed that new customers got a better deal so I rang and asked for the same price. She was quite emphatic that, as they had dropped the price for me the previous year, they could not do it again. She let me walk away.

I cancelled and became a 'new' customer in hubbie's name.

[SPh]

I contacted O2 3 days ago to tell them that I wanted to switch broadband supplier without even haggling, I was offered a new 12 month contract with the same conditions but with 9 months free...an annual saving of £100!

[theguru]

i wish i could haggle a deal with sky, we do not have virgin media around our area so i cant ring and say we going elsewhere?
any ideas anyone?
we have hd, multi-room and entertainment but want to add movies and maybe sports but that would push it up to 75 quid a month!!!!

[G6JPG]

I've generally tried it for car insurance and breakdown, but the last couple of years - really, since the comparison sites have been going strong, though I don't know if that's the reason - I've either got so little it's been hard to assess (as they won't exactly match the terms of and competitor - different excess, number of callouts, level of windscreen o rlegal cover, and so on - exactly), or not got anywhere at all (with Admiral, who were competitive anyway).

So - and I realise this would be harder to assess - can you, perhaps for next time, ask for the percentage discount people are getting? Basically, I do also value my time, and - certainly for car insurance - less than about a per cent reduction I would not be too bothered about. (Others will have different thresholds, but the idea remains.)

But thanks for doing it anyway!

(I just hope it doesn't result in the easiest-to-haggle-with companies - those at the top of your list - tightening controls.)

[Pmarmalade]

Originally Posted by kingkano

How do you haggle with an energy provider?? Ask for cheaper unit prices?? Cant imagine this is possible?

This is exactly what I came in to ask.

I can only imagine this working if you're not on direct debit when your bill comes in and you phone and say you can't afford to pay??

[Pmarmalade]

On another note, I'm with Admiral for my car insurance (supposedly the easiest to haggle with) but every year when I use comparison tools my direct renewal price from Admiral beats them all by ~£50. Since I have no cheaper quote prices to haggle with I don't try, and I'm very satisfied they aren't just throwing me an expensive renewal price and hoping I don't shop around.

[davidt1980]

My first half price deal from Sky ran out last month so I left it a month and have called them back today to threaten once more to leave because the wife didnt want to ditch movies and i didnt want to ditch the sport so we came up with an agreement to ditch the lot and get freeview and both suffer because of the saving. Blah Blah Blah...Anyways, They couldnt offer me 6 Months @ £27.50 this time (saving me £165) but they could offer me Broadband & Phone instead for £7.50/month for 12 months All In. I pay £24.99 for that from Aol. So I took them up on that offer and saved £210 over the year! So Im well pleased!!