Top 10 service companies to haggle with

Basil1234 · 6 December 2014 at 3:34AM

ha sky what a joke, new customers can get half price tv for a year the other day. phoned up tell them i want to leave and told could not have that deal as was for 'new customers only' best she could do was saving £12 a month off a £70 a month bill which to me is not good enough.

so have switched the broadband, phone and pre-paid the line rental up for a year with plus.net and saved £15 a month just on that.

regards tv i have given them my notice and have found another deal that will save me £26 a month a i will just lose 1 channel that i'll miss is only downside but tired of being taken for a mug. roll on jan time for new beginings.

so total savings without any of skys help £41pm. shame there not interested.

teddysmum · 6 December 2014 at 12:10PM

Basil1234 wrote: »

ha sky what a joke, new customers can get half price tv for a year the other day. phoned up tell them i want to leave and told could not have that deal as was for 'new customers only' best she could do was saving £12 a month off a £70 a month bill which to me is not good enough.

so have switched the broadband, phone and pre-paid the line rental up for a year with plus.net and saved £15 a month just on that.

regards tv i have given them my notice and have found another deal that will save me £26 a month a i will just lose 1 channel that i'll miss is only downside but tired of being taken for a mug. roll on jan time for new beginings.

so total savings without any of skys help £41pm. shame there not interested.

I have been with them for a year and got free line rental and half price tv.

roblamont · 9 December 2014 at 3:21PM

My introductory contract with PlusNet (£18.93 per month for line plus broadband) finishes on 16 December. They offered me another year at an increase of £3 per month. This is less than their standard price, but not as good as the current BT offer. I phoned up and told them what BT were offering, and was able save myself £65.40 over the year with PlusNet. Better still, my new annual total is £29.40 LESS than what I paid in my introductory year. Thanks MSE.

jasper2176 · 23 December 2014 at 7:19PM

Just cancelled my sky TV and Broadband/phone package.As an ex O2 customer I was offered a good deal for the initial 12 months but found that the TV was not worth it. Sky messed up the order by cancelling my broadband/phone but left the TV in place but finally sorted [a couple of extra days rental to Sky!!!]
Ordered a new broadband/phone package from PlusNet but went back to Sky to see if they would match it and was offered free broadband which put their package at £4 month dearer.Said I would think about it and was asked to ring back next day if I wanted to take up the offer but when I did ring back the "cancellations/retention team" refused to speak to me and the customer service rep stated that the offer was withdrawn fir me.When I asked to speak to a manager she refused to put me through. I was given the impression that because I had been given a good offer for the previous 12 months I should be grateful and accept the standard pricing,even though new customers were being offered a better deal and I had also been offered a deal which had been withdrawn.Sky does not seem to care about existing customers and puts all its effort into finding new ones.Whatever happened to the saying "the customer is king"

spaceboy · 23 December 2014 at 9:32PM

jasper2176 wrote: »

Just cancelled my sky TV and Broadband/phone package.As an ex O2 customer I was offered a good deal for the initial 12 months but found that the TV was not worth it. Sky messed up the order by cancelling my broadband/phone but left the TV in place but finally sorted [a couple of extra days rental to Sky!!!]
Ordered a new broadband/phone package from PlusNet but went back to Sky to see if they would match it and was offered free broadband which put their package at £4 month dearer.Said I would think about it and was asked to ring back next day if I wanted to take up the offer but when I did ring back the "cancellations/retention team" refused to speak to me and the customer service rep stated that the offer was withdrawn fir me.When I asked to speak to a manager she refused to put me through. I was given the impression that because I had been given a good offer for the previous 12 months I should be grateful and accept the standard pricing,even though new customers were being offered a better deal and I had also been offered a deal which had been withdrawn.Sky does not seem to care about existing customers and puts all its effort into finding new ones.Whatever happened to the saying "the customer is king"

Why not just switch to Plusnet? I think the days of the customer being king are gone in most situations.

teddysmum · 24 December 2014 at 1:14PM

jasper2176 wrote: »

Just cancelled my sky TV and Broadband/phone package.As an ex O2 customer I was offered a good deal for the initial 12 months but found that the TV was not worth it. Sky messed up the order by cancelling my broadband/phone but left the TV in place but finally sorted [a couple of extra days rental to Sky!!!]
Ordered a new broadband/phone package from PlusNet but went back to Sky to see if they would match it and was offered free broadband which put their package at £4 month dearer.Said I would think about it and was asked to ring back next day if I wanted to take up the offer but when I did ring back the "cancellations/retention team" refused to speak to me and the customer service rep stated that the offer was withdrawn fir me.When I asked to speak to a manager she refused to put me through. I was given the impression that because I had been given a good offer for the previous 12 months I should be grateful and accept the standard pricing,even though new customers were being offered a better deal and I had also been offered a deal which had been withdrawn.Sky does not seem to care about existing customers and puts all its effort into finding new ones.Whatever happened to the saying "the customer is king"

I had the O2 free broadband and tv offer and cancelled tv, but asked what would be offered on line/bb as that had another two weeks before notice was needed. I was offered something in the mid £ twenties for bb, line and anytime calls, so refused.

Two weeks later, when tv was off, I was offered free broadband, but not the free line rental I wanted. I said I'd consider and the man said he would ring me at 6pm, but didn't.

This gave me an excuse to call next day, say that the offer didn't reach others and got me the free line rental. It was not as cheap as some, like Talk Talk, but I was happy to saty as the service is good.

Gem-gem · 30 December 2014 at 1:07AM

Was with Orange for phone and broadband. Was having trouble with modem and Internet. Orange unable to help so decided to look at tv, phone and Internet packages and be given s new modem rather than have to go and buy one. Before I was with my husband I had a Virgin package and before that Sky and we had been discussing getting a package for over a year. As Internet was playing up had to revert to the old methods of ringing round. Had quotes from BT and Virgin. BT wanted to charge us £100 on top of installation cost to send someone out to make sure that everything was up and running - no thank you. They also only gave you Netflix free for 1 month. Went with Virgin got free installation, two free boxes ( 1 TiVo and 1 v plus box so that we can watch different cable channels in two different rooms), Netflix free for 6 months, we can ring anytime, bT sports is included(not an extra) - paid nothing for installation, paying £59 for 6 months then it is increasing by £5 a month. Hubby and I are also swapping our mobile phones to them - I am going to save £22.00 a month on my phone, hubby is going to save £7.00 a month. So we are well happy.
Internet is faster and working ok. Can ring people anytime of the day, husband has some sport and I have films and more channels that I like, I can now record tv and pause tv again. Our combined mobile bill is £12 instead of £42.00!! So glad that I read the money saving tip guide for phones.

trumpetmanalex · 2 January 2015 at 1:20PM

Just sorted my contract with Virgin bill went from £50 per month to an 18 month contract £36 for 6 months and 41 for 12 months saving £198 over the course of the contract. WIN!

aeroflott · 2 January 2015 at 7:15PM

Don't know if this helps anyone. Been with TalkTalk for a few years now. We are paying £18.50 a month for Anytime home phone with unlimited broadband. Line rental is on top, and we get the free YouView box as well.

Rang today and told them I want to leave and go with PlusNet. They reminded me I was half way through a contract, which expires at the end of July. I said I didn't care and wanted a MAC code anyway.

They made it clear they didn't want me to leave, and immediately offered the same package we are on at half price for the next 6 months if I singed up to a new 18 month contract starting now. I refused saying I was still better off leaving. They then offered 12 months at half price if I resigned today - which I agreed to.

So that's a £110 saving or so over the next twelve months.

I should point out I had no intention of leaving TalkTalk as the service has been super-reliable, and frankly even at the price I was paying is still great value given the way we use the phone and internet here.

So all in all a happy chap! All for a 10 minute phone call. Super easy.

Cyril_Snear · 4 January 2015 at 5:05PM

I've been lazy for the past few years, not bothering to think about what I was paying for sky broadband (unlimited). It was £16.40 (line rental) and £10 for the broadband. £26.40 per month, I realised, was pretty steep, particularly when new sky customers could get all that AND the original TV bundle for about £32 p.m. Called Sky and was initially told that there were no deals available. I could either continue on current rate or add tv for a total of £40+ p.m. I'd done my research and knew BT would slash that price with extra incentives, so was prepared to cancel. Was put through to Cancellations Team, who immediately offered to reduce my existing broadband deal to £18.90 p.m. I challenged this, as new customers only pay the £16.40 line rental but I was being charged a supplementary £2.50 - for what?! :huh: Couldn't get a straight answer, nor could this person discuss TV deals. Waited for 50 mins in a queue to speak to Sales Team, but no joy. Tried again the next day. First guy I spoke to eventually, after gentle pushing and speaking to a manager, offered line rental, broadband and orginal TV for £36 p.m. As above, this is £32 for new customers, so I wasn't having it. Also, that £36 included a 40% TV discount, but the broadband / line rental was back up to £26.40 (rather than the renegotiated £18.90). He couldn't tie the two up, apparently. Was put back to Cancellations Team and mentioned the offer I'd seen for new customers (£32). She immediately said that she could better that and offered 12 month deal of line rental, unlimited broadband, Original TV bundle, Sky+ HD box and free installation for £27.15 p.m. :T I'm both delighted and extremely hacked off by the frankly ludicrous cat and mouse process you have to go through. But it does show that a combo of research, persistance and catching the right person at the right time can pay off.

Top 10 service companies to haggle with

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