Digital TV Cost Cutting Article - Discuss What You've Been Offered

loates123

if u had sky plus already. our would u go about getting the cheapest option on skyhd?

moggins

I'm now a very happy Telewest customer, we were currently paying £75 per month for Supreme TV package, Broadband and telephone line with HD box and digibox in the bedroom.

After getting a price increase letter in the post yesterday I rang Telewest in disgust. I obviously wasn't the only one phoning as I was on hold for 90 minutes and still didn't get through but someone called me back today and I now have all movie channels, Disney cinemagic, on top of what I had before and they have reduced my payment down to £50 per month for the lot and it's all for the next 12 months.

Dustykitten

Fenboy_Steve wrote:

As I reported earlier, we cancelled in November and were finally switched off in early December. Despite being a long-term customer (early analogue days) Sky made no attempt whatsoever at that time to retain my custom. Today I finally recieved a call from Sky customer service wanting to regain my custom. The big offer in order to tempt me back was an enormous 10% off my monthly subscription for three months. My response was somewhat less than enthusiastic and I declined their gracious offer.

I am convinced that Sky have blundered in allowing people to disconnect. In relation to the 5 terrestrial channels, I always thought £21 was "tolerable" for the extra channels. However, having now seen how many of those are actually subscription free, I now find it impossible to value the remainder at £21! Its annoying not to have some of the kids channels during the holidays, but dvd's etc are perfectly able to fill the gap.

We cancelled at the same time as you and got a phone call with the same offer today, we said no. They then offered £15 for kids channels each month. Said no again as I am enjoying my kids speaking to me in plain English now and not in cartoon phrases.

Fenboy_Steve

Dustykitten wrote:

We cancelled at the same time as you and got a phone call with the same offer today, we said no. They then offered £15 for kids channels each month. Said no again as I am enjoying my kids speaking to me in plain English now and not in cartoon phrases.

I'm glad you said no to them. The £15 is just their standard min. package, not even 10% off!

The more I dwell on this the more I think that Sky need to be forced to into a rethink on their policies, specifically that of customer retention. I believe there is strong synergy between Sky's service and that of the mobile phone market. As consumers we have gotten used to annual equipment upgrades with our mobile phones, usually at no cost, and for simply giving a commitment of another years custom. If we can't strike a deal with our current supplier, we can now take our phone number and move to the supplier of our choice who will give us the deal we want. I realise the mobile phone market is highly competitive, but surely there is some applicability to subscription television too. To give an example, we swapped from analogue to digital Sky in 1999 and signed up for one year at that time. I can't remember exactly what we paid for the box and installation, but it was undoubtedly subsidised by Sky to some extent although I'm sure that Sky more than recovered their contribution over the first twelve months. For several years after that it cost Sky nothing to service our account. (i.e. we received no additional inducements from Sky in terms of services or hardware) and like everyone else were just faced with rising prices for what was essentially the same level of service (+/- a few channels). Then, as a result of finding this site, for the last two years, we managed to "negotiate" 3 months of the top package for half price over the xmas period. This action was actually cost neutral to both Sky and us, (half price top package roughly equal in price to family package which we had) and yet it served to keep us, as customers, very happy indeed. Call it a reward for 12 months loyalty if you like. How many companies have the ability to offer inducements to their customers that actually cost them effectively nothing?

I therefore see it as an act of extreme arrogance that Sky now considers it preferable to lose its long-term customers rather than use any form of retention offer. I think this act speaks volumes about their REAL attitude towards their customers.

Sky undoubtedly currently feel that their market position is so strong that the loss of a few customers is inconsequential. Certainly where I live, the only alternative is freeview as we have no cable service. However, I think the medium term situation may not be so rosy, as the more free to air channels that appear, (be it freesat or freeview), the harder it will be for Sky to justify their pricing and stop customers drifting away. Time will tell...

Jo4

At the moment I do not have time to read through this entire thread but I was wondering if I went ahead with being disconnected on the 18th of January what channels would I still get from my sky box? How much does it cost to get reconnected to sky?

FannyHill

I you don't sub you get all the FTA (free to air) channels. Once your subscription viewing card is switched off you will still get the FTV (free to view) channels with the card. Ch4,5,Sky3,Five Life and Five US and of course the radio channels are all free. If you pull out your viewing card now and go thru the channels you'll see the ones that are FTA.

Fenboy_Steve

Jo4 wrote:

At the moment I do not have time to read through this entire thread but I was wondering if I went ahead with being disconnected on the 18th of January what channels would I still get from my sky box? How much does it cost to get reconnected to sky?

Full list of Freesat channels available here: http://www.silvertv.co.uk/aerial/freesat%20chans01_07_06.doc

Cost of reconnecting is zero, but its for a minimum of three months.

HTH.

LEE69_2

Wifes already seen all the lost,and whats this paying for films :whistles:

Sky need a kick up the rear,they really do.

Liz19

We cancelled our Sky package 3 weeks ago. We were a bit disappointed that we were not offered a deal, however, I have to admit that we have not missed it at all. If there are no 3 or 6 months half price deals forthcoming then we will continue to save our money, watch dvds on free trials and do without Sky.

ethansmum

I too cancelled my parents subs and downgraded our package, we didn't get any special offers to stay either- despite hinting that we might stay if they had any deals on.