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

jd87

I phoned Sky with a half-serious intention to cancel (I actually only intended to go through with switching off Sky Sports but said I wanted rid of the whole thing) and this is what I've been offered:

Free Sky Talk line rental for 12 months worth £120 (currently with BT), plus 5 months free upgrade from basic to medium broadband (in the form of £25 credit on the account).

I can't help but feel they can do better than this. We've been with them for 6 years and the only people that really lose out with this deal is BT.

Any thoughts? Should I try for something better or is it a good offer?

Squire

So, I thought I could cope without a TV to save some money and just watch online stuff but our Virgin connection is slow and keeps cutting out during streaming. At the moment we just use our mobiles and have no landline so our total utilities comes to £9 a month (great!). But what is the cheapest way of adding just a TV to this? Is it by getting a freeview box and a T licence or now that I am with Virgin for internet , is there a cheaper way with them? I reckon the former but just thought I'd throw it out there!

BexTech

Squire wrote: »

So, I thought I could cope without a TV to save some money and just watch online stuff but our Virgin connection is slow and keeps cutting out during streaming. At the moment we just use our mobiles and have no landline so our total utilities comes to £9 a month (great!). But what is the cheapest way of adding just a TV to this? Is it by getting a freeview box and a T licence or now that I am with Virgin for internet , is there a cheaper way with them? I reckon the former but just thought I'd throw it out there!

Freeview is the cheapest - as long as you have coverage.

There's Sky Pay Once View Forever. £75 and get the box, dish, lnb, install and 4 months of viewing to 4 mixes. Make sure you give at least 30 days notice before the 4 months are up and it becomes Freesat from Sky - 200+ channels and 80+ radio stations.

snakepit

I've found the only way to get anywere with Virgin is to speak direct to there complaints department and totally bypass customer services. Unfortunately they are very reluctant to give out the number or put you through to complaints but if you ring the customer care number (150 from virgin phone) then pick option 2 (moving house or wish to cancel) then option 2 again (thinking of leaving) it takes you through to their 'complaints' dept. These are the only people I every speak to as they are the only one's who seem to have the power to actually reduce your bill and make you special offers, especially if you ask them for a date to come and remove your services.

I have been with virgin (formerly ntl and cable and wireless) for 10 years and I am paying about the same now as I was when I first signed up but now have the addition of broadband as well as TV and landline. Up until this year they have only ever given me limited reduction offers lasting for between 6months and 12months so everytime my bill goes back up I ring complaints an dask them to take it out and they always drop the bill back down to the 'new customer' deals, This week however, upon asking them to remove my landline because of them increasing the line rental to £11 I was offered a new 'Customer Relations' tarif which means that they will charge me full price for everything but add a refund charge to my bill every month for the life of the account. I am now only paying £26/month for top tv package, medium broadband and land line compared to £17 package + £10.50 line rental for sky basic(27.50) or £9 package + £11 line rental for complete basic (nt much better channels than freeview) virgin deal (£20). It pays to complain!!!

gazoakley

Just got a deal with Sky. Prolly not as good as the free Sky+ boxes some existing customers have got but I managed this without going through to cancellations!

Normal price for Sky+ is £150 + £60 install. Take Multiroom and the box is half price.

I took Multiroom (wanted it anyway) and after haggling with the guy on the phone for half an hour saying I know people had got it cheaper managed another £26 off the box. So I've gone from paying £210 to £109. I'm reasonably happy :j

Hint - to get the same deal ask them for the "regional switchover" offers. Thats when he realised he could actually give me more off

simon7-0

I got home last night to find that when I turned my standard Sky box on I got a message saying “no satellite signal is being received. I tried to unplug the box, etc but with no luck. When I called Sky they went through that process again getting me to unplug the box, take the card out, etc – but again with no luck.

The checks they did over the phone appeared to show that the box was working ok (and when I later swapped it for a spare box that I have it made absolutely no difference). The weather was clear and dry last night too. So I think there may be a problem with either the dish or the cabling going to it (both seem in good condition).

Anyway, the woman told me that since my system is out of warranty they could send an engineer out for £65. I said I wasn’t paying that, and she then said I could possibly upgrade to Sky+ to solve the problem, though she couldn’t give me a price. I said I would wait to see if the problem sorted itself (it hasn't).

So my questions are, should I phone up threatening to cancel, and do you think I might be able to get a cut price Sky+ box and installation if I do? I’ve been a Sky customer for about 5 years and am currently on entertainment mix (£22 month). Grateful for any tips.

chipbeck

Ring them again. They should have a record of your problem. If you don't manage to get an upgrade for about £50 (probably worth it) then go through to cancellations.

Hillfly

It's worth checking the cabling into your box from the dish. Check the cable as sometimes moving the box can damage the cable going into the box end of things. If that all seems fine (ie good connections) it may be that your sky dish has become misaligned. Have alook at a neighbours dish and then if you can reach it give it a nudge in the right direction - sometimes wind and rain can move it a fraction. This technique worked for me anyway!

FannyHill

A very slight movement of the dish can stop it getting signal or water can get into the cable or the LNB. The F plug at the back where it plugs into the receiver needs to be checked. Is the cable into the F plug OK.

robd831

I also had problems with the picture a few weeks back, 14month old Sky+ system and they wanted £65 for an engineer. Threatened to cancel and go to Virgin and after about 20 mins they agreed to repair for free.
Quote the sale of goods act, "must last a reasonable amount of time" not just 12 months. Above all make sure you get through to the cancelation/retention part of SKY (in the UK) and not somewhere in Asia as they don't seem to have the power to reduce the price. Good luck.