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

Meeten

decided that i should take heed top the offers that others have received and chance my arm to see what TELEWEST are able to offer.

Current package....

Telephone - 11.00
Essential tv - 11.50
2Mb BB - 17.99

ave monthly bill is £41 as I rarely use the home phone (mobiles have inc minutes).

the only thing that i am interested in, is the TV Drive, allowing me to ditch the old vcr and associated tapes that litter the room. don't have a HD tv (yet.....)

just got off the phone and was offered one of two deals ..

Above package for £34 pcm (with phone charges on top), which is a saving of £7.50 pcm (£90 pa)

Move to the supreme package for £49pcm, and NO installation for the TV Drive.

My best outcome would be to have the reduced charges on current package, and get the TV drive for free ... has anyone who dealt with Telewest been offered that (not being on the Supreme package?)

Opinions sought .....

DDB1

Great...will give it a go! Many thanks

CashBash

TheGuvnor wrote:

DDB1,

As has been posted previously, I would recommend the "I want to cancel" route (assuming you are over the 12 month contract period). The only thing is that you have to be prepared to bluff until the very end, or indeed cancel at that point (you can always phone them back before the cut-off date and tell them you have changed your mind!).

Phone up Customer Services, ask to be put through to the Cancellations Department, then when this department asks why you want to leave, be very polite but firm and tell them that

1) The existing Sky box has been intermittently faulty (unless you have the extended warranty!!! That would look a bit silly )
2) You have been looking around at other deals as you were fed up with the "brand new customers only" approach to Sky+, and you have noticed that their cable competitor (Telewest) has TV-Drive (which is a form of Sky+), so you are going to them instead as they don't charge £260 for it !!

I would also recommend 5 minutes of research on the Telewest website, just to familiarise yourself with prices/features etc, so that the sky rep gets the impression you really have been investigating.

This is exactly the route that I used, and they offered me either a free engineer callout and a guaranteed fix to my box (worth £60), or an upgrade to Sky+ for £49 with no multiroom and free installation, on a new 12 month contract ! :T

Worked a treat for me. Give it a go ! Just remember to be polite and friendly!

Guvnor - thanks for the handy info above.

I used this approach and got the following deal:
Sky+ for £49 all in (box, installation etc) plus £10 per month Sky+ fee with the first months fee waived.

Tried my hardest to get them to waive the £10 monthly fee permanantly but they refused to - even spoke to a supervisor. The impression I got was it was because I am not on a 'premium' package as my monthly subscription is £21.

Can anyone advise if they have managed to get the £10 monthly Sky+ fee waived whilst being on a similarily priced monthly package.
Guvnor, what about you - what package are you on.

Also, am I right in thinking that If I sign up to multi room as well, I will still only have to pay an additional £10 and get both multiroom and Sky+ for this.

I am sure the chap at Sky said the only way to waive the £10 monthly Sky+ fee is to add a movie package which I think costs an extra £10 per month anyway so maybe I should have done this as then I would have got the movies and Sky+ for the additional £10 per month.

Have booked the Sky+ install but am now in a bit of a quandry as to whether to go ahead with it or to cancel it as I feel that this deal is a bit short of what I could get.

Hope some of you can help with the above questions.

zippybungle

DDB1 wrote:

Have been a Sky customer for a very long time and would like Sky+ but resent having to pay over the odds (and I don't want multiroom), while new customers get it cheap! Any suggestions as to how I can get it at a reasonable price? thanks

We have had Sky for 7 years. I rang yesterday and managed to get Sky Plus for £65.00 with free Instalation. Just ring them and ask for Cancellations Dept. straight away, when through to cancellations, say you are thinking of getting Freeview because you are annoyed about new Customers getting Sky+ cheap, whereas you an are expected to pay £199 plus £60 Instalation.

eamonn321

I want to up grade to Sky+ (cheaply) too. Will my existing box work in another room if a get a cable run to it (by installer)? If so will I only be able to watch the same channels as new SKY+ is showing at the same time? Or would I have to go down the official multiroom route and pay the extra £10? I have full £42 package at the moment.

DDB1

Guvnor...thanks for your advice. Rang and got a fab deal on Sky+ and lovely Scottish lady couldn't do enough to help me. No multiroom and she even reduced my monthly paymnts. Thanks!!!:j

system15000

just got sky+ for 65.00 and no need for multi room or sky+ fee of 10.00 per month as i've got sports package, that was a nice scottish lady as well

thecornflake

Are they offering anythign if you don't want Sky+? I don't really want it at the moment - I can't afford to pay £50 or so for it plus the extra monthly fee and I'd rather save some money each month. Most people seem to be getting SKY+ offered cheap though.

It doesn't help that they consistently fail to set up my direct debit, costing me an extra £4/month. Mint credit card have been doing this to me for the last year!

danzeg

Hi,
I dont know if this is the place to post by the way!
But anyways, i got a free router with them after i wrote them a letter saying that they were not competitive enough and said that i was going to move to BeThere. They offered me 4 months of their biggest package free, but i told them i would phone them back.
In the meantime i wrote them a letter, gave them a call yesterday and they have agreed to giving me a free router (no strings attached!) and also 2 months free!
Nice going a!

Numptie

Phoned to cancel last night as I am having building work done soon (and footy season is finished) so am looking to save a bit of cash. Was offered the 75p a month for the next six months for the entertainment and kids package. As Junes money (£36) is has already being debited I am in credit till after christmas.
Result!!!!!