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

k3v

blimey, this is a long thread! I haven't read it all as I'm at work. I'm on the family package at the mo £21 ish. I'm basically after sky plus without the extra £10per month charge. has anyone had any luck recently blagging this? also what is the cheapest monthly price I can get sky plus and multiroom for? I realise this will probably need a channel upgrade.

thanks kev... apologies if this has been asked recently

StephenT

k3v wrote:

blimey, this is a long thread! I haven't read it all as I'm at work. I'm on the family package at the mo £21 ish. I'm basically after sky plus without the extra £10per month charge. has anyone had any luck recently blagging this? also what is the cheapest monthly price I can get sky plus and multiroom for? I realise this will probably need a channel upgrade.

thanks kev... apologies if this has been asked recently

Got this deal on Monday: Phoned using the freephone 'trick' as mentioned here earlier; got through to cancellations, told them i wanted to cancel as totally fed up with only offers to new customers and nothing for me having been a customer for 10years, said i would buy freeview box, but i really wanted Sky+, but no deals going. 'Suddenly' there were deals a plenty (had to still say no i want to cancel a few times!) Basically got the sky+ box, for £65 (instead of £99), free instalation, and long discussion about my viewing habits (!!) and the package i would need. I thought i was on the lowest (£21), but now down to £15 with hardly any loss of channels; wouldnt budge on the £10 month Sky+ fee, but still feel got a result; £35 off box, free fitting saved £60, and just £4 extra per month, being fitted next week - I will phone again in a few months to see if another deal going well worth the free call and a very helpful Sky assistant - i hope this is useful and thanks to all those above for providing me with the 'tacticts' !!

monstermind

k3v wrote:

blimey, this is a long thread! I haven't read it all as I'm at work. I'm on the family package at the mo £21 ish. I'm basically after sky plus without the extra £10per month charge. has anyone had any luck recently blagging this? also what is the cheapest monthly price I can get sky plus and multiroom for? I realise this will probably need a channel upgrade.

thanks kev... apologies if this has been asked recently

Hi Kev, unfortunately if you want Sky+ and/or multiroom you will have to pay more than £21 a month.

The only way to avoid paying £10 per month for Sky+ is to take premium channels (either all Sky Sports, all Sky Movies, or half of each.) Added to your current package this would take your monthly subscription cost to a minimum of £36.

Taking Sky+ with your current package would be £31. Downgrading to the cheapest package (£15 a month) with Sky+ would be £25.

Regardless of which package you take, a second box (multiroom) is always an additional £10 per month on top of this.

There is a free Sky+ deal on at the mo (via cancellations), but it can't be taken with multiroom.

If you decide to go for Sky+ and multiroom, the cheapest way of getting the equipment and install is via the cancellations route, currently you can get Sky+ installed and your current box relocated to another room for a total of £49.

Bear in mind though that once you take this you'll be tied in to a further 12 month contract so they won't offer you anything else for the next 12 months!

To get the best possible value, you'll need to take 2 bites of the cherry.

Firstly, go through cancellations and try to get a good deal on a package that works well with Sky+ - Sky Sports at 1/2 price (£18 a month) for 5 months is currently the best. Don't take any 12 month price reduction deals if offered, as these re-commit you to another 12 month contract too, and you won't be able to call back for a second deal on Sky+!

Secondly decide whether you're going for the free Sky+ box, or the multiroom deal. Then, a day or two after securing a good package deal, call back to cancel.

With the £49 Sky+ multiroom deal, your first 5 months will cost £28 (£18 plus free Sky+ plus £10 for the 2nd box.) After the 5 months, it will rise to £46, or you can downgrade to your current package which will be £41. Without multiroom it will be £10 cheaper per month.

These prices don't take account of September's price rise, which is about £1 a month depending on the package. Hope this helps!

k3v

monstermind wrote:

Hi Kev, unfortunately if you want Sky+ and/or multiroom you will have to pay more than £21 a month.

The only way to avoid paying £10 per month for Sky+ is to take premium channels (either all Sky Sports, all Sky Movies, or half of each.) Added to your current package this would take your monthly subscription cost to a minimum of £36.

Taking Sky+ with your current package would be £31. Downgrading to the cheapest package (£15 a month) with Sky+ would be £25.

Regardless of which package you take, a second box (multiroom) is always an additional £10 per month on top of this.

There is a free Sky+ deal on at the mo (via cancellations), but it can't be taken with multiroom.

If you decide to go for Sky+ and multiroom, the cheapest way of getting the equipment and install is via the cancellations route, currently you can get Sky+ installed and your current box relocated to another room for a total of £49.

Bear in mind though that once you take this you'll be tied in to a further 12 month contract so they won't offer you anything else for the next 12 months!

To get the best possible value, you'll need to take 2 bites of the cherry.

Firstly, go through cancellations and try to get a good deal on a package that works well with Sky+ - Sky Sports at 1/2 price (£18 a month) for 5 months is currently the best. Don't take any 12 month price reduction deals if offered, as these re-commit you to another 12 month contract too, and you won't be able to call back for a second deal on Sky+!

Secondly decide whether you're going for the free Sky+ box, or the multiroom deal. Then, a day or two after securing a good package deal, call back to cancel.

With the £49 Sky+ multiroom deal, your first 5 months will cost £28 (£18 plus free Sky+ plus £10 for the 2nd box.) After the 5 months, it will rise to £46, or you can downgrade to your current package which will be £41. Without multiroom it will be £10 cheaper per month.

These prices don't take account of September's price rise, which is about £1 a month depending on the package. Hope this helps!

thanks a lot, that explains it all perfectly

Irishorangutan

I phoned tonight, explained i'm not doing so well with self employed life, result? 3 months at half price, with option to get it again in 3 months! brill!

shuker

shuker wrote:

I cancelled my account last month wanting to get Sky+ but didn't get any offers and my account expires on 8/8/06.

I have had no contact from Sky since I cancelled apart from the letter confirming. I just rang them using the 0800 number. I said I would be willing to reinstate my account for Sky+. I was quoted the £99 + £60 installation. I asked if there were any offers for me to come back and he said that not as far as he was aware.

Where do I go from here? I don't really want to quit Sky but I want Sky+ and am unwilling to pay the extortionate price, under principal, as I know so many people are paying far less.

I'm willing to go without Sky for maybe a month. I'd be grateful for advice as what to do next.

Just a quick update.

My sky account finished yesterday so I rang them up today using the freephone number. I got put through to the re-install department and asked if any offers were available for Sky+ for me to come back to Sky. I said I wasn't prepared to pay the original £159 previously quoted to me. I was offered straight away a Sky+ box for £49 with free installation. I'm also going back to the full subscription so no extra charge for using Sky+.

I have tried many ways to get Sky+ 'on the cheap' but it seems the easiest way, if you can't get it when you try and cancel, is to actually wait until your account ceases then ring up wanting to come back.

Thanks for the advice guys.

jockess1

Hi, Last night I phoned sky and said I was cancelling my account because it was to expensive and ntl were offering me digi tv at half price for six months (not true but thought I would blag it) the bloke did quiz me a bit and I started to feel a little scared, anyway he said hang on give me a mo and we will see what we can do. He came bk to me and said we can offer you 25% for 12 months so I accepted and am happy. I didnt want to get rid of sky as I love my sky+ and now got it cheaper so thanks for all the great advice.

I have NTL tv in my bedroom so phoned them too to cancel and would have gone through with that one. As I have the phne, broadband and tv with them they offered me £10 of for six months I said no just cancel it not intrested. The bloke said oh wait a minute , something else has just come up, for 3 months we can give you £25 off your package then after that for 3 months £15 off and when that runs out give us a ring and we will see what we can do for you. So I saved a fortune on my sky and ntl, thanks to all you MSE'S keep up the good work.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

monstermind wrote:

They won't offer you any deal unless you can cancel your contract. You can call to cancel if you've got 40 days or less left on the minimum term of your contract.

That's a good thing to note down! I'll check when my contract is due to run out. I got sky installed around about December last year, so I rekon I'll be due to give em a call very soon

lou's_god

Hi

I am currently an ntl subscriber,receiving Family Pack t.v.,broadband & 'phone.I rang their disconnections department qouting Sky's 6months movies or sports package & ending up having Sky Sports added free for a year with the monthly bill reduced to £35.I had already had it reduced from £47.99 to £39 a couple of months ago.

Follow the tips on this site & see what deal you can get.

darwin290

At the moment my house currently has a normal sky box in the living room and a standard box in my sons room. Both the boxes have the skysports package (currently £36 p/m) so with the multiroom i am paying £46 a month. I have been with Sky for 7 years or so and have had the multiroom well over a year. My son is now pestering me about these sky+ boxes but i cant really afford to buy one let alone two for the house. Does anyone think it would be possible to get the 2boxes upgraded by Sky for a reduced amount or would it cost quite a bit when you take the different factors into account (box,installation etc)?