The mystery surrounding free upgrades to Sky+

spiritus

I very recently found out that four of my work colleagues have Sky+ and ALL of them got it for free.

One was a very new customer to Sky whilst the others have been with Sky for a number of years. All four of them told me they either requested an upgrade or were offered the Sky+ box when they signed upto Sky.

Now I have been with Sky for over 20 years and was a bit miffed Sky hadn't made the same offer to me.

I have also given them a new customer as I moved into a new house last October and took out a new Sky subscription for myself whilst my mother now lives in the old house and continues to watch Sky on my original Sky subscription.

When I phoned Sky last night their Sales dept told me they have never heard of "free Sky+" boxes and told me I would have to pay £ 99 if I wanted one. They referred me to Customer Services who were less emphatic and rather sneaky with the way they claimed they have never offered "free sky+ boxes to my knowledge". When I pointed out to the lady that adding "to my knowledge" to a sentence is not an outright denial and that I would therefore like to know what criteria need to be met to get a fre Sky+ box she told me she doesn't know.

So finally, I tried to cancellation bluff strategy and was referred to the cancellations dept who repeated the same thing i.e. no free sky+ box.

I explained I have been with them for over twenty years and effectively have TWO Sky subscriptions with them and all he was willing to offer me was 12 months free line rental.

Has anyone any idea whether Sky are lying to me?

samba

I think you need to ask your work colleagues exactly how they got theirs.

Woby_Tide

the fact you rang up asking about getting a free box meant they knew you were chancing your luck from the off. If you'd rung up to cancel straight away then they may have resorted to offering you more.

dazza.mk

I got a free upgrade (well I had to take a single movie package for 3 months in order for them to do it for free) about 9 months ago.

Having read a thread I rang up to cancel, they offered it to me for £50 or similar, I said no and requested they cancel which was when they came back with the Sky+ offer.

However I have read other threads when Sky have taken people at their word!, so don't do this unless you are happy to cancel (if all goes wrong), personally I would have been happy to move from Freesat / Freesat from Sky.

Although note if you took out a new contract in Oct 08 you are still within your original contract period and will not get a free upgrade however hard you try.