Sky, Virgin & BT TV Haggle down prices and get serious discounts Article Discussion

Kirri

Dr_B wrote: »

Ah, you are already on Call #2 from Retentions (I'm only on my first). Interesting to note we received much the same response on the same day. I hadn't realised that Sky has halved their offer. Could be VM are aware of this - I'm going to wait until the end of this week when Sky should have new offers; hope VM call with a decent offer. If push comes to shove, I can "cancel the cancellation" a couple of days before the end is due.

Sky may reduce the offer to nothing though... sure VM are aware of every move Sky make.

Goldust

What is the best strategy for a new customer?

I'm moving into my new house on Friday and it's cable ready plus so I can choose Virgin or Sky.

I've seen there are various offers and Quidco options but has anyone had any better success via other means? Is it worth me ringing up both companies and trying to negotiate something better? I know I won't get cashback but if I can swing a decent discount that would be preferable anyway.

Thanks!

red_devils_88

Kirri wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what the Sky broadband service is like? I'm in London.

Virgin just rang me for the 2nd time into my cancellation period and didn't even bother to offer me a deal! They just said fine, my services will still switch off as planned!

So now I do need to go and set up Sky sharpish!!

I was previously with VM and my broadband would disconnect sometimes up to 5 times in an hour! I joined Sky and my speed is 12MB. With Virgin, I was on the 10MB package...

klemutot

If I cancel Sky and they cut me off after 30 days will all my saved TV programs in the Sky+ box disappear? Also will the box still work to enable me to watch free to air channels or will I need a Freeview Box?

brewerdave

klemutot wrote: »

If I cancel Sky and they cut me off after 30 days will all my saved TV programs in the Sky+ box disappear? Also will the box still work to enable me to watch free to air channels or will I need a Freeview Box?

Yup - Sky + will cease to work - so you need to transfer them to video or DVD before the switch off.
Yup - you will still get Sky's version of Freesat

xman

Kirri wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what the Sky broadband service is like? I'm in London.

There are websites where you can check some estimated speeds using your postcode, here two examples:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_availability
or
http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/speedtest/

pegginout

I've just phoned Sky for a better deal, currently pay £80 a month because my 1/2 price for 6 months has ran out.

Did my usual trick of phoning up, threatening to cancel, cut packages etc but she wasn't budging! All she could offer was free line rental for a year, but my line rental is with BT. I'm not sure what to do about line rental with Sky because will Sky repair the line if it goes wrong like BT would?

has anyone else had success haggling down Sky?
This is the second time I've haggled it down so perhaps I've ran out of luck

Kirri

xman wrote: »

There are websites where you can check some estimated speeds using your postcode, here two examples:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_availability
or
http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/speedtest/

Thanks for that, Sky isn't looking good! BT seem the best in my area... or even Talk Talk! hmm not sure what to do now..

Lifes_Grand_Plan

pegginout wrote: »

has anyone else had success haggling down Sky?

I know the thread is very long, but have you read back a few pages...

To summarise, yes lots of people have had lots of success... You should get 25% discount quite easily by threatening to cancel but not actually handing in notice, or can get 50% discount by handing in your notice and waiting for them to call you.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

klemutot wrote: »

If I cancel Sky and they cut me off after 30 days will all my saved TV programs in the Sky+ box disappear? Also will the box still work to enable me to watch free to air channels or will I need a Freeview Box?

Will all of your sky+ programmes disappear = NO, they will still be there, but:

Will you still be able to access them = NO, but should you re-activate your Sky in future then the programmes will be accessible again.

Yes the box will still work to watch most freeview channels though. To get an idea of what channels, take your viewing card out and see what is left on.