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

Gratis

ninrick wrote: »

It seems the best way to get the price down is to claim that Virgin/BT will offer less, but I can't find any similar offers to "threaten" them with that aren't significantly more expensive.

It would be unwise to assume that Sky can't either, and won't point that out to you.

Doing these things is their daily job. They know the score and they know what you're up to. The best approach is politeness and honesty: they will appreciate that and respect you for it.

Trying to fool them is a mug's game. They can see through it and you'll have alienated them – which isn't the best way to charm a nice discount out of them. You need to motivate them to try to help you.

ninrick

Hmm, maybe I will just have to turn on the charm then, hopefully I catch someone in a good mood!

Lifes_Grand_Plan

ninrick wrote: »

Hmm, maybe I will just have to turn on the charm then, hopefully I catch someone in a good mood!

You need to read back through the thread, charm will get you 25% off at best and naff all more likely.... if you are happy with that then fair enough... but for the 50% discounts you need to be threatening to leave, and ready to go through with it.

debbieblueeyes

weve been with vm for 7 years and this is what we got after haggling;
Talk Evenings & Weekends, Triple Combo Pack Loyalty Discount. Free Voicemail. T V Size: X L. 1 Additional V Box V+ HD Monthly Fee, TiVo Monthly Fee. Extra Set Top Box Discount. Broadband Size: L
Bundle Charges total £41.85
Phone line rental
Telephone Line Rental
Phone line rental total £13.90.

Gratis

Lifes_Grand_Plan wrote: »

You need to read back through the thread, charm will get you 25% off at best and naff all more likely.... if you are happy with that then fair enough... but for the 50% discounts you need to be threatening to leave, and ready to go through with it.

Threatening people is rarely the best way to achieve what you want. It’s wiser to encourage people to help you, not alienate them. They’re human beings, after all, with human feelings and human sentiments of their own.

Moreover, threatening people who do not have the authority to give you what you want achieves nothing.

A far better approach is to explain gently and politely why what you’re being offered is not an economic proposition. given what you are being offered elsewhere. Then ask them what they can do to help redress that balance.

(That, let it not be forgotten, is the karma you have chosen to put in your own signature.)

Heinz

Nice last line.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Come, come now.... don't take my use of the term "threaten" out of context.... it was actually bad wording from myself but replace "threatening to leave" with "telling them you want to leave"

Its tried and tested and I have seen it first hand, so i'm affraid you are wrong Gratis, they nicey nicey approach will not get an offer of more than 25% discount....

Ironically, you have advocated people telling sky they want to leave a good few times yourself or at least admitted that it works for the 50% discount:

"You have to show Sky that you’re serious, by cancelling and going through with it."

"The usual routine is that if you get 50% off for a year and you ring up to cancel, you can usually get 50% for another six months"

Gratis

Fair enough.

To me, the word “threaten” always carries overtones of hostility, but perhaps I was being a little over-sensitive. If so, I apologise.

Your posting conjured up for me a vision of somebody thumping their own desk and getting aggressively combative on the ‘phone. :mad:

You do concede that “telling them you want to leave” is a better way of wording what you mean, so we are, when it boils down to it, in agreement.


My observation, which I was attempting to emphasise, was that there is no point in trying to obtain more than a 25% discount on Sky TV from people in departments of Sky who don’t have the authority to offer it. So, instead of generating any potential ill-feeling, it’s best to just explain the economics of it politely and cancel, letting things take their course through Sky’s system until it reaches somebody (armed with the notes of what you have explained) who does have the authority to give it to you.


Age indeed takes its toll on memory, eventually, but mine is not yet afflicted to a degree of needing to be reminded what my own advice is and what I’ve posted :huh: ! I’m not looking forward to the day when that might come (and neither should anyone else).

If you’ve read what I’ve written in the past, on here, you’ll know that I’ve advised that one needs to be prepared to go without Sky TV, if necessary, should Sky not provide what one wants at the price one is prepared (or able) to pay for it.

To some people, let it be remembered (and as you, yourself, once pointed out), Sky TV is worth a lot more than it is to others. And, while it isn’t true to say that nobody needs Sky TV, few actually do and for them (media people, professional sportspersons and various others) it is effectively free, anyway, because their professional need for it makes it tax deductible.

I’ve also advised that one should not embark upon the strategy of cancelling Sky TV unless one is prepared to go through with it. Relenting and going back at a price one has previously declined only makes things worse: it Identifies one to Sky as being a “bluffer”. Sky will flag that on its system and resist more strongly one’s next request for a discount. Whereas, a record of having cancelled Sky TV and gone without it in the past until you got the deal you wanted shows serious intent.

A FreeSat+, or a FreeView+, box is a good investment because it makes one less dependent on Sky TV and, in consequence, more ruthless in one’s resolve not to waste money with Sky TV. Our own television setup has for some time been based completely around FreeSat+ and Freeview (both in HD). Our (currently subscribed, with HD) Sky+HD box has been relegated to the role of a luxury we like but can do without. And that saves money. The key thing is never to become dependent on Sky's services. Shrewdly, Sky's now trying to strengthen its grip on subscribers by means of broadband discounts rather than Sky TV discounts. Once it's got someone on Sky Broadband, it's a lot more hassle for them to leave.

What I do think (and have never advised, before!) is that it’s wise to plan ahead – up to a year or more ahead – and work out in advance the time(s) at which one would be least inconvenienced by not having Sky TV (or supplemental channels on it) for a few weeks or months. A football fanatic, for example, should work out when the football season is due to end and submit his cancellation a month before it does – even if doing that means paying full price for a while in the meantime. What would be stupid and self-defeating would be to start the whole process in the middle of the season just because a period of discount has ended.

Conversely, but relatedly, in some circumstances if one is offered an advantageous deal it can even be a good idea to digest a few months of Sky subscription prior to what one wants, to ensure that it becomes cancellable at a strategic moment. If a sporting season, for example, begins in September and ends in May, it can be economic, long term, to commence a 12-month discounted subscription in May, so that it can be cancelled the following May, making the subsequent three months the time without Sky TV that one might have to wait for a Win-Back offer of 50% in order to be re-connected in time for the beginning of the next season in September. :cool:

sekrapa

vanmonk wrote: »

rang virgin the other day as ide got a leaflet through the door saying they have new packages for new customers .I then rang them up and said that it wasnt fair that i should pay more for a lesser package than the one they where advertising to new customers ,they then tried to offer me a downgrade which realy turned out to be an upgrade if you know what i mean:).
what i had;50meg broadband,xl tv,phone anytime=£83 amonth

what i got for a collections package;60meg broadband,xl tv,tivo box,extra hd box in another room,calls evenings and weekends,half price for 2 month at £27 a month then £54 a month.

THATS NEARLY £348 A YEAR SAVING FOR A BETTER PACKAGE:j

Remember the quoted offer prices on the flyers EXCLUDE the phone line rental of £13.90, which you must have to get the offer. Make sure that the price quoted INCLUDED the line rental.

JTrebor

A common story, just feeling pleased as it's my first attempt.

Phoned Virgin today asked to downgrade our package to the lowest everything, I wasn't happy with the price and said that if I were to swap to Sky or BT Vision then as a new customer I would get a better deal, they couldn't offer me anything better. So asked to be put through to disconnections. They put me through to the retentions/customer relations who knocked another £10 off and swapped our old V+ box for the Tivo, it also means our broadband increases from the old 10Mb to the new 30Mb. Thing is we don't have a normal aerial and can't get BT infinity in our area, so wouldn't want to swap really!

£29.90 M phone, M+ TV, 30 Mb broadband and Tivo.