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

DragonQ

Anyone wanna give me their Sky Sports offers they didn't want?

geewhiz

I phoned and cancelled 3 weeks ago, was due to switch off next week but had a call tonight.

I was given two offers, 6 months free with a new 12 month contract or 12 months half price with no contract which I have taken. I also upgraded to the full package since it was available half price and can downgrade at anytime. No HD offer so still having to pay for that as I can't watch SD after having HD for so long!

ranvinder

haggled with virgin earlier this week...

I currently have
XL TV with Asian Channels (£12 extra a month for Asian)
2 V+HD boxes
XL phone (talk unlimited) with Talk mobile and international
L Broadband (10mb)

I was paying £50.80 but this has gone up to £56.30 following the price increase and due to go up again to £76.20 after my 12 month deal had run out.

To bargain with Virgin I said I wanted to get rid of XL TV (don't need the channels), and one box and that an equivalent deal from Sky was £42.58 including all quidco cashback and m&S etc over 12 months. When I called to cancel, Virgin offered nowhere near that, I think it was about £64 the best they could offer.

Retentions called about 4-5 times over the course of a week after I cancelled but I kept missing them before I actually got to speak to them on Monday. To better skys £42.58 they offered me the following for £44.99 a month (12 month contract) with a month free, immediate credit onto the account.

XL telephone unlimited (don't need any of the mobile and international add ons I had before)
M+ TV with asian channels
L (10mb broadband)

With the month free, its effectively £41.25 for the year so cheaper than sky with much better hardware and broadband. I cheekily then said sky were offereing a better box with more hard drive space.. so they have chucked in 500gb tivo for free.. and I also said can I have the superhub as my own router is awful so they have chucked in for free too.

If you minus off the asian channels which are £12 a month extra, i am now effectively paying £29.25 a month for -

L (10mb) Broadband with superhub (will double soon)
XL unlimited calls phone
M+ TV with 500gb Tivo

so good i've decided after to keep one of the two v+HD boxes I currently have for the other room as its only £6.50 extra a month.

Thank the lords for retentions call backs.. thats two years in a row they've kept me on and their deals are much better, even better than new customer deals as you can usually get them for 12 months and then try your luck again the following year.

AdamBrunt

geewhiz wrote: »

I phoned and cancelled 3 weeks ago, was due to switch off next week but had a call tonight.

I was given two offers, 6 months free with a new 12 month contract or 12 months half price with no contract which I have taken. I also upgraded to the full package since it was available half price and can downgrade at anytime. No HD offer so still having to pay for that as I can't watch SD after having HD for so long!

We currently pay £20.50 for Entertainment Extra (no sports or movies or HD). As I understand it this will go up to £25 in September (unless I downgrade to the Entertainment pack). Was thinking of cancelling but if their current tactic is EVERTHING for £26pm for 12 month I may definitely threaten to cancel now.

sianf_2

I phoned BT broadband and asked what deal they could do for me as my last 12 month half price deal had expired. I was given the unlimited broadband and unlimited calls package for £13.60 with a new 12 month contract. No threatening to leave, no fuss, just excellent customer service. I'm really pleased! :T

savvy

boomish wrote: »

Well I've been with Sky 15 years and told them I want to try Virgin who are offering 6 months half price, they were very nice but only offered me max saving of £10 a month 25% off my TV! I get the whole package and have been a loyal customer for ages.
Trouble is my Sky remote has just about had it and the HD box is a year or tow old and I like the look of Virgin's Tivo box.
If however Sky offered my 50% I would have taken it but they don't seem to want to give anything to me. I went with the cancelation so we shall see if they come back before my 31 days are up.
Otherwise it's over to Virgin.

One thing they guy said he would put the TV on cancel but not the Telephone or broadband as Virgin will do that, thats not correct is it?

Yes they cancelled everything for me. Like you I was with Sky for years but didn't get offerred much and then cancellations even increased the price!! So left and went with Virgin..........but haven't been given everything I asked for and will be a massive price increase if they do. Am so not happy with it all :( so if you DO go with Virgin record your call and clearly state what you want for the price, then double check the contract as that is £10 less than I expected to pay and no-one can tell what 'deal' I was meant to be getting!!!!!

ninrick

Hi everyone,

Thanks for ur replies to my earlier post, interesting to see the differing advice about threatening to leave/ trying to be charming.

Just a refresher, currently pay about £47 for everything - sports, movies, landline, broadband, all hd. Offer expires next month and set to go up to £82.

Rang up and like the poster before me was only offered 25% off TV, which would push it up to £69 a month. The guy seemed quite bored and wasn't budging much, so I said I'd think about it and call back sunday (last chance to cancel in time).

Judging by the fact some of us seem to be getting quite poor offers, and others who have recently cancelled have received a phone call just before being cut off, I'm thinking to cancel for now as £69 doesn't seem very good to me, esp with the increasing competition from Virgin.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

usignuolo

Currently paying £67.50 month to Virgin for XL tv, L Broadband cable (10mb), V+ box and phone line. OH rang around a month ago to say it was not value for money and wanted to cancel, told that was the best they could offer. No attempt made to retain him.

I tried again the other night and was offered £9 month off and told this was a really good deal but I had to sign up to it for the next 18 months. As my broadband is due to be "doubled" in next 6 weeks, figured it would be worth waiting till then to renegotiate. What do you think?

What makes it really annoying is all the really cheap deals Virgin are offering in the papers, and pushed through my door, for new customers. Anne Robinson was on Watchdog the other day giving car insurance firms a hard time for "loss leaders" for new customers, what about tv deals?

ranvinder

usignuolo wrote: »

Currently paying £67.50 month to Virgin for XL tv, L Broadband cable (10mb), V+ box and phone line. OH rang around a month ago to say it was not value for money and wanted to cancel, told that was the best they could offer. No attempt made to retain him.

I tried again the other night and was offered £9 month off and told this was a really good deal but I had to sign up to it for the next 18 months. As my broadband is due to be "doubled" in next 6 weeks, figured it would be worth waiting till then to renegotiate. What do you think?

What makes it really annoying is all the really cheap deals Virgin are offering in the papers, and pushed through my door, for new customers. Anne Robinson was on Watchdog the other day giving car insurance firms a hard time for "loss leaders" for new customers, what about tv deals?

I'd cancel if I were you.. see my post on previous page about how much they reduced my cost and what I am getting... yours sounds really high and retentions will call you back if you cancel. you can withdraw your notice if they don't call back anyway but I guarantee they will call, have done last two years for me.

A good thing to work out is what an equivalent deal with sky costs... and then use that to negotiate.. remember to include cashback and m&s vouchers off your projected monthly cost.. reckon you should be paying no more than £45-50 MAX

also make sure you confirm several times about wanting a 12 month deal when retentions call you back...

Keeop

ranvinder wrote: »

I'd cancel if I were you.. see my post on previous page about how much they reduced my cost and what I am getting... yours sounds really high and retentions will call you back if you cancel. you can withdraw your notice if they don't call back anyway but I guarantee they will call, have done last two years for me...

I would say you cannot guarantee that. Several posters on here have cancelled Sky, and been subsequently cut off, and not received a phone call from them prior to the cut-off - myself included. Frankly I'm not bothered, but you certainly cannot guarantee that people wil receive that phone call so if anyone is cancelling purely to get a deal and can't live without Sky, I would say it is a gamble. You may be called, you may not.

Cheers.
Keeop