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

k3lvc

I've just read the last 10 pages of this and whilst there's loads on Sky/VM there's very little on BT.

We've not got cable in the street so VM's decent service isn't an option and we're in a conservation area that's sensitive about satellite dishes which leaves us BT as the prime operator.

Just coming to the end of minimum term with BT Option 3 and Vision Unlimited for a total of £37.35 per month. In the initial call (instigated by BT) the best offer was £42 per month for the same but with the addition of Infinity (useful as we now have a couple of Smart TV's) and they even wanted to charge for delivery of the new Hub

I'm aware I can pay a years line rental up front to save, hopefully I can negotiate a new vision box and powerline adaptors (both saleable on Ebay) but how do I get the absolute price down ?

KTF

I have SKY (HD + Entertainemt Extra) plus the broadband and phone rental up front. The TV part was on 1/2 price for 12 months and the 31 days is today so I called them up to see what they can do.

The guy looked through my account and said there is nothing they can offer as I already have most of the things they could use to negotiate - BB, phone, line rental up front, etc - so I asked to cancel as I have a Freesat TV which can get the HD content I normally watch by plugging the sat feed into it and didnt want to go down to the wire then have to pay another month at full price.

After 6 months I can apply again as a 'new' customer but the guy said that I would almost certainly receive a phone call from retentions or I could call a day or two before the end date to see if they would cut me a deal then.

So lets see what happens in 31 days time. Am prepared to cancel as the Freesat via the TV has all the content we watch anyway.

TarantulaLady

I had been a Sky customer for 12 years but they only offered me 25% off. I have had other discounts in the past though. Considering we only really watch The Simpsons, Spongebob Squarepant. Phineas and Ferb and Only Fools and Horses, I decided to have it switched off, saving myself £60+ a month.

System

i can give my 30 days notice to cancel sky very shortly just got basic chanels internet and phone sky tv £19.50 broadband £7.50 sky talk £12.25 so £39.25 a month whats the best deal/price you think i would be lucky to get?
thanks

jmdnnlln

andy2004 wrote: »

Phoned virginmedia up to get a better deal, what they offered was pi**poor,
currently paying £31 for 10mb broadband, phone with anytime calls aka 60min then redial,
offers, 1 told i already had the free upgrade to 20mb > wrong, did a speedtest this morning, still 10mb
. but they could reduce the bill from £31 to £24.60, no change in service except for the free double your speed, and a new modem/router <didnt say whether i had to pay for it, which i have to put in, oh and to activate the new router i have to phone them, otherwise it wont work.
offer 2. £31, and get the above + basic tv. no vivo,
as all my tv's have freeview built in didnt see the point of having the tv addon.
disgusted considering what i would get if i where a new customer
http://store.virginmedia.com/bundles/essential.html

just been to the myvirginmedia to check on something.
quote "Planning to go wireless?

We've done all the checks and it looks like your current modem is fine. Your new super fast broadband is up and running at the speed shown below..

Your new speed is up to 20Mb

If you're going to be using a wireless connection then you might want to swap your modem for a Virgin Media Super Hub, our latest combined modem and router with the best range so you can enjoy fast broadband around your home.
The Super Hub comes free with just a £20 QuickStart fee for installation and you'll automatically begin a new 12 month contract."

wasnt told of any quickstart fee yesterday? does this apply to me.

I had Virginmedia and the d/l speed was terrible, and the modem router, a Netgear DGN1000 is the worst on the market + you can't upgrade the firmware because it's locked to Virgin.
My D/L speed from Virgin (copper wire) was no more than 5mb/s.
Considering I live almost next door to the exchange I was VERY shocked, I'm now with TALKTALK 14mb/s suits me just fine.

My Son works for Virgin and can get the COMPLETE 100mb/s +tv multiroom package for £10 per month .................. if only I lived in a cabled area!!!!!!!:mad: Damn.

leyus

After listening to Martin's new podcast from Radio 5, I decided to call Virgin. I was paying £22.5 for Virgin broadband (10mbs) without TV, landline or anything else, just broadband. Got it down to £17.5 and they promised to increase my speed and add new router (I had some problems with previous one) for free (£4.99 delivery cost but no charge for router). I know it is not a big saving but I am quite happy with that. Thanks Martin.

2521ash

Hi,

I'm currently on sky with the sky+ box with the entertainment pack with hd. Phone and broadband unlimited. I'm paying £57pm at the moment.

Had "offer 5" from virgin today. All of the above plus 60mb fibre optic instead of 10mb and a extra hd box for another room.

Called sky, they initially offered 25% off the tv pack and Wouldn't move so I've signed up with virgin. Rang sky to cancel and they've offered to hardwire my sky box so I can get sky anytime, and install a sky had box upstairs for free, and no multi room charge for 12 months.

Over 18 months virgin is still £6.50 cheaper plus it's the 60mb fibre optic. However I've just noticed sky is now offering fibre optic too!

Not sure which way to go with this, sky offer a lot of content for the iPad/iPhone which I use plus the free cloud wifi. Do virgin offer any other benefits?

Kingb4

Hello,
Thought I would add my experience. Having previously had a 9 months at 50% offer, which ran out in February, so I thought I would try again.
Similar to previous posters, my first call (yesterday) got me nowhere.....they just held their ground, asking about viewing habits of me and my family and that I 'should think of the children'....almost laughable. I got off the phone, but then immediately rang back.

The second call was much better. I asked to cancel, stating I couldnt afford the full cost (£24.50 for Entertainment Extra). They immediately offered 25% off for 12 months.

I also asked about a new box (we have the old white one, which is hanging lots now). I couldnt get the box free...to start with they wanted £29.99 +£15 postage (advising that was a discount on the £299 price for the HD box). Then the agent found that I could get free install, thus avoiding the £15 postage. So rather than giving me free postage, instead they will have an engineer drive the box to me and install it free ......random but true.

Not the best discount, but not bad for 20 minutes on the phone.
Thanks to all previous posters, definitely helps to be armed in advance.

Leodogger

Virgin rang me today to tell me they were rolling out their high speed 30mb and they were ringing to say that a new modem would be sent to me more able to handle the higher speeds.

I asked if there would be an extra charge. Carefully she said "your subscription will be changed to £41.50 per month to AVOID an increase when the higher speed comes in which is not until next year but you will receive a free phone service with free calls at weekends". I immediately told them to forget it, as I am with BT on a contract for 12 months and didn't want to change unless the upgrade was free. I had already made a complaint about my internet speed dropping drastically at about 5.30.p.m. in the evening some few months ago, when everyone in my area obviously goes on line so I was already receiving an inferior service for which I recently been charged an increase of £3.50 per month.

Basically I told her that the marketing on TV was a load of rubbish as it seemed to be telling everyone that they would be getting higher speeds but failed to mention that you would have to pay extra for it and as far as I was concerned, they never contacted me about my complaint when I completed their survey and so they could take a hike !

zolablue25

Having received my latest VM bill I noticed they had increased the price of my basic package from £28 to £31.50. A rise of 12.5%!!! After add ons I am now paying £68 a month. I live chatted with Sky who said I could get TV Extra, phone, 2Gb free BB and Sky Sports for £35 pm for 6 months and then £45 for the rest of the year. So I spoke to VM CS over the phone and asked what they could do. The very nice chap tried different options but said that I was already as low as they could go, so I thanked him for his time. This weekend I will be signing up for Sky and cancelling VM (after 12 years Eurobell/Telewest/VM).

For £300 saving per year I will lose HD channels (which I keep forgetting about on VM anyway!), and unlimited broadband (apparently, according to VM I am a light user and 2Gb will probably be enough), and ESPN (which will be a loss, particularly during college football season). I will, however, be gaining free evening calls.