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

malderon88

On getting the email yesterday I decided the time was right to try and get us a discount on our enormous Sky bill (£87-50 for TV and Broadband).

First guy I spoke to offered me straight away 20% off my TV, but for that I would be unable to downgrade, he would only be able to offer it to me if I stayed on the top package and I would also be unable to cancel for 12 months if I agreed to the discount. Or he could offer me £2-50 off and keep the flexibility. I said if that was the best he could offer me I would live without my Sky Sports and go back to free to view (I live in a non cabled area which makes bartering a bit more difficult I assume), could he transfer me to cancellations.

I then spoke to a much more friendly Scottish lady who did at first seem much more interested in my viewing habits. After discussing this we agreed on;

Cancelling movies which aren't really used.
20% discount on TV package without any of the conditions above (ie fully flexible in terms of downgrade, cancellation etc)
Switching to SkyTalk for the same price as BT line rental, they can give me £5 off my broadband.

This basically gets my bill down from £87-50 plus whatever I pay BT which I think they currently take as £27-50 including Calls, Line Rental and "Equipment Rental" (!!!!!!?!) to under £80 all in.

Not the best deal I know, but I'm happy saving anything for the sake of a phone call, and I think if we can remember to use our spare mobile minutes for all phone calls (except freephone of course) then we could be looking at saving at 30%, £420 a year/£35 a month

Raytee

I had the same as below, SKY tried everything to get me to trim my package down to reduce the outgoings not offer any 'discount' - £5 off £64 a month was very best they could do if I signed up for another 12 months without leaving.

I said I'd sleep on it - any advice?

Lucia2012 wrote: »

Well have to say I am really disappointed in SKY, we have the full package and have done for over a decade but hubby got made redundant so tonight we called to ask what Sky could do to help. Spoke to a man called 'Andy' who was NOT interested. Options were a derisory reduction of £5 a month or 'helpfully' reduce my package to the bare minimum. Made it clear offers were only for new customers and that 'most of the stories you read on the internet about us offering substantial discounts are made up' ???
Threatened to leave, they refused to put us through to anyone else, refused to put us through to a manager and basically told us we were wasting our time. Explained we were long standing loyal customers who would like to stay with Sky long term but needed some breathing space. Got coldly told to reduce our package now if we couldn't afford it (which we are going to do) and upgrade when we can.
Charming. We can't get any other service other than Freeview, he seemed to know that and rather arrogantly stated he knew we wouldn't like that as we had had Sky so long and seemed more interested in our viewing habits so he could reduce our package accordingly.
If you call and get 'Andy' don't bother it will cost you 5p a minute and he'll keep you on the phone an age and you'll ring off having felt thoroughly under valued.

[Deleted User]

Raytee wrote: »

I said I'd sleep on it - any advice?

Sleep on it!;)

dianevclayton

Just been on to SKY customer services. I've got my monthly payment reduced for 6 months saving me approx £10 per month. The operator was a tricky one to deal with and would not go any lower despite quoting 'Virgin' as mentioned in the previous messages on this board. Hey, any saving is a good saving!

xtra_time

I suspect they have had such an influx of customers ringing to get money off after this weeks newsletter that if you leave it a bit they may be more flexible and have more leeway to give more.

gokcho

It seems most are already on Sky.

Can anyone offer me any insight?

hpmann

Dieselberry wrote: »

Its worth a try they can only say no so you'e got nothing to lose.
I tried for free multi room they said no I thought I was pushing my luck a bit.
Good Luck

Well I've just spoken to sky about a replacement box and they've said they will send an engineer out to look at the box for call out charge of £15 and if it can't be fixed they will replace it for free...

Told them I would think about it, also they say the 75% offer is subject to a 12 month contract, was that the same for you?

Whitearmy1

Rang Sky after receiving the latest e-mail.
I did have to wait about 5 minutes before i spoke to the "rentions team"
I told the customer service advisor that i was reluctantly going to leave Sky after reviewing my financial outgoings.
I was paying £57 per month and within a minute Sky had offered to reduce my monthly payment by £20 if i removed the HD package or £10 if i kept the HD.
I kept the HD and reduced my monthly bill by £10 for the next 12 months !
I really had no intention to leave but It was so easy and has saved me £120.
Better in my pocket than theirs.
Do it yourselves.You know it makes sense in these difficult times.

Dieselberry

hpmann wrote: »

Well I've just spoken to sky about a replacement box and they've said they will send an engineer out to look at the box for call out charge of £15 and if it can't be fixed they will replace it for free...

Told them I would think about it, also they say the 75% offer is subject to a 12 month contract, was that the same for you?

Yes 12 month contract. I think its worth it for just over £24 per month for all the channels including movies and sport plus ESPN for 3 months and HD. This is by far the best deal I have ever had from SKY, normally get the 50% off for 6 months.
With regard to the engineer call out charge I have never paid for one yet and have had quite a few.
Good Luck

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone,

I noticed there were a lot of posts on here about Sky, but I was hoping somebody might be able to let me know of any tricks I can use with Virgin. Instead of reducing my bill, I'm looking to increase my package to get an additional box installed (preferably TiVo), add Sky Sports HD and possibly upgrade the Broadband too.

We've been with Cable/Telewest/NTL/Virgin for donkeys years, i'd say at least 10-15 years. Any tips on what I can do to try and get a better price than the standard fees for those bits and pieces? I was considering using the M+S voucher/Quidco savings with Sky as a case to put forward, but keen to see if there's anything else people would recommend or have had success with in the past. I guess if they aren't going to budge then I could just go down the 'cancellation' route anyway!

Thanks!