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

myth123

Just rang VM to upgrade my package a bit as it is getting on a bit.

I have a Virgin Media Box which I cannot even be bothered connecting up to my TV now as my new TV doesn't have a SCART socket!

Anyway, didn't really get anywhere and was a bit cheesed off with their sales tactics, basically trying to blind me with science - which did not work at all, ha!

I hate how they pull the excuses that new customers or different from existing ones therefore they can't offer me the same deals- yes there is a difference, I have over 5 years of spotless payment record with VM, a new customer does not! :mad:

Anyway, I was not offered anything extra at all, just what a new customer would get on their package minus the 6 months half price and minus free delivery & install and minus a free TiVo Box. At that point I quickly mentioned I would be considering other providers and they arrange a call back to hear what I find...

Time to get researching :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

I just wanted to post some advice about Virgin Media, as I was on the phone to them yesterday negotiating my package.

The first thing is NOT to speak to customer services - they will only give you the advertised prices that you see on the website. You have to go directly to retentions as they give you the offers that the other departments can't.

Secondly, be aware that they can only offer discount on the services which they provide directly, i.e. Broadband, Phone and standard TV packages. As they have to pay Sky for the premium package (Sports and Movies), they can't offer discounts on these due to the prices they are being made to pay themselves in order to supply them. Therefore, if you have M Broadband, M TV and M Phone, but you also have Sports and Movies, then don't expect a substantial discount.

The final thing I would say is be patient! Unless you critically have to cancel your subscription, then don't accept or dismiss their first offer if you aren't happy. The first agent I spoke to only offered me 2 options, package A or package B. I politely told her that I believed I could get better with Sky (or if I was a new Virgin customer) and that I would call back shortly if I decided that I wanted to cancel my services. 2 hours later I did call back and I was lucky enough to speak to a fantastic agent - he went through each aspect of the package, asking about my phone/TV/broadband usage and checking all the different combinations of options and prices.

This agent was able to offer me much more for my money just by taking the time to assess exactly what I needed. I also had the Virgin and Sky websites open to reinforce any points I wanted to make, and I'm happy with what I was offered - a new 500GB TiVo box, as well as keeping the V+HD we currently have downstairs, an upgrade from 20MB to 30MB on our Broadband, Sky Sports and Sky Movies HD collection across both boxes, and a reduced £15 install for TiVo on a new wall point upstairs, as well as all the necessary cabling to get it connected to the Internet, all for an additional £30pm (should be at least £50).

As long as you don't get aggressive and demand a reduced rate, places will be more willing to accommodate your requests. If they don't, take your time and call back - some agents will do far more to help you than others and it's worth waiting until you find one of the good ones!

NPowerUser

GOLFER wrote: »

Got home yesterday to find leaflet for 50% off TV for 12 mths

Should I take it or wait it out and see if i get the 75% off.

Definitely wait.

As sure as eggs is eggs, I received the 75% off leaflet after receiving the 50% off leaflet. Plus £50 free credit!

Went back to Sky last week. So living with the free channels for a little while (less than 3 months) and bingo.

Sky World + HD for just £24.12 per month, so with the free £50 credit, I get all this for 12 months and the total cost to me for the year is less than £250.00

Is Sky World + HD worth less than a fiver a week to me?, yes indeed it is but I had to go through with the threat of cancellation on my old discounted package deal.

Can't remember the last time I paid the full amount but as long as I can get the most from Sky for a fiver a week I'm game.

No deal = you wont get my custom

jj12345

Hi - sorry to make this my first post, but I rang sky today as a new customer. Despite a lot of attempted haggling, they said the best they could give me was 6 months at £98, rather than £110!

I was just wondering if anybody had one of the codes spare please? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

the_matrix

HELP MSEs

This is what I signed up for through Martins weekly email:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips/28-03-2012/#sky

I signed up for "Get £125 cashback + £100 M&S with new Sky+." which TCB matched.

Now TCB are saying that sky said "Commission cannot be paid in conjunction with staff offer."

Obviously it wasn't a staff offer if it was in Martin's email.

Sky have done a sly one on me. I've lost £125 :mad::mad::mad:

HELP PLEASE

anfield_wannabee

Saw Martin's latest MSE email the day AFTER I phoned sky!

Currently got an SD box (not even sky+) with sky world TV plus broadband, line rental and free calls. Recent wage cut meant I had to try and reduce costs somehow. Phoned them to say I wanted to cancel my subscription because it was getting too expensive; problem is in my area there's no competition apart from freeview/sat as I can't get Virgin or BT TV/internet so I couldn't use that arguement (They probably knew that as well). Only thing they offered me was a free sky+ HD box with free installation. I chose not to get the £10.50pm Sky HD package that goes with it but I will get the free-to-air HD channels.

If I'd known about the £100 cashback thing I might have tried to haggle for free HD for a year, but as my primary aim was to reduce my costs in the end I decided to accept their offer of a new box. Had to ditch Sports though to cut costs!

KTF

the_matrix wrote: »

Now TCB are saying that sky said "Commission cannot be paid in conjunction with staff offer."

The MSE code was the same principle as the staff codes which is why they are not paying out.

foofightin

I think a little Brinkmanship can go a long way here!

I rang up at the weekend as I wanted to see if Sky would like to retain me.

Basically I cancelled my SKY 3 weeks ago and my switch off date was next week. I cancelled because the monthly cost (£75) was too high and my 1st gen Sky HD box is very slow and failing recordings left right and centre.

All I wanted was a replacement box, which I expected I would have to pay a small sum for. I wanted the 1TB box which would have been £250 for existing customers.

40 minute phonecall (using saynoto0870.com) to sky and I managed to get a 1TB box for £49, installed for free (saving £60), taking up multiroom at 10.25 / month. Not an amazing deal in itself, but I also got 12 months half price sky world and HD, and ESPN free for 3 months.

Even with the multiroom and new box cost, I'm still saving over £250 over 12 months.

Obviously, the best way to have saved money would be to let the cancellation go through next week :money:

miss_trust_2

Paddy_H wrote: »

With reference to this topic. I currently have Sky full package (TV-PHONE-INTERNET)

However only been with them 6 months. Its a minimum 12 month contract.

Whats the chances in me calling up to cancel it and getting an offer? Will they just charge me still for the remainder 6 months and then cancel do you know?

Thanks

They won't give you an offer as you are in contract, system won't show one for you because of that. If you cancel - believe me they won't let you do that one easily, you will be charged the remainder of the contract, you did sign up for 12 months. In month 11 phone up and cancel

mark_steps

So after a bit of phoning i got through to the Disconnections team yesterday morning. Told her my contract was up, couldn't really afford sky as it is essentially a luxury. She was quick enough to offer me a sky +HD box for £29.99 and i had to pay a one off fee of £5 and could get multiroom for £2.50 each month along with the entertainment extra plus movies (half price cost of £21.50). Stupidly said i had to speak to The Boss AKA the OH. I shouldnt have said that....she said she would call me back at 3 pm.

By 6 pm still no call. So i rang them and spoke to a chap. Told him about my earlier offer, he told me she had made a mistake. If i wanted to pay £2.50 for multiroom, i had to buy the £249.99 box outright...

Ermmmm pass...haha. So i proceeded to tell me what he could do (i took this btw).

So i will have as off Sun 23 Sept My existing sky+ box moved from the living room into my bedroom. A new sky+ HD box in the livingroom and the HD package. I also have everything Except for the sports channels. This cost me £31.50 per month....

Hope its a stonker of a deal..