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

skyuser

Hey, so i have been reading through most of this topic for the last hour or so and thought i would share my insights into the retentions offers with sky.
I was up until last week a retentions advisor with sky and am aware of what they are doing. Yes they are cutting the offers right back and changing the 'offer hunting culture' that many websites (including this one) have invoked with them. Cancelling your account will soon be just that, with the 'winback' offers being cut aswell.

Using a new offer system or "toolkit" as it is called in house, will not pass your details automatically to the winback department who are the ones who usually call with the 50% and 75% offers.. and i can honestly say they are the only team that have access to such deep offers for the whole account... and if you are lucky enough in the future to be called by them once the rollout of the new toolkits is complete, the best you can be looking at is 50% for 6months only if you agree to come back for 12.

Also they are cracking right down on whats called "offer stacking" i.e 1/2hd and a line rental discount. This is why i got let go because of people who have read about other peoples past experiences and are adamant on cancelling if they dont get there own way. Cancelled customers affect stats, and its all about stats, thus agents feel pressured into stacking just to keep their jobs.

A couple of tips though in negotiating your package.. 1st of all the whole "i've been a loyal customer" line will usually start you off on the lowest tier of offers as agents hear it all day (even from customers who are in the middle of their 1st years contract". Asking to review your package due to cost will start you off on a better foot.

Also there is no override for offers... so saying "i want half price for a year or im leaving" is also not going to get you very far. I would quite happily cancell a customer just for saying that (and many do) and with the winback teams being cut you could find yourself without sky.

If you do like your sky sometimes (agent dependent) its worth saying so. Yes they might offer to reduce your package, but meeting a compromise will get you a better offer. I.e Got sports and movies, remove movies wait till they go off, call to upgrade and get an upgrade offer. at worst you will be without movies for a day but you can get a much better deal when adding.

If you have just had 50% off and it has ended, dont expect it again, you will at best get 10-25% off, or be met with "Well this is the cost of the product" which at the end of the day it is. You dont haggle over the cost of a pen in a shop now do you?

Box upgrades are where the best offers are at currently. 2tb not so much, only way to get that cheap is to take Multiroom... You will get it for £49 then once installed, call and cancell your other box and move it to your main room, move the old box into wherever you had multiroom fitted and volla a free install and wire of a freesat box (better than nothing)

When it comes to the standard sky+ hd box, best is free box and install, but sometimes the system will only allow for £29+free install, Free box+ £5 install or £29box and £5 install... But this is all now dependant on tenure.. If your a frequent caller for offers or threaten to cancell everytime an offer ends this now effects your offers..

Hope this is of some use.. any questions ill happily answer as many as i can (to be honest im job hunting now so ill be about alot)

superliss

Can I just say thanks to skyuser for this info. I suppose you confirm what it seems is becoming more apparent. While I want an offer, I do also want my sky

All the best in regards to job hunting hope you find something soon.

:T

smcym

Thanks for your input, skyuser - please can you answer a couple of questions?

You say:

A couple of tips though in negotiating your package.. 1st of all the whole "i've been a loyal customer" line will usually start you off on the lowest tier of offers as agents hear it all day

But what if you have been a loyal customer? I was with sky for around 10 years on the top package - does that count for anything against someone who is in their 1st year with sky?

Also

Also there is no override for offers... so saying "i want half price for a year or im leaving" is also not going to get you very far. I would quite happily cancell a customer just for saying that (and many do)

Why??

You also say

Using a new offer system or "toolkit" as it is called in house, will not pass your details automatically to the winback department who are the ones who usually call with the 50% and 75% offers.. and i can honestly say they are the only team that have access to such deep offers for the whole account... and if you are lucky enough in the future to be called by them once the rollout of the new toolkits is complete, the best you can be looking at is 50% for 6months only if you agree to come back for 12.

My Sky service stopped on 5th December. I have not been contacted since. To be honest, I was banking on the 'come back to Sky' offers, and expected them to have contacted me by now. Are you saying a call is now unlikely?

Also, at Sky, is there any analysis of the customers who are leaving - e.g. if there are a number of longstanding customers with high monthly payments who suddenly leave do Sky even notice, or are we just a few people out of 10 million?

My original post on this thread is #2845 (can't post a link as I am a new member)

Was I wrong to turn down the offer - is it the best I am going to get, realistically?

skyuser

Hey Smcym, in response to your questions :-

Yes being a long standing customer will get you a decent offer but it is agent specific (or maybe that should be was) The new system is designed to be better for long term customers but still not as big as some of the offers that people expect or demand.

Like i said, coming on and demanding something like 1/2 price wont get you far. Its a terrible negotiation tactic because you already have an offer/price in your head and shows your not open to discussing what will be best for you. Like i say, the people you speak to on the phone aren't in control of what offers you get. Reading your previous post you were made a couple of really good offers, but your actions showed you didnt really want to leave (you called 3 times looking for offers, this would show up in the notes and thus lessens your bargining position) the £58 offer would of definiently been a stacked offer and a £30 saving for 6mths is still a £180 saving .. I hate to say it , you got too greedy and now you dont have your sky..



Who loses out here? A company with over 10million customers, or you at home who likes the product and service and now doesnt have it? Also on a quick (and albeit simple calculation) That £58 prob was 1/2 price tv. (27.75 for the tv, then 30.50 for your espn/mutiroom and hd)

As for if you will get a call with a come back to sky offer, i wouldn't hold your breath right now, maybe a couple of months time, but dont expect it to be the 75% thats due to be retired. Maybe near the end of skys financial year you might get a call, but expect it to be a short term offer with a recontract.

Like i say Agents dont want to cancell account, it reflects badly on their stats and most times will make the best offer available to you and what they can do, but if your going to be adamant about wanting better or your cancelling then they will, the quicker your off the phone, the quicker the can get on with saving other customers and getting the stats back up.

Hope this is of some help (i had a longer message but it got lost when i went to look for your post)

50Twuncle

skyuser wrote: »

...........Maybe near the end of skys financial year you might get a call, but expect it to be a short term offer with a recontract........

When is the end of skys financial year then ?

smcym

@skyuser - wow, quick response. Thanks for that, it gives me an insight.

Who loses out here? A company with over 10million customers, or you at home who likes the product and service and now doesnt have it? Also on a quick (and albeit simple calculation) That £58 prob was 1/2 price tv. (27.75 for the tv, then 30.50 for your espn/mutiroom and hd)

I would argue both. An e-mail from Sky said that I was offered 1/2 price TV (as you stated). My response to them is that it was not 1/2 price - I was paying £85/month, so 1/2 price would be £42.50/month. I got no response to this, unsurprisingly. I understand why they say I was offered a 1/2 price deal, but I would argue that they don't know what 1/2 price actually is.

My attitude towards Sky has changed from speaking to them - all 3 agents I dealt with weren't really listening to what I had to say, and they would have to offer something pretty special to get me back as a customer now.

After being a customer who has been paying top whack for a number of years (including buying my 1st HD box (£260!!) - the unreliable Thomson one), I wanted a great deal, they couldn't offer one. It looks like I got my timing wrong.

skyuser

21twinkle - Hey I cant remember when the end of the financial year is, as far as i remember it will be end of the tax year (dont hold me to that sorry)

Scy - your calculation is wrong, Hd, Espn and Multiroom dont count as part of your Tv its part of the package you have. In my last post i pointed out that the tv was discounted:-

its 50% of the 55.50 tv pack then add on the cost of additionals, Hd, Mr ,Espn etc = 27.75 +10+10.25+10.25

As for the box you should of got an upgrade on that at a good price if not free (defo £29 box and free install @ least) but without being in your account and looking at it i cant comment much further

yes sky will be loosing customers, but they are constantly gaining new ones. For examples sake lets say i took 100 calls and 15 cancelled, out of those 15 cancells on average 10 would be offer hunters the rest genuine cancells.

Your comment about your attitudes having changed to sky and them offering you "something special" to come back. Dont get me wrong im quite happy to bash them at the moment, but it does genuinely sound like you got a good offer, and as you have stated.. you called up 3 separate times for an offer and are now banking on a come back offer that i dont think will live up to your expectations. Discounts/offers are good if you play it right.

I know this myself, i had a sky staff account that im now going to have to pay for.. so i shall be phoning my old department to cancell down and get an offer. ill let you know how that goes.

chopps

skyuser - do you know how they decide about cashbacks ?

If you've already received a monthly reduction and M&S vouchers are you still likely to get a cashback paid out ?

aandpsclare

Does any of the readers have any advice for someone wishing to get the best deal from BT for their telephone (free anytime), broadband and TV(Essential) package?

boogiewoogie

I have TV package with sports, multi room & HD - have been on various deals for the past 2 years. Current was half price for 6 months, rang to cancel. I was seriously considering leaving and moving to you view. No word at 24 hours before disconnection, so I rang to enquire options. Eventually (a fair bit of to-and-fro) I was offered 12 months free multiroom (£10.25), free wifi adaptor for anytime and 2TB HD box for £69 (originally £29 for 1TB + £15 install) to replace my old white box in 2nd room.
They were very helpful, if slightly long-winded!, not pushy at all and I don't think I could have pushed it much more.