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

[Deleted User]

ultramagnetic_commuter wrote: »

If you buy a freesat box you'll be less inclined to return to Sky because of your outlay. Personally, I think that's only an option if you really have no intention of going back to Sky.

I don't think those here who promote Freesat expect anyone to want to return to Sky when they realise the number of channels available to them for free. However, given the choice of paying £140 for a budget Freesat PVR (which will remain your property) and paying Sky £123 a year for simply using the Sky+ functionality, I'd choose to buy the Freesat PVR.
It's also pertinent to note that returning to Sky as a new customer (with all the attendant discounts) wouldn't be available to someone continuing to pay for recording on their Sky+.

katyboo123

My friend has just been telling me how she’s managed to save £9 per month with Sky. She called them up and asked to cancel her movies subscription with them and they said rather than that, we can give you them for free for 6 months. I was impressed by her haggling skills and really happy that she’d managed to save money.
That was until she told me she pays £88 per month for SKY TV (including movies, sports and 1 multi-room) and hasn’t got a SKY+ box. I can’t believe anyone pays that much just for TV, so I told her to ring back and say she needs some reduction in what she’s paying (has been a customer for years and never had a retention deal or loyalty offer) or she will cancel. She said she has done that in the past on advice off other friends and they’ve just said to her well leave, we can’t help you.
For a new customer, from what I can see, the same package, with the added enhancement of a SKY+ box including the movies, sports, multi-room would cost her £65.75, plus she would get a £100 M&S eVoucher. That brings her potential savings to £267 pa / £22.25 pm, plus she will be getting a SKY+ box which she’d really like (or should I say her husband would!)… Plus, she’d be getting the £100 vouchers which is an added bonus.
So, what I was thinking was this, given her nerves around ringing and trying to get that deal based on ‘threatening to leave’, what about her ringing and disconnecting and re-joining her husband as the ‘brand new’ customer? Would that work? There doesn’t seem to be anything in the terms and conditions to say this can’t happen. Or should she try to haggle her case? The difficulty is, her only alternative is free view, she can’t get Virgin Media in her area, so she feels that they will just say ‘goodbye’ and not be bothered about her leaving?!
Any advice / help / ideas would be appreciated, she’s a great friend and I’d really like to help her. And if she’s paying this much for Sky, Lord knows what she’s paying on her broadband and landline, utilities and Car Insurance as she has never switched those either… not EVER!!!!! Think she needs a money makeover J

KTF

katyboo123 wrote: »

So, what I was thinking was this, given her nerves around ringing and trying to get that deal based on ‘threatening to leave’, what about her ringing and disconnecting and re-joining her husband as the ‘brand new’ customer? Would that work?

No. Its a household rather than person account.

MARKMAKAVELI

New Sky customer.

Truly unlimited bb - £10pm
Line rental - £14.50pm

Total Bill for first 6 months - £14.50 then £22.50 for remaining 6months.

I then noticed cashback offer of £80 so called sky to cancel order, so i can re-do it online with cashback.

Guy was talking about fraud, and how my order would get thrown out because I have already had an order and cancelled. Basically saying I can't do it.

Is this true?

The_Rattler

The_Rattler wrote: »

Hi - a sorry tale to tell you all...
I have been with Sky for over 15 years (£42 per month = £7500 over 15 years) with an "original" Grundig Digibox.
I had a local engineer replace my dish during the summer - he also fitted a multi outlet LNB, laying twin cables to the sky box (even though it only needed the one....).

The Sky box has now died (just before Christmas!).

So I chatted online to a Sky Rep - If I take out Sky+ HD then I get a free box (it will cost £10.25 per month extra though!) - I don't have HD TV so, I don't need Sky+ HD !

oh dear - well, you can have a Sky+ box (free upgrade) BUT you will have to pay £60 for an engineer to install it.
I don't need an engineer - the cables are already in place.
Hmmmmm - sorry can't help you! you will need to telephone the sales team and discuss it.

So I did!

I cannot get a free Sky+ box as I don't have a Sky+ account! and therefore an engineer will have to attend (£60)
If I bought a cheap box, they could register it as my sky+ box and then send me a free upgrade though.......

I told them I have borrowed a friends Sky+HD box but cannot watch my movie channels as the card isn't registered to the box.
Aha! I can set that box up for you!
On no, sorry, it is an HD box - that would mean that when you wanted to upgrade to HD the system would say you already had an HD box and charge you £240 for a new one!!!!

Why can't you set it up as Sky+ only.......?
not an option - can't do that - sorry!

Well, I cannot afford the £60 for an engineer to install a free box using the existing wiring.

I have told them that after Christmas I will need to reassess our finances to see if we can afford the £60 - if we can't, then it will be bye bye to Sky!
I also said it was a shame we would not be able to watch the movies over christmas (the movies we pay to be able to watch!) - he said that we could take the movie option off our subscription if we wanted to!!!

Very helpful!!!

I have sent an email to Sky to complain about this matter - I will let you all know how they propose to treat a 15+ year customer!

Merry Christmas!!:(

Ok - so January arrived and we reviewed our finances etc.

Sky had replied to our email complaint - they offered me the chance to purchase a Sky+ Box for £49 + £15 delivery (£64 total) which sort of summed up their care towards existing customers (we told them we couldn't afford £60 for an engineer, so they gave me the option of paying £64 !). They did, of course, also take the opportunity to remind me that I would need to give them 28 days notice if we decided to leave!!

I logged into the Sky website and found the link to cancel our account.
I gave them all of the information (as above) and the relevant customer reference numbers (for the conversations - as above) and told them that as our friend had now taken back his spare Sky+HD box, we were left as being unable to watch Sky so therefore had to cancel. Our next billing date was approximately 1 week after that cancellation date - so I advised them that once the payment had been taken, the D/Debit would be cancelled.:(

Then we waited........

The billing date arrived - and so did the phone call from Sky!:D
No lies were told, just the plain honest truth.
The digibox (15 years old & original) was dead - we had politely asked for a new box and Sky wouldn't give us one.
We could no longer watch Sky so had to cancel - no other options available!!
The "advisor" (they didn't say if they were from "customer retentions") asked about the history and if we watched all the channels we subscribed too (yes - when we could....).

They then offered us a FREE Sky+HD box (no need for an HD subsription as we couldn't watch HD on our TV) and a FREE visit from the engineer to install it (even though I said all the cables were there...... can only presume it is to make sure the telephone lead is plugged in...!?):T

This was what we had been asking for since last November (approx).

I then approached the subject of subscription costs... very gently!:cool:

During the early part of our conversation I had told them that I work for one of the "local authority emergency services" (I told them exactly which one but can't risk posting it onto this site!)that had just announced the cutback of 100+ jobs (not mine at present!) and that we were therefore being careful with our money...

I very politely asked if there was anything that they could do about the subscription cost to help in this difficult time??;)

They put me on hold to "ask their supervisor" and came back with a 20% discount for the next 9 months (of the new 12 month contract).

I, of course, gratefully accepted their kind offer - with lots & lots of thankyou's etc.:T


So, a success! We can now watch Sky again with a new box and a discount.

Thanks Sky Customer Retentions!! :A

superliss

MARKMAKAVELI wrote: »

New Sky customer.

Truly unlimited bb - £10pm
Line rental - £14.50pm

Total Bill for first 6 months - £14.50 then £22.50 for remaining 6months.

I then noticed cashback offer of £80 so called sky to cancel order, so i can re-do it online with cashback.

Guy was talking about fraud, and how my order would get thrown out because I have already had an order and cancelled. Basically saying I can't do it.

Is this true?

Well, probably as cashback is no guarantee. Always look at cashback from Quidco/ TCB as a bonus.

Why tell him what you were planning on doing? He probably thinks your taking the p*ss. Its hardly fraud but it is from their perspective a little unscrupulous. Likely put a note on your account.

Geordie_bear

VM retentions has rung again tonight & this time I took the offer, previously I had:-

30mg Broadband
XL phone
XL TV
V+ Box

Multiroom with addition HD box for 65.64 an increase of 3.74

They've now offered me the same package for 55 quid so I've decided to take their offer!

There's still deals to be has via retentions don't be put off

ultramagnetic_commuter

The_Rattler wrote: »

Ok - so January arrived and we reviewed our finances etc.

Sky had replied to our email complaint - they offered me the chance to purchase a Sky+ Box for £49 + £15 delivery (£64 total) which sort of summed up their care towards existing customers (we told them we couldn't afford £60 for an engineer, so they gave me the option of paying £64 !). They did, of course, also take the opportunity to remind me that I would need to give them 28 days notice if we decided to leave!!

I logged into the Sky website and found the link to cancel our account.
I gave them all of the information (as above) and the relevant customer reference numbers (for the conversations - as above) and told them that as our friend had now taken back his spare Sky+HD box, we were left as being unable to watch Sky so therefore had to cancel. Our next billing date was approximately 1 week after that cancellation date - so I advised them that once the payment had been taken, the D/Debit would be cancelled.:(

Then we waited........

The billing date arrived - and so did the phone call from Sky!:D
No lies were told, just the plain honest truth.
The digibox (15 years old & original) was dead - we had politely asked for a new box and Sky wouldn't give us one.
We could no longer watch Sky so had to cancel - no other options available!!
The "advisor" (they didn't say if they were from "customer retentions") asked about the history and if we watched all the channels we subscribed too (yes - when we could....).

They then offered us a FREE Sky+HD box (no need for an HD subsription as we couldn't watch HD on our TV) and a FREE visit from the engineer to install it (even though I said all the cables were there...... can only presume it is to make sure the telephone lead is plugged in...!?):T

This was what we had been asking for since last November (approx).

I then approached the subject of subscription costs... very gently!:cool:

During the early part of our conversation I had told them that I work for one of the "local authority emergency services" (I told them exactly which one but can't risk posting it onto this site!)that had just announced the cutback of 100+ jobs (not mine at present!) and that we were therefore being careful with our money...

I very politely asked if there was anything that they could do about the subscription cost to help in this difficult time??;)

They put me on hold to "ask their supervisor" and came back with a 20% discount for the next 9 months (of the new 12 month contract).

I, of course, gratefully accepted their kind offer - with lots & lots of thankyou's etc.:T


So, a success! We can now watch Sky again with a new box and a discount.

Thanks Sky Customer Retentions!! :A

A good outcome for you - but what a palaver! It's this sort of cancelling, haggling and bluffing that I think we could do without. Some win, some lose, some get the callback, some don't...


How about some sort of fixed loyalty discount? Say a certain % per year? Clear and transparent pricing which rewards loyalty.

katyboo123

KTF wrote: »

No. Its a household rather than person account.

? well what if they ever split up (God forbid) and she moves out? Does that mean her hubby can never get Sky?!

[Deleted User]

katyboo123 wrote: »

? well what if they ever split up (God forbid) and she moves out? Does that mean her hubby can never get Sky?!

If she moves out he'll still have Sky at the original address!

Seriously, if one partner leaves to a new address then that partner could sign up as a new customer. If they both remain at the address the Sky account is assigned to then no new customer discounts can be applied unless the account is cancelled completely for more than a year.