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

Lifes_Grand_Plan

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mamdam24 wrote: »

Phoned Sky on 6th February to haggle as got full tv package and have had since 1989. took out broadband and telephone last April. Pay £102 per month and £75 of this is for tv. After being grilled by Nicola and several long "hold" periods I was offered a derisory reduction in my monthly bill from £102 to £88.63! I stated this was not enough and to go ahead and cancel. Her attitude then changed and she was very curt to the point of being rude, stating "hows the rest of you're family going to feel without Sky"? She then put me on hold for ages while she sorted the cancellation and was obviously unhappy I was going ahead with cancellation. Do these advisors have targets and limits depending on what day it is or how much they have "given" away because read others have had 50% off.Maybe she thought I wouldn't go ahead. Was then was told I would have to pay another £2.50 per month on my phone & broadband bill for the pleasure of not having sky! I have read the other comments about this charge and understand why they state they charge this but it does not make it right. Sky squeezing as much as they can from customers. Needless to say unless they offer me 50% off cancellation will go ahead and phone and broadband will follow in April.

Exactly the right thing to do, same as what I did. Sort the tv first and then ring back and tell then you want to cancel the phone and internet to get a deal on that too. Tesco are about 11 quid a month for phone and broadband at the mo and I didn't want to switch but used it as a bargaining chip. See my previous posts for more details.

FacingReality

Our 25% discount ended this month. Phoned Sky yesterday to ask for a discount. Nothing doing, not even when we said we would cancel. Got a good deal from Virgin so cancelled Sky and going to Virgin.

Haggler8219

Newbie here.... long time lurker. Thought I'd post today's comings and goings with Virgin and Sky.

I've been with Virgin for about 10 years currently on

XL TV with sky sports
L broadband 30mb
L Phne Evng weekends
TiVo and extra box
£86 a month

Lucky to get Mse sky code.....all channels less the movies, standard def and extra box, free install £34. Cancelled Virgin TV service and renegotiated phone and broadband...same product...for £25 month.All going well should end up with

Sky TV everything less movies and multiroom £34 for a year
Virgin phone Evng weekends, 150mins a month for uk mobiles 0845\0870 numbers £25
Total £59 a month........saving £323 a year

Even with £18 charge from Virgin, contract not due up until April.....I reckon I've done ok....cheers.

xmaslolly76

EManaged to wangle me a free 2TB Box and half price sky and line rental for 12mths brings my bill down to around £35 Plus im not tied into a contract so I can still cancel anytime. I don't think that's too shabby. I think they were a little more lenient as they screwed up my cancellation they forgot to do it

Pjcity

Anyone know that if I downgrade my Virgin package I am contracted to stay with virgin for a set time??

I am looking to get rid of my two tv boxes but happy with the broadband and phone.....

bluffer

Del_Astra wrote: »

Good for you, I intended to do like wise, they did however call me within my notice period and offered 50% off TV package for 12 months. I think the only that would be missed in our house would be the kids stuff to be honest.

you jammy so and so. how come i never get phone calls like this

i seems that every time i have called the offers have got worse and worse. they never called me during the notice period with any offers at all.

last week i called saying my neighbour had got a half price offer through the post and would they do it for me. i got told bluntly that there was no such offer despite the fact i had the letter in front of me! after about 15 minutes i got offered £5 a month off. thanks but no thanks.

netflix free month, lovefilm free month, games console and the pub :beer: for sport is now the agenda.

Kiran

I cancelled my Virgin on Monday and setup Sky using my MSE 50% off code (thanks MSE). When I called Virgin they did the usual and asked for all the details of my new deal etc. and when that was done said "thank you very much we'll cancel your service". I wasn't too bothered as the deal on offer from Sky was pretty good and I was happy to changed for the saving.

On Wednesday I had an email from Sky regarding my new setup of the phoneline etc which was incorrect, the package was wrong and also they were trying to give me a new number instead of transfer my old one. Got through eventually to get this corrected however this meant cancelling my order and setting up a new one this Friday.

I got home from work on Wednesday at which point had a call from the Virgin outbound team who were prepared to offer me faster broadband and a Tivo box etc, I asked how much this was going to cost and I was told they would do it for the same price as my current deal to which I pointed out that was £25.50/month more than I was going to be paying with Sky. I was then offered a £10/month reduction, my response was "thats very kind however thats still more expsensive", this was followed by an offer of £10/month off for a further 6 months, again "thats good but it's still more than Sky". After going and speaking to his manager I was then offered a credit £60 on top of the deal, this took my total bill to only £3/month more than sky with tripple the speed bradband and a Tivo box. All in all a good deal as I am still saving £22/month on what I was already paying.

My advice, go through with the cancellation, tell them you have the MSE 50% code and leave them for a day or so to make you an offer.

My only other peice of advice is be prepared for Sky to be rude and aggressive when you tell them you don't wish to proceed with your order. If I was going to become a Sky customer I would have compained about the pserson I spoke to however as I declined their offer they probably wouldn't do anything anyway.

All in all, I'm happy with my new deal and the monthly saving :j

azapater

Hi, i've been on a rolling contract with Virgin for some time now. Considering cancelling unless they can make me a suitable offer.

Currently paying £64.50 for the XL TV Package with the Sports channels, but no movies/HD channels/tivo etc. Paying full rate by the looks of it.

Can anyone give me any guidance as to the amount of discount I should be aiming for? I'm willing to let it go to the wire anyway as I'm not overly fussed about keeping the set up, although if they started throwing in additional boxes etc, i imagine I could be persuaded

MarkFY4

azapater wrote: »

Hi, i've been on a rolling contract with Virgin for some time now. Considering cancelling unless they can make me a suitable offer.

Currently paying £64.50 for the XL TV Package with the Sports channels, but no movies/HD channels/tivo etc. Paying full rate by the looks of it.

Can anyone give me any guidance as to the amount of discount I should be aiming for? I'm willing to let it go to the wire anyway as I'm not overly fussed about keeping the set up, although if they started throwing in additional boxes etc, i imagine I could be persuaded

It all depend's on what you want...... Do you just get TV, no broadband or phone?

I've posted a few times on this thread but just as an example I went from this;

In 1 room - V+ HD box, XL tv with Sky Sports, M phone and 20mb Broadband for £74pm.

After I cancelled and 'Outbound Retention's called back, To;

3 boxes - Tivo box, V+ HD box and a basic box, XL tv with Sports, M phone and 60mb Broadband for £85pm but £20 off for first 6 months and £40 credit.

azapater

MarkFY4 wrote: »

It all depend's on what you want...... Do you just get TV, no broadband or phone?

I've posted a few times on this thread but just as an example I went from this;

In 1 room - V+ HD box, XL tv with Sky Sports, M phone and 20mb Broadband for £74pm.

After I cancelled and 'Outbound Retention's called back, To;

3 boxes - Tivo box, V+ HD box and a basic box, XL tv with Sports, M phone and 60mb Broadband for £85pm but £20 off for first 6 months and £40 credit.

Yes, used to be on a package deal with them, but got rid of the phone and internet as their service was over subscribed in our area and as such had poor latency.

Ah that's an impressive deal all things considered. I wonder whether they would be so generous with just a TV deal, given their position of not having as much control over the price of the premium sky channels