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

[Deleted User]

2Sheds wrote: »

how much would half price be now for the full package ?

50% off;).......

Praetorian

I asked Sky what they could do for me as a returning customer after me Virgin contract expired.

£55.00 pcm for weekend/evening calls, BB, 2TB HD Box, Sky Movies + HD/3D, 1 multi-room. After 3 months it would go to £75 (I think) plus £100 M&S vouchers.

Their BB speed was about 8 Mbps.

So I went back to Virgin, massaged the info from Sky (I forgot they said it was more after 3 months) and got:

30Mbps BB
1TB TiVo Box
Multi-room HD
All channels (HD/3D) apart from Sky Sports

'£62.50 pcm, how does that sound' - Hmm better if it was £60 dead

Well you don't get if you don't ask, I'll just find out for you.....
Yes my manager says we can do that.

Should be £78 apparently so did I do alright or should I have hung on for more?

chrisbell_84

I called Sky yesterday and just said I had a change in financial circumstances and as a result, wanted to cancel by TV package as I was getting freeview.

They then ask various questions, about channel usage, trying to find ways to suggest lowering your current package. If you wish to keep all your current package, then just say ideally i'd like to keep them all, I watch a lot of sport, movies, HD. So all the things they could suggest removing that would lower your bill.

Asked my budget, current package is Entertainment Extra +, HD, Movies, Sports, unlimited BB, evening and weekend phone package + line rental 88.50 p/m.

Said ideally be looking at something around 30-40 p/m for same package, best she could do was 60.50, made her go back to manager to see if she could do same thing for 50.50, so knocking off cost of HD but in fact keeping it, said couldnt do it.

If you are sincere, polite and develop a bit of rapport then they are more likely to try and negotiate with their manager more effectively for you. I have to do this in my job as well, and it really does make a different if you appear sincere and willing to negotiate, if not then the sales person won't be bothered about helping you out. They will genuinely feel they have done something good by retaining you, regardless of the discount...

But see that as a decent result, the only problem is when you come to renewal. I had a situation with Orange on my mobile phone contract where they refused to offer me any deal as I had negotiated such a decent rate, they admitted it wasn't worth trying to keep me as a customer! Fair enough I guess.

eljmayes

chrisbell_84 wrote: »

I called Sky yesterday and just said I had a change in financial circumstances and as a result, wanted to cancel by TV package as I was getting freeview.

They then ask various questions, about channel usage, trying to find ways to suggest lowering your current package. If you wish to keep all your current package, then just say ideally i'd like to keep them all, I watch a lot of sport, movies, HD. So all the things they could suggest removing that would lower your bill.

Asked my budget, current package is Entertainment Extra +, HD, Movies, Sports, unlimited BB, evening and weekend phone package + line rental 88.50 p/m.

Said ideally be looking at something around 30-40 p/m for same package, best she could do was 60.50, made her go back to manager to see if she could do same thing for 50.50, so knocking off cost of HD but in fact keeping it, said couldnt do it.

If you are sincere, polite and develop a bit of rapport then they are more likely to try and negotiate with their manager more effectively for you. I have to do this in my job as well, and it really does make a different if you appear sincere and willing to negotiate, if not then the sales person won't be bothered about helping you out. They will genuinely feel they have done something good by retaining you, regardless of the discount...

But see that as a decent result, the only problem is when you come to renewal. I had a situation with Orange on my mobile phone contract where they refused to offer me any deal as I had negotiated such a decent rate, they admitted it wasn't worth trying to keep me as a customer! Fair enough I guess.

It also helps if are spending a fair amount of money with them every month and live in a cabled area.

ladymagpie

So I phoned Sky after buying a house and finding that my current supplier, Virgin, could not supply us there. However I didn't tell sky that. I phoned the lady and asked about their current best offer for new customers for just the basics. Here's what she initially told me -

Unlimited Internet up to 15MB.
Sky tv entertainment package with hd box.
Sky talk
plus £14.50 line rental totalling £39 a month.

I asked if I could put her on hold for a moment while I quickly discussed with my partner, and I didn't actually silence the phone. I asked my partner who said maybe we should try someone else. I went back on the phone with her and asked whether she could email me the details of the offer and then ill ring back. Her response was very honest with "but you might not get back to me" before asking why I wanted to wait. I said that I'm already paying that much with virgin so I may as well stay with them, and really I'd like to be paying less than or around £35 a month. What I didn't tell her was that virgin couldn't supply my new house and at the price I was currently only getting Internet with virgin.

So she put my on hold for a little while then came back at offered the same to me with 25% off the TV for only £34 a month including line rental, and of course I'd still get a £25 m&s voucher. So I said yes as that seemed really good to me. Thoughts anyone?

theburnschap

Virgin Retention

Spoke to them just now - not massively impressed.

Had been looking at my bill which has now hit over £100, but included sports and films which will be cancelled anyway due to it being half price during the end of season and the lions tour. So take that away left the price at £74.

They said that I would get a loyalty bonus of £5 taking it to £69.

Have gone from having a deal what was £62.99 for 1gb Tivo, XL TV, 60mb and phone with exra international calls on it and an extra V+ box which included £11 loyalty discount.

So after threatening to leave their offer was roughly the same price, with less loyalty bonus and therefore more expensive.

I've been with them for four years, and would have liked to stayed with them but I think it is time to move on - BT are offering £63.95 per month for their top end package of enerything. Including the BT sport option.

Now I know it is freeview, and I know it is only one box, but do we think it is time for a change?

sprocket19

Just a quick update,i cancelled virgin,asked if there was anything they could do to get close to sky offer,apparently not.
That was about 3-4 weeks ago,no phone call or any form of contact from virgin since,so if you are waiting for the call you may be dissapointed,sky being installed tommorow,all being well.

afc80

Cancelled sky on sunday night as my 12 month half price deal had just ended.

Just off the phone to them right now, they phoned me.

To keep me they have given me another 50 per cent deal for the next 12 months, no ties in's, can give my 31 day notice at any team, and add and remove things from my package without affecting the deal.

He said he did not want to lose me as i was a long standing customer.

Played the good ole "poverty" card as well. . Said i loved my sports but just could not justify such an outlay on a tv package, along with the upcoming increase in charges.

Im such a bad boy, poverty and booming Aberdeen just dont go together.

You have to have the courage to cancel to get a deal, it may also help if you have had SKY for a while, ive been a customer for 12 years and counting.

FloFlo

Well after playing hardball and not phoning them, 1 week from cancellation they call me. I have all channels, sports, movies etc, HD, multiroom with hd, phone and broadband for £55.50 for the next 12 months no tie ins just give 1 month notice.

shavy65

afc80 wrote: »

Cancelled sky on sunday night as my 12 month half price deal had just ended.

Just off the phone to them right now, they phoned me.

To keep me they have given me another 50 per cent deal for the next 12 months, no ties in's, can give my 31 day notice at any team, and add and remove things from my package without affecting the deal.

He said he did not want to lose me as i was a long standing customer.

Played the good ole "poverty" card as well. . Said i loved my sports but just could not justify such an outlay on a tv package, along with the upcoming increase in charges.

Im such a bad boy, poverty and booming Aberdeen just dont go together.

You have to have the courage to cancel to get a deal, it may also help if you have had SKY for a while, ive been a customer for 12 years and counting.

With the stereotypical "tight Scots" reputation ur accent prob helped too