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

dazzaofdagenham

My SKY went off on the 18 November and I had a email offering a 50% off! however that discount only applies to the main box subscription.

I had 2 multi room boxes which would not receive any discount !!

Also I was after a new box as well, which they would not discount on.

Since then I can honestly say I haven't missed the TV at all, I can access BBC iplayer and ITV and channel 4 on demand and also have a Netflix subscription.

OK I admit the pause.rewind.recording functions are damm good but it is possible to work around it. I also added up my last 12 SKY bills and that come to over a thousand pounds....nice saving !!!

Rev

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Since the Sky+ recording functionality is part of your subscription, it ends with your subscription. However, should you wish to re-subscribe at some point you'll find all your old recordings are still on the hard drive. You can also pay Sky £10.25 a month to enable recordings of the Free-To-Air channels.

I sincerely doubt any Sky employee would tell you that recordings would still be available after cancellation. I fear you've misunderstood.

It was a typo. Autocorrect. I meant unavailable. Not sure how you got me saying sky told be they would still be available from that message.

[Deleted User]

Rev wrote: »

It was a typo. Autocorrect. I meant unavailable. Not sure how you got me saying sky told be they would still be available from that message.

Well, go back and edit your post!

sja75 wrote: »

If you did pay the £10.25 per month for the recording feature (not that I would), can you still access recorded material from the Sports, Movies etc or is it just FTA content?

You can't access anything recorded from subscription television (although the recordings do remain on the hard drive).

jicms

jicms wrote: »

Hi

I've been on the following Virgin Media package for ages and wonder if I'm paying too much. Is this a fair deal? Would be grateful for advice on whether I'm likely to succeed at haggling it down?!

Loyalty Pack B B/ Phone/TV B
Talk Weekends
Fully Itemised Billing
TV Size: X L
1 Additional V Box
V+ HD Monthly Fee
TiVo Monthly Fee
Broadband M (Up To 20mb)
Telephone Line Rental
Total £53.14

I didn't get anywhere with Virgin before when I negotiated and just phoned Sky to find out how they compared. They quoted around £10 more for a similar package. They were very persuasive and insisted they could bring my package down by removing channels! It looks as if I'll have to put up with Virgin and their forthcoming price rises.

They seem to be making a lot of extra money for charging £9.99 for some of their On Demand movies - unbelievable.

blisteringblue

METAL_MICKEY wrote: »

The last time I tried to haggle with SKY the cancel threat did little and whilst I did actually cancel I had to call back on day 28 as I had heard nothing. When I called back I got a measly £12 off for 6 months which ended two months ago

I would welcome any advice on how to approach this?

Unfortunately they have you down as a "blagger" ie you were just trying it on and you were never going to leave.

The only way you get the mega deals is to actually leave, it really is that simple. Leave and wait for them to ring you, never ever ring them asking for a deal.

Now how long it takes for them to call with the offer is I think what gets you the best deal. If it is off for 2 or more months you are likely to get the 100% free offer for a time (we got this for 11 months in total), however our current 75% off deal the call came around 3 weeks after it went off.

However when it is off for a few months you suddenly find you actually can live without sky which is why I actually enjoy this game every year.

[Deleted User]

METAL_MICKEY wrote: »

whilst I did actually cancel I had to call back on day 28 as I had heard nothing.

You weren't forced to ring them at all once you cancelled, by ringing them before your notice period ended you revealed that you actually had no intention of cancelling. Sky called your bluff and you were lucky they offered you any discount at all to "return"

blisteringblue wrote: »

The only way you get the mega deals is to actually leave, it really is that simple. Leave and wait for them to ring you, never ever ring them asking for a deal.

Exactly.

toolslinger

Hi all
Just gave my notice to cancel with virgin
Currently have
M phone +talk 08
Xl broadband
Xl tv
Additional v+hd box
500 gb TiVo
Paid £79.15 last year inc line rental
Inc £12 loyalty discount
Is this the max loyalty discount or can I push for more
Many thanks in advance

kingcog2014

I joined MSE a while back to get some advice on this thread but my details appear to have expired so have rejoined.

I was a full payer for 10 years and tried to get 50% off in may 2012 after reading this thread (all of it) but Sky would only offer 25%. So I let them switch me off and after about 3 months, the 50% offers started coming. But by then I wasn't missing it and really wanted 75% as people were getting on here.

Then at the end of 2012, they offered 4 months free which I took and this got rolled until november 2013 when I cancelled. Sky then started again with the 50% leaflets which I ignored. I then got a call before christmas offering 25% which quickly went to 50% and then 75% with no contract which I took.

So in about 2.5 years Sky will have had the equivalent of 3 months full package off me. Had they given 50% the first time I called them, they would have had a lot more.

As others have said on here, you have to show you can live without it and that you have effectively opted out of paying more than 50% or whatever you think it is worth to you.

Thanks to all the many useful posters on this thread.

Rev

They called me back today. Offered 35% off. Declined. If they offered it me for under £20 I'd probably stay but it was £25 with sports or £21 without. I know it's only £2 but I'll stick to my guns.

rajucam80

Just called up Sky to see if they could offer me anything and I've come away quite happy. We've got Phone, Broadband and TV with Sky but only the basic package (no movies or sports).

Called up disconnections and got put through to a really helpful man. Immediately offered me multiroom for £2.50 but I said I wanted to save money not spend more. He said he understood and asked if he could put me on hold. I was on hold for about 2 minutes before he came back and offered me half price phone rental for 12 months along with free broadband for 12 months too. TV package would remain the same but they would also send me out the new Sky+HD box (worth £199) with built in WiFi as they are really pushing the On Demand service.

I thanked the man and said I would be happy to sign up again for 12 months. Before I got off the call he reminded me to call up disconnections in 12 months time and do exactly the same.

:-)