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

[Deleted User]

Innys1 wrote: »

I've never heard of Sky offering a contract for less than 12 months.

Neither have I. A six month extension of contract is never a condition of offers. 12 months is standard.

bigheadxx

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Neither have I. A six month extension of contract is never a condition of offers. 12 months is standard.

You don't have to start a new 12 month contract. Mine is a rolling contract that can be cancelled any time with 31 days notice.

boomish

Foxy38 wrote: »

Finally got a call back today. Without having to haggle was offered 60% off my tv package. Hd sports and family package and a 50 pound credit. Very happy with that.

I'm in the same position nothing on offers page, and had no calls, had no Sky for 2 weeks..did you still have Sky BB & phone.. ?

I'd love an offer but it has made me look elsewhere , Virgin do a £76 cash back and I figured if I take their current basic big kahuna package ?I could get the super fast 152 internet , a TiVo & basic TV for £45 £25 for first 6 months. we won't have Sky movies but u get 6 months Netflix inc
.i really could do with the fast BB

boabbyrab

Innys1 wrote: »

I think you'll find that dfurn was offered everything for free for six months in return for a 12 month contract - not a 6 month one, as you have implied.

The second 6 months would be charged at, I imagine, full price so the deals is, effectively, as davehills has stated, 50% off for the full year.

I've never heard of Sky offering a contract for less than 12 months.

If the deals is as you make out, Sky wouldn't be in business as long as they have.

When i first cancelled Sky, they offered me various discounts from 25 - 75% off and one of the deals was free for 6 months, no contract, still turned them all down as i'm pretty sure that the kids and wife had seen pretty much of the stuff that was still on.
Was off for almost a year before getting it back on with a 75% off for 9 months,no contract.
On my second 75% off for 12 months, no contract.

Foxy38

boomish wrote: »

I'm in the same position nothing on offers page, and had no calls, had no Sky for 2 weeks..did you still have Sky BB & phone.. ?

I'd love an offer but it has made me look elsewhere , Virgin do a £76 cash back and I figured if I take their current basic big kahuna package ?I could get the super fast 152 internet , a TiVo & basic TV for £45 £25 for first 6 months. we won't have Sky movies but u get 6 months Netflix inc
.i really could do with the fast BB

Hi I had both phone and bb with sky. Left those on when I cancelled. Sit tight u will get something I am sure. Maybe another couple of weeks if u can wait. Mine was off for 4 wks and then I had the call. It could also be that they rang me on last day of month with their own targets in mind.

If u can wait I am sure it will come good in the end.

Let me know how you get on.

ellielovesem

*max* wrote: »

Update! I realised that with 50% off the TV, the BB was actually £23.50, so I could get it cheaper with Plusnet.
I called again, spoke to lovely lady in cancellations, and now I'm getting BB unlimited + line rental + Tv original bundle for £27.50.

And they told me that they couldn't do a discount on the TV package if I was having one on the line rental, sheesh! Anyway, found a half price sports/movies discount on my offers page so going with that and then cancelling the whole telly at the end of the cricket season, see what they come back with then if anything. BB/phone going elsewhere.

*max*

ellielovesem wrote: »

And they told me that they couldn't do a discount on the TV package if I was having one on the line rental, sheesh! Anyway, found a half price sports/movies discount on my offers page so going with that and then cancelling the whole telly at the end of the cricket season, see what they come back with then if anything. BB/phone going elsewhere.

The discount is on the BB, not the line rental, so maybe that's what they meant? Splitting hairs! I got £5 discount on the new BB price of £7.50 (was automatically given new price as I was still paying £10 for BB). Line rental still £15.

Also, I got my discount on TV by going through sales BEFORE going through cancellations for BB (as I was outside contract and could have switched) and getting discount on that for staying with them. I didn't have TV before, just BB.

ellielovesem

*max*, that's probably it . The discounts offered made it £15.20 a month, still more expensive than Talk Talk. They tried to sell it to me by saying it saved the hassle of switching providers but that's not :money: is it?! It also tied me to a new 12 month contract which would have been fine if I wasn't thinking of trying to ditch the telly in September but that would have cancelled the line rental discount.

I got offered this through live chat via the broadband section, not cancellations.

Gratis

Innys1 wrote: »

I think you'll find that dfurn was offered everything for free for six months in return for a 12 month contract - not a 6 month one, as you have implied.

The second 6 months would be charged at, I imagine, full price so the deals is, effectively, as davehills has stated, 50% off for the full year.

I've never heard of Sky offering a contract for less than 12 months.

If the deals is as you make out, Sky wouldn't be in business as long as they have.

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Neither have I. A six month extension of contract is never a condition of offers. 12 months is standard.

I suggest you both read more carefully what I actually posted.

(I didn’t speak it, so there’s nothing to “hear”.)

At no time have I ever written, suggested or implied (let alone voiced) that Sky offers “six month extensions” of existing contracts, nor that Sky offers new contracts of less than 12 months. If Sky does do so, I’m not aware of it.

Depending upon which pack or bundle one wants, however, Sky TV does offer fixed discounts of up to a year to subscribers on existing contracts, or reprised former contracts, on a rolling one-month basis, with no new contract and no new minimum term other than the obligatory 31 days notice of cancellation. I’ve obtained many such deals in the past and am on one now..


As bigheadxx and boabbyrab confirm:

bigheadxx wrote: »

You don't have to start a new 12 month contract. Mine is a rolling contract that can be cancelled any time with 31 days notice.

(So is mine.)

boabbyrab wrote: »

When i first cancelled Sky, they offered me various discounts from 25 - 75% off and one of the deals was free for 6 months, no contract, still turned them all down as i'm pretty sure that the kids and wife had seen pretty much of the stuff that was still on.
Was off for almost a year before getting it back on with a 75% off for 9 months,no contract.
On my second 75% off for 12 months, no contract.

It’s worth pointing out, nonetheless, that one does need to be on a contract of some sort with Sky TV in order to receive its programmes. No contract, no picture. When one’s initial 12 month minimum term expires, one is not “out of contract”, one is out of minimum term, but still under contract; a rolling one-month contract, until it is terminated and access to the signal is cut off.

I’ve been a Sky TV subscriber, on and occasionally off, analogue and digital, for over 25 years. I’m not inexperienced in negotiating discounts from Sky TV and I have enjoyed many. Indeed, I’m receiving one now.


Anyway, let’s address the disputed issue directly.

Innys1 wrote: »

I think you'll find that dfurn was offered everything for free for six months in return for a 12 month contract - not a 6 month one, as you have implied.

The second 6 months would be charged at, I imagine, full price so the deals is, effectively, as davehills has stated, 50% off for the full year.

I've never heard of Sky offering a contract for less than 12 months.

If the deals is as you make out, Sky wouldn't be in business as long as they have.

What I actually found was two postings by dfurn upon this matter.

One on 15 May 2014, which reads as follows:

dfurn wrote: »

Similar situation to me actually. I know some people have managed to haggle 75% but I went on the online chat and they would not offer me that when I asked. However they offered me 60% off, which I took as I really want to watch the new 24! As I've only got the very basic TV package it's not bad for less than a tenner a month.

And one on 28 May 2014, which reads as follows:

dfurn wrote: »

Hi your points are really good but if I may add my experience which contradicts your comment above. I was on a 50% deal for a year from Sky last year. Just the Variety pack I seem to recall. As this was coming to the end I phoned to disconnect. To my surprise they just said ok and didn't offer anything. Then a couple of weeks later, the phone call. They asked me why I was leaving, I replied due to the expense and I usually watched channels I could get for nothing on Freeview anyhow. They offered me 50% off Sky TV Variety pack for six months. I said no. Then (and I'm not making this up) offered me all of everything Sky, free, for six months. So Sky Movies, Sport, the lot. Not HD though, I didn't want to risk asking for more.

So in my experience you can get something offered that was above the original package you had when you disconnected. Basically it depends on how much they want to keep you; which is really dependent on when they have to count their subscriber numbers as part of the financial reports I'd say.

The clear implication from what dfurn wrote is that the the first posting explains dfurn's present situation (because it’s expressed in the present tense – “as I really want to watch”, etc.) and this states that dfurn is currently enjoying a 60% discount.

It follows therefrom that the second posting refers historically, to an offer and deal which preceded it. The precise statement is, “I was on a 50% deal for a year from Sky last year”.

As that deal approached its conclusion, dfurn telephoned Sky to cancel the contract and was offered nothing. Two weeks into the 31 days notice (and while the contract was still running) Sky called and offered, first, a discount of 50% for the next six months, and then, when that was rejected, a 100% discount for the next six months.

As pointed out previously, this was not an offer of free TV with no contract. Nor was it a new six-month contract. This would, in practice, have been a 100% discount, for six months, on dfurn’s soon-to-become one-month rolling contract.

There is no mention of “a new contract” anywhere in dfurn’s postings

At the time, dfurn had been on the (then equivalent) of “just” the Variety pack with no (mention of the) HD pack.

Now, if dfurn had been offered the Family pack (which includes HD, but not for Sport or Movies), dfurn would, necessarily, have been transferred on to a new contract with a minimum duration of 12 months. That’s obligatory for the Family pack.

But dfurn wasn’t offered the Family pack: dfurn was offered “everything Sky, free, for six months. So Sky Movies, Sport, the lot. Not HD though”.

Had dfurn opted to add the HD pack to this, that, too, would have meant a transfer to a new contract with a minimum term of 12 months. But dfurn didn’t.

What thus happened, if dfurn negotiated it cannily, was that the existing contract, instead of being cancelled two weeks thence, continued conventionally, as a rolling one-month contract, at the expiry of the original 12 months minimum term, and dfurn got the next six months free on that rolling contract, by virtue of a 100% discount.

After five months, dfurn could then have given 31 days notice of cancellation, enjoyed the sixth free month and then negotiated a new discount, under the same original contract and not a new one. At no stage becoming ensnared in a new minimum term of 12 months.

Innys1 and Moneyineptitude may “never have heard of” anyone doing this but if you look back through this very thread (which I have followed and to which I have contributed many times, since its inception in January 2011, you will find recorded instances of people having achieved precisely this – 50% discount, then free six months, then 50% discount.

The only potential fly in dfurn’s particular ointment is whether adding Sports and Movies to dfurn’s free Variety pack continuation offer for six months triggered locking him into a new minimum term of 12 months by virtue of their own Terms & Conditions.

The mantra to keep repeating (so it’s on the recording) in all negotiations with Sky TV is “no new contract and no new minimum term – I want to keep my right to cancel at any time, with 31 days notice”.

It's always worked for me.

Ultimately, however, whether dfurn managed to swing it or not, the point I was making was a general one. Accepting a free six months is fine provided you prevent getting locked into a new minimum term of 12 months in the process. And if you get get six months free, followed by 12 months on a 50% discount you are in clover.

walmon1900

Hi,

I am coming to an end of a 12 month 50% off where after discount I pay £31 for Entertainment plus, Sport and Movies (our phone and BB are still under contract with BT). We are not too fussed on the sports and movie channels as we hardly watch them and can go without if needs be. Is there anyway I can get another discount for another 12 months?

Cheers