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

latecomer

Finally got round to phoning Virgin to cancel in response to the £6 increase (approx 20% of our monthly cost) and found out that they will also be removing all our current discounts so the price will be going from ~£30 to ~£50.

Have looked for comparable offers elsewhere and am considering ordering from BT as Topcashback has a £210 offer which expires today - but would need to install a new aerial for this. Sky also got a reasonable deal and would obviously get a dish installed with this so no aerial required. Both of these have cooling off periods so could cancel if Virgin come back with a reasonable offer.

Anyone had any good deals from Virgin recently?

Current package is

TV M (basically freeview)
BB M
Phone XL
100 mins of mobiles and 0845 add-on
Price is going from £30 to £50.

AbbieCadabra

Tropez wrote: »

You'll only lose the services that the agent told you that you would lose once your cancellation is completed 31 days after giving notice. Until then, the only actual service you lose is Box Office (as due to the way Box Office is billed they won't let you order something on an account pending cancellation).

l.

That's what i'd assumed would happen, but that's not how it came across, she said i'd lose all that immediately- that's why i was so pipped off & didn't go through with the cancellation. Now feel like i've been really misled & 'conned' into not cancelling...

jem16

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

That's what i'd assumed would happen, but that's not how it came across, she said i'd lose all that immediately- that's why i was so pipped off & didn't go through with the cancellation. Now feel like i've been really misled & 'conned' into not cancelling...

that unfortunately is what Sky is trying to do.

rossyl

Hi

Looking for some advice

Just wondered if this was a "good deal" it's about £15 more than I had hoped.

50% off TV (we have Family package)
Full price line rental
Full price Fibre Broadband
No contract term

With no contract term, does that mean they can (and are likely to) cancel my deal whenever they want?

Thanks

Tropez

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

That's what i'd assumed would happen, but that's not how it came across, she said i'd lose all that immediately- that's why i was so pipped off & didn't go through with the cancellation. Now feel like i've been really misled & 'conned' into not cancelling...

I have generally had positive experiences with Sky Customer Services. Some of them are a pleasure to deal with - and I'm the type of guy who hates calling customer service numbers.

But once I encountered a particularly difficult rep who was very condescending and employed similar tactics to what you describe. I don't know whether, perhaps, advisers are in some way penalised when they can't keep customers from cancelling and as a result some of the ones who lack a little bit of charm resort to these type of tactics... that's just a possibility and I wouldn't wish it to be taken as fact.

But yeah, he misled you - whether deliberately or whether it was just poor phrasing on his part. You can keep your services throughout your cancellation period (with the exception of Box Office, as I mentioned) and you won't automatically lose any price freezes that may be on your account.

I cancelled Sky a while back because although I do enjoy the service, I did start to feel that the price was just too high for what I was getting. My wife and I find ourselves more and more using services such as Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix, both of which can be had, with HD, for less than Sky's basic package per month. My main reason for keeping Sky was for the sports.

At the time of my cancellation I had a deal in place that was dependent on keeping other channels.

During my cancellation period Sky made an offer to stay and after considering it I took the offer. The original deal was also kept so my monthly bill was even less than what I was expecting after the new offer was instated.

So yes, based on my experience, you won't lose your deal during the period. You likely would not be able to get that particularly deal back (the price freeze) once the TV goes off but possibly, I can't guarantee it, that deal might still be applied to your account if Sky were to make an offer you accepted before cancellation.

Tropez

rossyl wrote: »

Hi

Looking for some advice

Just wondered if this was a "good deal" it's about £15 more than I had hoped.

50% off TV (we have Family package)
Full price line rental
Full price Fibre Broadband
No contract term

With no contract term, does that mean they can (and are likely to) cancel my deal whenever they want?

Thanks

No contract means that you're not taking up a new minimum term (usually 12 months). The 50% off offer will come with a time period (usually 6 or 12 months). So that means even when on the offer you could still cancel.

If you're not currently in a contract period for phone and broadband then you could consider taking the TV offer but switching supplier for phone and bb as there are better deals that Sky's out there. BT currently has a sale on their phone and fibre, for example.

Might be worth saying to Sky that you'd take the TV but you'd want to move phone and fibre because you found a better deal. It may prompt them to offer a discounted fibre or line rental. If such an offer is made, then that will almost certainly require a new contract (18 months, most likely) for phone and fibre but probably not for TV. Can't guarantee that though.

rossyl

Is anyone getting
- 50% off TV
AND discounts on Broadband and Line Rental?

I'd like to have realistic aims.

Tropez, Thanks I'll give it a go, but BT is barely cheaper than Sky.

Bunnygirl

I can get 50% off TV but they wont give an offer on broadband and line rental apart from fibre £10 a month for 6 months then it's £20 a month for 12 months.

andrewmp

rossyl wrote: »

Is anyone getting
- 50% off TV
AND discounts on Broadband and Line Rental?

I'd like to have realistic aims.

Tropez, Thanks I'll give it a go, but BT is barely cheaper than Sky.

I got discounted line rental (£14 per month) - free broadband and free family pack. Total cost £14.

rossyl

andrewmp wrote: »

I got discounted line rental (£14 per month) - free broadband and free family pack. Total cost £14.

Wow!
When did they offer this to you? Was it when you first phoned to cancel? Their first phonce call after you cancelled? etc?

Thanks