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

HATTERS81

My Sky TV contract was up for renewal at the end of November. I rang Sky at the end of October stating that I would like to leave as I couldn't afford it etc and wanted to give my 31 days notice. I was offered 20% off which I politely declined. After ending the call I logged onto mysky section of the website and had already received 50% off. I then waited for about 2 weeks checking my account regularly and then the offer changed to 50% off but now also with £50 credit. I then went onto the sky chat and spoke to an advisor and said I had received an email saying that I could have 60% off and £100 credit ( I hadn't but had read it was worth a try ) he said this deal was not possible but after some negotiating we agreed on 60% off and £50 credit which I was delighted with! My tips are to always be polite and courteous and also to be patient - the closer you get to the end of the 31 days notice the better deals you can get. If I had waited a bit longer or actually left maybe I could have got a better deal but I'm more than happy with the deal I got.

newbiesaver55

I'm worried that if I give Virgin 30 days notice there won't be any better offers from them... Like some of the Sky ppl above... Do Virgin always offer better deals??

shaggy

newbiesaver55 wrote: »

I'm worried that if I give Virgin 30 days notice there won't be any better offers from them... Like some of the Sky ppl above... Do Virgin always offer better deals??

Which posters said Sky wont give better deals when you cancel? I'd advise cancel then twiddle your thumbs even if with Virgin. They want to keep you trust me and the deal gets better the closer you are to cancel date.

river_storm

Hi Everyone,

We have been with Sky for 13 months and have just come out of our 12 month contract.

When we joined we had a good deal for the Family bundle and phone / broadband at £33.66 for first 6 months and then £47.00 for next 6 months.

However, the price has now increased to £61.70 which is a bit pricey for us.

I called Sky armed with information on how much BT would charge me for the same package, ready to haggle.

I was very polite and explained that the £61.70 was too expensive etc and that I was hoping we could negotiate a better deal and I pretty much got stone walled !

The only thing Sky were willing to offer was 10% off for 9 months on the TV bundle only, which works out to £57.30 and then it would go back up to £61.70 from month 10 onwards.

No amount of haggling or pleading would make them budge, so I accept the 10% discount for 9 months or leave.

We don't really want to leave Sky as it's a lot of hassle etc, but we also can't afford the £61.70 per month.

Perhaps Sky have become thick skinned and are playing our bluff, but it sounds like a lot of customers are not getting any better deals by threatening to leave anymore....

Filo25

I cancelled Sky about a year ago, and was eventually offered 60% off and £100 credit (with no new contract).

That deal expires in about a month, so just cancelled again as they offered nothing much on the phone, as others have experienced I have also now been offered a 50% discount for 12 months, after only a day or 2 of my notice period.

Filo25

river_storm wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

We have been with Sky for 13 months and have just come out of our 12 month contract.

When we joined we had a good deal for the Family bundle and phone / broadband at £33.66 for first 6 months and then £47.00 for next 6 months.

However, the price has now increased to £61.70 which is a bit pricey for us.

I called Sky armed with information on how much BT would charge me for the same package, ready to haggle.

I was very polite and explained that the £61.70 was too expensive etc and that I was hoping we could negotiate a better deal and I pretty much got stone walled !

The only thing Sky were willing to offer was 10% off for 9 months on the TV bundle only, which works out to £57.30 and then it would go back up to £61.70 from month 10 onwards.

No amount of haggling or pleading would make them budge, so I accept the 10% discount for 9 months or leave.

We don't really want to leave Sky as it's a lot of hassle etc, but we also can't afford the £61.70 per month.

Perhaps Sky have become thick skinned and are playing our bluff, but it sounds like a lot of customers are not getting any better deals by threatening to leave anymore....

Request a cancellation (you still have the 1 month notice period in which you can back out if you want to).

To get a decent deal it appears more often than not that you have to request the cancellation rather than just threaten it (last year I actually carried through on my threat as well).

The thing is in my case I'm really not bluffing, it just isn't worth it for me at full price, hence I went through with the cancellation last year.

brewerdave

river_storm wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

We have been with Sky for 13 months and have just come out of our 12 month contract.

When we joined we had a good deal for the Family bundle and phone / broadband at £33.66 for first 6 months and then £47.00 for next 6 months.

However, the price has now increased to £61.70 which is a bit pricey for us.

I called Sky armed with information on how much BT would charge me for the same package, ready to haggle.

I was very polite and explained that the £61.70 was too expensive etc and that I was hoping we could negotiate a better deal and I pretty much got stone walled !

The only thing Sky were willing to offer was 10% off for 9 months on the TV bundle only, which works out to £57.30 and then it would go back up to £61.70 from month 10 onwards.

No amount of haggling or pleading would make them budge, so I accept the 10% discount for 9 months or leave.

We don't really want to leave Sky as it's a lot of hassle etc, but we also can't afford the £61.70 per month.

Perhaps Sky have become thick skinned and are playing our bluff, but it sounds like a lot of customers are not getting any better deals by threatening to leave anymore....

Cancel the TV only - its much less disruptive (and less expensive !!) than cancelling BB and phone when you can lose service,your phone number and get charged cessation fees !!
. As has been said repeatedly on this thread, you WILL get an offer either during the notice period or soon after the TV switches off. You will still get the Freesat from Sky service if/when it goes off.
When you get the offer phone up to negotiate on the price of the TV package you want, then throw the BB and phone prices into the mix. Many people have reported successfully reducing the prices of all three elements using this approach.:)

shaggy

I'm in my last month of my 10 months 50% off TV so today I called up and was offered he standard 10% so I cancelled

My broadband is free until the 12 months are up in May and I also got £9.99 phone rental as an offer but I'm told that £9.99 will go up to full price if I cancel the TV. Fair enough I can put up with two months full line rental and will go with BT who have very similar if bit cheaper offers on anyway during the summer.

I'll await the usual call back from TV Retentions and I'm sure I'll be flooded with calls just like I was last year. As repeated many times over in this thread you get he best offers only after you cancel. Don't accept the first deal and see how it all improves as the staff are under pressure not to lose you!!

UnitedFan

Got a phone call of sky today asking why i didn't have sky tv with them (in addition to line rental and fibre) told them I didn't really watch that much tv so couldn't see the point in it (use android box so i watch a lot of on demand)

Was originally offered 50% off any package I wanted should I choose to sign up with them in order to make it more worth it. Still said that it was too expensive so came back with 67% off any package with free sky box and installation.

So in total my sky tv is costing me £18.32 for 12 months for variety with sports added on. For me this shows that the best deals aren't always there for customers cancelling and if you don't ask you'll never get

river_storm

brewerdave wrote: »

Cancel the TV only - its much less disruptive (and less expensive !!) than cancelling BB and phone when you can lose service,your phone number and get charged cessation fees !!
. As has been said repeatedly on this thread, you WILL get an offer either during the notice period or soon after the TV switches off. You will still get the Freesat from Sky service if/when it goes off.
When you get the offer phone up to negotiate on the price of the TV package you want, then throw the BB and phone prices into the mix. Many people have reported successfully reducing the prices of all three elements using this approach.:)

Thanks for the tip on just cancelling the TV. I will give Sky a call tomorrow and say we want to cancel the TV Bundle only and then keep fingers crossed that a deal comes through !

Will keep you updated :-)