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

PaulF4N

i am with VM and have the large broadband and medium phone.
I pay £24 a month (inc rental)

I had the television years ago but my box broke and due to work couldnt get anyone out to fix it so said i would cancel as i was in effect paying for what i couldnt watch.

Got downgraded, sent box back via courier and was given phone and broadband for £18 per month. Thats went back upto £24 now as 12 months was up.

I dont see point in adding basic tv to package as i bought i freeview / hard drive recorder last year so dont want to increase cost of package to watch channels i already get. Only Sky 1 that im really bothered about and not willing to pay just for that.

I would like the Sports Channels but you have to have a package first. Surely in this day and age you should be able to get a box and just have what you want. Should i be happy with £24 a month all in or do you think i can get Tv and Sports for not much more ?

Spiggle

wolfie2222 wrote: »

I have been having problems with my sky for a while. Everytime it rains theres no signal. Pixels are crashing on tv. But when we go out and bash the dish with a stick it works,which means its the dish...Told me i have 2 choices. (1).Either take out insurance to cover the box and the dish or (2).pay £65 for an engineer. ...

We had a similar problem with weather interfering with the signal. instead of hitting the dish we just tightened up the nuts where the cables attach to the quad thingy. Obviously this would not work if you have a two storey building but its easily done on our bungalow.

I cancelled my Sky a month and a bit ago now. I wasn't offered any deal (my 6 months half price was ending) and went ahead and cancelled. Had the questionnaire, completed and allowed contact but no call came. On 18th my service from Sky ended.

On 16th I bought and installed myself a Humax 500gb satellite HD reciever and recorder and I couldn't be happier. The picture and sound are fantastic and better than Sky in my opinion. Even my other half said last night that its a pleasure to not be channel hopping around things that aren't really that interesting (hence why he constantly channel hopped).

Apart from the odd series on Sky1 and Game of Thrones on Atlantic I never watched any of the subscription stuff so I'm not in the slightest bit bothered. Because I got a fantastic deal on the Humax and Freesat is free, I'll have recouped my outlay in a few months and no longer putting profit into the Murdoch empire. Win, win all around!

Spigs

ericonabike

So far, have nothing but praise for Sky's 'cancellation team'. I was put on six month's notice of redundancy earlier this year so looked to reduce my Sky costs, especially as youngest son had just moved out. We were on the 'full monty' package - I'd been with Sky around five years. They agreed to halve the monthly subscription for six months, and suggested I look at getting their broadband after that period as my exchange was due to be uprated. This I did and the exchange had indeed been uprated- and worked out I could get Sky Ent Plus [I am a Eurosport devotee and this was the only way I could get it] plus basic broadband and free evening and weekend calls for £37.50 including line rental. BUT there was a £60 set up fee...

When I called and queried the set-up fee for Broadband I was put through to cancellations. After a civilised chat and a bit of a wait on hold, I was offered Sky Ent Plus, with unlimited Broadband [total £32.50 pcm] and no set-up fee - plus 12 months free line rental! At the end of that time I can change to the limited broadband if I wish. Bearing in mind that my BT monthly direct debit was around £45, this is a saving on my previous arrangement of some £600 over the year.

And yea, it may go wrong when it comes to the changeover! I have a dread of changing anything internet related as it always seems to end in tears. But the savbing here is well worth the gamble.

Top tip, from my experience, is to go to the cancellation team as soon as you don't get what you want from the 'normal' sales rep. And then to have a civilised chat about what you want and how you'd like to stay with Sky if possible. Worked for me!

adamcarvell

just phoned virgin i got phone and bb but no tv offered me 10m b/b medium phone xl tv package £37 for six months rising to £44 foe an extra £3 tivo box but i have to pay the activation fee deal good or not?.

KrazyKel

Bit annoyed with Sky atm
Joined yesterday, via quidco (£100 cashback)
Total came to £39.75 (£20 Sky, £7.50 Broadband Connect + £12.25 Line rental)
Also refer a friend £75 M&S each cost £10 one off cost for set up + free Sky+ Box and Installation

Then got a call this afternoon saying due to their computers my order wasnt processed, so rang them back and they said they can put it through again over the phone, I said due to going via quidco it has to be done online, so she said she will cancel the order and to order again online

I went to order again today, and prices now changed, now have to pay £49 box + £30 setup (total £89 one off charge now compared to £10 before)

They couldnt do anything over the phone, no rebate or credit to my account so I said Ill leave it

Cant get Virgin Media TV and broadband isnt good enough for even BT Vision ... not sure what to do now hmmm

driver24ian

i love the fact you went outside and hit your dish with a stick. John Cleese off Fawlty Towers comes to mind!

chinesedeli

Hi there, would anyone please be able to help me as I am going to try and get my VM bill reduced as I am so annoyed at the way they have hiked up their prices on my bill. I was paying almost 30 last year and now it is almost 50 for the same thing!

I pay the following:

£43.49 Line Rental
15 July - 14 August£12.99 Talk Unlimited
15 July - 14 August£8.00 Triple Saving
15 July - 14 August-£13.00 TV Size: X L
15 July - 14 August£26.00 Bedford Bc CATV Bulk Discount
15 July - 14 August-£16.50 Broadband Size: L
15 July - 14 August£26.00

I would just really appreciate any help on this and what sort of price you think that I could end up paying, thank you xx P.S I am also interested in getting a Tivo box too.

mat5664

I had a 6 month deal which ran out last month.

Called Sky - they said there are no offers for me.

Called again a few days later and said I was cancelling - still no offers. I gave my notice anyway.

Then got a letter saying 'if there is anything we can do to change your mind, please contact us' - so I emailed them asking if there were any offers, and got a reply saying no.

This morning, a week before my cancellation date, got a call from Sky offering the World package at 1/2 price for 12 months, plus HD for £2.50 a month - and no extended contract.

So it seems it is worthwhile calling their bluff and cancelling, even if they don't offer anything when you call to cancel.

wolfie2222

driver24ian wrote: »

i love the fact you went outside and hit your dish with a stick. John Cleese off Fawlty Towers comes to mind!

Ha ha. Yes it was funny. So annoyed with it though.your paying £45 a month for the privilege,and have to go out and give the dish a good bashing. Told sky on the phone as well,even they laughed..

windsor988

Just rung up sky to "cancel" and they said that they would try and work out me out a deal. They came back with the following:-

Sky+HD box for £99 and installation of £60.

I refused and said that we could get cheaper with Virgin (we had no intentions of going to virgin) and they said ok, we'll process your cancellation now haha.

We rung them back 15 minutes later, got straight through to retentions and said that we'd changed our minds and is there absolutely nothing that they could offer to stay on our current package. We got a really nice and helpful guy who offered us the box discounted to £29 and if we did a self install they would do us the box and postage and packaging for the total of £44. So not bad, I don't think anyway.

Has anyone else got a similar story or a better deal?