Sky and Virgin negotiation

skyinsider

I am a former Virgin & Sky employee - working for both in a number of office roles. I am posting here under a pseudonym to give you the information that may help you if trying to reduce your bills. The information here is correct as of today, but can change frequently.

I give no tips on what to, or not to do & only state what happens. Unsurprisingly, what happens is about the same with both organisations.

The system

When you call you will be directed to a call centre employee. For both organisations employees are or, or are about minimum wage. They increase their pay by retaining customers attempting to cancel. There is not a huge benefit in retaining a customer with a high-value discount. A good operator could double there pay by retaining custom, the majority earn around £15k per year with an average record.

All your information is available to the centre operator. This includes the number of previous 'deals' you have had, your payment history and all previous contact. Frequent callers are directed to a separate department.

Offers, deals and discounts

Contrary to what most believe, the operator is limited to what deals they can do. As mentioned previously, the use of offers is now low as the operators pay is directly effected.

The offers available to you are calculated by computer. The factors used include payment history, length of tenure, number of calls and number of previous offers. The reason for the call also makes a difference

With both Sky and Virgin, the majority of available offers now tie you into new contracts (12 months for Sky and 18 months for Virgin).

If you are offered a deal, refuse it, and try to get something better – that deal is (in many cases) gone forever once the call is complete.

Recently Sky have been focusing of profit per subscription. They will not offer you a deal that means that they loose out. This means that the old 50% off deals are pretty much gone as in most cases this would cause them to make a loss.

How the centres work

As soon as you state that you are leaving, your address is searched using an availability checker. The telephone operator will instantly now every media operator in your area, what they offer an there prices. If you argue that you are moving to an organisation that doesn't exist in your area, or state incorrect prices – the staff will notify you instantly.

All organisations share pricing & policy info... surprising, but true. Call Centre staff know just as much about their competitors that them selves.

Sky, Virgin and BT are reducing offer availability. You may not be eligible for anything unless you have been a subscriber for X years. I know at Sky we have remover the ability to offer discounts from a good number of staff – Virgin are the same, seemingly.

Your conduct is recorded. If you are aggressive or rude this is noted and you will not be overly successful.

Departments

People tend to think that by threatening to cancel they will get the best deal. This isn't always the case. Frequently you stand more stead of getting a 'new customer deal' if you call Sales. I have heard of people getting shopping vouchers, new boxes and even the latest advertised incentive.

Internet

Both organisations employ people to watch the internet. If someone posts how to get a deal, or suggest a way to haggle a deal that deal will be pulled or restricted.

Staff have been trained to explore what people are saying. By this, I of course mean that there are routes to 'trip' people up. If you are 'found out' you won't get anything.

Understanding Value

You should work hard to understand the value of what you have and what, if anything, you are offered. By this I mean a reduction in line rental reduction for 12 months may be a better offer than percentage discount.

Be aware

A deal can change your contract. By agreeing to a deal, it may extend, change or even void and re-start your contract. Deals and offers may also be used to appease you – by this I mean that it could be a scenario that “accept this and then be off after the contract is complete.” Deals could also work against you in the future – they could reduce future offers, break price freezes or even IN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES be included on your credit file.

It is not the job of many call centre staff to offer deals. I am hearing of more and more cases of people complaining that there account has been cancelled after they asked to cancel! They tend to expect a price offer that doesn't always come.

The whole 'haggle' thing is changing. It is more and more “this is the price” and nothing else.

Multiple accounts at one address is fraud. If you go down this route, you may struggle to get any DTV pay supplier to offer you anything.

macman

Interesting perspective, but what I don't understand is why you say that 'a 50% discount loses Sky money'. As long as the existing subscriber base (currently 10m and rising) is high enough to cover the operating costs, then any level of subscription is still adding profit. It doesn't cost Sky much to run an existing account for which the cost of install and equipment has been written off perhaps years ago. In theory, these subscribers could still be profitable paying £10 a month (or even £1 a month), as long as the apathetic majority (probably about 9m) are still paying full rate.

davemurgatroyd

macman wrote: »

Interesting perspective, but what I don't understand is why you say that 'a 50% discount loses Sky money'. As long as the existing subscriber base (currently 10m and rising) is high enough to cover the operating costs, then any level of subscription is still adding profit. It doesn't cost Sky much to run an existing account for which the cost of install and equipment has been written off perhaps years ago. In theory, these subscribers could still be profitable paying £10 a month (or even £1 a month), as long as the apathetic majority (probably about 9m) are still paying full rate.

That is too simplistic a view and is nowadays incorrect. On top of operating costs you also have the "rights fees" which increasingly are being sold to broadcasters based on the number of subscribers. If you have too many "offer riders" on too low a subscription level the broadcaster can have those fees based at a higher amount and thus make a loss on those accounts by having too many subscribers on a low rate.