What you need to know about Sky - from the inside.

sky_insider

Good afternoon all,

I have never posted here on MSE, and I am a new member. However, I do feel that I have something to offer all of you, particularly in the current economic climate.

I have set up an account with the singular aim of creating this post, and informing you of some developments at Sky; ultimately, I'm going to give you some tips you may not have heard; as well as that I'm going to talk you through how a few thing work at Sky and how you can use them to your advantage.

Firstly, some background for you all. I'm 22 years old, I live in the central Scotland area and I have worked at one of Sky's main customer contact centres, in Livingston, for the past 15 months.

For the duration of my time with Sky, I have been a Retention Sales Advisor; which means that every time you call Sky to downgrade your package or because you wish to cancel, it's somebody like me who speaks to you and takes care of that for you.

As of yesterday, I have now finished with Sky as I'm about to embark upon 4 years of study for a degree. I feel that there's a few misconceptions out there with Sky - many of them put out there by Sky of all people.

So. On with my point then.

It's no secret with Sky that there are offers floating around for every type of situation when it comes to cancellation of your account; there are also some offers available to save you from downgrading your package. These change on a week to week basis, however only one or two of the collective pool of offers are actually modified on any given week. Most offers will remain available for a number of weeks.

Sky has what I'm going to term here an "offer cycle," which it seems takes around 2 years to complete.

Every 2 years or so, Sky scrap all offers on all fronts, and it's down solely to the Retention Advisors' conversational and sales skills to save each customer from cancelling or downgrading.

This inevitably never works out well, so after a matter of months, Sky begins to phase in offers.

At first, they will be smaller offers, like 10% or 20% off, but gradually, these offers increase to the level they were at when I entered the business last June. Quite a common offer this time last year, for instance, was 6 months half price TV. Not bad going.

Sky then realise that they've gone too far and are hurting their profits just to keep a few more customers, so they start to decrease these offers back to 25%, then 20% and so on; which is where we are at present.

Now, what we've been briefed on over these last few weeks of my time at Sky, is the fact that within the next month or two, these offers will be removed altogether. So we're now completing that two year cycle, and what's going to happen is for the next few months, when you call Sky, you're going to be hard pushed to gain any level of discount.

My advice to you - if you've been meaning to give Sky a call because of the price of your package, don't wait. Do it now.

Next, I'd like to dispel a myth that you'll hear on the end of the phone when you call Sky. Quite often, I'll hear my colleagues around me speaking to customers and saying words to the effect of "Well, you're a loyal customer to Sky. You've been with us for 10/12/15/20 years, and Sky does value loyalty. So because you've been such a loyal customer, I can offer you.... (insert 3/6/12 months discount here)."

Sound familiar? What if I told you that the guy who joined Sky 18 months ago and is thinking of cancelling can get the same deal as the fella who joined Sky back in the 90's when there were only a handful of channels and Sky+, 3D and HD were science fiction concepts?

Well, that's exactly the case. Our downgrade offers are generally based on tenure, so I suppose it can be said that Sky do value your loyalty when you want to take Sky Sports or Movies off because you're working different shifts and never get a chance to watch those channels.

But when it comes to cancellation, Sky aren't about to lose somebody to Virgin Media, regardless of whether you've been a Sky customer for 18 months or 18 years.

I hope some of this helps. Things are tough at the moment; the only thing which doesn't increase per month is your wage that has to cover all your bills. So please don't pay Sky the going rate if you don't have to (if you're in a contract, get onto them as soon as it expires!).

I know there aren't any shocking revelations here, but there's maybe a bit more of background info as to how Sky work and how they prioritise customers.

Feel free to post any questions you have surrounding any of the above. I'll also try to answer anything else I can, although bare in mind that I have nothing more than a basic knowledge of any other departments.

Thanks,

M.

Samt1

All good info mate, can you suggest some ways I can get a new 1TB Sky HD box for less than the £149 price, I have the standard HD box which is pretty useless now so want to upgrade but don't feel I should have to pay the full amount as I pay £64 a month for the service.

sky_insider

Thanks for reading. This is a pretty contentious issue. To give you a bit of background firstly: the TB boxes were manufactured but demand has vastly exceeded Sky's expectation.

As a result, there has been a shortage in recent months and prices have gone up on these to discourage people taking them until they have enough stock, which is ludicrous. Taking up an HD subscription and a Multiroom subscription would, as I understand it, get you the installation free and the box for £49.00.

The obvious drawback here though is that you're committing to paying an extra £20.50 per month for 12 months (both subscriptions have 12 month contracts attached), and if you already have HD then you're snookered, because this deal won't be open to you, which isn't fair.

If you don't have HD or Multiroom yet, why not give them a call and speak to Retention. If you're talking of cancelling, an Advisor would always try and offset the cost for you.

For example, if we were speaking on the phone while I was on shift, I'd be thinking: "OK, this guy wants new equipment, if we can do that we're guaranteeing his business for 12 months. I'll offer him 12 months half price HD and Multiroom, so that he's only paying £49.00 for the box and only £10.25 extra per month."

Again though, it boils down to whether an individual Advisor is willing to bend the rules to compensate for the fact you already have HD, if that's the case.

Hope this helps again, let me know how you get on if you give them a call.

velcy

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brewerdave

velcy wrote: »

Hi, thankyou for your informative post.

I had a Sky HD box that went kaput after my years contract had run out so i binned it.

The card says the offer expires on the end of August.

If you phone them re the offer just say that you haven't got a box any more - will they supply a new one for nothing ? Can't really lose can you???:)

danno707

Hi Sky_insider

I want to try and reduce my monthly outlay without losing anything i currently have.
I have the full Sky package, Broadband, Phone and Multiroom BUT not HD (I have a HD box though. But up until recently didnt have a HD tv).

I dont really want to subscribe to HD because thats another £10.50 pm and that would defeat the object of my intended question.

I recently called the sky sales team, didnt threaten to leave but asked if they had any offers for me (been with Sky 20yrs+). Also enquired if they could do anything to help me financially, NO was the answer.

Is there any phrase or words i could use in my future call to them ?
Should i just call the Retentions dept and if so, is there a direct number ?
Any other advice to help me ?

Im happy with Sky but its very expensive at the Moment, £84+pm, and just want a better deal for the next 12 months.

Thanks in advance Danny.

sky_insider

Thanks for your replies.
In regards to the poster who's received an offer from Sky to come back, this is from a slightly different department known as Winback. This basically means that the ball is in your court and they'll bend over backwards to get you back. The £50.00 credit goes on immediately and goes against the first bill, and they'll be able to accommodate you to some extent with the box. I've heard of plenty of other customers in this situation getting the 12 months deal, the £50.00 credit and a free sky+hd box with free installation, so give them a call and tell them you want the box thrown in, you should have some success.

sky_insider

Hi danno707,

This is EXACTLY the kind of call I dealt with, day after day.

Don't be afraid to speak to somebody, and explain exactly what you've said. That you want to keep your services but want to pay a bit less. Be firm, and ask to speak to the Retention (or cancellations) department. Explain that at present you don't wish to cancel, but that unless something can be offered to give you better value for money, it is something you'll have to consider doing. Call their bluff, and be open. Be prepared to have a bit of light hearted chat and banter with the person on the end of the phone as well, this will give you a bit of rapport and the Advisor will effectively come over to your side on things, not Sky's.

digp

I did wonder why Sky have stopped sending us the 6 months half price postcards. RFLOL.

mr1984

Hi

We have been with sky for years, 2.5years in our current property and we recently cancelled because I called to ask if they would come out and relocate the sky cables as we wanted one in a different room and I also wanted to move my tv in my living room. I had ask that they leave extra cable when they installed initially in the living room which they did on one lead and not the other so I can't actually move it anywhere! I also wanted a new HD box as I was paying for multiroom and HD and I understand now that the HD subscription covers all boxes so made sense I had two HD boxes rather than the one. They wouldn't come out and do it, they said I could pay £400 for the HD box and pay for the engineer to come out - NO WAY! So we cancelled.

It was in my husbands name so am I allowed to sign up as a new customer and have a free box and installation under my name or do we have to wait for the win back team to contact us?

liddlelur

Hi there!
I'm with Virgin Media and have been since the early Blueyonder days. My current package is Large broadband £27.50 x Large TV £16 x phone (Line rental £13.90) £8 XL which comes to £65.40 minus £14 discount bringing my total to £51 . 40

My question is - Is it worth moving to SKY from Virgin and what can I expect for my money? I haven't tried to see what I can get from Virgin until I know what I can get from SKY? I know I can use cashback websites and the M&S vouchers but would appreciate a heads up.

Oh! and has anyone worked out how to compare what TV channels in packages both Virgin and Sky have different formats etc. and I'm finding it nigh on impossible to work it out?
Thanks
Liz
Middlesex