Cancelling Sky To Get Money Off

MustStopSpending

I have had my Sky for over a year now, it is £43.50 a month, in my name but my OH pays for it (I didn't want to waste money on it!).

I think I read somewhere that if I phone Sky to cancel they will try and tempt me to stay by offering me a discounted rate for a while?

If they don't offer me a discount can I just tell them I will stay after all rather than actually get it disconnected?

Thanks.

P.s If this is the wrong place to post sorry but I always get the best response from this forum!

TNG

You have to give thirty days notice anyway, so if they don't offer you one straight away (though general wisdom is that they will), you can always ring a few days later and cancel your cancellation, as it were

HTH

itsarichmansworld

They will offer you a discount I said I couldnt afford it anymore and they discounted it!

nick1977

I got a half price for 6 months discount when I said I wanted to leave. Recently I have used my points from my Skycard to get £40 credited to my account also. That ws a 0% on Purchases card so did well out of them
I don't know how receptive they'll be to another request in a few months though!
This is one situation where you have the upper hand. You give them 30 days notice, and even if they accept your cancellation, they will more than likely ring you back before the 30 days passes with an offer. Even if they don't, a quick phonecall get's you reconnected anyway.

Nick

P.S. Same works with Virgin media (ex. NTL) who gave me half price broadband and phone for 12 months.

steve700

It must depend on who answers...

The lady that I spoke to suggested that I get rid of Sky+ or Sports package or my additional box, if I can't afford my current £47 a month..........:o

smilealot

I used to work for Sky and NTL/Virgin/Telewest. The person you speak to in customer relations/retentions (who deal with potential disconnections) are paid on a commission type basis, i.e. they get paid for each customer they "save". However, they get a bigger pat on the back if they save you cheaply, i.e. without offering you lots of discount.

What you need to do is... Say you think that the cost of the service is too high for the quality of service (make it sound like a complaint, keep the "financial difficulty" card up your sleeve, as they are more likely to want to save a customer who they think will have plenty of pennies to pay them for they services into the distant future, rather than someone who sounds like they will default on their bills if the going gets tough). If they suggest reducing your package (some will, every agent takes a different line to begin with in my experience), DON'T BACK DOWN!!! This is their way of "saving" you with no cost to the company (well extra cost anyway, of course they'll lose the revenue from the bits of package). Simply say that there would be no point in having Sky/Virgin at all if you were forced to do that as those are the services you use/watch most often, and you would be better off disconnecting all together and watching freeview. This will get the big guns out. DO NOT GIVE IN EASILY!!! What's the worse that can happen? You end up saying you'll cancel? If that happens, just call in the next day and say you've thought about it and want to cancel your disconnection.

Before you know it, you'll have a juicy discount applied to your account. Try to barter them further, e.g. if they say three months at half price, ask for six. You may get it, you may not.

Remember, you owe them nothing, they deal with these calls everyday. If you're lucky you'll get an agent how is lazy and will apply a great discount straight away just to get you off the phone (also because they don't want you hogging the line for ages as it affects their calls stats - another tactic). If you're unlucky, you'll get an experienced agent who will try to undercut you all the way. If it's not happening, say you'll think about it and call back through to someone the next day.

Good luck!!

angelavdavis

I actually wanted to cancel as I was fed up with having 50 channels with still nothing to watch (!)

They badgered me for months afterwards with all sorts of offers so I suspect you should be ok.

In fact, they are still phoning me now!

BAILIFFCHASER

how it worked with me !!!!
my phone bill was £395 i did not bother paying. told them i am sick of the 10 late payment and £2-3-4 non direct debit admin fee. left the phone as it was for 30 days then some one phoned me on valentines day. told him whats what. he said could not do anything. Kept him on line for 35 mins he says i could have delt with 4 people by now. Lets go half on the bills. Ok fine and then i also pointed out that theire servces were not exactly upto scratch. got a bargain. Phone bill came through with £330 knocked off. Then afterwards another call to say because of the inconvenience another £30 will be knocked off. when called told £40 in credit. Had not paid a thing. anyway now waiting for bill as new plan £35 for evening weekend calls,4mb broadband,supersize tv package.