Top 10 service companies to haggle with

PixieSmiler

I have a sky broadband package whereby I currently pay the line rental of £16.40, then unltd standard broadband @ £7.50 with a supplement of £2.50 as I don't need the Sky TV package. I was looking at the broadband packages mentioned & did a speed test of my current broadband...it was an abysmal 1.4Mbps, pretty poor!
So I checked out the Plusnet link mentioned by MSE & thought the deal is pretty great for new customers! Thank you MSE for the info & deal!
However, before I signed up, I thought I'd better check how to cancel with Sky. So I did a webchat & they advised they would call me back. They did & I advised I wished to cancel..it was all pretty straightforward, there was no sales patter, no asking if I wanted any other package, just when are you leaving & to give 14 days notice via telephone.
Great! I thought, but I was rather surprised too... so I asked if there was no sales patter...that's when things got more interesting! I asked about fibre broadband...they still have an offer for half price fibre broadband @£10 p/mth for 12 months then £20 after with standard line rental @£16.40, although it is due to go up to £17.40 in December. But there is a catch...the installation fee is not included & costs £50!! I advised that Plusnet will include that in their pricing, so the adviser advisd if I pay upfront now for the installation, he can credit the £50 against my monthly bill instead! sorted! so now, it will average @ £23.15 which is much better than my current fee & it is unlimited. I may swap provider next year but as this a first time haggle for me, I feel like I managed something! Probably not as great as others but I'm ok with what I got. Just thought I'd share! thanx!

jem16

PixieSmiler wrote: »

it will average @ £23.15 which is much better than my current fee & it is unlimited.

I think you need to look at your figures again.

Original package = £16.40 plus £7.50 plus £2.50 = £26.40

New package = £16.40 plus £10 = £26.40. You are paying £50 installation fee and getting a £50 credit so that cancels each other out. You seem to have deducted £50 forgetting that you need to pay £50.

You are however getting fibre as opposed to standard BB.

Tanyana

Jem`s right , I think it will be more. In fact if you assume £17.40 line rental from Dec then it works out at £27.40 p/m. Getting that installation fee effectively waived though is absolutely brilliant , kudos Unfortunately fibre won`t be arriving down my street for at least 18 months

A saving is a saving no matter how big or small , and if you don`t ask you don`t get.

Supatramp

Currently on ordinery/ADSL broadband with BT, but local cabinet finally been given additional fibre capacity.

Reduced the contract from 18 to 12 months, waived the activation fee of £39, said the £1.75 for Caller Display could be cancelled but only after signing contract.

So worked out at £7.95 for Anytime calls, £1.75 for Caller Display, unlimited Infinity 1 for £18.16 = £27.86.

But still some way off what it would appear that PlusNet are offering. I say "appear", as I gave up after hanging on at PN for at least 20 minutes, trying to confirm their deal. PN's CS seems to be pretty dire at the moment!

roxy28

Supatramp wrote: »

So worked out at £7.95 for Anytime calls, £1.75 for Caller Display, unlimited Infinity 1 for £18.16 = £27.86.

Is the £7.95 anytime the calls and line rental

Supatramp

No, £7.95 is for Anytime calls, line rental isn't included in my details above.

Line rental is £17.99pm with BT, so impossible for it to be included with a figure of £7.95!!

Sussex-Tanzanite

One very Successful afternoon phone call...just saved £167.10 off my bill for 12 months Sky Broadband Unlimited, Line Rental and Anytime Calls as per Moneysavingexperts advice.
That's a 54% saving off my annual bill !! :j
Sending Martin and Moneysavingexpert.com a big kiss xxxx

theinsider

Just phoned up Sky to cancel everything as I was going to move to Plusnet Broadband and get a Humax Freesat box. Had a pretty hefty package with Sky including line rental, broadband, TV, Sports & HD costing £89.40 p/m but couldn't justify the costs for the amount I was watching it any longer.

I had worked out that the Plusnet deal with line rental paid up front + P&P - £75 cash back would be £192.87 p/a or £9.82 p/m for line rental and broadband for the first year.

Then I was going to buy a Humax Freest HDR box - the 1000S 500GB model is available refurbished for £99 or £8.25 p/m for first year.

Total = £18.07 p/m for 1 year.

After being offered various poor discounts on my current package by Sky, they eventually offered me £17.40 for line rental, unlimited broadband, Freesat channels and Sky+ still working.

The costs apportioned as £10 p/m for Sky+, £7.40 line rental (discounted by £10 due to having Sky+) and free broadband. A 12 month contract applies on line rental & broadband. The Sky+ is not contracted so can be cancelled at any time, but then line rental reverts to £17.40 per month.

So, cheaper than the alternative I had worked out, and no hassle as everything stays the same. A saving of £864 per year for effectively sacrificing the sports channels and the HD version of some channels...I can live with that!

Leaves open the option to easily re-subscribe to TV and since I will be already paying the £10 for Sky+, this would be knocked of the price of any package whilst the £10 discount on the line rental remains e.g. to subscribe to the Original TV package (standard price £20 per month) would cost an extra £10 per month.

It also leaves the possibility to re-subscribe to TV should a decent offer come along - I updated my preferences so they could contact my about offers and expect some to start coming through!

jakebullet64

Hi,
I called Virgin media last week regarding the proposed price increase from Feb '16. Im currently paying £60 per month for tv, phone and broadband.
The member of staff I spoke to wasn't particularly helpful and merely waivered the increase and reduced £3 off the monthly bill, so we'd set a date for services to be removed from 27th December.

I had a call tonight from Dan Gillespie in virgin media customer services who was super helpful. Not only has he reduced my bill to £45 per month, I'm also getting extra channels and a new superhub.

I'm really chuffed and very happy with the support provided by Dan. Well done.

big thanks to Dan and to Martin and the MSE team

Thank you
jake

ashes1707

I just rang sky to see if i could reduce my bill as i was out of contract. I got to keep all my services and save £27 a month for a 12 month contract!