Top 10 service companies to haggle with

ForumiteChrisV

Just 'phoned BT to discuss monthly charge for BT Infinity and telephone calls, but armed with information re BT's own offers, together with TalkTalk, Plusnet and Virgin. Initial offer to reduce charges was not very good, but with polite persistence managed to secure a 50% reduction! Big Thank You! to the MSE team and Martin for their advice on the subject of haggling and loads of other savings.

The_Pict

Contract had just ended. Happy with service but was said I wanted to leave as too expensive. I was put through to Retentions department and was offered same service with upgrade to fibre optic at over £20/month cheaper. £50 upgrade fee also waived. Very pleased for the next 12 months 😀

CarolynB

Reading through all the advice and arming myself with some prices from other companies allowed me to renegotiate my broadband and phone with Virgin. Being sent a new up to date hub, faster broadband and cheaper deal. Very easy and the company couldn't be more helpful. Very happy as I have saved around £165 a year!

helenmac7

Just phoned Virgin & negotiated new deal saving £244 a year..took option of paying upfront for line rental £164 a year( but going up to £184 from tomorrow) 12 month deal £7 for first 6 months then £10 for 6 months plus a new superhub - very easy process & friendly staff member..will refund me any money owed as monthly line rental is paid in advance..happy days!

PrettyFlower90

We tried to haggle with BT today. Have been with them over 2 and half years. Said we can get really good new customer deals with virgin and Sky etc and cashback, but they wouldn't really do anything. Would give us £5 off. Not worth staying now, just wish it had worked as I hate the hassle moving providers when moving house too lol

Doc_N

PrettyFlower90 wrote: »

We tried to haggle with BT today. Have been with them over 2 and half years. Said we can get really good new customer deals with virgin and Sky etc and cashback, but they wouldn't really do anything. Would give us £5 off. Not worth staying now, just wish it had worked as I hate the hassle moving providers when moving house too lol

Give them the required notice that you're off and just change. You may well find that the 'retentions' people you'll talk to when you give notice will offer you a deal - either there and then or in a few days. There's no good reason for staying with BT, though - they're overpriced and what passes for customer service is worse than pretty much every other supplier.

culpepper

I rang and asked about who to talk to regarding switching away from Sky as we have seen some very good deals on comparison sites.
They put me through to retentions and a very friendly operator asked what we were looking at, it was virgin's unlimited fibre at £5 a month and line rental deal that I said I was looking at on 'uswitch' with my finger hovering over the mouse button as we spoke . :P
She said well we cant offer £5 a month but we can do £10 and line rental for 12 months on a 12 month contract.
This was for fibre unlimited which we were looking at switching to and she offered the hub and the activation for free.
Really quite happy with that result given that, we pay a little more than that for unlimited standard now but the fibre broadband should be quite a lot faster.

Jenonnet

I rang Virgin Media, who I have my TV, broadband and phone with, to tell them I was thinking of leaving, as suggested, hoping to get my monthly price knocked down a bit.
They didn't even offer me anything else, just told me I had to give 30 days notice and if I wanted to keep my phone number, to leave that until I arranged it with my next supplier and tell them I want to keep the number.
That was it!! I was left saying I wanted to cancel my account! No offer of less money a month, no offer of more channels on the TV or faster broadband for the same money... nothing!!
How come others get money knocked off or more services for the same money when I was offered nothing??

Hey_Dude

Jenonnet wrote: »

I rang Virgin Media, who I have my TV, broadband and phone with, to tell them I was thinking of leaving, as suggested, hoping to get my monthly price knocked down a bit.
They didn't even offer me anything else, just told me I had to give 30 days notice and if I wanted to keep my phone number, to leave that until I arranged it with my next supplier and tell them I want to keep the number.
That was it!! I was left saying I wanted to cancel my account! No offer of less money a month, no offer of more channels on the TV or faster broadband for the same money... nothing!!
How come others get money knocked off or more services for the same money when I was offered nothing??

I've been with Virgin for many years and every 12 months I call them, pretend to cancel and haggle a discount (usually in the range of at least £15 a month off) without too much of a problem...


Not today... I had a similar experience as quoted: after a 30-minute call using every trick I could think of I was offered just £2 off a month... eventually agreed that a manager would contact me later as only they could offer me a bigger discount... we shall see...


Duder

stew180

Called sky after being offered TV deal by broadband provider and seeing the £41 p/m deal for new customers. They gave me a £140 year discount after speaking to retentions and haggling. Thanks MSE!