Sky Announce Line Rental Increase From 3 Dec 2013

scoobers

Just had a letter from Sky saying that they are increasing line rental by 90p a month from the 3rd December. Mobile rates to increase to 12p/min and call connection fee to increase to 15p.

Apparently the increase is to pay for four new UK call centres to improve customer service. I would have thought they could have used their profit for this.

Having only just switched to Sky I'm pretty miffed especially after them leaving me without broadband for 3 weeks and the recent increases in TV charges.

I'm not sure if I can get out of my contract or if I'll have to wait for the year.

macman

You can leave without penalty if you reject the increase as detrimental, but line rental invariably goes up across the board-both BT and TT have done the same, so little benefit.
PS: it's not a fixed price contract, so they can alter the price whenever they wish.
Opting for Line Rental Saver will be your best money-saving option. And ask for a credit if your service was down for 3 weeks.

teddysmum

I asked about proposed increases, last night, and was told that the line rental saver and Anytime packages are not increasing; just the pay monthly line rental.

macman

Maybe, but the tier 1 people in the call centres won't know about price increases before the general public anyway-they're at the bottom of the food chain.

niftyone

scoobers wrote: »

Just had a letter from Sky saying that they are increasing line rental

It pays to search.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4781049


and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4772868

teddysmum

macman wrote: »

Maybe, but the tier 1 people in the call centres won't know about price increases before the general public anyway-they're at the bottom of the food chain.

Line rental is the only increase mentioned on the webpages.

OldGreyFox

teddysmum wrote: »

Line rental is the only increase mentioned on the webpages.

Thats not correct a number of price changes are listed. See http://www.sky.com/shop/terms-conditions/talk/code-of-practice/tariff-guide/


and the get out clause is here:

5.4 If we change your chosen Sky Talk Service and you reasonably consider that you have been materially disadvantaged by this, you may move to another Calls package or cancel your Sky Talk Service(s) under Condition 8.2(b), even if you are within your Minimum Term.

http://www.sky.com/shop/terms-conditions/talk/

MillicentBystander

These telecoms providers are getting like their Gas and Electric counterparts - almost cartel-like in the way they follow each other with their price rises.

macman

MillicentBystander wrote: »

These telecoms providers are getting like their Gas and Electric counterparts - almost cartel-like in the way they follow each other with their price rises.

And with only 4 major players left in the fixed line telcoms business, that trend is going to continue.

scoobers

MillicentBystander wrote: »

These telecoms providers are getting like their Gas and Electric counterparts - almost cartel-like in the way they follow each other with their price rises.

yes, I thought that one of the consumer benefits of deregulation was increased competition. The letter actually says that the increased call connection fee "is the same as both BT and TalkTalk".

Ian01

For many years, Sky has charged the same amount as BT for calls to 0843, 0844, 0871, 0872 and 0873 numbers, and maybe the same as BT for some other non-geographic numbers.

BT's call price for 084, 087 and 09 numbers is capped by a regulation that prevents them from making profit on call origination. This meant Sky also made little or no profit on call origination for these numbers.

Several other networks have also copied BT prices for these numbers for a very long time, but this now appears to be coming to an end for many of them.

Virgin Media still seem to be the most expensive for these. For years they have charged substantially more than BT for calls to 0843, 0844, 0871, 0872 and 0873 numbers.

With multiple price bands and the call price differing according to the first six digits of the telephone number, it is a very complicated process to find out the price for any such call and difficult to compare different tariffs.

Ofcom's "simplifying non-geographic numbers" project will bring much clarity to the call pricing for 084, 087 and 09 numbers. Each network will declare a single per-minute rate Access Charge for each of their tariffs and this charge will cover all 084, 087 and 09 numbers. This will make it much easier to compare providers.

The call price will be the Access Charge declared by your phone company plus the Service Charge declared by the business or organisation you are calling. As now, the Service Charge will vary depending on the telephone number called.