My elderly mum is paying Sky £90 a month!

JennyP

My elderly Mum is paying Sky £90 a month to Sky and that doesn't even include broadband!
It's for Sky+ HD and she has Sky Sports. She also has Sky Movies but doesn't ever use it so she isn't bothered about keeping it. She does watch the sports alot and would not be willing to lose that.
I have suggested that she rings Sky and renegotiates. She has had Sky since 1997 and has always just renewed so I suspect that they are taking the mick and putting the prices up all the time.
Could anyone please give me an idea of what she should be paying for that service?

pinkteapot

Does seem a lot. We pay £90 a month for Sky+HD (including sports and movies), phoneline with free evening and weekend calls (maybe she's got all day calls?), and unlimited broadband. I'm lazy and haven't renegotiated so we're just paying their standard price.

It would be worth her phoning them and asking exactly what her package includes. If she has trouble dealing with them, do it when you're there so she can pass the phone to you if necessary.

Then work out if she needs everything she's got and cancel anything that she doesn't need. Also always worth trying the "I've been a loyal customer for X years but just can't afford it anymore, is there anything you can do?" line. Worked for my mum recently.

Gra76

For the full TV package including HD?

I've got a funny feeling we were paying £68 for that but it's probably gone up since then. This would have been maybe 2 years ago since that we had the full package.

macman

Look at her bill and post what services she has, and the breakdown.
She presumably has her phone and line rental with them. If so what tariff is she on?
If she doesn't want Movies, start by cancelling that. They're not 'taking the mick'. She is presumably paying the rack rate, which is what she'll always be charged if she doesn't cut a better deal, and cancel what she doesn't use.

JennyP

She does have phone and line rental and probably some inclusive calls.
I think it's really expensive compared with the deals for new customers on the website!

scheming_gypsy

Mine is £70 a month.,
Sky+ HD.Full entertainment package and Sky Sports and one multiroom - but no movie channels.

It is expensive, but it sounds like it could be right if she has everything as well as the phone line. Just a shame you can't build a custom package as I only use a handful of channels.

[Deleted User]

JennyP wrote: »

I think it's really expensive compared with the deals for new customers on the website!

New customer deals typically last about six months. Your Mother will have once been a new customer on such deals herself (even though it was 1997!)

However, there is certainly no point in paying for Sky Movies if it is never watched and she might also want to downgrade other aspects of her services. Does she have a large screen TV? If not, she may not be getting the full benefit of HD and could drop that too.

woohoo_postingid

Your mum needs to phone up and ask to cancel, say she can't afford it and see if they offer something. If they don't, she needs to go ahead with the cancellation giving her 1 months notice.

They will phone her back before the notice period is up and offer her something - probably something like 20% off.

kazwookie

Ring them up and get a full breakdown of costs / packages, then sort out what you mum ACTUALLY needs, and renegioate.

[Deleted User]

woohoo_postingid wrote: »

Your mum needs to phone up and ask to cancel, say she can't afford it and see if they offer something. If they don't, she needs to go ahead with the cancellation giving her 1 months notice.

She won't want to do that because she actually watches Sky Sports. We all know already that the best deals are reserved for those who cancel, but customers have to be prepared to do so (not simply threaten to).
She should certainly be able to get a service more in keeping with what she actually views, however. They might even throw in free broadband..

macman

Is she making a lot of daytime calls? If so, is she on the best tariff (Anytime)? We can't give more advice unless we are told what she has, and what she is paying, for each service.
My guess however is that she is on an old, obsolete and therefore expensive package.