Sky Sports 5

blisteringblue

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Yes, I was more irritated that I was forced to "activate" if I wanted to keep a channel which was supposedly already included in the cost of a Sky Sports subscription.

I agree the whole thing was suspicious and bizarre.

My personal take on it is all around the broadband. They want to sucker as many in with "free" broadband for 2 years because they know a lot of people are going to jump ship (broadband wise) in September next year for BT Broadband when they will get BT Sports free for the Champions League when Sky loses it. You can bet your bottom $$$$$ that there will be massive exit clauses for people who take up this "free" offer only to want to swap to BT next year.

My dad (74) won't activate Sky Sports 5 because all he says is "but I don't want their broadband" he has no intention of leaving them or giving up sports but won't accept you can get it without the broadband. Have given up explaining it.

Their messages are poor for the whole badly worked exercise IMHO. People simply don't understand it.

Anyway have given notice for my next round of SKY TV Chicken, and you will like their "stroppy" advice when I cancelled Moneyineptitude. Told them if they roll over the 75% discount would keep it. She told me it was not realistic to expect that level of discount every year, and pay TV was a Luxury not a necessity . The best she could offer was £20 off and has made notes to retentions that this is the maximum discount we are allowed FULL STOP. I struggled to keep a straight face. Anyway notice given, lets see what % I'm offered before Xmas :rotfl:

jem16

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Regardless, you appear happy with your deal and won't be leaving any time soon, so you won't get to test it out.

There seems little point in testing it out as,yes, I am happy with 50% off my package.

To anyone else, I'd ask for it in writing that accepting a retention deal wasn't also accepting a new minimum term.

Ok in writing from Sky;

"Hi jem16

I have looked into your account today with regards to the end date of your contract for your TV subscription. This ended 28/06/2003."

As I said, Sky told me that accepting the 50% off deal would not start a minimum term and it hasn't.

Yes I agree that you should always check out the T&C of any deal but this does show that retention deals do not always mean a new minimum term.

[Deleted User]

blisteringblue wrote: »

My personal take on it is all around the broadband. They want to sucker as many in with "free" broadband for 2 years because they know a lot of people are going to jump ship (broadband wise) in September next year for BT Broadband when they will get BT Sports free for the Champions League when Sky loses it.

I totally agree about that broadband deal.

The problem is that when the channel actually ceases to be available, the "activation" process does not mention the broadband offer and all I had to do was press red and enter my pin code.

I'm a Virgin customer for internet anyhow…


Good luck with your retention shenanigans!:T

pen1

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

The problem is that when the channel actually ceases to be available, the "activation" process does not mention the broadband offer and all I had to do was press red and enter my pin code. ....

I believe that the offer in question- "2 years' free broadband for Sky Sports customers"- is no longer available; thus it has now become solely an "activate Sky Sports 5" process.

[Deleted User]

pen1 wrote: »

it has now become solely an "activate Sky Sports 5" process.

Which makes it even more ridiculous.

pen1

The irritation with this process is understandable, in my view- it was a sales tactic at the outset, that sought to compel customers to consider Sky's broadband offer, by withholding something that Sky were in parallel claiming was included in the Sky Sports Pack, which subsequently increased in price by £2.50 per month.

I only re-subscribed to Sky TV recently, at which point the Live Chat agent actively promoted Sky Sports 5 as part of the Sky Sports Pack I would be subscribing to (Sky agent:“You’ll also get Sky Sports 5 along with Sports pack .... Sky Sports 5 is your new home of European football ......”.

A few weeks on and they reencrypted Sky Sports 5 and required me to consider their broadband offer before giving back what I was already paying for!

[Deleted User]

pen1 wrote: »

A few weeks on and they reencrypted Sky Sports 5 and required me to consider their broadband offer before giving back what I was already paying for!

My main bugbear (other than the necessity to "activate" at all), was the 12 hour delay in the channel being available to view after activation. I switched to the channel fully expecting to be able to view the match that was showing at that time, not half a day later...

brewerdave

......still available on my Sky+ box, complete with the red button:rotfl: -it has definitely updated because the EPG for "Lifestyle & Culture" is now empty, the channels are part of the normal Entertainment listings.

[Deleted User]

brewerdave wrote: »

......still available on my Sky+ box, complete with the red button:rotfl: -it has definitely updated because the EPG for "Lifestyle & Culture" is now empty, the channels are part of the normal Entertainment listings.

I think your Sports 5 will have been automatically "activated" when you accepted a new deal from them, brewerdave.

Incidentally, despite my having activated the channel a few weeks back, the "activate" icon still appears every time I switch to the channel.

brewerdave

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Incidentally, despite my having activated the channel a few weeks back, the "activate" icon still appears every time I switch to the channel.

..must be mega annoying!!!:)