MSE News: How to beat Sky price hikes

Former_MSE_Helen

We've been contacted by dozens of savvy MoneySavers who have been putting our haggling tips to good use to cut costs...

Read the full story:

How to beat Sky price hikes




Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

janE1956

rang sky on Saturday and got £12.50 a month off for 10 months, thanks to seeing a lady had done similar on MSE. Found a 03 number so even the call was free:j, as others have said I was polite but firm threatened to go to Virgin too:o

Credit-Crunched

I phoned up to cancel Sky Sports, Sky Movies and HD. I was then offered £10 off for 10 months.

I did not accept, and went through with the cancellation.

Then on the last day of cancellation notice I rang up to 'check when it was being cancelled'. They asked why I was cancelling, I said cost. They then 'found' a last minute saver deal for 50% off for 12 months. From £70 to £35!


Hold out and great things await!!

MatthewHillman

We got in touch with Sky shortly after we got the price increase letter (we were hit with the full £4.50 a month increase). We came away with £10 discount per month for 10 months. I was hoping for more, but even in retentions they held very firm. My advice: don't panic and let them wait while you decide, they won't hang up on you.

Overall I'm pleased with £100 saving for the year - not to be sniffed at!

The major problem I have is where I live we have very poor Freeview coverage, and no Virgin Media coverage. Sky know that they have no competition here. I got in touch with Virgin, but sadly they have no plans to cable my street.

Perhaps useful to note there was a condition with the £10 off per month for 10 months offer: a 12 month re-contract period, so we are committed to Sky for 12 more months, while we get the discount for 10. (This works out fine for us, as we don't have a comparable alternative to switch to, but it will be interesting to see what happens after the 10 months).

Side note: we got a letter today offering us insurance on our Sky box (£99 for 12 months). Had we taken this product this would have wiped out our saving instantly. The letter got filed in the shredder!

Good luck, and go for it. Think how many people are paying £100 more over the year than they need to!

mike-soundcity

I mistakenly (after having a couple of beers) clicked for Sky Sports5 thinking that I would get free Broadband for 12 months discovered that the lower price deal I already had was cancelled and that I was now 'tied in' for two years!! My Monthly bill has now risen by more than £20 and there's nothing I can do about it!
I wouldn't mind... But I don't even like football!!! :mad:

brewerdave

If you have the triple play deal of TV,phone & broadband negotiate on all 3 but DON'T cancel the broadband/phone elements initially if you don't get a good offer,just cancel the TV element.
1. The Sky box will still give you TV services -Freesat from Sky
2. The paid for services can be switched on and off within hours

Then if you still can't get a deal,find a new telephone/bband provider and get them to handle the transfer of those services.Too many tales of customers cancelling everything then finding that they haven't got a working phone or the internet:eek:

kheywood

I called Sky as not happy with price increase they gave me £4.50 off my Variety Bundle, reduced my line rental by £6.41 a month and reduced my Unlimited Broadband to free for 10 months.
This reduced my bill from £53.90 to £34.99 for 10 months!

Finishrich

Ok so it took half an hour of my life but happy to come away with 40% discount for 6 months on a 12 month contract.

There was also a 20% discount for 5 years mentioned but I'd rather take my chances of an annual haggle than tie in for 5 years!

The increase letter prompted me to call them. The initial offer hardly even covered the price increase, I was quite prepared to cancel and listen to the long spells of silence and I think the 40% was about the third offer they came up with.

scott100

hi,
can anybody tell me if they got any money off , while still in contract, as i signed up on a good deal back in February and now have to pay £3 extra a month making my good deal not so good now:(

stephenliverpool1

All,

For info, I am my third year with with Sky on a 50% off deal for Sky entertainment and Sky Sports packages. I am now paying £23.50 per month for this. Every year when my deal/contract is coming to an end, I just give 30 days notice to cancel it. I don't phone Sky during these 30 days and just let them contact me. I make sure the marketing box is ticked on Sky account.

Then as soon as the 30 day period has elapsed, I get a 50% off deal. This year I went online and had a chat with their offshore team in India to get the deal.

Anyone can do it and most people get offered the 50% off deal. Some people, who actually go through with their cancel and wait a few weeks, will get at least 60% off deals for their TV package but I have never tried this.

My b/band and phone is with Plusnet and I only pay £12.50 per month (inc line rental) but that is another story.

missyjules

I rang last week, was very polite but firm after they were going to hike our bill by £3 a month. Threatened to leave and they gave us £10 off for 10 months.:j