MSE News: How to beat Sky price hikes

bubblegun

Reply to a previous post - can't seem to quote on my tablet!

You should/would have been made aware of the increase when signing up. New customers were to be told 2 weeks prior to existing customers!

You are in cooling off period so can cancel but given you are likely to be on a discount already the best you can hope for is a credit off your next bill.

It's probably worth a moan.

bunhead99

just got off the phone to sky. as a long term existing customer i mnaged to get the family pack which i all ready had. down to 18.75 per month

Sloanster

Just negotiated a £21 per month decrease with Sky for 12 months and the girl I spoke to (who was incredibly helpful) threw in a multi room subscription again for 12 months included in the price!

Delighted! :money::money:

VisionMan

teddysmum wrote: »

I received an emailed Sky survey to fill in yesterday (very similar to ones used on survey sites) using sliding scales to express the chances of being with Sky for tv or bb/phone in a year's time. it also asked for the probabilities of moving to named companies for the individual services.

I wonder whether this research is to help them decide customers' real intentions and so tailor a suitable offer under the new system.

Yes it is. Sky have never had competition before (VM don't factor) and they are trying to gauge peoples general mindset.

Adrian_Prescott

I'm sorry if this has already been covered somewhere in the preceding pages...

As a relatively new Sky Customer (signed up for the first time in November 2014: basic package + Sky Sports 1-5 HD for £34/month for the first year, using a MSE code), and faced with the forthcoming price increase at the beginning of June, I'm wondering where I stand with regard to haggling to avoid the increase?

My concern is that the "threat of leaving" lever isn't available to me as I'm tied in until November, having signed up for a year. Is this right?

We signed up with Sky purely and simply as the kids wanted the Sports in their playroom. They also watch the Disney Channel.

We take our phone and broadband from Virgin Media. As it's the cheapest way of doing it with VM, we also have their basic TV (they apply a discount if we do it this way, which they wouldn't if we simply had phone and internet). I called VM to find out the cost of adding Sky Sports Collection in HD, and they quoted an additional £26/month for a year, rising to £36/month after that). Clearly £26/month is less than the £34/month I'm already paying Sky, so there's a lever right there, were it not for my 1 year tie in (but am I really tied in?).

I'm completely comfortable with switching between VM and Sky each year for our Sky Sports, if it keeps the price down, but what would anyone advise right now please? One slight complication is that Sky Box is in the kids' playroom, whereas Virgin Box (and VM cable point) is in the lounge, where my wife and I watch TV (not the football!).

Thanks in advance for any advice!:undecided

hazyjo

Haha just had another email from Virgin Media saying my new monthly bill from 4 June will be £142.14 :eek: !!!!!! are they playing at. Sky are fitting all our stuff Tues & Wed next week so I can't wait to tell Virgin to stick it (at the end of this week - they said we'd pretty much be disconnected immediately).


Ridiculous! Please watch this 18 month sign-up - there seem to be MANY extras between months 12-18 they don't tell you about, and don't let them lie to you saying it's a lower figure like they did to me!


I will be taking it further if they go back on their word about letting me quit without penalty as I now have that in writing. Not impressed.


Jx

jem16

Adrian_Prescott wrote: »

My concern is that the "threat of leaving" lever isn't available to me as I'm tied in until November, having signed up for a year. Is this right?

You don't have any leverage as you're tied in. If you chose to leave you'd still have to pay.

You can always ring Sky and discuss the increase but you may not get anywhere.

Adrian_Prescott

Thanks Jem. As I feared then!

Out of interest, in the event that I continued with them beyond a year, I suppose that "anything is possible" then? Generally speaking, when offering further "deals", do they tend to lock you in for further periods?

jem16

Adrian_Prescott wrote: »

Out of interest, in the event that I continued with them beyond a year, I suppose that "anything is possible" then?

Depends on your haggling skills.

Generally speaking, when offering further "deals", do they tend to lock you in for further periods?

Depends on the package and the offer. Currently I have a 12 months 50% off deal with no contract renewal.

[Deleted User]

Just given in... Got 60% off any TV bundle for 12 months plus £100 credit. Gone for the original bundle which actually has most of the channels anyway.
This works out at £2 for the whole year and I'm not tied in to a minimum term however at this deal I will be staying for 12 months
Its great to have sky plus functionality back. Say what you like about sky but their EPG is excellent..