Our new Sky Haggling guide - please share your feedback

The_Governor

I noticed that the Box Set price is £39 a month going up to £41, so I called up to cancel box sets thinking I'd save £41 a month, turns out "Box Sets" is actually Entertainment, Kids & HD, with the box sets bit only being about £10.

Plus, Entertainment is a base package you have to have, so if you only really want Sports you have to have Entertainment too.

That lady I spoke to offered me some reductions getting me form£93 to £77 by taking off box sets, Kids and a bit of discount, but that would require recontracting for 18 months and because I'd accept two offers an admin charge of £10 each!!!

I said I'm not paying £20 so I can then pay Sky £924 a year, so then went down the cancellation route.

It took an hour but the guy I ended up speaking to reduced my package (with nothing removed) to £65 a month, plus 50% off our Sky mobile bill for 12 months.

I took that, I can't help thinking I should've held out and gone for the full cancellation to see if I got anything offered after I put the phone down, but still a decent saving.

It does seem to me that Sky are taking advantage of consumers here, linking packages together to reduce your options, calling packages one thing when they're actually another... I wonder if Martin fancies another crusade

Out of interest, if you do go through with cancellation and you're in your 31 days notice period, are you able to call back and say you've changed your mind?

[Deleted User]

@The Governor

You're wrong on a couple of points there, you were on the Box Sets legacy package the same as I am at the moment. When the Entertainment package was introduced all of the previous packages (Variety. Box Sets & Family(?)) were no longer available for new customers and the likes of HD (yes, they still charge extra for HD :mad:) and Kids are chargeable extras. You can't break down a legacy package price wise as they come complete.

The £10/£20 admin fee is pure price gouging by Sky and I flat out refuse to pay it, I'd rather leave regardless of the offer. At least I now know why some people are charged £20 rather than £10. Did you end up paying it?

Yes, you can stop a cancellation going through at anytime.

I just had a look at their website and the Box Sets add-on seems to have disappeared as a standalone item and is only included in the Netflix £10 Ultimate bundle which could be annoying.

I've scheduled a cancellation for May when my discount runs out, the best they've offered so far is £15 plus £1 an add-on which would actually be fine with us but they wouldn't waive the £10 admin fee so I'll wait and see.

DonnySaver

The expected letter has arrived through the post today saying that my SKY bill is going up by £2/month.

I currently pay £36/month for Entertainment and Sports all in HD. This will now be going up to £38/month.

I signed a new 18 month deal in June 2018 but I understand from reading the info on here that I can now cancel penalty free within 30 days of receiving the letter.

Does anyone think it's worth "cancelling" to try and get and better deal or is it not worth the hassle?

[Deleted User]

DonnySaver wrote: »

The expected letter has arrived through the post today saying that my SKY bill is going up by £2/month.

I currently pay £36/month for Entertainment and Sports all in HD. This will now be going up to £38/month.

I signed a new 18 month deal in June 2018 but I understand from reading the info on here that I can now cancel penalty free within 30 days of receiving the letter.

Does anyone think it's worth "cancelling" to try and get and better deal or is it not worth the hassle?

No you can't leave, it's only the broadband subscribers who can leave penalty free.

littlemissbossy

My current Sky TV deal ends in March.

I'm currently paying £53 for entertainment HD, cinema, sports HD and multiscreen

I contacted them via live chat and got the above for £56 on a 18 month contract, no April price increase and no admin fee.

Not too sure if it's a good deal but it's not much more than I'm paying now and if I hadn't contacted them it would have been around the £90 mark.

HTH

The_Governor

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

@The Governor

You're wrong on a couple of points there, you were on the Box Sets legacy package the same as I am at the moment. When the Entertainment package was introduced all of the previous packages (Variety. Box Sets & Family(?)) were no longer available for new customers and the likes of HD (yes, they still charge extra for HD :mad:) and Kids are chargeable extras. You can't break down a legacy package price wise as they come complete.

The £10/£20 admin fee is pure price gouging by Sky and I flat out refuse to pay it, I'd rather leave regardless of the offer. At least I now know why some people are charged £20 rather than £10. Did you end up paying it?

Yes, you can stop a cancellation going through at anytime.

I just had a look at their website and the Box Sets add-on seems to have disappeared as a standalone item and is only included in the Netflix £10 Ultimate bundle which could be annoying.

I've scheduled a cancellation for May when my discount runs out, the best they've offered so far is £15 plus £1 an add-on which would actually be fine with us but they wouldn't waive the £10 admin fee so I'll wait and see.

Of course what I was told may just have been sales spin, but the lady I spoke to said Entertainment is a base package that you must have, even if all you want is sports...

No, like you I agree that admin fee is pure price gouging, it was a that point I said I'd rather cancel than pay for the privilege of carrying on giving them almost £1k a year, that's what lead to my £65 a month deal in the end...

Like I say, I do now wonder if I could've got it down further if I'd just carried on saying I was going to cancel...

I'm on Sky Q by the way, in case it makes a difference...

brewerdave

littlemissbossy wrote: »

I contacted them via live chat and got the above for £56 on a 18 month contract, no April price increase and no admin fee.


HTH

Check your future bills carefully -more than one person has reported on this forum and elsewhere, that the admin charge appears on the bill breakdown altho' it wasn't mentioned when the deal was agreed.:(

littlemissbossy

brewerdave wrote: »

Check your future bills carefully -more than one person has reported on this forum and elsewhere, that the admin charge appears on the bill breakdown altho' it wasn't mentioned when the deal was agreed.:(

Thanks, I've checked my future bills and it shows as £20 admin charge and £20 refund

brewerdave

littlemissbossy wrote: »

Thanks, I've checked my future bills and it shows as £20 admin charge and £20 refund

That's surprising - the CS agent I spoke with, said that they had no ability/authority to remove the admin charge- she got round it with my deal by knocking a further £2 pm off over 18 months - thus "saving" me £26. Upfront refund is a new one:)

[Deleted User]

brewerdave wrote: »

That's surprising - the CS agent I spoke with, said that they had no ability/authority to remove the admin charge- she got round it with my deal by knocking a further £2 pm off over 18 months - thus "saving" me £26. Upfront refund is a new one:)

They phoned me yesterday (I turn off in May) with a derisory offer of £20 for Entertainment and £1 each for the add-ons but insisted they couldn't waive the £10 admin fee but would apply a £10 credit for the following months bill to negate it.