Our new Sky Haggling guide - please share your feedback

[Deleted User]

Nimai.31 wrote: »

For three years I’ve called retentions and cancelled and got a good deal within my cooling off period.

This year I called and was told that if I cancelled I would have to give my sky q box back and get a new one even if I changed my mind within the 28 days.

Has anyone encountered this?

There's no such thing as a 'cooling off period' when cancelling. You have to give 30 days notice (minimum, it can be more if it suits you) and then they'll give you a timescale plus the packaging to send the Q box back. If you change your mind after the channels have been turned off but before you've sent the box back then I presume you keep the same box (and the recordings on it).

[Deleted User]

A heads up for anyone looking at the 'Your exclusive offer, Stay with Sky' offer online.

I clicked on it yesterday just to check the offer (not the first time) and it was still at £15 plus the add-ons at £3.50 which wasn't what I was looking for so closed it. 2 hours later I got the first of 3 emails and 1 text thanking me for accepting Entertainment at £15 for 12 months. We were on the legacy Boxsets package and upon checking we'd lost the HD channels on TV and Boxsets through the Sky Go app. My future bills all confirmed that I was paying £15 a month going forward.

I've got it sorted today on the phone and they've given me the add-ons for just £1 each which is all I was looking for in the first place (yes, you can get it for less but the wife needs it so happy to compromise). The admin fee was waived as well which was the sticking point for me previously.

The agent told me this is not unusual with the website so something to keep in mind.

Tanyana

Just switched from SKY to Virgin Media following their 2019 price increases.

I had been with SKY for many years. My package was just for standard broadband with anytime calls. I did not need their tv. I know they are not the cheapest but they used to give me free unlimited international calls up until the end of last year , which I made great use of each week. I have always been able to successfully haggle with them , my last price being £28.50 pm. That was until I got the dreaded email mid contract to say my package was going up by £3 a month.

My call to retentions resulted in an offer of £25 pm , but this was by removing the calls package completely and instead replacing it with a monthly sim card. Despite me saying I already had one with plenty of credit on it , they tried to sell me a second phone on contract for £200 ! And yes , it definitely was the retentions dept I was through to not sales. To be fair to SKY though , when I called to confirm my cancellation a few days later I spoke to a completely different person in retentions and they were absolutely lovely and really helpful. They would still not haggle any further though.

Virgin Media came into my area last year and had been offering some amazing deals in 2019 so I decided to jump ship. My package with Virgin is Vivid 100 with weekend calls for £25 pm with free manned installation and activation. But they also gave me a £75 bill credit , so my actual price is £18.75 pm on a 12 month contract.

Now , curiously about two weeks after cancelling with SKY they sent me a `we want to win you back` email. This had an offer of £19 pm with a `renew now` button inserted. This was a 12 month renewal contract. But it was just for standard broadband and line rental. So what about any calls ? My online account shed no light either. New customers only pay £18 pm or £26 for anytime calls. They did not win me back and I did not investigate further.

sunflowersuffolk

We cancelled without haggling. One day after cancellation they have rang us (after about 18 missed calls). We just wanted the basic Entertainment package, mainly for Discovery and documentaries. They were trying to sell Entertainment by saying it included some sports channels, which we absolutely do not want and will never watch.

Eventually they offered Entertainment £13 for 12 months and would waive the £10 fee. Got them to up it to 18 months, and was about to agree. Then just checked it was Multi room as before - NO! That would be another £14. End of conversation. Said sorry, goodbye.

I don't know if they will offer more in future. Also no mention of Sky Q, assume we would have kept the old box but not sure.

Buster_Danog

Tanyana wrote: »

My call to retentions resulted in an offer of £25 pm

I think I got offered £21 per month. I was telling them that Plusnet worked out at £11 a month, but they didn't want to compete. They don't seem to be interested in haggling anymore. Maybe the competition are not pressing them as hard.

Tanyana

Buster_Danog wrote: »

I was telling them that Plusnet worked out at £11 a month, but they didn't want to compete. They don't seem to be interested in haggling anymore.

This is what I found with them as well despite showing them all my homework. I got completely stone walled. It`s strange , but I almost expected them to say something along the lines of "sorry but we aren`t allowed to price match anymore". I wonder if now Comcast have bought them they have given all the staff the hard word and strict new rules to follow.

RaspPav

Wow! Just bagged a saving of £470 a year from sky! I followed the haggling tactics, got a half decent saving but it wasn’t enough so I got put thru to the cancellation team who were able to give me a bit more. So I’m saving £40 a month overall but there was a £10 admin fee so a saving over 12 months of £470 I’m very happy with!

We were paying for Netflix separately but having amalgamated that to my plan we get 4 devices instead of 2 & it’s ultra HD.

Also saved over £80 a month on my energy bill today so I’m v happy 😊

Anon

RaspPav wrote: »

Wow! Just bagged a saving of £470 a year from sky! I followed the haggling tactics, got a half decent saving but it wasn’t enough so I got put thru to the cancellation team who were able to give me a bit more. So I’m saving £40 a month overall but there was a £10 admin fee so a saving over 12 months of £470 I’m very happy with!

We were paying for Netflix separately but having amalgamated that to my plan we get 4 devices instead of 2 & it’s ultra HD.

Also saved over £80 a month on my energy bill today so I’m v happy 😊

Great you have got a good saving. It would help other users if you could mention what your service mix and price is now, and what it was before you negotiated, please, as savings of X mean little due to all the variables. Thank you.

benbenandme

Well that was bizarre - like others on here recently I found the retentions department to be not really interested in retaining me as a customer ...

I am out of contract and rang up to try to get a better deal. I explained I want sky sports, talk and broadband but it's currently too expensive. I was offered a mobile sim deal (??!) "as these are from £3 a month". I explained my mobile isn't a problem, and isn't with Sky so not interested in that, and again explained what I was looking for. She then offered me the entertainment package at a saving of £2 a month - but it doesn't include sky sports :cool: I again explained that I basically only watch the sports channels and that the entertainment deal was of no interest to me - she then basically told me there was nothing else they could do and would proceed with the cancellation.

I've checked the sky homepage and there is an offer there on the sports package which would save me £2 a month. Hopefully over the next few days there will be something better

Italiananders

Hi all, I have just cancelled my Sky Q. My previous offer gave me 35% discount and as it came to an end my Sky jumped from £45 per month to £68 even with a £10 off deal they gave me automatically,
I have been run twice by retentions and the best offer so far is £56. My pack would be
Sky Entertainment £15
Ultimate on Demand £12
Multiroom £13
Sky F1 £14
HD £1
Kids £1
The keep telling me that there are no discounts on Multiroom or the F1. I love F1 and find it ridiculous that F1 on its own is so much when for a few pounds more I could have all the sports channels (Don't watch other sport)
Its also annoying as they seem completely unwilling to budge and it seems that that they are not interested in negotiation. Keeping fingers crossed I get a better deal or bye bye sky