📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Our new Sky Haggling guide - please share your feedback

Options
1188189191193194235

Comments

  • Only when I had the old Boxsets package.
  • bspm1
    bspm1 Posts: 332 Forumite
    Is anyone else getting offered Sky Kids for free when looking at the "Latest Offers" page?

    I will look for the letter I received from sky to rejoin but I think we were offered the kids channels for £1
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 5,186 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    lw373 wrote: »
    Hello,

    I’m just looking into our Sky bill after years of not questioning the charges and after looking online it seems like we are overpaying, here is my bill breakdown:

    Box Sets - £41.50
    Sky Sports (Complete Pack) - £28.00
    HD Basic - £0.00
    Sky Sports HD - £6.00
    Sky Q Multiscreen Pack (1 additional Sky Box) - £13.00

    Total: £88.50

    Am I overpaying here? I’m already thinking of getting rid of multi-screen as it’s rarely used but I’m not really happy with how much we are paying for Sky Sports or Box Sets either.

    Are Sky pretty easy to negotiate a lower price with? I’m assuming threatening to cancel it all would work?

    Advice is much appreciated.

    Thanks all!
    after years of not questioning the charges

    The answer just reading that is I'm afraid, a resounding yes.

    They're trying to move everybody off the legacy packages such as Variety & Boxsets (not to be confused with the Boxsets addon :( )

    The new(ish) Entertainment base package is easily available for £15 a month with addons such as Boxsets and HD (for the Entertainment channels) at £1 extra.

    Sports is a little bit more tricky as the new football season kicks off soon so they're less flexible. That said Sports HD is rolled into the price nowadays and as far as I'm aware you shouldn't be paying the £6 a month anyway (unless they claim it's a legacy charge).

    If you don't need the multiroom (or 4K TV which requires it) then you can knock another £13 off.

    You don't 'threaten' to cancel, if they won't offer something to suit yourself then put your 30 days notice in (presuming you're not in minimum term). You should have immediate offers on the Q box and in your account online that'll save money.

    I'd say you should be paying around £45 for Entertainment+HD+Boxsets+Sports.
  • lw373
    lw373 Posts: 17 Forumite
    The answer just reading that is I'm afraid, a resounding yes.

    They're trying to move everybody off the legacy packages such as Variety & Boxsets (not to be confused with the Boxsets addon :( )

    The new(ish) Entertainment base package is easily available for £15 a month with addons such as Boxsets and HD (for the Entertainment channels) at £1 extra.

    Sports is a little bit more tricky as the new football season kicks off soon so they're less flexible. That said Sports HD is rolled into the price nowadays and as far as I'm aware you shouldn't be paying the £6 a month anyway (unless they claim it's a legacy charge).

    If you don't need the multiroom (or 4K TV which requires it) then you can knock another £13 off.

    You don't 'threaten' to cancel, if they won't offer something to suit yourself then put your 30 days notice in (presuming you're not in minimum term). You should have immediate offers on the Q box and in your account online that'll save money.

    I'd say you should be paying around £45 for Entertainment+HD+Boxsets+Sports.

    Thank you! Once you’re cancellation period do you still have access to everything? As I’d just be tempted to hold off and see what offers they come up with.
  • lw373
    lw373 Posts: 17 Forumite
    The answer just reading that is I'm afraid, a resounding yes.

    They're trying to move everybody off the legacy packages such as Variety & Boxsets (not to be confused with the Boxsets addon :( )

    The new(ish) Entertainment base package is easily available for £15 a month with addons such as Boxsets and HD (for the Entertainment channels) at £1 extra.

    Sports is a little bit more tricky as the new football season kicks off soon so they're less flexible. That said Sports HD is rolled into the price nowadays and as far as I'm aware you shouldn't be paying the £6 a month anyway (unless they claim it's a legacy charge).

    If you don't need the multiroom (or 4K TV which requires it) then you can knock another £13 off.

    You don't 'threaten' to cancel, if they won't offer something to suit yourself then put your 30 days notice in (presuming you're not in minimum term). You should have immediate offers on the Q box and in your account online that'll save money.

    I'd say you should be paying around £45 for Entertainment+HD+Boxsets+Sports.

    So I just rang them up and said about my intention to leave, they asked whether I’d like to speak to a “Price Team” (or whatever they called it) who will look into how they can save me money on my plan or a Retentions Team who they said will simply help with the cancellation. I asked to speak to the Price Team first and I quoted the figures you gave me saying I knew someone who had this deal, she said she couldn’t offer those figures and could only get my bill down to £55 or so, I said no to this and asked to cancel, she put me through to the Retentions Team. Surprisingly they now had a better offer of £42 a month and she also enrolled me into the Sky VIP programme as a Diamond member (which I didn’t even know existed?). I accepted all this as it seems pretty much in line with what you said and what I’ve read, I might have been able to get more off by going through with the cancellation but in all honesty I’m happy with saving £550 a year. The only thing I’ve given up for this new price is multi-room which is barely used, I tried to argue that it’s stupid 4K functionality is bundled in with multi-room and that I’d rather pay less for just 4K but apparently they can’t do that.

    A few things to note:

    • The first time I was passed to their first-contact operators (I think based in India) to the Price Team the line just went dead, it might be a genuine mistake on their part or just a way to weed out people who really can’t be bothered and wouldn’t bother ringing back up.
    • They first talk as if returning your mini box is at your own cost etc, turns out they send the packaging to you and it’s free to post, you have 60 days to return it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they find a better deal for multi-room before my cancellation comes into effect.
    • They hated it when I started questioning why I’m still paying for these legacy packages and needless/defunct extras (like a separate charge for Sky Sports HD), I’m pretty sure this helped in getting some more money off.

    Apparently VIP Diamond customers get access to cheap phones & broadband as well, I’ll have a look into that next weekend as my BT contract is now up, maybe I can play them off against each other.

    Thanks for the help!
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 5,186 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    lw373 wrote: »
    ...

    Apparently VIP Diamond customers get access to cheap phones & broadband as well, I’ll have a look into that next weekend as my BT contract is now up, maybe I can play them off against each other.

    Thanks for the help!

    Good work, that seemed pretty easy for you.

    VIP may have something useful for you but I got the free DVD initially and since then I've just entered the odd competition.
  • Is anyone else getting offered Sky Kids for free when looking at the "Latest Offers" page?

    I am getting this offer now when I am on the mysky website.
    I saw it yesterday as well when I looked at My Account on the SkyHD box.
    It looked like a 2 month reduction to £0 then back up to the usual price.
    Would be handy for the summer holidays.
  • savvy
    savvy Posts: 31,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    lw373 wrote: »
    Apparently VIP Diamond customers get access to cheap phones & broadband as well, I’ll have a look into that next weekend as my BT contract is now up, maybe I can play them off against each other.

    Thanks for the help!
    Don't get too excited with VIP, I've had it a while and meant to now get SkyQ free....yet that's not showing up in my offers etc! No matter as I'm looking to leave Sky after being with them for years, fed up of the constant rising costs and lack of good deals that everyone else seems to get :(
    Honorary Northern Bird bestowed by Anselm
    I'm a Board Guide and volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly on Special Occasions, Green/Ethical, Motoring/Overseas/UK Travel & Flood boards, it's not part of my role to deal with reportable posts. Report inappropriate or illegal posts to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. Views are MINE & not official MSE ones ;)
  • wapow
    wapow Posts: 939 Forumite
    damn i didnt see it was 2 months only !!
    Gonna cancel it tomorrow cos i accepted the bleeding thing!
  • wapow wrote: »
    damn i didnt see it was 2 months only !!
    Gonna cancel it tomorrow cos i accepted the bleeding thing!

    I did the same thing with three offers didn’t see it was only 2 months. HD/Netflix/Kids. How did you get on with your phone call?
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.