Our new Sky Haggling guide - please share your feedback

J292

Lisey_Loo said:

Can anyone help with this?

They won’t budge on lowering the price whereas before they did some good deals to keep me.

If I go ahead & cancel, what happens with offers etc to stay? 

Once you’ve cancelled you’ll be put into the “winback” category and that department tend to have the deepest offers they may try to contact you during the 30 day cancellation period if your marketing preferences are set for them to contact you as they have outbound sales teams to do that job. Failing that there is a live chat option or an inbound winback team that can be contacted.

Peppa537

Lisey_Loo said:

Can anyone help with this?

They won’t budge on lowering the price whereas before they did some good deals to keep me.

If I go ahead & cancel, what happens with offers etc to stay? 

As someone else has mentioned you do need to put your cancellation in, it’s 31 days notice so doesn’t switch off straight away. I actually put cancellation in a week ago for mine to end on 26th November when my Sky contract ends. I pay £44 a month for Signature, Ultimate Add On, Sports, Cinema, HD & UHD. It would have supposedly gone up to £92 but who would pay that! Before cancelling I was offered £68, then I had a phone call Tuesday offering it for £48 (I declined) and they said they’d call again nearer the cut off date. Then I had an email that seemed to add up to what I currently pay and it said no admin fee, but when I clicked on the link to chat and try and negotiate it a bit lower they said HD wasn’t included so it was £48 and with an admin fee. Obviously I turned this down and I’ll wait for them to contact again, if they don’t I’ll let the cancellation go through. Just make sure in your online account you’ve given permission for them to contact you otherwise you’ll hear nothing. Also never accept their first offer unless it’s something wonderful but it’s unlike to be, and ignore them if they try and tell you a poor offer is the best you’ll get as it isn’t. 

Peppa537

Following my above post I had another text from Sky with a link for live chat to review my options and a number to call. The live chat was just scare mongering nonsense from them, a worse deal than before and told me the price of offers will keep increasing nearer the cut off date if I turn them down. I phoned afterwards and the representative offered me something slightly better but not worth accepting yet as still have a month to go that I’ve just paid for. He also started getting a bit grumpy when I explained that because of this there was no point me dropping packages yet to lower the monthly cost. They’re definitely harder to negotiate with now, however the arrogance of Sky as if they’re the only TV option nowadays is annoying, I don’t blame the staff for this as they are limited as to what they can offer. For example they kept going on about how cheap Netflix is through them, but I said it’s the same with BT TV, some EE sims etc. Anyway a full price Netflix sub with freesat is a lot cheaper than Signature, Ultimate TV, HD & UHD and the signature only channels don’t really add that much. I like sport and films but I’ve already decided that unless they contact me with some fantastic offer then it’s bye to Sky. With the rising costs elsewhere and streaming being so reliable I’m not really interested in getting stuck on another 18 month contract.

miller

There's 230 pages in this thread; if you distill its essence - you need to cancel and give 31 days' notice. Once you do that, you'll get the good deals.

Peppa537

miller said:

There's 230 pages in this thread; if you distill its essence - you need to cancel and give 31 days' notice. Once you do that, you'll get the good deals.

Not sure if this is a reply to me or a general post but I have given notice to cancel.

miller

It was just a general post as I'd noticed there were so many pages on it (probably not worth going through all of them); hopefully you'll get a decent deal.

applicationcen

I've got a week before cut off, 17 Nov. Weirdly the Bill section says it goes to 12 Dec, but I gave notice on 17 October, so that can't be right. I've had a text link sent to 'view my options' but it says it is busy and there is a phone number to call. Well I'm not hanging about waiting on the phone so I won't call them.
I suspect if they put me on Sky Q so I can get hold of the UHD HDR content I might be interested in coming back.
Otherwise I'll have to learn how to use my TVs operating system instead of reaching for the Sky + remote!
AND see if Black Friday can get me a good price on a Humax recorder.

Sterlingtimes

I cannot walk away because of the feelings of other family members.

Critical dates
19 November is 31 days before the end of the minimum term
25 November watch for any Black Friday deals
20 December is the end of the minimum term

I am wondering whether I can have several stabs at this. Could I give 31 days' notice to cancel the services I do not need (Cinema, currently £12 - £2 = £10, and UHD, currently £4 - £2 = £2)? This may trigger a wider discussion. I will say that I will discuss the total cancellation with my wife.

Removing the unwanted services, may clear the way for a more focused negotiation a few days later.

brewerdave

Sterlingtimes said:

I am wondering whether I can have several stabs at this. Could I give 31 days' notice to cancel the services I do not need (Cinema, currently £12 - £2 = £10, and UHD, currently £4 - £2 = £2)? This may trigger a wider discussion. I will say that I will discuss the total cancellation with my wife.

Removing the unwanted services, may clear the way for a more focused negotiation a few days later.

Funnily enuf ,when I've opened negotiations with Sky in the past, pleading poverty, that is the usual Sky approach - suggest that I can save money by dropping packages. However, a few years ago ,I pointed out politely to the agent ,that the reduced package was still going to be more than I was currently paying ,so hardly money saving!

Sterlingtimes

brewerdave said:

Funnily enuf ,when I've opened negotiations with Sky in the past, pleading poverty, that is the usual Sky approach - suggest that I can save money by dropping packages. However, a few years ago ,I pointed out politely to the agent ,that the reduced package was still going to be more than I was currently paying ,so hardly money saving!

Thank you, Dave. From my wider Googling, it appears that cancelling even a tiny part of a package would constitute a breach of contract. I am inclined to cancel Movies and UHD 31 days before my end date with a view to having a second stab a week or so later.