Sky TV retention deals ( post your haggling successes )

Snowball389

Hello all, thank you for all who post their queries and successes which is always interesting. Sky VIP customer 15 + years with old sky + box, renewal and haggle time looms in 2 months. Just wanted to ask that I understand the new Sky deals at £25 and £35 respectively are available to existing customers if you ring up to enquire. Haven’t checked yet. However as example the £35 deal includes sky q, Netflix, entertainment, cinema, hd etc. If you add sports package which I have, it comes to £50 per month with £20 set up. If it is available for existing customers wondered if you think that is worth considering before I go through the usual cancel procedure and online haggle. Be grateful for tips.

csgohan4

Snowball389 wrote: »

Hello all, thank you for all who post their queries and successes which is always interesting. Sky VIP customer 15 + years with old sky + box, renewal and haggle time looms in 2 months. Just wanted to ask that I understand the new Sky deals at £25 and £35 respectively are available to existing customers if you ring up to enquire. Haven’t checked yet. However as example the £35 deal includes sky q, Netflix, entertainment, cinema, hd etc. If you add sports package which I have, it comes to £50 per month with £20 set up. If it is available for existing customers wondered if you think that is worth considering before I go through the usual cancel procedure and online haggle. Be grateful for tips.

See what above are saying in terms of packages offered for renewal, yours seems to be over priced

MM2002

total breakdown from my bill shows as
Box sets £20.75 (including £20.75 discount)
HD Basic £0.00
Sky Multiscreen £13.00
Sky+ Subscriptio £0.00
Subtotal £33.75


Broadband and Talk
Ski Wifi £0.00
Sky Fibre Unlimited £15.40 (including £6.60 discount)
Sky Line rental £11.39 (including £7.60 discount)
subtotal £26.79


My OP shows higher BB and talk cost as there was chargable calls made.


How does this look Colin?


Cheers
Matt

csgohan4

MM2002 wrote: »

total breakdown from my bill shows as
Box sets £20.75 (including £20.75 discount)
HD Basic £0.00
Sky Multiscreen £13.00
Sky+ Subscriptio £0.00
Subtotal £33.75


Broadband and Talk
Ski Wifi £0.00
Sky Fibre Unlimited £15.40 (including £6.60 discount)
Sky Line rental £11.39 (including £7.60 discount)
subtotal £26.79


My OP shows higher BB and talk cost as there was chargable calls made.


How does this look Colin?


Cheers
Matt

your fibre is too much, current deals are about £16 + via cashback on the broadband checker on MSE. I am paying 23 pounds for vodafone superfast 2 with £100 cashback. Your paying way too much for that

[Deleted User]

MM2002 wrote: »

total breakdown from my bill shows as
Box sets £20.75 (including £20.75 discount)
HD Basic £0.00
Sky Multiscreen £13.00
Sky+ Subscriptio £0.00
Subtotal £33.75


Broadband and Talk
Ski Wifi £0.00
Sky Fibre Unlimited £15.40 (including £6.60 discount)
Sky Line rental £11.39 (including £7.60 discount)
subtotal £26.79


My OP shows higher BB and talk cost as there was chargable calls made.


How does this look Colin?


Cheers
Matt

Boxsets is effectively Entertainment + Boxsets(confusing I know) + HD so is a little overpriced, I would be happy with £15+£1+£1 for £17 total plus your multi-room (which seems to be difficult to get discounts on)

csgohan4 wrote: »

your fibre is too much, current deals are about £16 + via cashback on the broadband checker on MSE. I am paying 23 pounds for vodafone superfast 2 with £100 cashback. Your paying way too much for that

I'd have said the fibre isn't bad although I'd have wanted anytime calls included at that price. Although you can get cheaper (presuming that the cashback tracks which isn't a given) the downside of that is that you're now stuck with Vodafone CS if something goes wrong. I would have more trust in Sky personally than Vodafone.

Gizmo247

Snowball389 wrote: »

Hello all, thank you for all who post their queries and successes which is always interesting. Sky VIP customer 15 + years with old sky + box, renewal and haggle time looms in 2 months. Just wanted to ask that I understand the new Sky deals at £25 and £35 respectively are available to existing customers if you ring up to enquire. Haven’t checked yet. However as example the £35 deal includes sky q, Netflix, entertainment, cinema, hd etc. If you add sports package which I have, it comes to £50 per month with £20 set up. If it is available for existing customers wondered if you think that is worth considering before I go through the usual cancel procedure and online haggle. Be grateful for tips.

As for all these things, it is best to read the small print - or in Sky's case the print hidden in a collapsible panel.

The latest "Watch Netflix for Free" deal from Sky looks tempting and if you are willing to commit to Sky for 18 months then it looks like a good deal in the short term (if you think 18 months is short) but the devil is in the detail.

Sky have changed things, but it's so subtle, you may not have noticed - Sky have moved from packages to bundles.

The packages you select create a bundle together with your discount. If you want to remove a package e.g. Drop Sport or Cinema then the bundle is broken, the discount is lost and everything reverts to being very expensive.

This extends to broadband as well, so if you leave Sky Broadband, you will lose your TV discount because you have broken the bundle.

So, why have Sky done this - simple - FEAR!

Sky are desperately trying to paste over the cracks in their business model, trying to prevent their customers becoming Cord Cutters and moving to third-party 31 day contracts by preying on their fear of losing a discount and being locked into an expensive contract.

Things are changing so fast with the move to Direct-to-Customer by content providers. Sky used to be just a middleman aggregator, charging a premium for their service, now they are an integrator too with the Netflix integration. But they are no longer alone, Roku and new Apple (TV) do this too - for free.

Sky is almost certainly going to lose all of the Disney content to Disney+ in 2020. If they don't do an identical integration to that done for Netflix then are the going to drop the price of Sky Cinema to compensate? - Nah! If they do integrate, are they going to put the price up to charge you again for the same content you already had? - Never a popular move. Or give it away free? - not financially sensible.

And this could get really bad, if HBO move in with HBO Max and UK legacy content moves to BritBox.

In their current format, Sky are vulnerable, even under new ownership of Comcast and I can't see things improving from them in 2020 or continuing in their current form into 2021.

Sky are desperately trying to prop up their installed TV base. If you have had Sky Broadband installed recently as a non-Sky TV customer, you will know that Sky are offering to install a refurbished Sky+HD box with HD and recording for free, so being able to claim you are a TV customer.

I have been with Sky since the very start of Sky Digital but I just can't see any circumstance under which I would sign another 18 month contract when there is so much to offer elsewhere, with no contract.

My advice is watch what you have left of interest on the hard disk and look elsewhere.

[Deleted User]

Gizmo247 wrote: »

As for all these things, it is best to read the small print - or in Sky's case the print hidden in a collapsible panel.

The latest "Watch Netflix for Free" deal from Sky looks tempting and if you are willing to commit to Sky for 18 months then it looks like a good deal in the short term (if you think 18 months is short) but the devil is in the detail.

Sky have changed things, but it's so subtle, you may not have noticed - Sky have moved from packages to bundles.

The packages you select create a bundle together with your discount. If you want to remove a package e.g. Drop Sport or Cinema then the bundle is broken, the discount is lost and everything reverts to being very expensive.

This extends to broadband as well, so if you leave Sky Broadband, you will lose your TV discount because you have broken the bundle.

So, why have Sky done this - simple - FEAR!

Sky are desperately trying to paste over the cracks in their business model, trying to prevent their customers becoming Cord Cutters and moving to third-party 31 day contracts by preying on their fear of losing a discount and being locked into an expensive contract.

Things are changing so fast with the move to Direct-to-Customer by content providers. Sky used to be just a middleman aggregator, charging a premium for their service, now they are an integrator too with the Netflix integration. But they are no longer alone, Roku and new Apple (TV) do this too - for free.

Sky is almost certainly going to lose all of the Disney content to Disney+ in 2020. If they don't do an identical integration to that done for Netflix then are the going to drop the price of Sky Cinema to compensate? - Nah! If they do integrate, are they going to put the price up to charge you again for the same content you already had? - Never a popular move. Or give it away free? - not financially sensible.

And this could get really bad, if HBO move in with HBO Max and UK legacy content moves to BritBox.

In their current format, Sky are vulnerable, even under new ownership of Comcast and I can't see things improving from them in 2020 or continuing in their current form into 2021.

Sky are desperately trying to prop up their installed TV base. If you have had Sky Broadband installed recently as a non-Sky TV customer, you will know that Sky are offering to install a refurbished Sky+HD box with HD and recording for free, so being able to claim you are a TV customer.

I have been with Sky since the very start of Sky Digital but I just can't see any circumstance under which I would sign another 18 month contract when there is so much to offer elsewhere, with no contract.

My advice is watch what you have left of interest on the hard disk and look elsewhere.

Sky have changed things, but it's so subtle, you may not have noticed - Sky have moved from packages to bundles.

True enough for the new customer deals at least but then they are decent deals so it's fair enough to my mind. I wouldn't say it's particularly hidden though as anyone signing up to a new deal would be reading the small print (probably not I know but they should and I have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't). I'm due for a renegotiation in March I think and I agree that the landscape may look very different even by then, interesting times ahead.

This extends to broadband as well, so if you leave Sky Broadband, you will lose your TV discount because you have broken the bundle.

Not according to their website at least:-

New 18 month contracts. Separate contracts apply for TV, Broadband & Talk

Gizmo247

Not according to their website at least

I'm probably wrong but I think that has changed over the last day or two. Interestingly, the HD package was also bundled into hardware choice and has now been pulled out again, meaning "Ultra HD" and "Ultimate" options are now the same price.

And why there is no Sky "X" product (Austrian PAYG variant - a re-purposed Sky Q Mini) in the UK, is anyone's guess? What sort of platform-based TV company, would ask for their equipment back and say "Good Ridence" to a customer who ends their 18 month contract without trying to sell them a cheaper alternative to keep their box under the TV - oh Sky!

Blinker's on

jojaca

I signed back up to Sky TV in July because of the football and paying £48 for sports/boxsets and NETFLIX. I really regret signing up to an 18 month contract and the most annoying part of my contract is that I have No HD for entertainment channels. So I feel like I am getting ripped off paying nearly £50 and my channels are not in HD(I refuse to pay the £5 extra) and I have given up my previous 4k Netflix. Im still watching Netflix/Amazon over Sky Boxsets and its been very little use to me.

I am hoping for price rise mid contract so I can cancel the lot.

[Deleted User]

jojaca wrote: »

I signed back up to Sky TV in July because of the football and paying £48 for sports/boxsets and NETFLIX. I really regret signing up to an 18 month contract and the most annoying part of my contract is that I have No HD for entertainment channels. So I feel like I am getting ripped off paying nearly £50 and my channels are not in HD(I refuse to pay the £5 extra) and I have given up my previous 4k Netflix. Im still watching Netflix/Amazon over Sky Boxsets and its been very little use to me.

I am hoping for price rise mid contract so I can cancel the lot.

Boxsets is included in the Ultimate on Demand so if you're getting a good deal on it versus Netflix standalone then you can view Boxsets as a free bonus. If not, check that it's on a 30 day rolling contract for the add-on and cancel it down (I think you can do it via your account) and pay for Netflix separately. While there see if there's any offers for the Entertainment HD or even give them a call and see if they'll swap at a deal that suits you. In fact given the new deals I'd call them regardless and see if they can help you although it may entail a new 18 month contract.