Sky TV retention deals ( post your haggling successes )

MouldyOldDough

Purely out of interest - what is the maximum that any of you would be willing to pay Sky for a TV service ?

I mean - if they doubled your present tariff - or trebled it - would you continue to pay regardless ?

I was just wondering at what point, you would say "enough is enough - goodbye"?

If your answer is "I don't know" or "it depends", perhaps you should think carefully before signing up for another 18 months/2 years...

And bear in mind that by the end of the decade, perhaps earlier - Sky will become a purely streaming service - with no recording with the added disadvantage of not being able to avoid the ever lengthening adverts !!

Scooter_1978

Any tips/advice greatly welcome for the below.

I currently have a deal with SKY and pay £62 a month for the signature package, HD and broadband.

They've just sent me an email saying signature is going up £4 a month and broadband £3 a month from April.

I'm not happy about my new monthly bill being just shy of £70 (£69.50) - to be honest I already wanted it lower as my mum pays £42 for signature, netflix and broadband.

My signature contract is up in September and broadband is up in October (I've been with them over 20 years)

Many thanks.

southlad

Does anyone know if Sky Q still offer the service where you just get the free view channels but you can pay to have the recording facilities? 

GrubbyGirl_2

southlad said:

Does anyone know if Sky Q still offer the service where you just get the free view channels but you can pay to have the recording facilities? 

Yes, it's called Sky Essentials.  I think it's about £18 a month but don't quote me on that

akh43

MouldyOldDough said:

Purely out of interest - what is the maximum that any of you would be willing to pay Sky for a TV service ?

I mean - if they doubled your present tariff - or trebled it - would you continue to pay regardless ?

I was just wondering at what point, you would say "enough is enough - goodbye"?

If your answer is "I don't know" or "it depends", perhaps you should think carefully before signing up for another 18 months/2 years...

And bear in mind that by the end of the decade, perhaps earlier - Sky will become a purely streaming service - with no recording with the added disadvantage of not being able to avoid the ever lengthening adverts !!

I have reached that point now.  After many years of getting discounts and still currently on a £9 discount on signature, which is all I have with Sky, I noticed my bill will be going up from the current £27.50 to £31.50 on 7 April.  I still have the old HD box, which they have been trying to get me to change for years, but due to recording so much and not wanting to lose I have always opted to stay with the HD box.  

I was told last year I could get a better offer than £27.50, but would have to commit to a new 18 month contract, which I did not want to do so stuck with the £27.50, but at least I can give 31 days notice and leave them.  

Currently working my way through my recordings and over 50% free at the moment so hopefully once I clear them I will be cancelling.  I will miss the recording facility, but reckon I could buy a freeview recorder, if needed, for less than 1 year's Sky payments and if I do want to watch any Sky shows will do a 6 month Now TV trial, currently at £6.99, but currently planning just to have a few months with no Sky and see how I get on.  

I have the residue of 12 month Paramount+ free trial courtesy of Sky, do occasional Apple+ free trials, have access to my son's Amazon Prime and 2 x 3 months Disney+ from Tesco Clubcard so will have plenty to watch in the meantime.  

It will be strange to be without Sky, I think that is what they rely on and why many people stay subscribed, but after over 23 years I have decided enough is enough.

laddy1984

southlad said:

Does anyone know if Sky Q still offer the service where you just get the free view channels but you can pay to have the recording facilities? 

Yes it's also available for the older Sky+ boxes to enable recordings to be made from the Free channels and access your older recordings for between £5 and £15 per month depending on your negotiating.

MarcJ88

I know the April rises are normal but I was told in November – after many, many calls/emails back and forth – that the brand new £60 deal would definitely stay the same for 24 months.

Signature + Ultimate TV Netflix Standard + HD + Broadband

So in the space of 4-5 months, it’s going from £55 to £67.49, which feels like a huge betrayal. Do I have any rights here? I flat out don’t want to pay that… like, at all. Got an angry wife.

But we can’t get out of this, right?

deanos

MarcJ88 said:

I know the April rises are normal but I was told in November – after many, many calls/emails back and forth – that the brand new £60 deal would definitely stay the same for 24 months.

Signature + Ultimate TV Netflix Standard + HD + Broadband

So in the space of 4-5 months, it’s going from £55 to £67.49, which feels like a huge betrayal. Do I have any rights here? I flat out don’t want to pay that… like, at all. Got an angry wife.

But we can’t get out of this, right?

Do you have any evidence it would stay same price ? If you do then get back onto them and complain 

miller

deanos said:

MarcJ88 said:

I know the April rises are normal but I was told in November – after many, many calls/emails back and forth – that the brand new £60 deal would definitely stay the same for 24 months.

Signature + Ultimate TV Netflix Standard + HD + Broadband

So in the space of 4-5 months, it’s going from £55 to £67.49, which feels like a huge betrayal. Do I have any rights here? I flat out don’t want to pay that… like, at all. Got an angry wife.

But we can’t get out of this, right?

Do you have any evidence it would stay same price ? If you do then get back onto them and complain 

Having been in a situation recently with another provider where what was agreed on the phone was not actioned I'll be recording all calls from now on or using written ways of contact. They couldn't find their recording which was very convenient, I'm sure they would if it helped their case.

GrubbyGirl_2

I have now been without Sky for 5 months and nothing would persuade me to go back.  I have a freesat recorder but now I'm used to streaming I hardly record anything.  I used to have sky signature with Netflix and multi room for £59.50 a month.  I now have the with ads subscriptions to Netflix and Now Entertainment I also have Disney free with my bank, total cost £11.98 (£12.98 from April) so a saving of £558 a year from April (although it's actually more as my sky prices would have gone up then too).  However I've discovered that there is far less to watch on Sky than I realised so will likely cancel after my 6 month deal and just resubscribe for the odd month if something comes on I want to watch.  Also I would say not to rush into paying for no ads.  Even on the sky channels there are much fewer ads and when they do come on they are much shorter.  I've found many times that Netflix programmes don't have ads anyway. Oh and all the streaming is in HD and I only had SD with Sky Q

The biggest problem for me was the multi room and being able to watch in the bedroom.  I have smart TVs but they are horribly slow and clunky.  I did some research and bought an Apple TV box and that was a game changer.  I added the TV Launcher app and a few other apps and it feels like I'm watching live TV.  It's not only really quick you get a live TV guide and can change channels easily though with some channels you will have to download specific apps to work in the background to get them but that is easily done.  It also has loads of features I haven't even tried but the best is being able to say "what did he say?" if you miss a bit of dialogue.  It will automatically wind back 30 seconds and switch on the subtitles for that bit.  A feature I never knew I needed but it's been brilliant!

So my advice is don't fear the unknown, Sky is not the be all and end all.  There is life after Sky and it's pretty good.