Sky TV - overcharging?...

Cocktailqueen

Why do we consider that when we haggle and get our monthly subscriptions down that we are saving money.

I rang Sky on Monday to complain that they were putting my package up from £90 to £92.50. I have no interest myself in SKY but my OH likes the football.

I took a deep breath as they are notoriously difficult to speak to and made a call to their disconnections department. To cut a long story short they offered to reduce my bill to £63 a month. No haggling required. So in all £30 quid less than I am currently paying for TV and broadband. After about an hour on the phone I got off and it made me cross that they could shave so much off. So in other words they overcharge. My sisters both did the same and we all saved on average or were overcharged (depending on how you see it) £40 per month. I also think that they write to customers putting the price up so people complain and they reduce the cost but tie you in to a new contract. All 3 of us have signed up for 12 months with the reduction for first 10 months.

I am defo getting rid of it after 12 months is up.

[Deleted User]

Cocktailqueen wrote: »

Why do we consider that when we haggle and get our monthly subscriptions down that we are saving money.

...signed up for 12 months with the reduction for first 10 months.

I am defo getting rid of it after 12 months is up.

Is the bolded sentence a trick question?

You should have insisted on 12 months of discount, not 10.

If you're definitely getting rid in 12 months, why have you renewed?

Cocktailqueen

I did ask for 12 months but they said no. But said I could ring after 10 months to see what they could do.

I only renewed because my husband likes sports and some strange old car programmes. He wants to keep it. Got to let the old man have some fun (Lol)

I spoke to him after I called SKY and we agreed to look at other options like BT sport. I also found out that you can get other options with NOW TV including SKY Atlantic.

Have you got any suggestions for me?

JJ_Egan

BT Sport is paid for from August around £3.50 a month .Checkout BT TV as well .
Dependant upon sport wanted loads of football more than anything .

teddysmum

There will be no deal at ten months, as they have you in contract to pay full price for the last two months.


You certainly do save money by haggling and we regulars are amazed by the number of people willing to pay full price for years.


Almost invariably, when you refuse a ten month deal they contact you offering 12, before going further by offering more discount, but the best deals are when you let the service go off. Unlike phone and broadband, there is no harm in cancelling, as the service can be reinstated in minutes.


At the moment we are paying under £6 a month (taking into account £100 credit) for Boxed Sets and Cinema. (Actually it's zero until the credit runs out, then £14.)

Cocktailqueen

It's not full price for the last 2 months. It goes up but not to the price I am paying now so still lower.

What are you paying for. Sounds very low. I have multi room and broad band plus my telephone with SKY.

mije1983

Cocktailqueen wrote: »

What are you paying for. Sounds very low. I have multi room and broad band plus my telephone with SKY.

£14 a month for that package sounds like it's probably a 75% off deal.


Sky are not 'overcharging' you. They are a business whose intention is to maximise profits, not to make everyone happy. If people are paying the headline rate then Sky are making maximum profit from them.

But if people are insistent on leaving, Sky would rather make 25/50% of the monthly rate, rather than lose that income stream altogether. That's why you get the best offers when you put your notice in, or even have it switched off completely. 50% of £x per month is better to Sky than 100% of £0.

Cocktailqueen

I was happy to put my notice in and hold my nerve but they agreed to reduce it for me as soon as I called them. My sister rang them and told them she was moving to Virgin and they agreed to reduce her bill from £115 to £96 so she told them to forget about it and to disconnect her. She didn't really want to move away. After about a week they rang her and offered to reduce it to £73 which is around the same amount they offered me.

I do not believe they would reduce my bill by 50% to retain me but I could be wrong. I do have an extensive package which adds to the cost. I have Sky Sports, movies, multi room, broadband and telephone. They also agreed to upgrade me to the new fast fibre optic as I complained about slow download speeds. I used to pay BT £29 a month just for my phone so I am happy with this reduction and glad I rang them. Many thanks for comments.

teddysmum

They do usually give some kind of reduction immediately or soon after cancellation, but better offers take time.


Yes my offer was a 75% off making £14 for Boxed Sets and Cinema, with the £100 credit bringing the average to under £6.


I did have broadband (ADSL) and line with them , but just before the combined price was introduced could only get an offer of free broadband , whereas I'd had half price Original , half price line and free broadband previously, so mover the latter two to PlusNet. This was followed by the good tv offer.