Why aren't Sky trying to win me back?

Red-Squirrel_2

Every year just before Christmas I cancel my Sky package, and every year the 'win back' team start ringing straightaway until they finally drop to a price I'll accept.

This year, nothing! Nada. Radio silence. Its been 3 weeks! If they don't hurry up the cancellation will actually happen this time!

Are they on to me? Are they actually going to call my bluff? :eek:

dawyldthing

To be honest with the offers on now tv there's probably little point in staying nowadays

teddysmum

We've been off for a month,but beyond the 'accept now' 50% offer at cancellation, repeated by leaflet, the offer has stayed at 30%.The left within 12months link and the My Sky page both say no offer can be made, so call.
I won't be calling and don't expect any offers as they have made package changes which mean lower costs for some. Also,last time charging patterns (combining line and internet fees)were changed, there were no good offers just before and a while after.

brewerdave

I think their admin. must be a complete mess at the moment...... I cancelled in September, accepted a 60% off in October (as part of an attempted sort out of the complete mess they had made of the renaming of the Sports packages!).....but yesterday I got a letter exorting me "to come back to Sky" with 50% off any package:rotfl:

pen1

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Every year just before Christmas I cancel my Sky package, and every year the 'win back' team start ringing straightaway until they finally drop to a price I'll accept.

This year, nothing! Nada. Radio silence. Its been 3 weeks! If they don't hurry up the cancellation will actually happen this time!

Are they on to me? Are they actually going to call my bluff? :eek:

It was all very predictable, wasn't it? Every year, (some) customers would pursue their "annual discount", whilst laughing and/or fretting that if the cancellation actually came to fruition, the "wife would divorce them" and the "kids would leave home".

I think there's a bit of a "shakeout" going on, of who's genuinely prepared to do without Sky and who's bluffing; and that whilst Sky might lose some customers as a consequence, they will also benefit from re-committing some on lower discounts.

Churn (cancellations) have risen in the past few years and they are putting a lot of effort in to addressing this, including changing the package structure to make the options more flexible. For the time being, retaining customers "at all costs" is not the strategy, in my opinion.

The new structure and retention/winback strategy appears to be directed at committing more customers to an 18 month minimum term on the single base pack- Entertainment- then offering more flexibility around additions/removals from the base pack, with most options being on a 31 day rolling contract.

The latest winback offer I have on My Sky, enables all the options except "Entertainment" (which is 18 month minimum term) to be cancelled on 31 days' notice at any time; albeit that the standard price then applies to those options, if you subsequently wish to re-add them.

Red-Squirrel_2

Well it looks like I shall have to actually go through with it this year! I shall miss my Sky Cinema but I sure as hell won't be paying £50 a month to get it!

Better start shopping around for a new broadband provider then!

Kim_13

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Well it looks like I shall have to actually go through with it this year! I shall miss my Sky Cinema but I sure as hell won't be paying £50 a month to get it!

Better start shopping around for a new broadband provider then!

Shop around for a Now TV bundle, the box comes bundled with some passes (you can get Sky Cinema) and after that Currys PC World have 3 months for £25.

Standard price is £9.99 though if you go online to cancel, it offers a discount.

Free 14 day trial if you don't put a pass on straight away (you can cancel online as soon as you take it so it just stops working after the 14 days until you use/buy a pass.) Beware the one trial per household rule though, as they'll charge the standard £9.99 for a month if someone's already had the trial.

Be sure to get unlimited downloads broadband if you want to try Now TV.

overpricedcoffee

I have a while to wait for my Sky to come around to renewal which is Oct 18 but I will also be looking at Now TV for what we watch (we never bother recording) we could save money by going with Now TV.

Vodafone also offer the entertainment pack which I will go to next year (using spotify currently) so this will cut down my bill even more.

Then I can decide whether now tv movie pass is worth getting or not.

saver87

Few months ago now, but I was privy to Sky being desperate to keep customers. I was paying £93 for phone line, sky 40/10 Fibre Unlimited, all TV Package including Sports but not Cinema. I cancelled and within 3days I had a 50% discount for the TV package part which took it down to £73 initially and I held out for a better deal, I had several missed calls over a week or so and they then offered £63 and no price increases for 12 months which was a pretty good deal. For those who have not done it before, don't be afraid to cancel as once you do, you have 30 days to cancel your cancellation and if you do it's business as normal. I would assume they are aware of what you are doing or they have enough new customers coming in from January promotions. Might be worth trying again in a few months time.

Podsy

Similar happened to us back in October 17. We have been Sky customers for about 5 years. Every year around contract renewal time I had to play 'I'm going to leave' and every time retentions came back with a good deal - at least 50% off. However this year they didn't bother. I think the best they offered was 30 or 40% off, nothing to entice me. Cut off day came and went. We managed with freeview and an amazon firestick for a couple of weeks and then Virgin gave us a really good deal, for everything, TV and phone and Broadband. So we are now back with Virgin. Today I got a 'please come back' from Sky offering 50% off (12 month contract). A bit late Sky - you've lost us!

MrsWenger

I gave notice just after Christmas. Tried retention team, their best offer was £49.95 for full TV, I had previously been paying £32. 30% offer showing online. No contact from Sky by telephone but i have had a survey emailed to me to complete asking why I cancelled. Will see if that triggers any further correspondence.