Possible move from Virgin to Sky - any advice, please?

touchstone

I'd be grateful for any advice and information on the situation my mother finds herself in.  My father died of coronavirus at the beginning of January and my siblings and I are helping her sort out the technology-related utilities, which had always been his area.

My parents have been with Virgin for many years and had gone out of contract.  They were paying c.£90 a month for three boxes, unlimited UK mobile and landline calls, M100 internet, and the 'maxit' TV package (no sports or films).  Keen to remove one of the boxes and move to the 'mixit' TV package, my sister and I have tried to change her deal with Virgin.

Virgin agreed to move the account into my mother's name, and promised that this wouldn't equate to a new contract (the paperwork they sent suggested otherwise - it hasn't been signed).  They also told her she would lose her landline number if she moved anywhere else - this would be a dealbreaker, as my parents have had the same number for about 45 years. 

After several promises of return calls (which didn't happen), I sat on the line to Virgin for ages and the lowest they would offer was £78 for two boxes, unlimited UK mobile and landline calls, M100 internet, and the 'maxit' package. It was £80 with the 'mixit' package, which makes no sense to me!

Having researched Sky, it appears that my mother can get everything she wants on Sky for under £50 a month as a new customer.  She will also be cancelling her Now TV subscription, so the saving is even greater.  I phoned and spoke to one of their customer service representatives, who said that there was 'likely to be no problem' with moving the landline number...

I have a few questions which I was hoping someone might be able to help with:

1. when we cancel with Virgin, are they likely to be difficult about moving the landline number to Sky?
2. when we cancel with Virgin, is it worth holding out for a week before confirming with Sky, in case Virgin offer a comparable rate, or will they never offer c.£50 for the same service?
3. I see from another post on this forum that Sky are not visiting homes.  Does anyone know how installation can take place under these circumstances?
4. whilst we are planning to order Sky services online, in order to take advantage of cashback, would we get a better deal if we phoned up and haggled?

Many thanks to anyone who can help.

Brewer21

Sorry for your loss in these difficult times, it's not made any better with you having to deal with such things.
I'm having Sky broadband installed tomorrow, that will be by Openreach installing a new line first then I suppose I have to self install the Sky hub of which I now have as it was delivered on Saturday. I didn't have a BT landline active and no internal box on the wall to connect up, hence Openreach cost tomorrow.  So if that goes ok I'll be up and running.
Now the important bit, I had my TV service installed and activated last week by Sky, full package for £64, BB, phone (just the line no calls included) and TV, includes Sky Sports and cinema. I could have taken Netflix for an extra £4 but declined. The installer on arrival told me he can't enter the property but he can install anything on the outside, so basically put the dish up and cables. If you haven't got a hole through the wall to poke the cable through the one needs to be drilled but unfortunately he can't do it, no allowed to come in and as he pointed out it needs to be drilled from inside not from the outside. With this I asked if I could still my own, he said no problems with that but I'd have to use my own equipment, drill etc. I've got all that so he fitted the dish I drilled the hole and then he poked his cable and I connected up. He set the box up for me through an open window, fortunately it was close to my TV.
So the message is and they don't outline this so much when signing up to Sky only in a text or email afterwards, they won't enter the property to do final set up or drill holes etc. Basically if it's going to be a problem for you I'd wait.
My landline number with Virgin has or from tomorrow will be changed to Sky keeping the same number I've had for 40 odd years, that's what they told me at Sky.
Virgin contract cancelled earlier this month, I had a dispute over prices with them, long story there but basically they offered a derisery discount and quite frankly their CS has declined so much I decided to leave. 
If after trying to cancel you get nowhere ring this number...0345 454 1098 it got me through without much of a wait, although you may find it cuts out depending on what time of day, persistent is the key. It gets you through to retentions, I spoke to a nice lady there and she wasn't pushy at all about anything but did try to offer me a better deal. At this point although helpful I had decided to cut tie with VM as I'd already signed up with Sky.
Thirty days notice to cancel with Virgin and was told 30 cooling off period with Sky when you join. I was up and running with Sky TV within 10 days of booking, tomorrow as I say the BB install happens. I just hope it was all worth it, so far the TV is very good, Virgin ends for me March 11th, for now I have TV channels coming out of every where with the two running side by side.
Sorry for the long post, hope it helps you and others.
Stay safe, stay strong.

Brewer21

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, it won't let me edit above.

JJ_Egan

Sky install depends . Do you have a BT Master socket .

VM and Sky are on two different systems .

If you sign up with Sky you need to manually cancel VM .

(4. whilst we are planning to order Sky services online, in order to take advantage of cashback, would we get a better deal if we phoned up and haggled?)

Unlikely as it will be a new customer better price deal , nothing to stop you trying .

Phone number transfer you need to do it the correct way to avoid losing that number .

PZ19

1. no they shouldn’t you just port your number across.  There is a process for this I believe.
2. Yes, you can cancel virgin so long as you are out of contract.  They often but not always call you back with better offer to try and make you stay. Often in the first few days after cancellation goes in. However if they haven’t, once they get the request to port your phone number across to Sky, that is likely to kick them into calling.
3. Been answered by Brewer21
4. Unlikely to be honest as it’s a new customer deal, however no harm in ringing Sky and telling them you thinking of leaving virgin, what can they offer you for what you want.

littleboo

The other option for the number porting is to port it into  a VOIP provider such as Sipgate, this means should you change providers again, you don't need to port the number. You would need a suitable phone, router or adapter to allow you to use a VOIP service. The telephone network as we know it is due to be switched off in 2025 and VOIP is the replacement.

Brewer21

PZ19 said:

1. no they shouldn’t you just port your number across.  There is a process for this I believe.
2. Yes, you can cancel virgin so long as you are out of contract.  They often but not always call you back with better offer to try and make you stay. Often in the first few days after cancellation goes in. However if they haven’t, once they get the request to port your phone number across to Sky, that is likely to kick them into calling.
3. Been answered by Brewer21
4. Unlikely to be honest as it’s a new customer deal, however no harm in ringing Sky and telling them you thinking of leaving virgin, what can they offer you for what you want.

Just to add but not in the OPs case, they are out of contract.
You can cancel your contract if you don't agree or want to accept the recent price rise. My contract runs until January 2022, my letter said I have the right to cancel my contract up until February 25th this year and I did.