Sky Broadband Price Hike - What are people being offered on haggling?

Searcher2

My family have 3 different basic line rental with standard broadband packages which were previously negotiated at £20 per month on 18 month contracts.  For one of those contracts we have received and email from Sky saying the price will be going up £3 per month and if we are not happy about that we have 30 days to notify them of cancelling to avoid early termination fees.  A 15% rise is not acceptable in the current climate (IMO) and despite being customers for over 5 years I am seriously considering moving to PlusNet which is currently £18.99 per month with £75 TopCashBack and seemingly no need to have to haggle at the end of each contract.  PlusNet seem easy to get hold of on online chat unlike Sky who I gave up on tonight when trying to say I wanted to cancel.  I wondered what people were being offered by Sky if they threatened to leave Sky as to whether it's worth hanging on in there with them.

brewerdave

Searcher2 said:

I am seriously considering moving to PlusNet which is currently £18.99 per month with £75 TopCashBack and seemingly no need to have to haggle at the end of each contract.  PlusNet seem easy to get hold of on online chat unlike Sky who I gave up on tonight when trying to say I wanted to cancel.  I wondered what people were being offered by Sky if they threatened to leave Sky as to whether it's worth hanging on in there with them.

1.  Tales of PN customers struggling to get the £75 cashback
2.  Sales are easy to contact at PN ; Tech support and general customer services - not so much !!

Pitchshifter

I'm in exactly the same situation as OP, I'm with Sky on and 18month contract at a negotiated £20 PM. Just got an email about the £3 price hike from the 1st of April. I called Sky and asked if this is an April fools joke.

I was considering Plusnet at £18.99 with £75 cashback, but got as far as the purchase screen and it was informing me of a £49.99 connection charge. Makes the move a lot less attractive. Do bear this in mind when moving from a Sky line to a BT line.

teddysmum

I wasn't charged on moving from Sky to Plusnet . Also, I do find Plusnet easy to contact. I don't use the online chat, as it is often foreign call centres used. I use phone for queries but the online ticket system and comments on the forum. Complaining that my bill was massively incorrect and three cs people, only made things worse (one couldn't do sums), got me the head of accounts , who soon corrected everything.

JJ_Egan

A Sky line is an Open Reach line same as BT .

Dont forget PN has a built in yearly price rise .

Searcher2

JJ_Egan said:

A Sky line is an Open Reach line same as BT .

Dont forget PN has a built in yearly price rise .

Thanks... PlusNet do clearly say what their price rise will be and told me so on online chat.  I would consider that upfront and reasonable.  The £3 per month rise by Sky in my view is not reasonable.  I can get PlusNet fibre for the same price as Sky normal broadband...It's whether or not it's worth haggling with Sky which I seem to have to do at the end of each contract

zilla6

Sky is increasing my BB by £3, currently paying £16. So that's a huge increase. Seriously considering the Plusnet BB, but it has appalling reviews on Trust Pilot.

ARTHUR

Searcher2 said:

My family have 3 different basic line rental with standard broadband packages which were previously negotiated at £20 per month on 18 month contracts.  For one of those contracts we have received and email from Sky saying the price will be going up £3 per month and if we are not happy about that we have 30 days to notify them of cancelling to avoid early termination fees.  A 15% rise is not acceptable in the current climate (IMO) and despite being customers for over 5 years I am seriously considering moving to PlusNet which is currently £18.99 per month with £75 TopCashBack and seemingly no need to have to haggle at the end of each contract.  PlusNet seem easy to get hold of on online chat unlike Sky who I gave up on tonight when trying to say I wanted to cancel.  I wondered what people were being offered by Sky if they threatened to leave Sky as to whether it's worth hanging on in there with them.

Sky are the worst, its such a big company that they no longer care about individual customers, I joined them after they bought over "BE there" I eventually left after 39 days because I still had no internet connection despite them sending two different routers and me making dozens of phonecall to nasty sarcastic operators who really didnt care about my internet, I contacted plusnet and they had my internet working in a couple of days, I had a hell of a job reclaiming the fees I had paid sky during the 39 days

Searcher2

I ended up ringing Sky to cancel one of my 3 accounts and despite being with them for over 5 years they offered no deal at all - so there was no haggling to be done.  It was all very efficient and friendly though.

Ectophile

I have just rung Sky.  After their hideous automated system that tried to get rid of me, I managed to talk to an operator

They gave me a discount equal to the price rise, for another 18 months - or at least until the price rise next March.

Edit: Be aware that the confirmation email you get from Sky may not match the deal you're offered over the phone.  Log in to your Sky account, go to the View Bill section and look at your future bills to check what discount has actually been applied.

How on Earth can Sky design a system where the confirmation system for new orders quotes the wrong price?

Searcher2

As an update.... 2 of 3 Sky accounts moved to NowTV yesterday.  Not that I noticed apart from I'll be paying £5 per month less and getting inclusive anytime calls from my landline.  The same Sky router is still in place (NowTV hub still in the box).  The same download speeds.  I'm not convinced anything actually happened i.e. no downtime noticed apart from the account moving from Sky to NowTV.  I noticed that on one of my accounts my Sky username had pulled through onto my NowTV account too.  I did ring NowTV with a query and to my amazement it got answered almost immediately once I had gone through the phone options.... very surprised.  Happy so far - I thought it was worth mentioning for anyone else considering moving from Sky that it does seem to be a no hassle option if you are happy with the Sky broadband performance you already have but want it cheaper.