Sky just refuse to haggle with me!

Paper_&_Metal

I've been with Sky for almost 22 years now but it seems my loyalty is worthless in comparison to a new subscriber. Virgin still don't supply my area, I've lost count the number of years I have registered my interest and been told they'll get in touch when they roll out. 

I need to reduce my bill. I am currently paying £82 a month* for Sky TV package, Sky Broadband and Sky Landline / Talk. It looks something like this - 

TV - £44.

Sky Signature £16
Sky Signature £31 (in contract discount £31 - Core Skt TV Subscription discounted -£5)
Ultimate TV add on £6
Sky Kids £1.
Sky Kids £5 (Sky kids subscription discounted -£4)
Sky Cinema £5
Sky Cinema £19 (Sky Cinema subscription discounted -£14)
Sky HD £3
Sky HD £7 (Sky HD Subscription discounted -£4)
Multiscreen £13
Multiscreen £15 (sky multiscreen subscription discounted -£2)
Ultra HD Free
Ultra HD £4 (Ultra HD subscription discounted -£4)

Broadband and talk - £43

1571 Voicemail £2
Sky Wifi Free
Sky Talk Anytime Extra £12
Sky Talk Shield Free
Sky Broadband Superfast £26
Sky Broadband Superfast £33 (In-contract discount -£5, Broadband Subscription discounted -£2)
Sky Talk line rental Free
Sky Broadband Boost £3
Sky Broadband Boost £5 (Broadband boost discounted -£2)
Call Charges free

TOTAL MONTHLY COST £87

This will go up in a couple of months to an astronomical £119 a month! I have been struggling to pay since it went above £60 a month to be honest but with Sky TV being my only enjoyment as I don't smoke or drink alcohol and I am stuck indoors a lot being disabled, especially over the past few years as my health has also deteriorated, it was just about affordable. Now though I can't justify the price hikes especially with the general cost of living rising there's little room for such luxuries sadly as my benefits just won't stretch anymore.

*Today I spoke to the accessibility team to see if they could help with a better deal but sadly they couldn't. They suggested I remove the Cinema as the special offer I had expires very soon and it would go up from £5 to £19, so I did that today and that's a start of £5 saving per month. They suggested I wait for the other deals as my contract ends in early April so I still have time yet to benefit the most from the current 18 month contract and they can get me good deals within 30 days of end of contract. So I agreed to wait.

I tried to speak with retention a month ago but got little help despite my attempt at haggling so I gave up even trying today got me a bit off my bill for a few weeks.

I don't mind switching, I don't even mind splitting the services if it means I'm saving and still enjoying as long as it isn't much hassle, I will be sorry to lose Sky though but it has to go if I can't afford it. 

So in an ideal world I would like to keep the package I am on now for the TV, but as long as I can have Discovery Plus, Netflix, Prime and YouTube apps still as a minimum add on great.

The phone needs to be 'anytime' and I do use 1571, call shield and voicemail. These stop the stress and prevent cold callers which prevents the anxiety and having to get to a phone only to find out it was a wasted struggle.

Broadband, I'm not really sure what speeds we need, there are just 2 adults here (me and hubby / carer no kids) we tend to use our mobiles on the Wi-Fi a lot and laptops and occasionally the Xbox. We have a few things that use the Wi-Fi too. We don't need the internet to work form home but we are online a lot. I'm unsure what the Broadband Boost is about, it appeared not long after we complained that we were having issues with our network a long time ago and to be honest I only noticed it in the full breakdown earlier today.

I have tried the search comparison sites and even looked at completely cancelling Sky and going onto Freesat or Freeview and just paying for streaming services like Now TV, Netflix Prime and Discovery Plus as stand alone subscriptions which I believe have a rolling cancel anytime subscription service rather than a tied in 18 month contract. However all this just bamboozles me and I end up more confused than it's worth figuring out with the anxiety on top. At the end of the day I just can't afford to be fobbed off by a service that unfortunately and sadly treats its new customers better than their loyal ones despite all the promises!!

So obviously other than leaving Sky what are my options and how can I find the best deals any ideas please? Thank you!

Neil_Jones

You need to work out what channels you're watching.  If the bulk of your viewing is on channels that are on Freeview you're throwing money down the drain paying for Sky.

The catch-up options you can get and use separately outside of Sky.

emmajones1976

Leave and get the other adult there to sign up as a new customer, is this still doable?

Yes you may lose broadband for a week or so but hey.

PZ19

If you are out of contract, ring them up or use online chat and tell them you are looking to reduce your bill, what’s the best price they can do.  They will come back with something.  If you’re still not happy then put in a cancellation.  After that they should contact you with another offer.  If still not good enough, look to move broadband.  For example Vodafone do 67mb for £19pm. now, which is part of Sky do it for £20 with calls at the minute.  You can get now broadband calls and entertainment package for £26.99 at moment.  With now you also get a free week of cinema, cancel within the 7 days and it’s highly likely they will give you an offer to stay.   There are options but talk to sky first

maisie_cat

I'd agree with working out which channels you watch, we only watched Fox for NCIS until we found out it's gone and we are paying for it and now have to pay extra. When we are out of contract we'll probably go freeview

Marvel1

Scrap HD, is it worth it? Nothing wrong with SD.

Anytime phone, do you have a mobile, I have SIM only £5 unlimited minutes 

Tv wise, switch month by month - Netflix, Prime ( they sometimes off 30 day trial or 1 week for £1). Now TV offer deals when you start to cancel.

mobileron

What world you live in.get down to specsavers then try HD or UHD.

emmajones1976

Marvel1 said:

Scrap HD, is it worth it? Nothing wrong with SD.

Stop it, the picture quality is night and day. On a TV that is 50" or bigger the SD picture is terrible. Shall we go back to black and white TV whilst we are at it?

Neil_Jones

emmajones1976 said:

Marvel1 said:

Scrap HD, is it worth it? Nothing wrong with SD.

Stop it, the picture quality is night and day. On a TV that is 50" or bigger the SD picture is terrible. Shall we go back to black and white TV whilst we are at it?

405 line TV over the VHF network into the bargain too.

Or let's go back to a John Logie Baird mechanical TV solution!  30 lines of picture, who needs any more?

[Deleted User]

Bin the tv (you don’t really NEED it) and sign up broadband with BT or such like. Sky will keep ripping people off for as long as people will pay it. Streaming is where it is at now and it’s far cheaper, that and free view/freesat. 

400ixl

Some comments;

Sky Broadband boost - Have you been supplied with wifi network boosters to extend the range across your house? If not then you are paying for them to run checks on your connection and prioritise call outs. Cancel it.

Broadband speed wise you don't need anything that fast, their basic offering will suffice. Their Superfast 35 will be more than enough. You appear to be on the next tier up as you have Superfast.

On the TV
If there are just two adults, do you need the kids channels?
Do you actually have multiple Sky boxes around the house as you are paying for multi screen. (you should be able to get this for £10 rather than £13 on a renewal)

On the phone side do you really need anytime calls and 1571. As mentioned mobiles have good calls packages these days, so why not make use of those rather than a fixed phone as it could easily be cheaper than the anytime calls cost. Would off peak and weekend calls work out better for you?

Do you actually make £12 worth of calls every month? If not then it's a false economy.

Household phones can have answer machines and caller display which will display the number calling you and if you are not sure then let it go to the answer machine.

Your contract sounds like it is a fixed 18 month contract and not rolling, or at least some of it is. So Sky know they have little reason to change things at the moment.