Sky advice for parents- please help!

tibawo

My parents are getting old and at the stage where they believe everything a salesperson tells them. Whilst i appreciate some aren’t out to take advantage i personally believe Sky are ripping them off.
I don’t have Sky and so have no idea hence reaching out to see if it’s just me.
They currently get tv in both rooms and i assume sky go(?). They have EVERYTHING in their package e.g. movies, sports, TNT. They pay £170. Dad never negotiates or if he does he’s pleased if price says same for next contract. they probably don’t watch everything but that’s dad for you.
I queried this as my dad made it sound as if he pays his broadband separately. Am sure he said it’s £70 on top for that. I nearly choked. There’s 2 of them in the house. 
There equipment is old and needs replacing and have been offered the sky max wifi (not sure if that’s what it called) and to pay another £8 a month when they come to sort it.
I feel what they pay is extortionate. Am i being unrealistic?
Dad thinks he gets a good deal 😳 . I only found out about this earlier today when i saw an engineer coming this week noted in their diary and asked if something wrong with tv so not had time to do a deep dive into everything.
Am i barking up the wrong tree?

kimwp

I think it's possible to spend silly amounts on TV packages, but it's not clear if your parents know there are options and have made a selection. The salesperson might have said: what do to like to watch and they said "a bit of everything". Have you asked what they do watch and looked into what the options are? It might be that seeing the possibilities might lead to a different decision. But fundamentally unless they lose the capacity to make decisions (which doesn't mean that they make decisions you don't agree with), then legally it's their decision.

Have you got Power of attorneys set up? Sounds like it would be a good idea if not.

MattMattMattUK

I would not say Sky are ripping your parents off, just that your parents are paying for something that they do not need and is overpriced in the first place. With Sky, broadband, phone, all the various TV packages, add ons, sports, movies etc. it is relatively easy to get a monthly bill approaching £200. That is something your parents seem to want, seem happy to pay for and have chosen to sign up to, the issue is them, not Sky.

tibawo

Power of Attorney is in place.

Sadly i’m ill with that bug doing the rounds so no idea what he’s agreed to but was trying to get a bit of a heads up on pricing etc. Usually i’m down everyday and pick up on stuff like this. 

youravinalarrrf

The best advice anyone can give you is for you to ask them to list every channel/programme they watch on Sky for a whole month.

I'm sure you will find that with the exception of a very few programmes you will find that the vast majority of programmes on their list are available on freeview.

Sky has passed it's sell by date and is no longer value for money and hasn't been for a very long time.

carly

I don't know what your parents watch or how much they use internet and phone , but just for a very basic comparison  I pay £103.99    for  All Sky channels,  Movies , Sports, Discovery+ ( which includes TNT  sports ) Netflix , Paramount+  all in UHD where available and 500Mbps FTTP broadband. Includes line rental but i never make calls.   This might give you an indication of something to aim for or base your negotiations with Sky on.

JSmithy45AD

tibawo said:

Power of Attorney is in place.

Sadly i’m ill with that bug doing the rounds so no idea what he’s agreed to but was trying to get a bit of a heads up on pricing etc. Usually i’m down everyday and pick up on stuff like this. 

In that case you need to make Sky aware of that (they'll want proof obviously) and see what exactly they have and ask them how they can help. Make them aware that they're vulnerable, they have a specialised team that deal with these cases.

Keep_pedalling

JSmithy45AD said:

tibawo said:

Power of Attorney is in place.

Sadly i’m ill with that bug doing the rounds so no idea what he’s agreed to but was trying to get a bit of a heads up on pricing etc. Usually i’m down everyday and pick up on stuff like this. 

In that case you need to make Sky aware of that (they'll want proof obviously) and see what exactly they have and ask them how they can help. Make them aware that they're vulnerable, they have a specialised team that deal with these cases.

The OP can only use the LPA with their parents agreement.

PZ19

Are they in contract?  If not first thing is ring Sky and negotiate a better deal.  Ask your parents what they actually watch first.  If they don’t watch sports or movies then take them out.  If they do and they don’t offer you a far better deal (far less than £100) then cancel, give your 30 day notice in to cancel.  Only once you are in the cancellation phase can you negotiate a better tv deal.  They will message you a few times with offers, but the best thing is to let it cancel completely for the best deal.  On the internet front, just have a look on uswitch for alternatives.  There are a lot of very competitive deals around, especially as we approach Black Friday.  Do not cancel the internet though, let the potential new provider do the switch.  I would definitely sperate the internet and tv.  You could ring sky and pretend to be your parents so long as you have all their details, passwords in front of you.  Bottom line though is yes that is an astronomical amount per month.  Are they in a virgin area, because they will offer a far better all in price than that. Check their deals out, but again only if they are in area that can get virgin. Have a look in the Phones & TV Sky TV retention deal thread to get an idea of what Sky are offering at the minute to those with cancellations in.

also be aware both Virgin and Sky want people on their streaming devices, so if your parents record things they want a recordable box,  which is Sky Q or Virgin 360, not a streaming box 

tibawo

Thank you all for your replies. 
So, today they came to install the wires. change modems etc as their equipment is becoming obsolete.
This is separate to the contract and we have time to faff with that!
I’ve managed to find out that a rough price which is rounded up and is £50 cheaper for exact same things even without haggling. 

timjim

Keep_pedalling said:

JSmithy45AD said:

tibawo said:

Power of Attorney is in place.

Sadly i’m ill with that bug doing the rounds so no idea what he’s agreed to but was trying to get a bit of a heads up on pricing etc. Usually i’m down everyday and pick up on stuff like this. 

In that case you need to make Sky aware of that (they'll want proof obviously) and see what exactly they have and ask them how they can help. Make them aware that they're vulnerable, they have a specialised team that deal with these cases.

The OP can only use the LPA with their parents agreement.

So are you saying the parents have to give authority when the they lose mental capacity?