Sky and Now mid contract price rise conditions

LankyMoneySaver

Hi can anyone please help clarify this. I'm Looking at the best offers on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/compare-broadband-deals/

but both Sky and Now come top but have these provisos:

Alert. Unlike most big providers, Sky's price doesn't include all future mid‑contract rises. Sky says prices are variable and so doesn't give pound and pence increases, though hikes are likely each spring. If these happen without advance notice, you'll have 30 days to leave penalty‑free. This also means the 'equivalent monthly cost' shown is likely a few pounds lower than what you'll actually pay over the contract.

Alert. Unlike most big providers, Now's price doesn't include all future mid‑contract rises. Now says prices are variable and so doesn't give pound and pence increases, though hikes are likely each spring. If these happen without advance notice, you'll have 30 days to leave penalty‑free. This also means the 'equivalent monthly cost' shown is likely a few pounds lower than what you'll actually pay over the contract.

What exactly does 'advanced notice' mean here please? As long as they give over 30 days notice of any mid-contract price rise are you stuck with it? Or does the 'advanced notice' mean from the start of the contract - i.e. they've just said the price is variable, so you'll always get 30 day get out if (or when) it increases?

Has anyone already with them got more details on how this works please?

saajan_12

The latter.

IIRC the Ofcom guidance was mid contract price rises had to be specified before signing up in £ and pence or the customer had the right to break the contract. The contract breaking has to be around the time of the price hike, you can't use that right months later.

IMO this is still quite unfair for broadband / TV where there's more installation costs and upheaval when there's a change, unlike say a mobile sim contract. If the hike is more than you think reasonable, you're stuck changing etc. Effectively Sky / Now can unilatterally terminate by increasing the cost 100x, while consumers can't just decide the price must be 50% lower and if the provider doesn't like it they can terminate. Up to you if the deal is good enough to deal with that.

iniltous

As stated Sky (and Now) still put up prices annually, Ofcom requires providers who put prices up yearly to make it clear at the start of the contract what the increase will be in ££’s , so most providers follow that rule , so for example stating it’s £30 a month , then £33 from the next April , then £36 the April after that , the exception is Sky .

Sky don’t do this , and are not breaking any Ofcom rules , because they advise the increase 30 days before it’s implemented, and state that if customers are unhappy they can quit penalty free during this 30 days window , by not quitting in that window the customer in affect accepting the change in terms, this option to quit is why the Ofcom rules around highlighting the monetary increase at the start don’t apply to Sky , but TBH the way Sky do it compared to others is a distinction without a difference , Sky customers should know the price will go up every year , and the increase will be roughly what others increase their prices by , £3 or £4 on broadband , that way they maintain their position in the market , if everyone increases prices Sky can do also because if everyone increases by around the same amount, they stay in the same relative position as far being cheaper than some , more expensive than others .

LankyMoneySaver

If that's the case I'm more than happy to deal with another switch if the price rises, as means then potentially claiming another sign up gift card offer from another provider

This takes me back several years ago before the new rules came in, where you could pretty much guarantee which provider increased in which month, and use that to switch broadband contract before the end without penalty twice a year or more and claim a new customer discount each time!

iniltous

The thing you need to be careful with Sky is if you take a bundle of services , the option to quit is the broadband only , if you (for example) take TV as well , then that continues even if you change broadband provider during the 30 day window , plus if the TV was discounted because of also taking broadband and you quit the broadband the TV discounts are removed and you pay more for the TV .

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82137583#Comment_82137583

Sky don't do bundled deals (generally speaking anyway, they're rare as hens teeth) so the latter point is moot.

The TV part is dependant on which TV service you have, Q and HD+ still have the same stipulations as broadband so can be cancelled or renegotiated every April. Stream & Glass are 24 month contracts full stop.

dnpark38

Last April I successfully negotiated the increase away with Sky.