Top 10 service companies to haggle with

daz378 · 20 May 2015 at 9:58PM

I live on flats with sky....so only one recording channel ... recently ive been getting no signal on some of the terrestrial channels and a few others...... and also been overheating. i get hd entertainment + movies for this i pay about 54 + 20 pound bt still in contract and 18 quid talk talk not in contract.......so tomorrow resolved to get a better deal somehow.........complain about sky tryand get discount should i switch to sky broadband (would like fibre) wish me luck

dharle · 22 May 2015 at 8:17PM

What's really frustrating about dealing with Sky is that you get wildly different retention offers depending on who you talk to! You'd think that their system would generate offers based on your package, length of custom etc, and that there wouldn't be room for discretion on the advisors' part.

I currently have standard Broadband, line rental and Variety package. I rang last Saturday and said I wanted to move my phone and broadband to Plusnet (quoted the MSE offer) which worked out to be £7 per month. Sky offered free broadband and £50 credit, which I didn't take.

I then rang the next day and got through to a really unhelpful guy. This time I mentioned that I wanted to cancel my TV package. He just told me that Plusnet weren't as good as they traffic-shape and so felt no need to 'match' their price. All he could offer was £2p/m off TV, £2.50p/m off broadband and £3p/m off line rental which I thought was really lousy!

I then rang back on Tuesday and mentioned that I had been offered free broadband and £50 credit on Saturday but they said that they had no record of that, only of the rubbish deal I had been offered on Sunday. They said the best they could do was the free broadband for 12 months! So basically the offers just seemed to be getting worse.

By this stage I was ready to give up and just move to Plusnet but I thought I'd give it one last shot. I got through to a really young sounding lad who was much more helpful. At my request he downgraded me to the Original bundle (as I only watch this) and said it would be frozen at £14.33 for five years (first I've heard this!); free broadband for 10 months; and phone line rental for £10 for 10 months. I managed to get him to extend the free broadband to 12 months. He wouldn't budge on doing the same for the line rental. On top of this, I took the standard anytime calls package for £5p/m. So over the course of 12 months, this works out to be £27p/m which I'm really happy about. It took a lot of effort but I got there in the end!

kat1311 · 27 June 2015 at 1:53PM

Double success this weekend!

Firstly the AA who had automatically renewed my breakdown cover (despite receiving no letter telling me they were going to do so). They had charged me £68 but when I rang to complain and subsequently haggled, got it down to £39.

Then TalkTalk, who were charging me £5 a month (plus line rental paid in advance for the year) for their Essentials BB and Phone package (free weekend calls only). When I rang they immediately offered me the Essentials TV, BB and Phone package, half price for 12months plus extra £2 a month discount, works out at £3 a month. I now get free evening and weekend calls and the YouView box. More for even less money! Very happy!

fibolton · 30 June 2015 at 11:12AM

I am out of contract with Sky. I rang today and using the tips on line

I got free Broadband
Discounted line rental
and a further 10% off my TV Package

A Saving of £205.80 a Year so very happy!

Sarahbear666 · 1 July 2015 at 2:02PM

Hi,

Has anyone any experience in haggling with BT for BB and TV?

We have unlimited infinity bb, line rental, calls package, BT Vision and HD with BT Sport for free all for approx. £57/m but have been told we will have to pay an extra £5/m for bt sport unless we agree to tie in for another 18 months.

We want to keep the package for the champions league football but aren't happy because we have an old home hub (with rubbish wifi) and an old bt vision box. We've had one brief conversation with them mentioning these points and were quoted £199 for the you view box that new customers would get for free. New customers on our package would get the latest hardware plus a £125 sainsburys voucher and only tie in for 12 months.

Is this worth arguing? Will we get anywhere with BT? Everyone's tales seem to be about Sky, and I myself have had good haggling experiences with them in the past, but we want champions league and sky is too expensive!

paperbackreader · 11 July 2015 at 4:12PM

Hi folks,

I'm out of contract with Sky, I'm currently paying £24 per month for standard broadband. No TV package.

I've just seen Sky's new Fibre deals that launched yesterday. The deal is a 12 month contract and great prices. My question is, if I call retentions with the intention to leave, could they possibly offer me this deal or is offering new customer deals to existing customers something that they just don't do?

Thanks!

zolablue25 · 12 July 2015 at 10:03AM

paperbackreader wrote: »

Hi folks,

I'm out of contract with Sky, I'm currently paying £24 per month for standard broadband. No TV package.

I've just seen Sky's new Fibre deals that launched yesterday. The deal is a 12 month contract and great prices. My question is, if I call retentions with the intention to leave, could they possibly offer me this deal or is offering new customer deals to existing customers something that they just don't do?

Thanks!

If you are going to leave then I would certainly ring them and ask whether they would match the new customer deal. There is a strong chance that they will (although no guarantee). It often seems to be dependent on who you get to speak to and what your account says. Last year I managed to negotiate a cracking deal on phone and broadband with them, but yesterday I was less successful, only managing to nail down free broadband for 12 months but still paying the full amount for line rental.

paperbackreader · 12 July 2015 at 11:56AM

zolablue25 wrote: »

If you are going to leave then I would certainly ring them and ask whether they would match the new customer deal. There is a strong chance that they will (although no guarantee). It often seems to be dependent on who you get to speak to and what your account says. Last year I managed to negotiate a cracking deal on phone and broadband with them, but yesterday I was less successful, only managing to nail down free broadband for 12 months but still paying the full amount for line rental.

Thanks Zolablue,

Called yesterday and got them to offer £7.5pm for 12 months then £20pm for the last 6 months. £16.40 line rental throughout. 18 month contract, free install.

Basically shakes out at £28pm over the 18 months.

I was really pushing for the new signup deal. Left it for now and will try calling them again after today.

Arlayanna · 14 July 2015 at 12:21PM

Told Sky I was walking and was serious after seeing my latest astronomical bill. Line rental reduced from £21.40 a month to £9.99. Broadband reduced from £20.00 a month to £10 and a reduction of tv package. All in all I reduced my monthly total Sky bill to just over £50 from a whopping £94. I was on the phone for well over an hour as determined to get a better deal from a company I had been loyal to for years or go to another service provider.

cascaid · 5 August 2015 at 3:43PM

Small (ish) success today with Sky, we were going to leave and use my details to come back as a new customer as it was cheaper than our current package so called them and they have reduced our payments from £46pm to £29pm and thrown in free fibre broadband! Saved £204pa on the package alone, not counting the free fibre!

Top 10 service companies to haggle with

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