Negotiating Sky contract

[Pete_uk]

Hi all

I'm coming up to the end of my first Sky Contract. I am currently paying £59 for Sky and BT Sport. I know people paying a lot less and getting a lot more.

I'm asking what you do when it's time to see what offers they will give you and any advice to get the best deal.

Thanks

 

[Kite159]

Sky are normally quite good at haggling, sometimes the better offers only come up when you hand in your 30-day notice to terminate your contract.

Especially as I would imagine there will be a few people who are cancelling/reducing sky packages in the current climate.

 

[Trackman]

I was OK with Sky last time, but Virgin media not.
It came to stage where I said, right cancel it and I'll start a new account in Mrs Trackman's name to get the new customers offer.
Cant do that - there's something in the contract or T&Cs to say you have wait 3 months or something.
Rung up the day after and got double speed broadband for the price I was paying before, was not happy with the deal but took it.

 

[londonbridge]

Ring up and tell them you’re cancelling. They will come up with an offer and claim it’s “the best they can do”. Reject this and tell them to process the cancellation and before your termination date you will almost certainly get an email or phone call with a better offer than the one you’ve just rejected.

 

[Howardh]

I only have broadband with Sky, got an email explaining the charge was increasing to £35/m yet with that e-mail was another contract for the exact same thing - pay £10 admin charge and £30/ for the next 18 months, subject to a later increase, where I can haggle or leave without penalty.

They know everyone will take up the second offer - so why bother with the first?!

 

[baz962]

I have done this three times now. First time my bluff was called and I had no sky for two weeks. Still got around £15 off to come back. Second time they gave us quite a discount. Last time my wife called and said that she was struggling with the cost of living crisis. Big discounts, around £50 off a month.

 

[MonsooN]

I'm with Sky for my broadband.

Whenever my contract is due up, I normally do a quick check on a price comparison site to see what the best deals are for a new customer in my area with one of their competitors.

I then call Sky to ask them to match it. They will initially say they can't but will usually come down to a similar offer. I don't mind paying a little bit more per month to avoid the hassle of actually having to change providers. As long as they get fairly close, I'm happy.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Check on the digital spy sky forum they have a thread about peoples discounts.

It seems sky online chat are able to offer larger discounts.
I left sky after 15 years over a year ago and they still send me leaflets through the post asking me to come back. Usually its £28 for entertainment and sky sports

 

[Bungle73]

I was OK with Sky last time, but Virgin media not.
It came to stage where I said, right cancel it and I'll start a new account in Mrs Trackman's name to get the new customers offer.
Cant do that - there's something in the contract or T&Cs to say you have wait 3 months or something.
Rung up the day after and got double speed broadband for the price I was paying before, was not happy with the deal but took it.

I got my Virgin bill down from ~£54 to £35. Granted that did include dumping a landline that I wasn't using, but I also got a £9 discount on my bb, so instead of paying £44 I'm paying £35.

With Sky, when my contract was about expire, they sent me deal through the post, so I went with that. I'm currently paying £50 for Sky Signature, Sky Sports F1 and the HD upgrade. Apparently if you just let your contract expire they eventually come out with even better deal offers, so I might do that next time.

TBH I've been thinking of dumping Sky as I watch most things on Netflix or Prime Video these days, but I need it for the F1.

 

[stj]

Tell them you want to Cancel and they will offer better deal.If they dont play ball then go through with it.You will then be able to re-join with a better offer.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Tell them you want to Cancel and they will offer better deal.If they dont play ball then go through with it.You will then be able to re-join with a better offer.

Giving the reason as you can no longer afford it

 

[ChrisC]

I had Sky for well over 20 years beginning when it was the old Sky a few years before the launch of Sky Digital. I cancelled about 5 years when it became increasingly apparent that the vast majority of programmes I had in my planner were actually from Freeview channels and not those I was paying for. I didn’t really get any worthwhile offers to remain with them but I did make it quite plain to them why I was cancelling. I did get some good offers through the post in the weeks afterwards but by then I was quite happy without Sky and was around £40 a month better off.

I got a FreeSat box and connected it up to my Sky dish and I soon found it almost as good as my previous Sky Digital HD Box. I could still record things in the same way and use a series link etc. I know Sky has progressed a lot during the last 5 years. I have a box with 1TB of storage which is currently around 70% full of recorded programmes I still need to watch. I do now pay £5.99 a month for Britbox. I think my preference for Freeview and FreeSat + Britbox is because I much prefer British made and produced programmes and I found Sky and indeed Netflix a bit too American for me.

 

[Bungle73]

I had Sky for well over 20 years beginning when it was the old Sky a few years before the launch of Sky Digital. I cancelled about 5 years when it became increasingly apparent that the vast majority of programmes I had in my planner were actually from Freeview channels and not those I was paying for. I didn’t really get any worthwhile offers to remain with them but I did make it quite plain to them why I was cancelling. I did get some good offers through the post in the weeks afterwards but by then I was quite happy without Sky and was around £40 a month better off.

I got a FreeSat box and connected it up to my Sky dish and I soon found it almost as good as my previous Sky Digital HD Box. I could still record things in the same way and use a series link etc. I know Sky has progressed a lot during the last 5 years. I have a box with 1TB of storage which is currently around 70% full of recorded programmes I still need to watch. I do now pay £5.99 a month for Britbox. I think my preference for Freeview and FreeSat + Britbox is because I much prefer British made and produced programmes and I found Sky and indeed Netflix a bit too American for me.

My Sky dates right back to when I was a schoolboy in the '80s - I've had access to it for that long. I inherited it from my parents. I guess that's another reason why I'm loathe to dump it. I've had it for so long I've just become accustomed to it being there. Strange thing is though, when I go into my online account it says we've had Sky for 24 years, even though I know we've had it since about 1989. Seems to have been reset when we moved over from analogue Sky to Sky Digitial.

 

[adc82140]

Ring up and tell them you’re cancelling. They will come up with an offer and claim it’s “the best they can do”. Reject this and tell them to process the cancellation and before your termination date you will almost certainly get an email or phone call with a better offer than the one you’ve just rejected.

Yes, this. But you must be willing to actually go through with it as well. Hold your nerve with them. Tell tham you'd be willing just to have Freesat. The phone operator is likely to be on some sort of bonus scheme if they retain you as a customer.

 

[Class172]

TBH I've been thinking of dumping Sky as I watch most things on Netflix or Prime Video these days, but I need it for the F1.

F1 is also the only part of sky that I care for. Something I did last year was to take advantage of a Now TV offer (advertised shortly before the F1 season started) that gave the sports pass at £20/month for 9 months. I found two friends to share the package with, and added on NowTV Boost at £5/month so three of us could separately stream simultaneously. We split the cost of the package which worked out at ~£75 for the season, which we thought was pretty decent.

 

[Bungle73]

F1 is also the only part of sky that I care for. Something I did last year was to take advantage of a Now TV offer (advertised shortly before the F1 season started) that gave the sports pass at £20/month for 9 months. I found two friends to share the package with, and added on NowTV Boost at £5/month so three of us could separately stream simultaneously. We split the cost of the package which worked out at ~£75 for the season, which we thought was pretty decent.

You can't record it though. Occasionally I'm not able to watch a race live. I've looked at the catchup, but they're slow to put races up. I really want to be able to watch it asap, ideally when I arrive home in the evening, but, from what I've seen, races don't go on there to at least the next day, or maybe longer.

 

[Class172]

You can't record it though. Occasionally I'm not able to watch a race live. I've looked at the catchup, but they're slow to put races up. I really want to be able to watch it asap, ideally when I arrive home in the evening, but, from what I've seen, races don't go on there to at least the next day, or maybe longer.

True you can't record, but there have been a couple of occasions where I have watched the replays on the F1 channel itself. I can't remember the exact details but I'm sure there is a highlighted version and a full version that are shown in the 24 hours after the initial broadcast -- I recall watching one of the races at around midnight Sun eve as I was out during the day. The harder part is successfully missing any news about the race that invariably ends up online or in one of my group chats!

 

[Trackman]

My Sky dates right back to when I was a schoolboy in the '80s - I've had access to it for that long. I inherited it from my parents. I guess that's another reason why I'm loathe to dump it. I've had it for so long I've just become accustomed to it being there. Strange thing is though, when I go into my online account it says we've had Sky for 24 years, even though I know we've had it since about 1989. Seems to have been reset when we moved over from analogue Sky to Sky Digitial.

I've had it decades too..
When I first started I'm sure the Sky sports channel was free, I had an Amstrad SRD400 box.
Also I've found out I am 'Diamond member' for what it's worth.

 

[david1212]

I'm with Sky for my broadband.

Whenever my contract is due up, I normally do a quick check on a price comparison site to see what the best deals are for a new customer in my area with one of their competitors.

I then call Sky to ask them to match it. They will initially say they can't but will usually come down to a similar offer. I don't mind paying a little bit more per month to avoid the hassle of actually having to change providers. As long as they get fairly close, I'm happy.

I was with Sky for broadband & home phone only ending coming up to 5 years ago. After the first period they price matched either TalkTalk or Plusnet I guess. At the end of the second period they would not get close to Plusnet.

I'm unsure technically why as all FTTC but leaving Sky was a hassle. The phone got connected to Plusnet within a couple of days but a month before Openreach could connect internet. Hence I would never go to Sky or Now TV again. Virgin with fibre is understandable but, so I am told, can be mitigated against by having a start date with Virgin a week before previous contract ends and likewise when leaving start new provider a week before Virgin ends.

All my other swaps have gone smoothly within 24 hours, the last was instant - router dropped > swap router > start new router > connected.

 

[Bungle73]

I've had it decades too..
When I first started I'm sure the Sky sports channel was free, I had an Amstrad SRD400 box.
Also I've found out I am 'Diamond member' for what it's worth.

My Dad always bought the Pace boxes. At one point we had the one with the built in Dolby Pro Logic decoder, plus amplifiers, along with the module to move a motorised dish. We were able to pick up transmissions from quite a few different satellites. Even got raw feeds from outside broadcasts for various local news programmes, so I'd seen them standing around chatting before they went on air.