Cancelling Sky/Call your bluff

gavmcfad

I read a lot of threads here and have heard from other people who claim, if you threaten to cancel your sky subscription, they offer you something in return.....ie Upgrade your box, give your movies or sports free or at a ruduced rate for a few months and so on.
I am thinking about trying this but has Sky ever called anyones bluff and cancelled their package.
I have been paying 30 euro a month now for the past year or 2. I have been with Sky for 5 years and maybe its time to see what they will offer if i ring to cance.

efb

gavmcfad wrote: »

I read a lot of threads here and have heard from other people who claim, if you threaten to cancel your sky subscription, they offer you something in return.....ie Upgrade your box, give your movies or sports free or at a ruduced rate for a few months and so on.
I am thinking about trying this but has Sky ever called anyones bluff and cancelled their package.
I have been paying 30 euro a month now for the past year or 2. I have been with Sky for 5 years and maybe its time to see what they will offer if i ring to cance.

If you hadn't had an offer from them chances are they'll offer you something.

They will offer you something, I'd bet my house on it.

egan2020

A friend of mine recently rang them to downgrade the package. She was paying 91 euro a month and asked them to get rid of sports, movies and something else so that her new monthly payment would be 40. They did it straight away and didn't try and convince her to keep them for a reduced price or anything. So I reckon your best bet is to tell them that you're changing provider as you've gotten a better offer and they should offer you something then. It seems to me that their main focus is to keep the customer, even if it means getting less money.

Fatscally

I tried to cancel from them and they gave me a free car!

No not really. But what have you got to lose? It's just some goober on the end of the phone line so what not haggle with them with an auwl "why should I stay?" or "what's in it for me?" approach. If they say No then how are you worse off?

...btw same goes for your credit card interest rate. Give them a call and ask what rate are you on and ask them to do something better for you

ScrubsfanChris

We rang up recently to cancel Movies/Sports and they gave us all the other packages minus those two for €16.50 a month for 12 months.

paultf

And even if Sky accept the cancellation it takes 30 days for it to go through. So you can always ring up before the 30 days & cancel the cancellation!

gavmcfad

paultf wrote: »

And even if Sky accept the cancellation it takes 30 days for it to go through. So you can always ring up before the 30 days & cancel the cancellation!

Ah nice one.

Minstrel27

gavmcfad wrote: »

I am thinking about trying this but has Sky ever called anyones bluff and cancelled their package.

They cancelled me last year with no offers. I wasn't looking for a deal though so I was happy with the end result.

JDxtra

I got the half price for 6 months offer again when I called last week.

markie29

JDxtra wrote: »

I got the half price for 6 months offer again when I called last week.

yeah we got that deal in the house too....we have 3 sky boxes in the house with HD pack on one....we got half price for six months and Sky+ box for free with free installation.

xTanyax

I'm presuming you have to be with them for over a year? I'll defo try it after my 12months is up!!:)

selfbuilder1

Rang them last week to cancel and they gave me 6 months for half price and I can still cancel at any time.

xsiborg

i was talking to someone recently that mentioned that sky now charge a €100 cancellation fee, could anyone confirm this?

JDxtra

They will charge you only if you are within contract.

paddy145

I tried this about 6 months ago, they offered me nothing. I rang back the following day to cancel the cancellation.
No big deal, didnt cost me anything, maybe a little embarrassing as they probably knew what I was up to.

purpleblaa

Sky are tricky on this one. I've had multiple dealings with them where I've called to add on Sky Sports and then after he told me the price I said I didn't want it. He then started to panic and offered it to me for half price. I gladly accepted. However I have called to cancel and while waiting patiently for the offer that I expected to come, the agent instead told me the date that it would disconnect. I quickly informed him that this was what I needed and then called back a week later to "change my mind.":o
Since then I have left sky due to it not being available where I currently live only for them to send me an offer to return for 12 months half price! So top package for roughly E50 a month including HD with Multiroom, Sports, Movies etc...
Good times.
Moral of the story is it will all work out in the end. (It did for me anyway!):D

goldiefresh

i rang them up and told them that i lost my job and wanted to cancel everything as could not afford to pay due to losing my job straight away the guy told me that he would half it for 6 months (prob assuming i would have a job by then) sorted.

dobsdave

purpleblaa wrote: »

.....
Since then I have left sky due to it not being available where I currently live only for them to send me an offer to return for 12 months half price! So top package for roughly E50 a month including HD with Multiroom, Sports, Movies etc...
Good times.
Moral of the story is it will all work out in the end. (It did for me anyway!):D

Am I missing something?

revileandy

the hard drive on my HD box packed in after four years and I rang up looking for a replacement, no deal.

Got through to cancellations and they said they'd give me a new box for €29.99, I decided to take up the offer and they then said an engineer would have to install it for €60! so €89.99 in total - I argued that there as no way I was paying an engineer €60 to plug in a box but they woudn't move on it.

I ended up getting a nearly new hd box of adverts.ie for €50, works perfect, you just have to ring up sky and get them pair your veiwing card to your new box and send down the relevant signals for your package.

Dymo

I canceled my sky package a couple of months ago, I wasn't calling there bluff I really wanted to cancel it and I got no offers.

hanleyc2

What about UPC, are they any different when it comes to trying to negotiate (con) a better deal?

Mayo Exile

Rang them up about 10 days ago and said I was interested in returning to Sky (had cancelled last May) and asked had they any deals going. Got the Sports pack + ESPN and one other mix half price (E28.50) for 6 months (no contract).

Customer has to make the first move. Sky will happily keep taking the full whack off you if you do nothing......

clintondaly

1-had the old sky box and only in one room,rang them up and said i had a great offer from UPC for multiroom,they then offered me Sky+HD box multiroom box,new dish(rusted)had to run new coax to 2 seperate rooms all for an installation fee of 25Eur.
i then explained to my neighbour what i had got, they then rang sky and said they were leaving and got the same.

2-i got sky sports cancelled for ther summer,they rang back the other night wanting to know if i wanted it turned back on,i said yes but asked what they were going to offer me i told them i had the HD box and was also interested in the HD package,i then got offered sports at half price for 3 months and the Hd package at half price for 6 months,result

hanleyc2

Unfortunately I cant get Sky in my current apartment, so am stuck with UPC!

mdwexford

Anyone paying full price is mental, should be on permanent half price, ive been for the last 7-8 months and am for the next 6 as well.

When thats up tell them you'll cancel and get the same again.

Kerry Gooner

mdwexford wrote: »

Anyone paying full price is mental, should be on permanent half price, ive been for the last 7-8 months and am for the next 6 as well.

When thats up tell them you'll cancel and get the same again.

I availed of 20% discount for 12 months and then rang up only to be informed that they do not offer continuous promotions to customers. Reverted to full price for sports and movies as unwilling to let them call my bluff regarding cancellation.

Minstrel27

Kerry Gooner wrote: »

rang up only to be informed that they do not offer continuous promotions to customers

That's a lie. A friend of mine is on half price for 2 years now.

tfitzgerald

I tried to cancel last week hoping to get the free movies they told me not a hope . Bit I have multiroom so he offered to give me a sky+ hd box with free installation . For 50€ I did not take up the offer

jujamax

I cancelled recently. They called me a couple of times. I think one offer was for 6 months half price (was paying €25/month) if I stayed the entire year - no additional contract.

ChrisMcCauley

We got 3 months half price and a replacement Amstrad HD box (the Thompson one was acting up). At the end of the three months we canceled. Now using Foxsat and happier with the channel selection.

jujamax

Just ordered a Humax 320GB dual tuner freesat box £150.GBP (delivered) for freesat - happy days!

efb

jujamax wrote: »

Just ordered a Humax 320GB dual tuner freesat box £150.GBP (delivered) for freesat - happy days!

jujamax where?

jujamax

With Amazon

max life

selfbuilder1 wrote: »

Rang them last week to cancel and they gave me 6 months for half price and I can still cancel at any time.

Ditto

thenashlegend

Called them to downgrade packages in one room (costing 40 odd euro) and cancel multiroom to the other place, left down the phone with a 23 euro per month bill and free multiroom for the year!

So yes..its well worth you while calling them!:D

Raytown Rocks

Just called them 2 minutes ago.
Full sky pack €91 per month ( was €103 but ESPN is now free)

Anyway asked for retentions team directly, told them UPC had called and were offering good eals and could they match it.
Was given 6 months half price.

October charge is €12:55
November to March €53

No argueing or threats, nice girl in Cork more than happy to make the offer.

Over all was worth a phone call

gavmcfad

Are they more likely to offer me a discount? I was hoping for a HD box. Dont have HD TV but i believe it has double the storage than the original box.

thenashlegend

gavmcfad wrote: »

Are they more likely to offer me a discount? I was hoping for a HD box. Dont have HD TV but i believe it has double the storage than the original box.

Maybe they give HD boxes for free? But I know a lad that rang Sky and they offered him one for €30 if he took the offer that day!

Stinicker

I did this back in January and got some type of reduction which saw me paying around €30/month for the 6 mixes plus the HD, it is now gone back up to €42.50 so I'll have to get them to drop it again or I will cancel, charging extra for HD is beyond a joke like why don't they charge extra for color tv next.

Minstrel27

Believe me, if Sky was around in the 60's they would have charged for colour tv.

ActingDanClark

jujamax wrote: »

Just ordered a Humax 320GB dual tuner freesat box £150.GBP (delivered) for freesat - happy days!

Hmmmm was interested in this as I already have one and would buy another. Leaped post haste to amazon and the freesat box is approx £:240,whereas the £150 box is for digital terrestrial- hopefully you intended buying a freeeview rather than a freesat box?

Joekers

Ok so was looking at this thread anf wondering am I being ripped off, im with UPC and have the cable digital max pack for 34.99 and the sports for 33.00 not interested in movies so the total for that is 67.99.
I then have the fiber power broadband 20mb costing 34 quid.
And finally I have the anytime world phone pack costing 12 and the basic costing 6. This means we get all phone calls to Irish and English landlines for the 18 (6+12) quid a month.
The last part of the bill is usage on the phone calling mobile numbers which comes to 10 quid.
Are total bill for the month is therefore 130 quid.
Anyone recommend changing any thing to a different provider ? Ie tv to sky and internet and phone to eircom ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Raytown Rocks

Joekers wrote: »

Ok so was looking at this thread anf wondering am I being ripped off, im with UPC and have the cable digital max pack for 34.99 and the sports for 33.00 not interested in movies so the total for that is 67.99.
I then have the fiber power broadband 20mb costing 34 quid.
And finally I have the anytime world phone pack costing 12 and the basic costing 6. This means we get all phone calls to Irish and English landlines for the 18 (6+12) quid a month.
The last part of the bill is usage on the phone calling mobile numbers which comes to 10 quid.
Are total bill for the month is therefore 130 quid.
Anyone recommend changing any thing to a different provider ? Ie tv to sky and internet and phone to eircom ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

I wouldnt change
Before I got the discount I was paying €92 to Sky and €54 ( before calls) to Vodafone. I have a 7 mb line.
I was going to change to UPC but thought i would see if Sky would change down their prices, which they did. 6 months from now when I am back to the full price UPC may still get a call from me.

Stinicker

I tried today for another discount after getting six months of a discount already in early 2010 and again this year, just told them times were hard and I had to prioritise my spending and that €48.50/month for the 6 mixes and High-Def was too much, the girl on the phone wouldn't budge so I left my 30 days notification go in for cancellation. If they don't give me a reduction and keep my package around the €30 a month I was used to paying then I will call their bluff and cancel.

Sky are a shower of gangsters charging €15/month extra for High-def which is no longer a new fangled novelty and is how all tv should be broadcast, heck even the lemmings in RTÉ are even getting into HD albeit slowly.

I can download everything Sky broadcasts anyway and if they don't drop the price I will cut it off, I have a Dual Sat/Terrestrial PVR already but my Saorview reception is unusable and I am desperately waiting for saorsat to come on stream so I can get the poverty stations from Montrose. The ball is in Sky's court now and if they refuse to drop the price I will cut it off and use the money on a 24mb broadband connection and a few premium filehosts instead.

I've had Sky since 2001 and back in 2006 the box went faulty, rang Sky oh that will be €100 call out, I cancelled and resubscribed under a different name to get the free box offer at the time. Within a few days of my cancellation Sky rang me back offering a free callout on my old account, I went with it and they came out and replaced the LNB and gave me a new Sky box. I then subsequently cancelled that for good feigning immigratiion as I was tied into a 12month contract on the new subscription I had taken out at a different address getting a new dish and box installed at my nan's for good measure.

When Sky dropped the Sky+ fee in 2007 (used to be a €15 recording fee) I got that in and in 2009 when I got a nice Panasonic HDTV and got in Sky+HD, this box went faulty then in January so I rang up complaining and again threatened to cancel unless the waived the callout and replacement box fee (they wanted something like €200) anyway they wouldn't budge so I put in my 30 days notice.

About a week later as I expected a girl rang from their "Customer Relations Department" asking for my reason to leave Sky, I told them I wasn't going to pay for "No Satellite Signal Being Received" and most certainly not pay for the new box, she then waived the callout fee including a new box and gave me a 6 month reduction which ran out last month. I got a refurb HD box and instead of €48.50 a month for the six mixes and HD pack I was paying €31.

I'll be awaiting a call from the customer retention team again so we'll see how it goes, obviously my account had been quite heavily discounted over the last two years so I'm finding it harder to get the discount but if say you've been paying Sky away for any period of time over the last while I'd definitely recommend you ring up and threaten to cancel and even do cancel and you get a discount if not on the day then sometime during the 30 day lead period to cut off.

rafaetha

My contract with them is nearly up. When they offer you half price for the next 6 months do they force you in a new contract for a further year? Does anybody know that?

Since I'm still in my first year I don't think they'd offer me anything if I threaten to cancel. Did anybody negotiate a better deal while in the 1st year's contract?

Thanks!

martyeds

Take for instance if i were to ring up and advised them that i wish to cancel, and they offered me Sky Sports for half price for 6 months. I currently pay 31 euro per month so would it be a case of A) 31+20 for Sky Sports = 51, then they give me half price = 26.50 per month. or 31 + sky sports at half price 20/2 = 10. So total price 41 euro per month.

thisNthat

hanleyc2 wrote: »

What about UPC, are they any different when it comes to trying to negotiate (con) a better deal?

They're worse!! Their customer service is terrible and they don't give a damn whether you stay with them or not.

They'll offer you nothing but excuses not to give you anything and more pathetic excuses when they keep overcharging you..
Keep away from them (Personal experience)

rafaetha

martyeds wrote: »

Take for instance if i were to ring up and advised them that i wish to cancel, and they offered me Sky Sports for half price for 6 months. I currently pay 31 euro per month so would it be a case of A) 31+20 for Sky Sports = 51, then they give me half price = 26.50 per month. or 31 + sky sports at half price 20/2 = 10. So total price 41 euro per month.

I'd say it's the 2nd option there. It's Sky Sports FOR half price, not Sky Sports AND half price on your total bill.

How come do you pay only 31 per month? I think I have an expensive bill due to the HD+ Recording box thing...

one eye

Definitely cancelling my Sky sub and will not entertain them until they introduce a dedicated football channel. Already reduced sub by cancelling Movies and all sports except Sky Sports 1. i also subscribe to Setanta because of League Of Ireland coverage. Sky have consistently insisted on broadcasting important matches on Sky Sports 2 or 3.
I am under no illusion that Sky will give a damn about the loss of one subscriber.

El Nino09

Any one got the number for Sky centre in Cork ?