So has anyone been made an offer to stay with Sky?

muffler

My sub expires at the end of the month and I rang up just over a week ago to give them the 31 days notice of cancellation. The guy offered me a 25% discount if I stayed which would have left my current package at €57/month but I declined.

I was on a half price offer for the last 18 months which came to €37/month which was good enough value. I had free mutlti-room, half price HD, sports and basic sub.

I know that some offers are "customer specific" (based on history etc) but I'm just wondering if anyone has rang up to cancel and have been made "an offer they couldn't refuse".............or something close to that

Would there be a chance they would call me again and make an offer of some type?

gtg60

What I found is that once you are out of (the initial) contract you get offered a great deal, usually for 6 months at 50% off, the next deal is never as good and the deal after that is worse again.
How you managed to get half price for 18months is a bit of a mystery but I'd expect you wouldn't get anything like that again.
25% isn't bad but I reckon you could get better, I always find that the Tier 1 support can't offer you as good a deal as Tier 2, wait til the very last day of your contract (maybe they might ring you) if not ring back with a sob story, try to get your call escalated and go from there. Personally I always found I could get better deals from the UK call centre especially when I got handed off to the retention (or whatever they call themselves) department.
Good luck!

watty

It's dead easy to save 100% and resist their blandishments, just cancel. We did go back twice AFTER cancelling. Probably never again. No interest of anything on Sky Sports and too many repeats. So we sticking with FTA TV and for stuff WE want repeated lots, buying the Box Sets. Nearly time to watch Babylon 5 again

muffler

The sport is the one that I'd miss and "she who (thinks) must be obeyed" is not too willing about giving up the Sky+ features.

I might just give them a call a couple of days before the sub expires to see if there's anything else happening.

muffler

gtg60 wrote: »

How you managed to get half price for 18months is a bit of a mystery but I'd expect you wouldn't get anything like that again.

No, I cant see me getting that again and over the last 18 months a couple of reps I talked to in Sky when calling about something or other couldn't understand how I got it as it's an "employee deal" only apparently.

What happened was about May 2010 (after reading some posts here) I rang in and complained about not haven been made an offer to stay. I did make certain suggestions as to why I thought I was not being treated equally and fairly (I wont say here what they were though) and on 2 different days 2 different reps who were supposed to call back didn't so that actually helped me.

When I rang in the third time I then had additional reason to complain and demanded a manager/supervisor and got a nice lady who said she would put me on a half price sub for a year. The only condition was that I couldn't change the package during the year otherwise Id loose the offer - no contract as such other than the 1 month notice to cancel. But in Feb 2011 I rang about getting multi-room and cancelling the HD and was told that they werent part of the main package so I could change them. The guy give me the multiroom for free (had everything in place so only needed a card) and when i said about cancelling the HD he dropped it by 50%. Had to agree to a 1 year contract at that stage though.

When the "half price" year was up I cancelled the sports (may 2011) but for whatever reason the remainder of the package was still being charged at half price. I rang in early August last to add the sports again and the guy told me Id be on the €37/month which was still half price but he couldnt understand why. He made the mistake though of telling me that Id be on that till the end of feb 2012 when my contract was up.

Then in October they charged me the full whack and I give them a bit of my mind and demanded a recording of what their rep told me in August so they basically had no choice but to honour what I had been told.

Sorry, long story but I thought it was worth telling. I suppose Im one of the "lucky ones"

mickdw

Ive had sky for about 7 years now Id say. Never bothered them for new dishes or new equipment, usually upgrading bits myself.
We have a €30 package but the problem now is that I want to get the F1 channel via hd subscription.
What are the chances of them doing some kind of deal? Also, if I upgrade to hd subscription, am I tied to it/them again for a period of time?

John mac

if you upgrade you are tied to another year.

Minstrel27

I was offered half price for 12 months after I cancelled. That price is fine for me. If they cannot continue with half price after my 12 months are up then I will cancel and probably get that offer again a few months later

bodonnell

Been with sky over ten years on full sub., + hd(since 2010) + multiroom, rang to cancel sports & movies in january, they offered 25% off for 3 mth's if we kept the package. They would not improve on offer so went ahead & cancelled.

cabledude

We were with SKY since 2001. Standard package but from time to time upgraded to Sports and Movies e.g. for Heineken cup, Ryder Cup, Christmas etc.

I had been trying for years to persuade them to let us have multi room without need for a second full sub. Without a landline this was not an option for us. So we decided to go down the road of Soarview and Freesat and set it up in such a way that it will give us multi room with record pause etc.

When we phoned sky I did not get a single offer of any discounts or promotions. In fact the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth because the guy I spoke to was one of the most ignorant people I have ever encountered. Although even had they offered a half price offer I doubt I would have stayed.

muffler

I've been with them since 1995 (not necessarily in my own name all the time ) and between subscribing/unsubscribing, upgrading/downgrading etc etc I have encountered a fair mix of people who work there. By and large most of the reps were okay but there have been a couple of clowns I encountered.

Offers appear to come and go and I think may be related to a customers previous history - i.e. what packages they have been on, how long they have been a customer etc etc. I recall this time last year when I got the free multi-room. The rep told me that I would get an offer on it but he couldn't tell me what it would be until I agreed to take the muti-room.

He explained that their system was showing that I was entitled to an offer but he couldnt tell me what the actual details were untill I agreed to take it. Strange way of working.

.

Cantona's Collars

bodonnell wrote: »

Been with sky over ten years on full sub., + hd(since 2010) + multiroom, rang to cancel sports & movies in january, they offered 25% off for 3 mth's if we kept the package. They would not improve on offer so went ahead & cancelled.

Bet they'll ring you and write to you,then you're bound to get a decent offer.;)

Fr Tierney

I'm in the exact same situation. Been with them with full package for 8 years. Rang to cancel last week (been on a half price deal for last 18 months along with 30 for HD and 1 multi-room deal, which I got when i went to cancel at that time). He asked me to consider removing some channels ect and downgrading but I wanted all or nothing.

He did offer a 25% reduction in the end but I wouldnt take it. He said I had to give the 31 days notice which I duly done (finished 5th March). He did say I "might" get an improved offer in the post, but would not be as good as what I was on.

I went on to tell him about Netflix and being able to stream most football matches to the tele/computer and they now had competition in the market, but he wasnt for budging. I will keep you updated on whether I get an improved offer or not.

Not looking forward to the 5th March thou !!!!!!

Dozen Wicked Words

Probably no use to you because you would lose Sky for a couple of months, but I cancelled November last year and have had two offers of half price for a year from them.

CricketDude

3 times now we cancelled and ignored the initial offers. After a couple of months of us using Freesat, they call back and offer us half price for a year and we take it. I think the next time we will just stick to the freesat and let them keep their offers.

blueser

dooferoaks wrote: »

Probably no use to you because you would lose Sky for a couple of months, but I cancelled November last year and have had two offers of half price for a year from them.

Seems to be standard procedure for them. I cancelled last autumn and within a few weeks started receiving flyers in the post offering half price viewing for returning subscribers. I bit!

CGI_3

Rang this morning to cancel. Gave the excuse that I was emigrating.

They told me that their system was down and that they would call me back but couldn't say when.

I said that I would like to put it in writing to them as well. The lady on the phone then said that they have no way of accepting written communication!!

But, I banged an email off to help@skycustomersupport.com and sky@skymail.sky.com and got back the autoresponse which says:

This is an automatic response. Please do not reply to this email as replies to this email will remain unanswered.

Thank you for your email.

To ensure your enquiry is directed to the correct team, we have made some changes to our e-mail support. We need you to re-submit your message by filling in the Sky Enquiry Form from the Contact Us section of sky.com.

Once you have submitted the Web Form , we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible. (Your original message will not have been received)

Note the last line. So, I follow the online form and low and behold, the only option to cancel is again to call them!

So, a new tactic to string out a customer who's definitely intend on cancelling?! Every day I'm still with them is worth about a euro to them! And along with the inevitable repeat phone call I'll probably have to make which they get a nice chunk of change from too.

There should be some kind of law that makes it as easy to sign out of a service as it is to sign up for. (Providing you are out of contract, obviously)

Minstrel27

CGI_3 wrote: »

Note the last line. So, I follow the online form and low and behold, the only option to cancel is again to call them!

Email them using the form on this page

I have done so many times in the past and always got a reply

Cantona's Collars

Sky are telling the truth about the system being down,they are doing system maintanance and upgrades at the moment.

I have the full whack for half price for 12 months.Previously I had 25% off for 6 months.

northknife

mickdw wrote: »

Ive had sky for about 7 years now Id say. Never bothered them for new dishes or new equipment, usually upgrading bits myself.
We have a €30 package but the problem now is that I want to get the F1 channel via hd subscription.
What are the chances of them doing some kind of deal? Also, if I upgrade to hd subscription, am I tied to it/them again for a period of time?

Got offer yesterday for free hd box and set-up and free hd for 2 months if I take subscription for year.
Thinking of going for it if they give good offer on multi-room and also take sports.

muffler

northknife wrote: »

Got offer yesterday for free hd box and set-up and free hd for 2 months if I take subscription for year.

How was the offer made? Did you ring to cancel or had you previously cancelled and they were looking for you to subscribe again?

northknife

muffler wrote: »

How was the offer made? Did you ring to cancel or had you previously cancelled and they were looking for you to subscribe again?

Got offer in post.
Cancelled sports and movies about 6 months ago.
Gonna give them call at weekend see what they offer.

muffler

Just a wee update on this.

Last Friday a Sky rep rang me and went through the usual questions about why I had cancelled etc. He gave me an offer of half price for the package I was on for another 6 months with no contract but subject to the usual 31 days cancellation notice. I now have the entertainment and sports pack for €29.50 a month.

I had the multiroom free for the last year but he wouldn't/couldn't give me an offer on that. So with 2 teenagers in the house I agreed to fork out the €15/month extra for peace and quiet

Sin City

I had a sky rep out to me a few weeks ago asking me if I would come back. I told him about needing a land line for multiroom, he said you don't need one as long, as you give someones land line number

He also, said sky broadband is coming to ireland with similar speeds of upc

campo

Sin City wrote: »

I had a sky rep out to me a few weeks ago asking me if I would come back. I told him about needing a land line for multiroom, he said you don't need one as long, as you give someones land line number

He also, said sky broadband is coming to ireland with similar speeds of upc

Yes but he is a Sky Sales person looking to get commision and is likely to tell you anything and when it all goes Pete Tong the said salesman is no where to be seen

Mountjoy Mugger

Sin City wrote: »

He also, said sky broadband is coming to ireland with similar speeds of upc

Sounds like a very honourable salesman.

Sin City

Needless to say I havent returned to sky

cabledude

Had a call from Sky last month offering me half price on any package I wanted for 9 months. I said 'No thanks'.

He then asked me what would they need to do to get me back. I told him that if they could give me all the channels I wanted, in four different rooms, multiroom by the way, not this magic eye one channel everywhere carry on and no monthly bill that I'd sign up straight away. Oh yea, I also told him that under no circumstances would I entertain having a landline. His answer to this was ' I don't think we can do that Sir'. Fair enough I said. That's what I have at the moment. I then asked him if he would mind taking me name off their contact list as I didn't want to be contacted 2-3 times a week. He told me he would ensure I would not receive any more call. I'm still getting calls.

Cantona's Collars

cabledude wrote: »

Had a call from Sky last month offering me half price on any package I wanted for 9 months. I said 'No thanks'.

He then asked me what would they need to do to get me back. I told him that if they could give me all the channels I wanted, in four different rooms, multiroom by the way, not this magic eye one channel everywhere carry on and no monthly bill that I'd sign up straight away. Oh yea, I also told him that under no circumstances would I entertain having a landline. His answer to this was ' I don't think we can do that Sir'. Fair enough I said. That's what I have at the moment. I then asked him if he would mind taking me name off their contact list as I didn't want to be contacted 2-3 times a week. He told me he would ensure I would not receive any more call. I'm still getting calls.

Find a friend who is wanting Sky,contact Sky & push for 12 months half price by quoting the number of times they contacted you to go back,sign up using friends bank a/c & address (make sure friend is ok with this of course) If Sky query the different address just tell em you moved-viola half price Sky for your friend;)

xxyyxx

What is the number that is displayed when Sky call with offers. I cancelled a few months ago and have been getting a few calls recently from a number I do not recognise.

cabledude

xxyyxx wrote: »

What is the number that is displayed when Sky call with offers. I cancelled a few months ago and have been getting a few calls recently from a number I do not recognise.

1800 xxx xxx

Mountjoy Mugger

That narrows it down.

muffler

xxyyxx wrote: »

What is the number that is displayed when Sky call with offers.

A few months ago they rang me from this number - 1800 806807

xxyyxx

Not them so. Thanks.

cabledude

muffler wrote: »

A few months ago they rang me from this number - 1800 806807

That's the one.

Johnboy1951

Received a call yesterday that I actually listened to for a short while .....

they offered 4 months free and the rest of the year at half price, providing a new Sky HD box free also.

when I refused the guy added a little to the offer, but I cannot say I took a lot of notice .... something about 50 euros? credit I thought he said. It essentially meant (I think) that I would get six months free and six months at half price.

There was a bit of noise about due to renovations at the time, and it was not a priority TBH.

I did offer to reconsider if Sky ever came out with a stand-alone package for documentary style channels ..... Discovery etc. That is all I miss now - using the free to view Sat channels.