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Managing the great Sky TV rip-off

Either me or gintonic can get a bill-reducing incentive (as can you) if you switch to VM on our referral. ££££££££ ker ching.
 
The discounts mentioned above are pretty mean IME. I would not ring up and give a sob story. You may be seen as a "maybe leaver". Go straight in and tell them you are ringing to cancel. I did that 3 years on the trot and got a c. 55% discount to less than £40 for everything. Make them believe you are a "definite leaver". Year 4 they didn't play ball so i left and use Now TV.
 
Woodface said:
I do mainly have Sky for the kids, will probably scale it down once they leave home. Not ready that arsed about the sport but a lot of decent films on.
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Have you researched new options? Not sure how old your kids are but there is an immense amount on Disney+, way more than just Disney films, they also have things like Family Guy, American Dad, all the Simpsons etc. Just a shed load of stuff for 70 quid a year.

I honestly think that sky customers just pay up like drones. My dad is the same. He is paying 70 quid a month and moans every time about it, but does nothing about it, I just don't understand!, sky is a rip off.
 
I remember my Dad subscribing to Sky Sports when it first started 30 odd years ago and the promise then was that it would be advert free - that didn't last long.
I never realised fully what a rip off Sky was until I moved to France.
 
garyi said:
Have you researched new options? Not sure how old your kids are but there is an immense amount on Disney+, way more than just Disney films, they also have things like Family Guy, American Dad, all the Simpsons etc. Just a shed load of stuff for 70 quid a year.

I honestly think that sky customers just pay up like drones. My dad is the same. He is paying 70 quid a month and moans every time about it, but does nothing about it, I just don't understand!, sky is a rip off.
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Sky is only a rip off if you are not into sport which the OP stated was his must have.

I wouldn't have Sky for films, AP and Netflix are much better for those. If you are paying more than £50 a month it's time to do the leaver thing, but below £50 it's OK value to Sports fans. Which, let's face it, is why Sky majors on Sport. You are not talking about people uninterested in Sport, they have enough options to avoid it altogether.
 
SteveS1 said:
Sky is only a rip off if you are not into sport which the OP stated was his must have.
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Trouble is that's not really the whole story.
If you're a footy fan for example you're looking at pricey add ons if you want to follow the Champions League as well as the Premier League.
Long gone are the days when Sky had the lot - even the Premier League is now shared with other subscription only broadcasters.
In reality you're paying more and more for less and less.
 
garyi said:
Have you researched new options? Not sure how old your kids are but there is an immense amount on Disney+, way more than just Disney films, they also have things like Family Guy, American Dad, all the Simpsons etc. Just a shed load of stuff for 70 quid a year.

I honestly think that sky customers just pay up like drones. My dad is the same. He is paying 70 quid a month and moans every time about it, but does nothing about it, I just don't understand!, sky is a rip off.
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I also have Disney plus & Netflix with access to Amazon prime via my sons student account. Access to Sky go is great for my son as he can watch EPL games even when not living at home. It is cheaper to add on the extras through Sky in some cases & I like the fact that everything is in one place.

I have done my research, know quite a bit about media so not really an old, ignorant duffer;)
 
Sky has invested a lot in content, ‘Succession’ for example. I get that people may thinks it’s expensive but it’s not a ‘rip off’ you get an awful lot for your money.

Netflix is a bit hit or miss of late, Prime I wouldn’t pay for.
 
webster said:
Trouble is that's not really the whole story.
If you're a footy fan for example you're looking at pricey add ons if you want to follow the Champions League as well as the Premier League.
Long gone are the days when Sky had the lot - even the Premier League is now shared with other subscription only broadcasters.
In reality you're paying more and more for less and less.
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Fair comment, I like Premiership football and don't care about the Champions League - to me that of interest to fans of about half a dozen clubs. The qualifying stages being beyond tedious. If I left Sky the main losses to me would be the golf, rugby and cricket. To anyone that loves a lot of sport Sky is still desirable once you negotiate a better deal.

I also agree @Woodface that Sky's set up and mobile platforms are excellent quality too.
 
I had a look at this recently and it's still ongoing. Sky customer with pretty much a full package, Broadband/Phone with TV and Sky Sports (no BT), including multi-room and HD.

Current Monthly subscription, £135

After a bit of haggling, Sky offered new Sky Signature package to reduce to £92 or £15 less without multi-room.

BT can give similar package for £70.99 including BT Sports, but needs a roof aerial (extra £30). Extra boxes are £5 per month

Coincidentally, Virgin Media knocks the next day to discuss taking away old equipment outside if we aren't going to use it. Offers full Broadband/Phone/TV package with Sky Sports and BT Sport for £69 month plus £10 / month for extra boxes.

Currently in the Sky cancellation phase waiting to see if Sky offer anything last minute, or I will review after disconnection.
 
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It's not easy for football fans per the post above. I'm with Virgin but need to supplement it with BT and Sky if I want to see a brand range of football matches. BT are not great - expensive, iffy customer service and the feed is sometimes unreliable. Sky on the other hand, via Now, have been very generous: lots of discounts and offers, some which have been 'free', and they have been reliable.

Negotiating deals with Virgin is a dance that happens every 12/18 months. It all comes to how well you can negotiate (various on-line resources offer tips). It's a bit tiresome and unnecessary IMO. I think Ofcom have instructed the industry to offer new customer deals to existing customers which should help matters but I don't know how well the new policy is working in practice. Overall, my experience with Virgin has been good. I have a quad play, and at a decent price. I have looked at Sky from time to time but Virgin's prices have always better (and I am not a fan of satellite dishes).
 
another virgin subscriber here. I get BT Sport and Sky through VM, plus Sky Movies - 350mb internet. 2 x V6 boxes, and phone. We think it offers good value.
 
DuncanF said:
The discounts mentioned above are pretty mean IME. I would not ring up and give a sob story. You may be seen as a "maybe leaver". Go straight in and tell them you are ringing to cancel. I did that 3 years on the trot and got a c. 55% discount to less than £40 for everything. Make them believe you are a "definite leaver". Year 4 they didn't play ball so i left and use Now TV.
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Interesting. How do you find the NowTV service for Sky Sports versus the previous Sky delivery? Is it easy to navigate/reliable etc?
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I have negotiated with Sky before with reasonable success but I find it all a chore and also increasingly irritating that I am basically having to avoid being ripped off or being offered sub standard deals.
It feels like an adversarial process where you have to have your wits about you the whole time. Ridiculous.
I am also irritated by my own failure to diarise when the contracts are due to expire to avoid the sharp uptick. Hopefully lesson learned this time.

Over and above the various negotiating tactics noted, I think I will try to get some other stuff sorted, such as:
  1. Trying to coincide all the contract expiries at the same date so I have full flexibility in bundling various components together (or not).
  2. Encouraging Mrs A to get off her Btinternet email service so I can flip from BT broadband if needs be (apparently you still can be on a different internet provider and keep your BT email account but that costs extra - £7 per month I think it was!! - may be lower now)
  3. See if I can scrap the landline - needed for alarm system at home in the past (via Banham) but will need to check.
What a pain.
 
Hi,

Sky here, pay £81 a month, get I think what they call the Entertainment Pack or maybe this has been replaced by Sky Max, plus Sports, HD, Box Sets, don't have Sky Q, Multi Room or films, I could check up on my Sky account to see what I have but I cannot be bothered.

The amount of content is vast, just watched the complete 3rd series of Brassic end of last week, first episode only went out last night, yes Sky has a lot to offer.

Cost is about £2.70 a day, which in comparison to a bottle of wine, pint of beer or whatever floats your boat is really good value for money, in my opinion.

Virgin Media, my sister has it for TV and phone, the most useless company on the TV and home phone front, does their system ever work?

BT called me, I have their broadband, very good, offered me the Sky package I have, apart from the Box Sets and recording two stations while watching a recording, told them I cannot get Freeview, there followed a discussion that I must be able to get Freeview as it was part of their package, I tried to explain about people who live in the country where some times terrestrial TV is not able to be received, however they seemed to think this was impossible in this day and age, so gave up on the conversation and said no thanks.

Sky may have many issues from who used to own it or who does own it, the content, price, customer support, however given the options available, if one forgets some of the issues I just quoted, it is a good deal usually for the small outlay a day compaired to drink, cigarettes, cars, sporting activities and HiFi.

Cheers

John
 
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