Another Sky Price Increase

[bad company]

So I have the original package with sports & multiroom. I have been paying £34 monthly which Sky want to increase to £44 as apparently the multiroom offer has ended. That's an increase of over 25%!!!

Told the to cancel so we will see if they come back with anything better.

[bad company]

I ended up paying £35 per month including multi room (2 Sky boxes), includes sport & family packages.

[bad company]

KTF said:

A lot of people dont look at the wider picture as everything is 'how much is that a month' so shrewd marketing on skys behalf.

"Oh its only another fiver a month..."

Nail, hammer, hit.

I look at the percentage increase in times of very low general inflation.

I'm away for another week & will see what arrived when I get home.

[bad company]

I can't go to Virgin as there is no coverage in my area. This obviously makes it harder to switch, the only option is BT which would only work if I could get good reception from a digital ariel.

[bad company]

I just got an email from Sky -

your Sky subscription price is going up by £4.75 a month from 1 June 2016.

I'm currently paying £35.85 so something like 12.5% !!!

I'll call them when I get home & tell them to Foxtrot Oscar.

[bad company]

UPDATE:

So I just called them. Apparently I am committed to Sky until 4 September although I would dispute that I ever agreed this. Anyway the retentions man agreed to give me a credit equal to the difference between the charges between now and my end of contract date which is 4 September.

I have a diary note to call again late July (need to give them 1 months notice to quit so by 4 August) to re negotiate.

Oh the joys of Sky!

[bad company]

Lucas Ayde said:

Are you already getting some sort of discounted deal? I think it's pretty standard that if you take up a retentions offer, you are under contract for a fixed amount of time (typically, at least as long as the duration of the offer).

I agreed a discounted deal on 5 September last year. I understood that it was a 1 year fixed price which I could cancel when I wanted. There was specifically no mention of a 'lock in'. Now they are saying that they can increase the price but as I posted they have agreed to effectively hold the rate until September.

Sky are bar stewards IMO and the call centre staff cannot always be trusted.

[bad company]

Seriously if you come to an arrangement with Sky over the phone keep careful notes. I came to an arrangement with them last September which they now consider was a 1 year commitment tho I was careful to confirm with the Sky rep that was not the case. I have notes of every conversation with them including the name of the person I spoke with.

[bad company]

BT and SKY both overpaid for football imo.

[bad company]

Lucas Ayde said:

bad company said:

BT and SKY both overpaid for football imo.

If they would just load the charge onto their sports packages and let would be subscribers decide whether or not to pay, I don't think anyone would have an issue with how much they paid.

Unfortunately it appears that they both just dump the ludicrous cost of buying PL football across their ENTIRE customer base. It's worse in the case of BT as their customer base will include many people who only want a phone and broadband and have no interest in pay TV whatsoever.

The only way to not end up underwriting obscene salaries for monkeys in the Premiership is to not have BT or Sky services at all. Given their massive reach, that is actually quite tricky.

I'm a football fan but have to agree. At the moment I have Sky for TV and BT for phone/broadband. When the BT increase comes through I will have the right to cancel their contract. Thinking of seeing what Sky will do if they were to provide the broadband AND tv or looking at Talk Talk or even Freeview.

[bad company]

Just received this from Sky:-

As a valued customer, we’d like to offer you 25% off Sky+ TV for 9 months. That's 25% off over 50 channels including Sky Atlantic – a channel exclusive to Sky customers – when you stay with Sky for another 12 months.
Don’t miss out on the hotly anticipated new US drama The Catch and Season 2 of The Tunnel: Sabotage, plus other must-see shows.

Take advantage of this exclusive offer before it expires on 11 May.


My initial thought is that they want me to commit for a further 12 months but only offer the discount for 9 months. Doesn't sound great to me.

Edited by bad company on Saturday 7th May 09:42

[bad company]

MissChief said:

So they're offering a discount, something they don't have to do at all, and you're unhappy? Don't forget Sky doesn't do anything for existing customers.

True and neither do existing (in my case long term) customers have to stay with Sky.

[bad company]

KTF said:

bad company said:

My initial thought is that they want me to commit for a further 12 months but only offer the discount for 9 months. Doesn't sound great to me.

Thats exactly what they want people to do. They hope that they see the discount part but not realise it is only for 9 months then you are back on full price for the remaining 3 months.

The offer was also silent on the figures involved. They said the discount % but not the monthlies with or without discount.

You gotta watch the bar stewards.

[bad company]

Well I just sorted the BT contract. Unlimited broadband, BT sport, unlimited calls and line rental for £30.94 monthly rising to £32.49 in July. Cheaper than last year.

Will tackle Sky again later this summer.

[bad company]

0000 said:

I'm sure all this is more hassle than it needs to be.

Absolutely.

[bad company]

andyjo1982 said:

I
Just know its gonna be huge hassle next year when it comes up for renewing, but like that with anyone now I guess.

It will be a hassle either way. Both BT and Sky are likely to increase prices again and again knowing that millions will just pay up. For similar reasons Mrs BC and I switch between the AA and RAC on alternate years to take advantage of the new customers discount.

[bad company]

andyjo1982 said:

Gave BT a call, didn't seem to want to budge on price or offer me anything special to stay, but did agree I could cancel penalty free, so I think I probably will do. I've found Sky's setup to be much more user friendly.

Did you speak with the retentions department & tell them you were leaving?

[bad company]

To update I just called Sky as I was getting to the end of my contract and I had not called they would have increased the charge to £77-50 per month.

Agreed £38.20 for the next 12 months which is exactly what I am currently paying. For this I have multi room, sport and the family package.

[bad company]

I really struggle to understand why Sky try so hard to retain some customers but don't seem to bother about others. Whenever I have phoned to cancel they have offered a new deal.

[bad company]

Lucas Ayde said:

If you do want full-fat Pay TV, the best strategy is to continually switch between the different providers, picking up the nice 'new customers' deals every time.

Wrangling a deal out of retentions is (a) Random and (b) A pain in the nads. Just pick the best deal from another provider and go with it. They're all for a year so you'll be a 'new customer' again with all the other providers when your 12 month contractual obligation is up.

That's exactly what I do with the AA & RAC. Trouble is in this rural area BT reception is not great and wifi is slow.