*** Sky TV Cancellation & Negotiation Thread ***

[V F]

imo people who still haven't cottoned onto the fact that sky will never ever match or beat new customer deals are idiots.

same goes for virgin media, etc too.

you should never ever stay loyal and you should never ever outstay your minimum contract length 99% of the time.

i phoned virgin media to cancel saying i was getting a better deal with sky and i knew there was no way they could match it so i wanted to cancel.

they then said just hold on a minute and tell me what your getting, after telling them they said wow that is a good price, i could offer you the same package but with 30 or 60MB broadband instead of the adsl sky are offering for 3 times the price, why would i pay 3 times as much money just to have the same package but with better internet?

so they accepted my 30 day notice.

15 days later another phone call this time they phoned me, and the managed to drop their price to 2.5 times what the sky deal was.


their should be a sticky made with this info in it tbh, the number of people who ask the same stuff over and over again is unbelievable.

loyalty = paying more than new customers

it's the way their whole system works, taking advantage of lazy people who cannot be bothered to change every time their contract is up.

the people on the phone have no power to beat new customer deals, they are their to basically fool you into a new contract at price which is more than what new customers pay for the exact same service.

I love these type of people like, Psycho Sonny. Who think they know all to their circumstances. There's people out there who don't have access to Virgin, then what? I also know people who wont go Freesat HD because the channels are dire. Some have jumped back and forth between Sky and BT. Thats a lot harder if your phone line and broadband is with Sky.

What happens once you've used up the two different names in the household… how do you then register as a new account holder?

So you cancel, and they renew under the other person's name?

So - as a new customer/install - when Sky then talk about coming along to install their dish and box you say what each time?

Heh, that you're a cheap stingy swine? Chances of seeing the same engineer are slim.

I'm just curious what happens after you've used up the allocated slots that lives in the house after each year. Ask the kids to get them Sky? you can only do that several times then you're stuck. So which part is that being an idiot if you've got very little options.

It's one thing for Psycho Sonny to start labelling people idiots when he doesn't know their situation and options.

 

[Bradmax57]

So close to cancelling my sky, I cant get virgin so am looking at talktalk but have heard bad things in the past......

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Totally agree everything posted.

Just put a phone reminder 30 days before the end of contact to call and cancel. They will phone you or be prepared to do a 10min hunt for half price codes.

Been doing it for 3 years now, cycle between my GF and my name. Cancel and got offered a dumb deal. Missus signed up new with better deal. Done. Last year, she called to cancel - 24 hours later she was offered better deal, half price and we get to keep F1 channel without Sports sub.

Not doing anything is to sit and burning money away.

your actually missing out on more savings, every time you sign up as a new customer go through quidco, i got £165 cashback last time i did this, which basically equates to 2-3 months of the 12 month subscription being paid for itself.

which means that the best deal going is even better.

So you cancel, and they renew under the other person's name?

So - as a new customer/install - when Sky then talk about coming along to install their dish and box you say what each time?

you say nothing, when the engineer comes round he will use his eyes to see you already have a dish, if you want it setup in a different or new room let him do this, otherwise let him install your brand new box and pair it up and be on his way after 5 minutes.

or you can possibly get him to install a brand new dish if your old one is worse for wear.

I love these type of people like, Psycho Sonny. Who think they know all to their circumstances. There's people out there who don't have access to Virgin, then what? I also know people who wont go Freesat HD because the channels are dire. Some have jumped back and forth between Sky and BT. Thats a lot harder if your phone line and broadband is with Sky.

What happens once you've used up the two different names in the household… how do you then register as a new account holder?



Heh, that you're a cheap stingy swine? Chances of seeing the same engineer are slim.

I'm just curious what happens after you've used up the allocated slots that lives in the house after each year. Ask the kids to get them Sky? you can only do that several times then you're stuck. So which part is that being an idiot if you've got very little options.

It's one thing for Psycho Sonny to start labelling people idiots when he doesn't know their situation and options.

well let me type this out clearly

you do not need to have 300 people to able to sign up as a new customer.

you effectively become a new customer if you have not subscribed to their service for 12 months, their contract length is also 12 months.

now if you still need help understanding then this means you only need TWO people to be able to do this.

Person A signs up as a new customer to sky in November 2013.
Person A cancels contract to sky in November 2014.
Person B signs up as a new customer to sky in November 2014.
Person B cancels contract to sky in November 2015.
Person A signs up as a new customer to sky in November 2015.

See you don't need access to Virgin Media, or BT or anything apart from another person using this method.


Now your going to say, what if you live alone, aren't married, etc. Well then in that case you have 2 options;

Option A

Switch between Sky, BT or Virgin every 12-18 months (18 month contract on virgin) as a new customer as soon as your new customer deal runs out, using your own name every time.

Option B

Use someone else's name to sign up for a new customer deal, let them pay the first months bill then phone up sky and switch it to your bank account. Then pay that person whatever the first bill was in cash or whatever.

Going to explain this more clearly as I'm sure you will have questions;

Get your dad, mother, brother, sister, friend or anyone who trusts you or knows you and doesn't have sky and has no intention of ever buying it to sign up as a new customer at your address, get them to pay the first bill, then switch the payment details to your bank account after the first month. Then pay your relative the £40 or so you owe them.

After their 12 month contract is up, phone up and cancel and then sign up as a new customer yourself at the same address. Then repeat as necessary.


You may think this is a lot of faffing about, but it's really a 10 minute job maximum to become a sky customer or to cancel a subscription or to change payment details.

You can also get more savings by signing up through quidco. e.g. £150+ cashback every time you sign up as a new customer depending on how big your package is, the bigger the more cashback obviously.

If you do not have any friends or family and no VM in your area, then you could always just go freesat for a year and just use other means for acquiring tv like netflix, torrents, etc until you can become a new customer again.

 

[NeilF]

you say nothing, when the engineer comes round he will use his eyes to see you already have a dish, if you want it setup in a different or new room let him do this, otherwise let him install your brand new box and pair it up and be on his way after 5 minutes.

What happens to your old box then? You imply that's gone as the engineer installs a new one?

 

[Gman]

But is there any down time using this method? and how does it work with the equipment (dish and current box)?

Say Person A cancels, then Person B Orders can you say tell them you've already got the box / Dish can you just activate the new account against these or is it going to require a engineer to come out for the new order and do a full install every time?

 

[Psycho Sonny]

What happens to your old box then? You imply that's gone as the engineer installs a new one?

you keep it, it's yours, mine is in the attic as a "backup" box should my new box fail.

next year when i get even more free new boxes, i will sell the old ones on gumtree for £20 each or something as i already have backups.

But is there any down time using this method? and how does it work with the equipment (dish and current box)?

Say Person A cancels, then Person B Orders can you say tell them you've already got the box / Dish can you just activate the new account against these or is it going to require a engineer to come out for the new order and do a full install every time?

You don't tell them anything otherwise they might cotton onto the fact you already have a subscription and not sign you up as a new customer.

In fact you should be doing it online anyway for cash back therefore you shouldn't be speaking to anyone.

There is downtime if your a moron and don't set it all up correctly.

e.g. I did this for my in laws recently and they phoned up and cancelled their sky - 30 day notice so their services were all going to be cut off on say the 22nd.

i then signed them up immediately after they had put in their notice as new customers to be installed on the 19th, so there was 3 days they basically were paying for 2 subscriptions.

sometimes though there can be a 6 week wait for broadband and phone installs if your going for a package.

so i advise you actually sign up as a new customer first. see what your available install dates are then get one which is in about 27 days time. then phone up sky and cancel your old sub to end on that day or in 30 days time, whichever is longer.

if you set it up correctly there should be some overlap, maximum of 2-3 weeks but if you set it all up correctly should be around 3 days maximum to be on the safe side.


oh and i forgot to add this is a big problem for some people, chances are you will need to change your landline number every time you do this. which can cause problems for people if say they run a business from home, etc.

otherwise just text everybody your new number. i actually like this though as before we used to get constant calls from call centres 24/7, since changing absolutely zero cold calls, absolutely brilliant, no more idiots annoying you as you relax.

 

[Regy53]

I just canceled my sky after 4 years and hit quidco. Got half price for 6 months signing up as my other half.

I actually used my bank details for the dd which got through the system, just used her name.

 

[NirK]

Seriously people complaining about Sky should try having freeview for a few months then you will realise how utterly **** freeview is and how good Sky is.

 

[NeilF]

I just canceled my sky after 4 years and hit quidco. Got half price for 6 months signing up as my other half.

I actually used my bank details for the dd which got through the system, just used her name.

And your old box? I assume you lost your old box, and they give you a new one?

Daft this isn't it... You're saving money at other user's expense, and even raising additional costs by wasting hardware and employee's time. Poor business model!

 

[easyrider]

Seriously people complaining about Sky should try having freeview for a few months then you will realise how utterly **** freeview is and how good Sky is.

Why? I have gone from sky to Freesat and regret nothing. The box and gui is better.

Sky is just not worth the money.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

And your old box? I assume you lost your old box, and they give you a new one?

Daft this isn't it... You're saving money at other user's expense, and even raising additional costs by wasting hardware and employee's time. Poor business model!

Hardly wasting hardware sell the new or old box on Gumtree.

That's how I upgraded my multi room box to sky+ HD and a wireless connector for £25.

Its actually not a poor business model. 99% of people are too lazy or dumb or ignorant about how to play the system.

In fact I have had to spell it all out multiple times on this forum.

Therefore it works in sky's favour, for every guy on a new deal I bet there's at least 2 or 3 loyal customers.

 

[NeilF]

Hardly wasting hardware sell the new or old box on Gumtree.

That's how I upgraded my multi room box to sky+ HD and a wireless connector for £25.

Its actually not a poor business model. 99% of people are too lazy or dumb or ignorant about how to play the system.

In fact I have had to spell it all out multiple times on this forum.

Therefore it works in sky's favour, for every guy on a new deal I bet there's at least 2 or 3 loyal customers.

So they don't even ask for the old box back? And give you a new one?

Out of interest, how long were you without Sky for?

Did you even have an engineer turn up to your house to do.... nothing?

 

[Regy53]

how hard is it to work out.

Imagine it to be a mobile phone contract that you never renew. The phone is yours at the end of the term. Same as the sky box. Just remove the box and put it somewhere else when the engineer comes.


He will install a new box, put in your new viewing card and that's it.

My sky is canceled as of the 30th December, I have a sky engineer booked for the 20th. I have 10 days paying both but its much cheaper plus I get a new box, remote and so on.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

how hard is it to work out.

Imagine it to be a mobile phone contract that you never renew. The phone is yours at the end of the term. Same as the sky box. Just remove the box and put it somewhere else when the engineer comes.


He will install a new box, put in your new viewing card and that's it.

My sky is canceled as of the 30th December, I have a sky engineer booked for the 20th. I have 10 days paying both but its much cheaper plus I get a new box, remote and so on.

Pretty much this.

But you don't even need to do that tbh, sky engineers are contractors they don't actually work for sky they are freelance just doing these jobs when they pop up.

He won't care about boxes you can tell him just to pair the new card to your old box and leave the new boxes still sealed in the packaging by the door or on the table for you to keep as backups.

I have already posted a detailed guide on how to play the system and it answers all the questions recently in this thread. Read back a few pages and you will see my detailed posts.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

imo people who still haven't cottoned onto the fact that sky will never ever match or beat new customer deals are idiots.

same goes for virgin media, etc too.

you should never ever stay loyal and you should never ever outstay your minimum contract length 99% of the time.

i phoned virgin media to cancel saying i was getting a better deal with sky and i knew there was no way they could match it so i wanted to cancel.

they then said just hold on a minute and tell me what your getting, after telling them they said wow that is a good price, i could offer you the same package but with 30 or 60MB broadband instead of the adsl sky are offering for 3 times the price, why would i pay 3 times as much money just to have the same package but with better internet?

so they accepted my 30 day notice.

15 days later another phone call this time they phoned me, and the managed to drop their price to 2.5 times what the sky deal was.


their should be a sticky made with this info in it tbh, the number of people who ask the same stuff over and over again is unbelievable.

loyalty = paying more than new customers

it's the way their whole system works, taking advantage of lazy people who cannot be bothered to change every time their contract is up.

the people on the phone have no power to beat new customer deals, they are there to basically fool you into a new contract at price which is more than what new customers pay for the exact same service.

your actually missing out on more savings, every time you sign up as a new customer go through quidco, i got £165 cashback last time i did this, which basically equates to 2-3 months of the 12 month subscription being paid for itself.

which means that the best deal going is even better.



you say nothing, when the engineer comes round he will use his eyes to see you already have a dish, if you want it setup in a different or new room let him do this, otherwise let him install your brand new box and pair it up and be on his way after 5 minutes.

or you can possibly get him to install a brand new dish if your old one is worse for wear.



well let me type this out clearly

you do not need to have 300 people to able to sign up as a new customer.

you effectively become a new customer if you have not subscribed to their service for 12 months, their contract length is also 12 months.

now if you still need help understanding then this means you only need TWO people to be able to do this.

Person A signs up as a new customer to sky in November 2013.
Person A cancels contract to sky in November 2014.
Person B signs up as a new customer to sky in November 2014.
Person B cancels contract to sky in November 2015.
Person A signs up as a new customer to sky in November 2015.

See you don't need access to Virgin Media, or BT or anything apart from another person using this method.


Now your going to say, what if you live alone, aren't married, etc. Well then in that case you have 2 options;

Option A

Switch between Sky, BT or Virgin every 12-18 months (18 month contract on virgin) as a new customer as soon as your new customer deal runs out, using your own name every time.

Option B

Use someone else's name to sign up for a new customer deal, let them pay the first months bill then phone up sky and switch it to your bank account. Then pay that person whatever the first bill was in cash or whatever.

Going to explain this more clearly as I'm sure you will have questions;

Get your dad, mother, brother, sister, friend or anyone who trusts you or knows you and doesn't have sky and has no intention of ever buying it to sign up as a new customer at your address, get them to pay the first bill, then switch the payment details to your bank account after the first month. Then pay your relative the £40 or so you owe them.

After their 12 month contract is up, phone up and cancel and then sign up as a new customer yourself at the same address. Then repeat as necessary.


You may think this is a lot of faffing about, but it's really a 10 minute job maximum to become a sky customer or to cancel a subscription or to change payment details.

You can also get more savings by signing up through quidco. e.g. £150+ cashback every time you sign up as a new customer depending on how big your package is, the bigger the more cashback obviously.

If you do not have any friends or family and no VM in your area, then you could always just go freesat for a year and just use other means for acquiring tv like netflix, torrents, etc until you can become a new customer again.

you keep it, it's yours, mine is in the attic as a "backup" box should my new box fail.

next year when i get even more free new boxes, i will sell the old ones on gumtree for £20 each or something as i already have backups.



You don't tell them anything otherwise they might cotton onto the fact you already have a subscription and not sign you up as a new customer.

In fact you should be doing it online anyway for cash back therefore you shouldn't be speaking to anyone.

There is downtime if your a moron and don't set it all up correctly.

e.g. I did this for my in laws recently and they phoned up and cancelled their sky - 30 day notice so their services were all going to be cut off on say the 22nd.

i then signed them up immediately after they had put in their notice as new customers to be installed on the 19th, so there was 3 days they basically were paying for 2 subscriptions.

sometimes though there can be a 6 week wait for broadband and phone installs if your going for a package.

so i advise you actually sign up as a new customer first. see what your available install dates are then get one which is in about 27 days time. then phone up sky and cancel your old sub to end on that day or in 30 days time, whichever is longer.

if you set it up correctly there should be some overlap, maximum of 2-3 weeks but if you set it all up correctly should be around 3 days maximum to be on the safe side.


oh and i forgot to add this is a big problem for some people, chances are you will need to change your landline number every time you do this. which can cause problems for people if say they run a business from home, etc.

otherwise just text everybody your new number. i actually like this though as before we used to get constant calls from call centres 24/7, since changing absolutely zero cold calls, absolutely brilliant, no more idiots annoying you as you relax.

 

[johnny6]

Recently cancelled sky in my name and took out a new F&F deal in the wife's name. Half price Sky package for another 12 months rude not to.

Only problem I had was when trying to sign up online it would only let me go so far as it stated there was already an active/recently active Sky account in the property. So ended up having to ringing up and completing the order.

Don't know if this is a new thing to stop people also getting the cash back?

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Did you select an option saying you were already living there instead of moving into the property?

I think if they have changed the way their system works it may be better to cancel sky first then sign up although this means you run the risk of loss of service for a short while.

Or if you aint bothered cancel wait a month then sign up under a new name. That's if you can live without it for a month.

But when I did my in laws a couple of months back I done the switch all online no problems.

 

[Azza]

What a bargain!

 

[johnny6]

Did you select an option saying you were already living there instead of moving into the property?

I think if they have changed the way their system works it may be better to cancel sky first then sign up although this means you run the risk of loss of service for a short while.

Or if you aint bothered cancel wait a month then sign up under a new name. That's if you can live without it for a month.

But when I did my in laws a couple of months back I done the switch all online no problems.

Can't remember seeing that to be honest just an option for new or existing customer.

Ended up being without Sky for 8 days. Wouldn't recommend it basic TV is shocking. I didn't actually think we watched that much 'Sky only' TV clearly I was wrong. Anywho reinstalled last weekend, the installer was happy with the situation as he was finished within 10 minutes.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Can't remember seeing that to be honest just an option for new or existing customer.

Ended up being without Sky for 8 days. Wouldn't recommend it basic TV is shocking. I didn't actually think we watched that much 'Sky only' TV clearly I was wrong. Anywho reinstalled last weekend, the installer was happy with the situation as he was finished within 10 minutes.

Like I said they are contractors he probably got paid like £150 for that ten minutes of work as well.