Could you be entitled to an unadvertised discount on your Sky account?
We have a guest post from The Beau, who’s just found out that he’s been unexpectedly paying too much for his Sky TV package, due to some VERY sneaky changes recently made by the provider. Here’s how he’s put Sky straight AND saved a cool £90 on this year’s bill.
Over to you, Beau…
Sky customers take note – they’ve recently changed their package structures and like me, you may be being over-charged for things you never knew you had (or needed) and Sky won’t tell you about it!
Three questions. Are you a Sky customer? Are you on their Sky Entertainment Extra package? Do you like Formula 1 racing? If your answers are yes, yes and no then listen up. Sky have recently introduced a new package to their line up which is called Entertainment Extra Plus. This is basically exactly the same as Sky Entertainment butwithout the Sky F1 HD channel and it costs £5 less per month. So if like me you have no interest in watching some fast cars screeching round a track for hours on end then give Sky a call and cut your bill.
If you ask me, I think Sky have been a little bit sneaky with this. My previous channel package was automatically upgraded to the Entertainment Extra package without me asking for it (the pricing was pretty much the same) so I didn’t really notice it happening. It was only by reading on an internet forum that I learned about the existence of the new Entertainment Extra Plus package. Rather tellingly, it wouldn’t allow me to switch to it from the ‘My Account’ page on the Sky website – they’re not going to make it that easy to save a fiver a month now are they? I gave them a quick call instead and without fuss they switched me over. Bingo. £5.00 off my monthly bill. But the savings didn’t end there…
The rather helpful customer services person I was speaking to then went through the rest of my package and noticed that I was paying £10 per month for my Sky Broadband Unlimited. I’ve been paying this amount ever since I can remember, but had no idea that it now actually costs £7.50 a month if you also take the phone line rental package from Sky (which I do.) A quick click on his keyboard later and my broadband was £2.50 per month cheaper. Result! That’s a total saving of £7.50 every month on my regular package – the only thing I’m losing out on is that F1 channel that I’ll never watch anyway.
Again though, it’s more than a little bit annoying that Sky don’t actually tell you when parts of their service come down in price don’t you think? They’re quick to tell you when they go up in price but not the opposite it would seem.
So if you’re a Sky customer, particularly one on a package that includes TV, phone and broadband, then have a close look at your account on the Sky website and check exactly what you’re paying per month compared to what Sky now charge for their packages. You may well find that a quick phone call could save you quite a bit of cash.
ooooh – interesting post beau!! I’m gonna look at my sky package tomorrow and see if they’re messing me around too! Thanks for this….
Very interesting indeed! My husband recently rang up to upgrade us to the new fibre broadband. BT actually did a similar offer, but without the installation fee. When he said about this, they offered to remove the installation fee AND offer the first three months free. It always pays to call up, rather than switch or change online.
Hi Jackie and Emma – thanks for commenting. Although you can usually find the best deals as a new customer by shopping around online, it does rather look like you still need to haggle over the phone as an existing customer to get what I’d call a fair deal. I find it really annoying that it isn’t something you can sort out via your online account, and it’s too variable because it depends randomly on who’s at the other end of the phone, and most customers don’t know their full rights in this situation. Plus, not everyone’s great at haggling.
Sky aren’t the only company doing this, but if they fixed it then it would be some very good PR for them, and they’d perhaps find it easier to retain certain customers.