Sky Broadband Renewal

[JohnC6]

This anecdote is about a Sky renewal contract but could apply to any renewal..car-home etc.

Last week a customer of Sky Broadband received an Email telling him that his contract was due for renewal so he called them to renew it and see if he could get the best deal . He was paying £34.50 a month which increased to £39.50. However, the Email stated that if he locked in for 18 months he would get a £5 a month discount ..so..keeping it at £34.50. His wife checked Sky's online offers and saw that they could get a discounted price of £26 a month which over 18 months amounted to a saving of £153....for exactly the same contract. When the chap called Sky and asked for their lowest price he was told that £34.50 was their absolute best.. He then told the customer care (?) person that his wife had found the £26 a month offer online.. What did the Sky operative say ? "Great, now that you've confirmed that you've seen our online offer I can give it to you " He'd been with them for six years. If that's not bad enough there was more. This chap had a friend who is on the ball and puts the renewal date on her calendar so she has time to research for the best price and then haggles with them and gets it. One day she asked them why her father,who had been with Sky for 20 years, was being charged so much more than her for pretty much the same service the operative said it was because he'd never complained adding that had he challenged the year on year price increase he'd have got a better deal. I appreciate that some people just don't have time to research prices and then call to haggle..I don't think haggle is the correct term tbh..you call to bring to their attention a better offer,either through their online price or another company..ie there's an alternative..haggling is just getting the ticket price down as if you were in an antique store. So putting aside those so busy they have no time you are left, generally, with the vulnerable or elderly.I call that exploitation. It's those people who allow the likes of Sky and insurance companies etc to offer discounted prices to those more savvy and keep their business.

Why aren't I surprised ? Because these companies are run by sheisters, that's why.

 

[Raincloud]

They in it to get as much money as they can....

 

[Mr Bump]

i remember reading recently rules were coming in where they have to give you the same deals as new customers?

 

[Box Brownie]

My experience renewing my car insurance with LV was similar, in that when I phoned to discuss it I was given a discount without any pause.

When I pressed him to get it power, he said in effect what you say above.

I did not get it down to last year's figure but acceptably close. I mentioned this on a recent car insurance thread where some TPers were being quoted very markedly higher figures.

As you say in your post.......as loyal customers we should not have complain to get a better/best price!

 

[lindsay]

I've already decoded that our Sky TV contract will not be renewed when it runs out. There's just nothing worth watching - we actually make our own schedules now using box sets that we own already.
Broadband is a necessity, but I only have one fibre provider available at present and need the speed they offer, but that will change soon when City Fibre finish laying new fibre here, and I believe BT are sorting out their cabling/fibre here too.

 

[Humphrey]

Your lucky with the fibre roll out, we wont have it until god knows when, not in the next 5 years at least! but they are putting it into the city where they already have Virgin fibre, so even though they're laying miles of fibre, no one is taking them up on it at the moment.

BT seem to be more interested in getting the new fibre in to new housing estates.

 

[Steep]

Business in prioritising profit shocker...

 

[JohnC6]

i remember reading recently rules were coming in where they have to give you the same deals as new customers?

Yes, that's right and they were introduced on January 1st last year. Whilst the experience of the chap renewing with Sky was last week his tale about his friend's dad could have been prior to these rules introduced last year.

 

[JohnC6]

Business in prioritising profit shocker...

I'm assuming you don't condone lying to customers in order to prioritise profits ?

From my post. "When the chap called Sky and asked for their lowest price he was told that £34.50 was their absolute best. His wife checked Sky's online offers and saw that they could get a discounted price of £26 a month which over 18 months amounted to a saving of £153....for exactly the same contract"

Lying is intentional dishonesty, deliberately trying to make a person believe something that is not true. It's not only dishonest though, it's disrespectful to a customer.

When a business prioritises profits..to use your term... it's generally through these measures .By selling more, by charging higher prices for their goods or services and reducing production costs. When it comes to insurance companies most of the way to profit is by denying as many claims as possible, often valid claims and thus paying out as little as possible and they have a range of reasons that will achieve that goal...or they hope so. For example, damage caused by normal wear and tear, damage wasn't covered, damage caused before the initiation of the policy.

I can give you a first hand experiece. Years ago I had a Vauxhall Carlton. My neighbour was an engineer and whilst looking at something for me under the bonnet he noticed oil seeping out of a part. That could cost,he said. It should be covered under the guarantee. We checked. The very part was written in the list of parts covered. I took it to the dealer..main dealer. I said it was covered by the guarantee. I'd already had one repair carried out under guarantee. I can recall the 'sarcy' letter from the insurance company to this day. "Regarding your claim under the warranty for (whatever part it was) unfortunately, on this occasion the warranty does not cover it. " I took my warranty/guarantee to the garage and pointed out the inclusion of the part. The chap went off to the office and returned and agreed it was, indeed covered. They carried out the repair.

 

[Steep]

I'm assuming you don't condone lying to customers in order to prioritise profits ?

From my post. "When the chap called Sky and asked for their lowest price he was told that £34.50 was their absolute best. His wife checked Sky's online offers and saw that they could get a discounted price of £26 a month which over 18 months amounted to a saving of £153....for exactly the same contract"

Lying is intentional dishonesty, deliberately trying to make a person believe something that is not true. It's not only dishonest though, it's disrespectful to a customer.

When a business prioritises profits..to use your term... it's generally through these measures .By selling more, by charging higher prices for their goods or services and reducing production costs. When it comes to insurance companies most of the way to profit is by denying as many claims as possible, often valid claims and thus paying out as little as possible and they have a range of reasons that will achieve that goal...or they hope so. For example, damage caused by normal wear and tear, damage wasn't covered, damage caused before the initiation of the policy.

I can give you a first hand experiece. Years ago I had a Vauxhall Carlton. My neighbour was an engineer and whilst looking at something for me under the bonnet he noticed oil seeping out of a part. That could cost,he said. It should be covered under the guarantee. We checked. The very part was written in the list of parts covered. I took it to the dealer..main dealer. I said it was covered by the guarantee. I'd already had one repair carried out under guarantee. I can recall the 'sarcy' letter from the insurance company to this day. "Regarding your claim under the warranty for (whatever part it was) unfortunately, on this occasion the warranty does not cover it. " I took my warranty/guarantee to the garage and pointed out the inclusion of the part. The chap went off to the office and returned and agreed it was, indeed covered. They carried out the repair.

I absolutely do not condone this kind of business practice but it is 'standard' practice. It is very naive of the writer to expect a business to act in anyone's interest but their own.

 

[JohnC6]

I absolutely do not condone this kind of business practice but it is 'standard' practice. It is very naive of the writer to expect a business to act in anyone's interest but their own.

I don't agree that he's naïve. He's not expecting a business not to act in it's own interests, he's criticising the way Sky went about it.. ie lying to its customers. I'd have made a complaint to Trading Standards. There's so much consumer legislation now regarding malpractice in the retail and financial industry that contravening it can be costly not only in monetary terms but reputational terms which leads to a loss of trust, which can take years to get back and hence loss of revenue. There's even an "Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (EU). That deals more with sharp practice.

So..yes,I agree that they are up to all sorts of tricks but I wouldn't say that lying is 'standard'. It just confirms my opinion that finance/insurance retailers in particular are, in general, run by sheisters.

 

[cambsno]

I'm assuming you don't condone lying to customers in order to prioritise profits ?

From my post. "When the chap called Sky and asked for their lowest price he was told that £34.50 was their absolute best. His wife checked Sky's online offers and saw that they could get a discounted price of £26 a month which over 18 months amounted to a saving of £153....for exactly the same contract"

Lying is intentional dishonesty, deliberately trying to make a person believe something that is not true. It's not only dishonest though, it's disrespectful to a customer.

When a business prioritises profits..to use your term... it's generally through these measures .By selling more, by charging higher prices for their goods or services and reducing production costs. When it comes to insurance companies most of the way to profit is by denying as many claims as possible, often valid claims and thus paying out as little as possible and they have a range of reasons that will achieve that goal...or they hope so. For example, damage caused by normal wear and tear, damage wasn't covered, damage caused before the initiation of the policy.

I can give you a first hand experiece. Years ago I had a Vauxhall Carlton. My neighbour was an engineer and whilst looking at something for me under the bonnet he noticed oil seeping out of a part. That could cost,he said. It should be covered under the guarantee. We checked. The very part was written in the list of parts covered. I took it to the dealer..main dealer. I said it was covered by the guarantee. I'd already had one repair carried out under guarantee. I can recall the 'sarcy' letter from the insurance company to this day. "Regarding your claim under the warranty for (whatever part it was) unfortunately, on this occasion the warranty does not cover it. " I took my warranty/guarantee to the garage and pointed out the inclusion of the part. The chap went off to the office and returned and agreed it was, indeed covered. They carried out the repair.

Is that not negotiation?

If someone asked me to shoot something I may charge £500. They may push me for a discount... I come down to £400, is that your best price - "Yes it is". Then they may come back again saying they will only agree if I can do for £350. If I agree was I lying?

 

[Box Brownie]

Is that not negotiation?

If someone asked me to shoot something I may charge £500. They may push me for a discount... I come down to £400, is that your best price - "Yes it is". Then they may come back again saying they will only agree if I can do for £350. If I agree was I lying?

Hmmm! are we expected to negotiate (haggle!) for all services that we buy.

Perhaps we should try that with power utilities or even when we fill the car .......oh my bad these are not services!

 

[JohnC6]

Is that not negotiation?

If someone asked me to shoot something I may charge £500. They may push me for a discount... I come down to £400, is that your best price - "Yes it is". Then they may come back again saying they will only agree if I can do for £350. If I agree was I lying?

My bold. No you weren't lying, you were in a negotiation and were prepared to discount. You've not grasped the difference.

In the first instance you started with the £500 price . Unlike Sky, you didn't already have a lower price on your website which the prospective client hadn't seen. Sky told the chap that £34.50 a month was their absolute best price when the operative knew full well it wasn't. He/she lied. To add insult to injury when the chap pointed out the cost of the identical contract on Sky's own website the operative confirmed that he/she knew of the lower cost by saying. "Great, now that you've confirmed that you've seen our online price I can give it to you " It could have been put another way. "Well done sir, for spotting our online price and as a reward for your diligence Sky will only charge you that price"

Do you now see what I mean ?

 

[boogie man]

I’ll be going through the same dance routine with Sky soon as they’re trying to hoik my monthly bill from £51.50 to £75 very soon. I can have a £10 per month “loyalty bonus” if I sign up now. Gee thanks, but that’s still an increase of £13.50 per month so, no thanks. I can get the same deal as a new customer for £44, but their rider is firmly “new customers only”, so I’ll be going elsewhere. No doubt I’ll re-sign with Sky in a couple of years to get the lower price again. It’s all so pointless.