Negotiating discounts

[Dick Swiveller]

I was contracting with Sky in Brentford a couple of years ago and know a bit about how customer retention works. Top tips:

1) The length of time you spent with Sky in the past means bugger all to them, its all about how much you spend with them now. If you only have a basic phone and TV setup then don't expect to get deep discounts.
2) If you are the kind of person who rings up every year and tries haggling you'll notice that the discounts you get become smaller and smaller to the point where if you threaten to leave they'll just let you go. Their ideal customer is someone who has a phone/tv/broadband (with extras) and doesn't phone them up ever.
3) When you call ask to put through to the retentions dept. They work from a discounts matrix where there are 4 tiers of discount depending on what type of customer you are - the more money you currently spend with them the better the deal you'll get. Keep pushing them and most people will get to level 2 easily enough, level 3 takes some serious negotiation, level 4 is almost impossible to get and needs to be signed off by their supervisor.
4) The discounts you get offered are fixed so you won't get a custom deal just for you (although they'll make you feel like you are)
5) The discounts matrix changes monthly so don't expect to get the same deal as your neighbour if you phone up at different times
6) Discount deals are best at a couple of key points in the year. January (when some people try to save a bit of money and will look to cancel things like movie packages etc.) and May/June (when the football season ends and people phone to cancel their sports channels).

Like I said my experience of this was a couple of years ago so they may have changed their approach but I suspect it will still work something like this. Hope that helps!

Opening gambit was £7 off Sports. Now finalising £30 off in total deal and just lose weekend calls and Sky F1. Good advice - many thanks. Still don't think you should have to do it though.

 

[Garage_Doors]

Then you're being overcharged. I pay £80 for XL TV, 100mb internet and unlimited phone with three TIVO boxes - no sports or movies.

It don't surprise me.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Interesting strategy from Homeserve this time round. Last year, I grudgingly paid £103.50 for a £30 excess Plumbing and Water Supply policy. Got the usual renewal 100%+ renewal increase (£210) so I just phoned them to cancel - wasn't going to take a 10%+ increase that you normally get them down to. She tried anyway and the best price she could offer was over £170. I am struggling to see how they are doing so well during a pandemic that they can afford to lose customers with ridiculous price hikes. Managed to get the Black Friday price with Sky and Car and Home insurance back in the summer stayed the same so no need to barter. Has anyone else gone through the haggle process recently as I am intrigued to see if this is a one off or if other companies will try huge increases?

 

[schmunk]

Managed to get the Black Friday price with Sky and Car and Home insurance

Sky insurance...?

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Sky insurance...?

I get a huge payout if it falls. I had a tip off from a feathery friend..

Should have had poor punctuation insurance though.

 

[Bodian]

Interesting strategy from Homeserve this time round. Last year, I grudgingly paid £103.50 for a £30 excess Plumbing and Water Supply policy. Got the usual renewal 100%+ renewal increase (£210) so I just phoned them to cancel - wasn't going to take a 10%+ increase that you normally get them down to. She tried anyway and the best price she could offer was over £170. I am struggling to see how they are doing so well during a pandemic that they can afford to lose customers with ridiculous price hikes. Managed to get the Black Friday price with Sky and Car and Home insurance back in the summer stayed the same so no need to barter. Has anyone else gone through the haggle process recently as I am intrigued to see if this is a one off or if other companies will try huge increases?

We've had boiler insurance through Homeserve since our plumber told us it would be cheaper than him replacing the pump. Every year it rockets up, every year I phone to cancel / negotiate and it's back to what it was before. Except this year - like you, I couldn't get them down much. Trouble was, looking around, no-one else had their usual cheap offers either. I think this year all insurances have soared, and will stay high.

Mind - a month later, I called them out to fix the boiler!

 

[Dick Swiveller]

We've had boiler insurance through Homeserve since our plumber told us it would be cheaper than him replacing the pump. Every year it rockets up, every year I phone to cancel / negotiate and it's back to what it was before. Except this year - like you, I couldn't get them down much. Trouble was, looking around, no-one else had their usual cheap offers either. I think this year all insurances have soared, and will stay high.

Mind - a month later, I called them out to fix the boiler!

Interesting - perhaps they think they are the only game in town. Strange time to do it with people having money issues. And their telephone practice is borderline illegal. I clearly said I was phoning to cancel so she read off facts and figures about how great they were. Then came up with a figure and said in one sentence - "So that will come to £17x.xx which is xx.xx a month - shall I go ahead and confirm that for you?"

If they are raising money, I hope they spend some on getting her a decent broadband connection or a QoS router as it kept dropping out. Amusingly at the point she read out the figure.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Yes it should be ethical and legal ( well it actually is ). The problem with the British is they are too conservative ( note the small c ), they are too embarrassed to ask for discounts or upgrades. Whenever I book a hotel room I always ask if there's the possibility of a free upgrade - I get one around 50% of the time. Likewise on airlines, dress casual smart, get there early and ask if there are any free upgrades - 20% ish success rate for me.

I can vouch for this. Did have a bit of trouble landing our Easyjet plane at Tenerife mind