Free Sky+ upgrade when threatening to cancel sunscription

spice2019

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Title says it all really. It's been mentioned before but this really does work.

If you ring up Sky Customer Services and say you want to cancel your subscription they will transfer you to the cancellation team and make you an offer. Simply say that you're unhappy with the Sky picture quality and want to go with Freeview. Hold tight at first and wait for a better offer - to start they offered me a Grade A Pace PVR1, with a 20GB HDD - not very tempting. After around 15 minutes of haggling (basically me saying I still want to leave) they will offer you cut down subs then a Pace PVR2 80GB at £79.95. 5 minutes more umm and ahhing about it they will succumb and they will offer you a new 80Gb Pace box for free including free install. Nice. It's being installed this coming Sunday. :D

Btw, I've been with Sky since 1998 and subscribe to Sky Sports (time spent with Sky and Sky channel package probably has some influence on what they will offer you)
 
I was on 6 mix so I phoned up to "leave" and was offered a brand spanking new PVR3 for free plus free installation if I either paid the 10 quid Sky+ charge or got movies.

So I took out the movie subs and it's being installed Sunday next week!
 
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I called them up to cancel a few weeks ago and got a free upgrade to Sky+ but to cut a long story short, i called up again as my movie sub wasn't working and the girl messed up my order. Which cancelled my instal date and everytime i called up they said i had Sky+ but i didn't. In the end i wrote an email to Mr Murdoch and one of this assistants called me back and i got my installation date, a top of the range brand new Sky+ box (must be a pvr3?) and six months half price sub. So turned out to be a good move, although a tad stressful!!
 
I tried the same thing:smashin:
Said i wanted to cancel due to better deals with ntl ect, I was offered 6 months half price:D and i thought about others getting offered sky+ for less, so i said no i still wanted to cancel...."ok" the guy at the end of the phone said:eek: "your sky has now been cancelled":mad:

Had to break the bad news to the other half:suicide: lets just say she was not to happy
 
Neil.B said:
I tried the same thing:smashin:
Said i wanted to cancel due to better deals with ntl ect, I was offered 6 months half price:D and i thought about others getting offered sky+ for less, so i said no i still wanted to cancel...."ok" the guy at the end of the phone said:eek: "your sky has now been cancelled":mad:

Had to break the bad news to the other half:suicide: lets just say she was not to happy
:laugh:
 
I had to ask to get the Sky+ deal but it was no hassle.

I started off by saying I was thinking of leaving and asking "What do I need to do, do you need it in writing" etc... and she asked why I wanted to leave.

I said Freeview looks appealing and is free so she offered me half price on any package for 6 months.

I ummed and ahhed for a minute and then asked about Sky+

She said it's normally £199 for the box and 60 quid install. I said that seemed pricey so she said I could have box and install for nothing if I signed up for either Movies or Sport or the £10 a month subs.

I asked if I could drop the movies and go back to just the ten pound sky plus charge at any time and she said yes so I went for Movies. I also checked it was a new box and she confirmed it was a brand new PVR3 box.

I didn't really argue or threaten to leave, just asked politely and ended up with exactly what I wanted :)

Can't wait for Sunday!
 
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It is all very well being offered the Sky+ box, but if you do not subscribe to movie or sports channels, then it end up costing more. £120 a year just to record is not my idea of free. I was offered Sky+ when I cancelled but told them I was not interested as I have a freeview box that done the same thing. I was told that they did not exist, which is strange considering I have one under my T.V

I done a good thing to cancel Sky and while I did have Sky on the phone a few times and also sending me leaflets, they seemed to have got it into their heads that I am not interested and have not heard anything from Sky for 3 months now.
 
So you actually have a brand new free PACE installed already ???


I know for a fact the cancellation dept have no facilities to give out FREE new SKY+ boxes and they have no way of knowing what the engineer will bring, be it amstrad, thomson or pace.
 
johnmcf said:
So you actually have a brand new free PACE installed already ???


I know for a fact the cancellation dept have no facilities to give out FREE new SKY+ boxes and they have no way of knowing what the engineer will bring, be it amstrad, thomson or pace.

The lady I spoke to at Sky cancellations tried to give me a PVR 1 and said it was grade A. She said it was new and 20Gb would record 20 hours of TV!! :nono: She apologised to me at the end when she realised I knew more about PVR boxes than she thought. I was playing dumb to try and get a better deal. I played her like a pack of cards! Still I was surprised that they will lie to get you to stay.

I think you may be correct, you can't specify new or what brand you get. It's up to the engineer. The woman at Sky said it would be a Pace box with a 80GB HDD, I guess that is either a PVR2 or PVR3 - she was pretty clueless, so who knows what it'll be. Either way I'm not bothered as long as it works well and the picture is good.
 
johnmcf said:
So you actually have a brand new free PACE installed already ???
I know for a fact the cancellation dept have no facilities to give out FREE new SKY+ boxes and they have no way of knowing what the engineer will bring, be it amstrad, thomson or pace.

I know for a fact that the lady at Sky told me it would be a brand new PVR3 with 80Gig drive. I triple checked by making sure it was a) PVR3, b) Brand new c) Not reconditioned in any way.

She was adamant it was a brand spanking PVR3 so I'm happy. If it turns out to be anything else I'll send it back till I get one.
 
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rorym said:
I know for a fact that the lady at Sky told me it would be a brand new PVR3 with 80Gig drive. I triple checked by making sure it was a) PVR3, b) Brand new c) Not reconditioned in any way.

She was adamant it was a brand spanking PVR3 so I'm happy. If it turns out to be anything else I'll send it back till I get one.

R

I'd take what they say at Sky cancellations with a pinch of salt. I reckon we will get a PVR3 or whatever else the Sky engineer has in his van. I too will get it swapped if it is reconditioned. Remember a reconditioned unit is under warranty for just 3 months not 12.

Does anybody know if there is any sort of confirmation of what you have ordered? I have a job number but nothing in writing.
 
ive read posts like this before but this one finally gave me the urge to try it myself as my girlfriend has been moaning for ages to get SKY+ and with the new footy season started i thought what the hell we'll give it a try.

so we phone SKY and say we want to cancel our subscription, dodgy move as we'd be lost without SKY lol we get transferred to the cancellations department and we end up speaking to a very nice pleasant Scottish lady, so we get talking about why we want to cancel SKY and we just say we have had better offers from other TV companys and want to cancel. So we sly in a comment that if she can offer us a better deal we would stay with SKY, her first offer is 3 months 1/2 price, we currently pay around £44 so a saving of £66 was a good starting point so i start to uhm and ahh and throw in a comment that if she can offer SKY+ we would be very interested, she then offered a SKY+ box free but would have to knock off the 3 months half price subscription but the box would be a PVR1 refurbished but comes with full 12 months warranty, i again uhm and ahh and as a long shot ask if she can better the deal with a better box, at this point im thinking im pushing my luck and surely this is the best i will get, anyway in the background i can hear some mad keyboard tapping and she replies she could offer me a new sky+ box for £79.99 PLUS 3 months half price channel package! Great i thought ill take that so we are getting a new SKY+ box for around £14! hooray! :clap:
 
avinitski said:
ive read posts like this before but this one finally gave me the urge to try it myself as my girlfriend has been moaning for ages to get SKY+ and with the new footy season started i thought what the hell we'll give it a try.

so we phone SKY and say we want to cancel our subscription, dodgy move as we'd be lost without SKY lol we get transferred to the cancellations department and we end up speaking to a very nice pleasant Scottish lady, so we get talking about why we want to cancel SKY and we just say we have had better offers from other TV companys and want to cancel. So we sly in a comment that if she can offer us a better deal we would stay with SKY, her first offer is 3 months 1/2 price, we currently pay around £44 so a saving of £66 was a good starting point so i start to uhm and ahh and throw in a comment that if she can offer SKY+ we would be very interested, she then offered a SKY+ box free but would have to knock off the 3 months half price subscription but the box would be a PVR1 refurbished but comes with full 12 months warranty, i again uhm and ahh and as a long shot ask if she can better the deal with a better box, at this point im thinking im pushing my luck and surely this is the best i will get, anyway in the background i can hear some mad keyboard tapping and she replies she could offer me a new sky+ box for £79.99 PLUS 3 months half price channel package! Great i thought ill take that so we are getting a new SKY+ box for around £14! hooray! :clap:


Nice one m8, as for a free pvr3 it would be impossible to book that in without cc details as the software used to book a pvr3 in demands the £79.

I think the thread starter has been had and will end up with a pvr1 :(
 
johnmcf said:
Nice one m8, as for a free pvr3 it would be impossible to book that in without cc details as the software used to book a pvr3 in demands the £79.(

i dont get you, she did originally offer a free PVR1 but after reading a few threads i decided to push it abit further and glad we did :)

also we did have to pay the £79 straight away over the phone with credit card details :)
 
Neil.B said:
I tried the same thing:smashin:
Said i wanted to cancel due to better deals with ntl ect, I was offered 6 months half price:D and i thought about others getting offered sky+ for less, so i said no i still wanted to cancel...."ok" the guy at the end of the phone said:eek: "your sky has now been cancelled":mad:

Had to break the bad news to the other half:suicide: lets just say she was not to happy

lol thats what i was afraid would happen to us, but if you get your missus to sign up as a new customer you can get 6 months half price anyway for being a new customer, check out sky.com
 
johnmcf said:
Nice one m8, as for a free pvr3 it would be impossible to book that in without cc details as the software used to book a pvr3 in demands the £79.

I think the thread starter has been had and will end up with a pvr1 :(


John,

How can you be so sure that PVR3s aren't available under that offer - Are you a Sky employee with some inside knowledge?

I'm obviously looking forward to getting my Sky+ on Sunday and was told by the lady at Sky that it was a PVR3 without prompting - I asked them to confirm that and they told me it was and was brand new, and definietly not reconditioned. Obviously other people in this thread have been told this too so I can't see why they would offer that information without reason.

Saying that, I know Sky have been a pain in the past so they might try it on - How can I tell whether it's new or recon, a PVR1, 2 or 3 and what are the actual differences?

Cheers
 
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Try to get a Sky+ box yesterday but got offered a box for £49, free install but had to have multiroom and that was there best offer so i had to say no as i have no need for multiroom at all, that wasn't at the cancellation but at the sales department so i might try my luck at the end of the week i dont mind just paying £49:thumbsup: if i can get that out of them.
 
johnmcf said:
Nice one m8, as for a free pvr3 it would be impossible to book that in without cc details as the software used to book a pvr3 in demands the £79.

I think the thread starter has been had and will end up with a pvr1 :(

I haven't been had, I'm getting a new 80GB Sky+ unit for nothing. Believe it when I see it though!
 
rorym said:
John,

How can you be so sure that PVR3s aren't available under that offer - Are you a Sky employee with some inside knowledge?

I'm obviously looking forward to getting my Sky+ on Sunday and was told by the lady at Sky that it was a PVR3 without prompting - I asked them to confirm that and they told me it was and was brand new, and definietly not reconditioned. Obviously other people in this thread have been told this too so I can't see why they would offer that information without reason.

Saying that, I know Sky have been a pain in the past so they might try it on - How can I tell whether it's new or recon, a PVR1, 2 or 3 and what are the actual differences?

Cheers

R

You should be able to tell by the model number. When I receive the unit I'll be checking up on the 'net to see what version of PVR it is. I heard only Thomson and Amstrad make new PVR3 units for Sky these days. If it's a Pace, then it's likely to be a PVR1 or 2. I've read that the Pace 3100 unit is about the best PVR around but if you get one of those it's going to be reconditioned. If it is not what I ordered then I will call Sky when the engineer is here and give them hell, they said it was new so it damn well should be!
 
I called up saying I wanted to cancel (even though life without Sky Digital would be unthinkable!). Initially it was as case of "OK we can do that no problem" at which point I started to :oops: myself. I was then told I would be transferred to someone in less than a minute who would process the cancellation for me :lease:

Sure enough I was put through to a very nice lady who knew all about why I wanted to cancel, which was because I wanted to go to Freeview instead. Sure enough, after a little chat about Sky+ I have the whole thing arriving and being installed for free next week!! Good on Sky, at last I feel appreciated as a customer :thumbsup:
 
Butthead said:
I called up saying I wanted to cancel (even though life without Sky Digital would be unthinkable!). Initially it was as case of "OK we can do that no problem" at which point I started to :oops: myself. I was then told I would be transferred to someone in less than a minute who would process the cancellation for me :lease:

Sure enough I was put through to a very nice lady who knew all about why I wanted to cancel, which was because I wanted to go to Freeview instead. Sure enough, after a little chat about Sky+ I have the whole thing arriving and being installed for free next week!! Good on Sky, at last I feel appreciated as a customer :thumbsup:

Good stuff, it's very easy to get a free upgrade by saying you're going with Freeview. Works every time.:smashin:
 
I have been reading a few posts and see that there is only a 90 day warranty on refurbished Sky+ units. I was assured on the phone that although the box I am getting is refurbished, it comes with a 1 year warranty. Have I been misled?? Also, she said it had 40 hours of recording capacity. Does this make it a PVR3?
 
Butthead said:
I have been reading a few posts and see that there is only a 90 day warranty on refurbished Sky+ units. I was assured on the phone that although the box I am getting is refurbished, it comes with a 1 year warranty. Have I been misled?? Also, she said it had 40 hours of recording capacity. Does this make it a PVR3?


From what I understand you could get anything - PVR 1, 2, or 3. Whatever the engineer has in his van! If you are upgrading you will get 12 months warranty from the date of install (you'll be under contract will Sky for a further 12 months). 40 hours of recording will be a 80Gb drive, so hopefully you'll get a PVR3 - but hopefully not an Amstrad! Pace seems to be the digibox of choice, although there is conflicting opinion on this forum if there are any new Pace PVR3 boxes out there. Some say they have had one installed two days ago, some say they are not made anymore.
 
Many thanks Spice2019. 90 day warranty seems a bit risky on a refurb so that's good to know that I have a year.

I guess it will be pot luck what box I get but a Pace PVR2 or PVR3 would be ideal. Bet it's an Amstrad or a Thomson but considering it's free I can't really complain. I will ask the engineer if it's possible to get a refurbed Pace though as there will be a cup of tea and a choccie biccie in it for him :thumbsup:

Out of interest, what is the difference between a PVR2 and PVR3?
 
this is just a follow up to my post earlier, got the SKY+ installed today and its a brand new PACE PVR3 80GB, works out im going to be paying around twelve quid for it, excellent :)
 

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