I've cancelled Sky and I'm chuffed!

ParmMann

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The football season is drawing to a close and I made the call to Sky today to get my account cancelled, it'll all be turning off on May 27th, yay!! :thumbsup:

I've been a subscriber for a few years now and always had the top package (currently £43.50) but it became apparent that my main reasoning for having it was the football. The movies and other programming are certainly a nice addition but for £43.50 it just burns too many large holes in my pockets.

I found Football next year is going to be awkward, Sky will be showing some Premiership games and Setanta will be showing some other Premiership games. I'm never going to get them both so I'd never have managed to catch all the football anyway. Back to good ol' Match of the Day for me and if there is a game I really need to see, I'll just head over to the pub.

As for movies, I could sign up for a DVD rental system that'd work out a lot cheaper than Sky and I'd have the added bonus of DVD quality movies.

Then there's TV series, I do watch quite a few of them (24, Lost, Heroes, Sopranos etc) but even those will be more accessible. I'll just download them on the PC (probably even in HD which I'd have had to pay £10 extra per month to get on Sky) and stream them to my big screen via the Xbox 360.

Anyway! Just thought I'd share with you how strangely satisfying it is to break away from SkyTV. Now, how does that freeview gizmo work? :smashin:
 
The football season is drawing to a close and I made the call to Sky today to get my account cancelled, it'll all be turning off on May 27th, yay!! :thumbsup:

I've been a subscriber for a few years now and always had the top package (currently £43.50) but it became apparent that my main reasoning for having it was the football. The movies and other programming are certainly a nice addition but for £43.50 it just burns too many large holes in my pockets.

I found Football next year is going to be awkward, Sky will be showing some Premiership games and Setanta will be showing some other Premiership games. I'm never going to get them both so I'd never have managed to catch all the football anyway. Back to good ol' Match of the Day for me and if there is a game I really need to see, I'll just head over to the pub.

As for movies, I could sign up for a DVD rental system that'd work out a lot cheaper than Sky and I'd have the added bonus of DVD quality movies.

Then there's TV series, I do watch quite a few of them (24, Lost, Heroes, Sopranos etc) but even those will be more accessible. I'll just download them on the PC (probably even in HD which I'd have had to pay £10 extra per month to get on Sky) and stream them to my big screen via the Xbox 360.

Anyway! Just thought I'd share with you how strangely satisfying it is to break away from SkyTV. Now, how does that freeview gizmo work? :smashin:

Congrats. More and more people are coming to realise what a ripoff Sky is, I think.



I had a full sub for about 15 years and it just got more and more expensive year on year. When I looked at what I was actually watching, it was something like 80% 'free' channels, plus a couple of programmes on Sky1 and the odd film.

Freeview provides a reasonable base of channels for casual viewing and there are certainly better alternatives to the movie channels.

As for sport, as you said: If you do want to watch it then go to the pub and enjoy that match/event in a great atmosphere. After all, Sky really rip off the pubs on their Pub sports subscriptions (you can see the little pint glass in the bottom right of the screen, indicating a pub sub) so don't begrudge the pub their share of the cost of your pints.
 
Yeah on most nights when I'm in bed I find myself flicking through all the channels and more often than not end up watching something on one of the free channels.

I wouldn't go as far as to say Sky is a bad service, in fact I'd say the opposite. It does what it sets out to do very well and the Sky+ boxes are great I think. But for me personally, it's just not good value and I'm really glad I cancelled. :)
 
I'm glad you added that ParmMann as i was going to say the same, you haven't cancelled because of 'ripoff sky' but merely because you've reviewed your viewing habits and realised that the majority of your programs are freeview, and footy, which is coming to the end of a season. I suspect you might miss the footy next season and start up again ;)
 
I'm glad you added that ParmMann as i was going to say the same, you haven't cancelled because of 'ripoff sky' but merely because you've reviewed your viewing habits and realised that the majority of your programs are freeview, and footy, which is coming to the end of a season. I suspect you might miss the footy next season and start up again ;)

The only area in which Sky offer better value than the alternative is Sports - and that's because Sky have snapped up the best sports rights and there is no competition there.
 
The football season is drawing to a close and I made the call to Sky today to get my account cancelled, it'll all be turning off on May 27th, yay!! :thumbsup:

I've been a subscriber for a few years now and always had the top package (currently £43.50) but it became apparent that my main reasoning for having it was the football. The movies and other programming are certainly a nice addition but for £43.50 it just burns too many large holes in my pockets.

I found Football next year is going to be awkward, Sky will be showing some Premiership games and Setanta will be showing some other Premiership games. I'm never going to get them both so I'd never have managed to catch all the football anyway. Back to good ol' Match of the Day for me and if there is a game I really need to see, I'll just head over to the pub.

As for movies, I could sign up for a DVD rental system that'd work out a lot cheaper than Sky and I'd have the added bonus of DVD quality movies.

Then there's TV series, I do watch quite a few of them (24, Lost, Heroes, Sopranos etc) but even those will be more accessible. I'll just download them on the PC (probably even in HD which I'd have had to pay £10 extra per month to get on Sky) and stream them to my big screen via the Xbox 360.

Anyway! Just thought I'd share with you how strangely satisfying it is to break away from SkyTV. Now, how does that freeview gizmo work? :smashin:

Nice one :smashin:

Funny as im exactly the same. Paying £38 for sky and sports - football season coming to an end so called SKY today (dd went out yesterday so 1 month notice to take me to end of season) The guy on phone tried every trick in the book to keep me - 3 month cooling period off etc, but in the end its all cancelled now.

If there is a really good game then yeah off down the pub. All sky one's shows i never watch as thats what torrents in hd is for :) (dont have to sit through lots of rubbish adverts) me and the missus enjoy watching 2 or 3 24 or lost episodes in one sitting.

Parmmann just keep your box/card etc because others have said it will basically revert to a freesat service :)
 
Can see me doing the same thing once my 12 months HD sub finishes.Got probably 30 HD/BR disk still to watch.
 
Parmmann just keep your box/card etc because others have said it will basically revert to a freesat service :)
Will do mate, thanks for the tip. I used to have multiroom before so I'll have two freeview boxes now. :thumbsup:

The guy on the phone tried to convince me to stay too, offered to suspend my account for a few months as a last resort. He was really nice about it though, I thanked him for asking but insisted on cancelling.
 
ParmMann,

I found this of great interest because conversely, I am thinking of taking Sky for the first time - really only for the free phone calls, rather than the channels.

I have Freeview at the moment and to be honest, I don't relish trying to navigate through 200-300 channels every night.

However, I look at Sky from the other perspective.

If I go out to the pub to see a game I really want to see, that would cost, maybe a couple of rounds. With one friend that would cost, about, £5 a time (two pints at £2.50 each, and more than that in some places). So, £10 for drinks, add £2-£3 for nibbles etc and each game will cost about £14-£15. if I watch just one game per week in the pub that would equal £60 per month, without even starting on the costs of DVDs.

If I join a DVD club or simply go into a rental shop - £5 per film per night, 3 films per month would equal another £15 per month.

So, my bill for less viewing per month would be £75 per month - nearly twice the Sky subscription.
 
That's a good point mate. It'll be a different scenario for just about everyone and you may find that Sky is a good option for you.

Though I mentioned the pub, that was just off the top of my head and probably not a likely method of viewing matches for me. My gym has Sky Sports and a nice little lounge so I'm most likely to have a workout and watch the games there. Drinks and food are of course a tempation but I'll just have to resist.

As for movies, I just so happened to have a look around earlier. Tesco offer a really good rentals thing where they post movies to you, you keep them as long as you want then post them back. I think a plan with unlimited movie rentals each month was around £9. All the postage is free and you get clubcard points too! Thought that was a cracking way to get all the latest movies on DVD, I may sign up for that myself after the summer.

Like I said at the beginning, it really is different for everyone. A friend of mine has basic Sky TV and Sky Broadband which works out at around £20 per month I think. That's a great deal but unfortunately I can't get Sky Broadband in my area, if I could have, the bundle of both would have been good enough value for me to keep Sky.
 
Thats great Parmmann.....I too have just come off the phone after a much enjoyable call where a very nice Scottish gentleman tried to convince me to stay with Sky.......hahahahahahaha

Even better the call cost nowt after a visit to saynoto0870....hahahahaha

Ok no Sky+ but 37quid stays in my account every month

Everyone should cancel and they might actually drop their fees to get people back but realistically it will never happen.

Like I said before...hahahahahahahahahaha
 
Great thread, pleased that it's a level-headed discussion without anyone being too polarised.

I cancelled Sky 12 months ago because I just wasn't watching enough TV to justify the subscription. Going to the pub for a few pints is much more sociable, and a better atmosphere as I live alone. I now buy the odd DVD/BR disc but nowhere near the amount I would have spent on Sky. I had to resist big-time when Sky HD came out, but as I don't have an HD TV (yet, lol) it was an easy decision in the end.

I agree that it isn't completely fair to call it "rip-off" Sky, but remember for a long time they have had a monopoly, and without taking sides they didn't exactly come up smelling of roses following the Virgin Media debacle. I also have a bit of a problem with the way they disable the Sky + functionality when you cancel....I know the arguments about you are paying for the service, not the box, but I still think it is a bit underhand.

Anyway, I've saved over £500 in subs since I cancelled. I would caution you that they will phone you up loads in the next few weeks/months, even before your sub expires. Then you'll get lots of mail shots offering you deal after deal. I reckon, at a rough estimate I have probably had about 60 to 80 communications from Sky since I cancelled....resist !!!!!
 
60 to 80 communications from Sky since I cancelled....resist !!!!!

:lesson: Resistance is futile, you will be assimulated. :D

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
I would do it, but I would miss the Discovery and Paramount channels too much. :(

I am too weak.
 
Great thread, pleased that it's a level-headed discussion without anyone being too polarised.

I cancelled Sky 12 months ago because I just wasn't watching enough TV to justify the subscription. Going to the pub for a few pints is much more sociable, and a better atmosphere as I live alone. I now buy the odd DVD/BR disc but nowhere near the amount I would have spent on Sky. I had to resist big-time when Sky HD came out, but as I don't have an HD TV (yet, lol) it was an easy decision in the end.

I agree that it isn't completely fair to call it "rip-off" Sky, but remember for a long time they have had a monopoly, and without taking sides they didn't exactly come up smelling of roses following the Virgin Media debacle. I also have a bit of a problem with the way they disable the Sky + functionality when you cancel....I know the arguments about you are paying for the service, not the box, but I still think it is a bit underhand.

Anyway, I've saved over £500 in subs since I cancelled. I would caution you that they will phone you up loads in the next few weeks/months, even before your sub expires. Then you'll get lots of mail shots offering you deal after deal. I reckon, at a rough estimate I have probably had about 60 to 80 communications from Sky since I cancelled....resist !!!!!

I've had a few mailshots (luckily, they had my phone number wrong on their system so no calls) since cancelling but absolutely none have offered any special deals.

I think that they went through a period of giving out masses of deals to keep subscribers prior to publishing a set of figures for 'the City' a while back and now that's not a priorirty any more and they have blown their retentions budget, there aren't any offers going.

Judging by the amount of dissatisfaction I see on web forums, especially following the Movie Channels reshuffle, I think that they may need to rethink that policy.


Realistically, the only thing that would tempt me to go back to them would be much lower price levels. Their overall service is good but it's absolutely stupidly overpriced. 30 quid a month for the full package (including HD) would definitely see me sign up again but not a penny more.
 
Judging by the amount of dissatisfaction I see on web forums, especially following the Movie Channels reshuffle, I think that they may need to rethink that policy.

Does anyone know for certain whether they have people looking at these threads?
 
of course they do, the sky anytime team are members here :)

between me any my parents we get brilliant value out of the £53 for full package (not HD), extra room, both with +......parents love the sports (they like just about everything other than football..lol), also they like being able to watch some of the older shows whenever they want on Gold and Paracomedy, mum also likes Drama........me, i need sports for WWE, lovin the US Dramas on Sky 1, simpsons most nights, the old comedies, also i like the documentaries, always been a big fan of those.......oh plus the fact i get a decent signal and it looks good on my PJ.....and DD sound for movies is a bonus....

£53 a month for that much use in my book is pretty damn good value.....just wish they didnt charge so much for the HD box....given the way technology has moved on, it isnt worth £300....not with only half the space available on the drive and no off-box archiving available....annoyingly my + box is acting up and i fear i might have to replace it soon.....might consider a third room if they drop the cost of an HD box to a fairer amount....shame to waste my HD PJ..lol
 
JUST heard on BBC Business News that Sky are reporting a 10-year high in cancellations.

They have 8.4M customers, and last QUARTER received 27000 cancellations.................wonder how many of those are AVF members?!

:)
 
I think the football is THE major factor in summer cancelations.

I too will be cancelling the sports package over the summer.

I only keep the movies to get my Sky+ subs free.

May aswell pay £5 more and get the movies that cancel movies and pay £10 for Sky+

£31 no movies

£37 with movies
 
I think the football is THE major factor in summer cancelations.

That and those who have cancelled the movies after the recent menu change, wouldn't suprise me if there were nearly as many movies cancellations as sports. ;)

The notable figure for me on todays report was the churn rate, up from 11% to 13%, this must be very worring for sky, especially when you consider that they would have had a healthy number of new subcriptions from ex Virgin Media customers after they lost sky one.

Would have been a disasterous first quater for them otherwise, makes you wonder now about thier motives in the Virgin saga now doesn't it. :cool:
 
I think that anyone who has a sky+ box and uses it regularly like I did is really gonna miss it.

My humax does most of the sky+ features but not quite as well as sky but its paid for and hopefully a series link update should be on the way soon.

I've recommended sky+ to loads of people because I really liked it but it has just become too expensive to keep it on.......The £10 charge on top of the monthly sub is a cheek.

The remote record function is handy when I'm at work and need to record something.

Sky overall is a great package but it is just starting to get a bit expensive and it will keep on getting worse the more money they plough in the Premiership.

And don't get me started on phoning them......I've spent many an hour on hold in a queue cursing and swearing when its gone wrong.

Overall I think for me personally cancellation is the best thing....If I'm offered sky+ usage for nothing as long as I'm actually paying for any basic package I could have a rethink but I don't think Sky will run to that.

Like I said earlier in the thread the only way to get them to reduce is mass cancellation..
 
Just wanted to add my two pence worth here as a dedicated freeview viewer who, providing Sky don't mess up the installation, will be going to satellite in a week and a bit from now.

I've always resisted Sky as a) I was renting a flat and it would have been a serious pain to get it installed and b) I've always felt it's overpriced. So what changed my mind? Well, for a start I just moved into a new place and this one has been built with a communal dish and sky feeds (yes, feeds, there's two of them) right above the regular co-ax sockets in the living room. Mostly though it was the telephone and broadband packages which got me to take the plunge. For £30 I'm getting unlimited broadband, free telephone calls to Canada (important for the wife as an alternative to phone cards) and the bog standard two mixes and free channels. That's a great deal and one I'd have been stupid to turn down.

However, while going through the Sky ordering process (okay, fine, while playing with the on-line configurator thing, happy?) I was stunned at how expensive Sky gets once you go beyond the basic package. £6 extra to add the other 4 mixes isn't too bad but £10 a month for the + service is an absolute rip when you consider the box costs £160 in the first place. Granted, if you add a premium pack they waive that particular charge but then you're looking at a minimum of £34 for the two mixes and single premium channel.

I did, briefly, consider going HD but to make it worthwhile you need to subscribe to at least two mixes and both premium channels. It'd be expensive enough at £41.50 but with the extra £10 for the HD service it's almost unbelievably expensive at £51.50. Yes, you get a lot of choice for the money but it's not a surprise that Sky are reporting high cancellations. HD content is available (with questionable legality) through a number of sources, freeview is becoming a seriously good alternative and the equipment costs for freeview are going down all the time. The PVR offerings in particular are getting to be a serious competitor to Sky+ now, and often available at a cheaper price. Adding to Sky's woes is Virgin media getting their act together and putting a good marketing campaign and image together (and won't it be interesting to see what happens with the legal flap over Sky raising their prices?). Then there's video on demand services which are finally becoming a reality as bandwidth to the home starts to meet the requirements for those services. Plus there's the upcoming analogue switch off which might throw up a surprise or two depending on who gets the frequencies when they're auctioned off.

With all that said, I do think that the basic package of Broadband, phone and 2 mixes for £20 (plus £5 each for unlimited calls and unlimited broadband) is an amazing deal and will net Sky a large number of new subscribers. But the higher end offerings aren't as competitive and the extra charges, especially for the + and HD services, feel a little too much like taking advantage of a captive audience. The next year or two is going to be interesting to watch, especially if a free OTA HD solution is announced. Still, in the end, increased competition can only be good for us humble consumers, right?
 
One thimg that I have noticed from this thread is that Sky HAVE NOT offered any deals or reductions ,to keep their customers.Would it not be better to keep customers who have gone out of contract.Than to offer all these sudsidised deals to new customers.Example.My b/band contract expired with bt,told them I was thinking of going to sky.Guess what?You have been a customer with us for a long time.We will reduce your fee from £26.99 TO £19.99 if you sign up for another 12 months.Example 2 Contract ran out for mobile with Orange.Guess what? You have been with us for 11 years.If you sign another 12 month contract,we will give you an extra 200 mins anytime a month.So all I can say is Sky look after your customers.
 
When I cancelled earlier in the week the nice Scottish gent offered me the basic package plus my sky+ working for £26 because he said I had been a sky customer for so long....A little bit of a deal but not enough to sway me.....But if I didn't have my Humax I might have given in.
 
I had been with NTL until they went digital and I didn't like their tv packages at the time so I went for Sky and kept the NTL phone/internet.I went Sky+ a few years ago and Sky HD last year but today I have cancelled the tv service and gone back to Virgin with the XL pack at a considerable saving.I never watch Sky one etc. as I think it's rubbish and the HD version is NOT HD!!! I also find I don't particularly watch HD as the quality of programmes in general has been improved over the years and anything that has been shown in HD before still looks good on non HD channels.I've no complaints about sky in general or equipment but I don't like their publicity tactics etc. I had expected a tussle with the sales team trying to twist my arm to stay but nothing,no offers or anything????acceptance of the inevitable??? I had already booked Virgin anyway and I'm happy that they have gone back to the 150 contact number if you are an existing customer as this used to be an excellent feature.At least I won't get the picture cutting out in electrical storms.:thumbsup:
 

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