*** Sky TV Cancellation & Negotiation Thread ***

[Dirk Diggler]

There are many people that have never called Sky for a bill reduction ever. Thousands upon thousands that aren't in contract and paying standard pricing.

If it was down to my wife, she would do that for sure. I usually call at the end of each contract period and get the best deal I can. This time round I'm just looking to cancel as all we watch is the entertainment stuff and I'm getting that via Now TV for a tenner a month and I can watch on any TV or tablet in the house which puts Sky Go and multiroom to shame.

 

[superleeds27]

There are many people that have never called Sky for a bill reduction ever. Thousands upon thousands that aren't in contract and paying standard pricing.

Gone for the following

Here is your package summary:

Sky Signature Pack @ £20.00 pm (£11 off)
Sky Ultimate TV Pack (Netflix)@ £5.00 pm (£1 off)
Sky Kids Pack @ £2.00 pm (£3 off)
Sky Ultra HD Pack @ £0.00 pm (£4 off)
Sky HD Pack @ £3.00 pm (£4 off)
Sports Pack @ £14.00 pm (£18 off)
Q Experience (Multi screen)@ £10.00 pm (£5 off)


£54 for 18 months contract. There will be a £10 admin fee added to first bill. This includes April price increases.

Did try pushing it further but they weren't having it. If you take into account the April Price rises too, that's around £6/£7 so the above deal is actually better than what I already had, and I avoid a double price hike.

 

[ChrisD.]

The apps on the box are laggy and not nice to use. I use my Apple TV for everything on one TV and native apps on the other TV. The only single reason I have Sky is for Sports, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't bother with the expense.

 

[Basher]

The apps on the box are laggy and not nice to use. I use my Apple TV for everything on one TV and native apps on the other TV. The only single reason I have Sky is for Sports, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't bother with the expense.

Yeah that's true to be fair. And it's not even like you can get all the popular apps through Sky, anyway - so there's very little point. Just seems like a bit of a project that they gave to the intern one summer.

 

[Matt-Page]

I gave notice and my Sky Contract ended on Friday.

I had a text from them so gave them a call. They offered me:

• SkyQ UHD Box - £99 up-front or I can have the non UHD SkyQ box for free
• Sky Signature £18
• Sky Sports £14
• Sky Multiroom £11
• Sky HD £3
• Sky UHD £5

£51 PCM

Said I'd think about it and ring them back but they said all prices are point of sale and probably won't be available if I call back? Not sure if that's genuine or not?

Is that a good price for that package?

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I gave notice and my Sky Contract ended on Friday.

I had a text from them so gave them a call. They offered me:

• SkyQ UHD Box - £99 up-front or I can have the non UHD SkyQ box for free
• Sky Signature £18
• Sky Sports £14
• Sky Multiroom £11
• Sky HD £3
• Sky UHD £5

£51 PCM

Said I'd think about it and ring them back but they said all prices are point of sale and probably won't be available if I call back? Not sure if that's genuine or not?

Is that a good price for that package?

That's pressure tactics, I wouldn't even consider an "on the spot" offer like that.

Oh, and the price isn't even that great.

 

[DiscoFizz]

I gave notice and my Sky Contract ended on Friday.

I had a text from them so gave them a call. They offered me:

• SkyQ UHD Box - £99 up-front or I can have the non UHD SkyQ box for free
• Sky Signature £18
• Sky Sports £14
• Sky Multiroom £11
• Sky HD £3
• Sky UHD £5

£51 PCM

Said I'd think about it and ring them back but they said all prices are point of sale and probably won't be available if I call back? Not sure if that's genuine or not?

Is that a good price for that package?

That’s not bad compared to some offers people have been getting, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend Sky Q in its current form to anyone right now. The boxes just aren’t consistently reliable enough, particularly if you’re going multiroom with mini boxes.
The sound drop-out issue is getter more and more widespread with no way to fix it as yet, and Sky’s attitude towards it has been abysmal.
If you’re not fussed about quality then consider it, but honestly, I’d steer clear for now.

 

[Cavallino]

My package after all price increases

Sky Signature - £16
Ultimate TV Add On - £6 (Netflix)
Sky Kids - £1
Sky HD - £3
Multiscreen - £11.50
Sky 3D - Free
Ultra HD - Free
Sky Line Rental - £18.99

 

[rodders]

Had an email from sky saying they've automatically extended everything for 12 months. I'm a little confused over the dates, I took out an 18month contract on black Friday 2019, so not sure how they come up with these dates, so will keep an eye on bills. Looks like the new price of £41pm starts soon, around the 18month mark, so not sure on the new start dates of June and Nov below.

Your
offer Monthly
saving New offer
start date 12-month
saving

Sky TV £7.00 01/11/2021 £84.00

Sky TV £5.00 12/06/2021 £60.00

Sky HD £2.00 01/11/2021 £24.00

Sky Multiscreen £5.00 03/06/2021 £60.00

Sky Kids £2.00 01/11/2021 £24.00

Sky Ultimate On Demand £5.00 03/06/2021 £60.00

 

[woppy101]

That’s not bad compared to some offers people have been getting, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend Sky Q in its current form to anyone right now. The boxes just aren’t consistently reliable enough, particularly if you’re going multiroom with mini boxes.
The sound drop-out issue is getter more and more widespread with no way to fix it as yet, and Sky’s attitude towards it has been abysmal.
If you’re not fussed about quality then consider it, but honestly, I’d steer clear for now.

I have had skyQ since release with 2 mini boxes, apart from the first few months(to be expected) all of my boxes have been rock solid(touches wood), the only thing I do is once a week unplug them all for 5 mins then plug them back in and let them reconnect to each other.

 

[OldKitMan]

Had an email from sky saying they've automatically extended everything for 12 months. I'm a little confused over the dates, I took out an 18month contract on black Friday 2019, so not sure how they come up with these dates, so will keep an eye on bills. Looks like the new price of £41pm starts soon, around the 18month mark, so not sure on the new start dates of June and Nov below.

Your
offer Monthly
saving New offer
start date 12-month
saving

Sky TV £7.00 01/11/2021 £84.00

Sky TV £5.00 12/06/2021 £60.00

Sky HD £2.00 01/11/2021 £24.00

Sky Multiscreen £5.00 03/06/2021 £60.00

Sky Kids £2.00 01/11/2021 £24.00

Sky Ultimate On Demand £5.00 03/06/2021 £60.00

Your Monthly New offer 12-month
offer saving start date saving

Sky TV £2.00 16/05/2021 £24.00
Sky HD £1.00 16/05/2021 £12.00
Sky Sports HD Pack £2.50 16/05/2021 £30.00
Sky Multiscreen £3.00 16/05/2021 £36.00
Sky Cinema £2.00 16/05/2021 £24.00
Sky Sports £7.00 16/05/2021 £84.00
Sky Kids £1.00 16/05/2021 £12.00
Sky Ultimate On Demand £3.00 16/05/2021 £36.00


You got a better deal than me, I'll be telling sky to get in the sea.

 

[DiscoFizz]

I have had skyQ since release with 2 mini boxes, apart from the first few months(to be expected) all of my boxes have been rock solid(touches wood), the only thing I do is once a week unplug them all for 5 mins then plug them back in and let them reconnect to each other.

The original V1 Q boxes seem to be the most stable by all accounts, so keep a hold of them! Every single person I know with either the newer V2 or V3 boxes has issues with them.

 

[woppy101]

The original V1 Q boxes seem to be the most stable by all accounts, so keep a hold of them! Every single person I know with either the newer V2 or V3 boxes has issues with them.

I have the latest HDR box, after my power supply failed in 2019

 

[DiscoFizz]

I have the latest HDR box, after my power supply failed in 2019

Can you get Sky to clone it please & send one to each of the many people getting sound drop-outs?

 

[woppy101]

Can you get Sky to clone it please & send one to each of the many people getting sound drop-outs?

You could try some basic housekeeping on your boxes, as I said once a week I turn off all my boxes for at least 5 mins, then I switch the main one back on let it do its stuff and get up and running, then my bedroom mini box and when that’s connected and up and running my daughters mini box. I haven’t had any problems with sound drops, losing channels or apps not working.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I'm finding the Now TV app to be streets ahead of the mini box I had. I'd need 3 of their faulty boxes at a cost of £36/month (mental) to replicate what the free app does.

 

[DiscoFizz]

You could try some basic housekeeping on your boxes, as I said once a week I turn off all my boxes for at least 5 mins, then I switch the main one back on let it do its stuff and get up and running, then my bedroom mini box and when that’s connected and up and running my daughters mini box. I haven’t had any problems with sound drops, losing channels or apps not working.

Believe me, I have trouble-shot every box I've had to the moon and back, as well as my brother's and my parents boxes. Between us we've probably had at least a dozen box swaps over the past few years for various reasons - V2's and V3's and every single blinking one of them hasn't functioned reliably. I'm extremely fussy when it comes to my AV kit as I work in TV production so I want the devices designed to show programmes I work on to do that properly.
I don't even have any miniboxes - no need for them at all, but every Q box I have had has suffered from the random audio drop-out issue. I have thoroughly tested every permutation of possible network interference (WiFi on, WiFi off, network resets, ethernet attached, ethernet not attached, broadband turned off completely, etc) as well as different TVs, cables, direct HDMI connections, HDMI ARC to an amp, optical connection to amp, optical from TV to amp, etc, etc, etc. Absolutely nothing works. The box just can't achieve the simple task of recording a programme and playing it back without random audio drop-outs. These are also now often accompanied by a frame skip at the same time.
As for housekeeping - I actually keep the Q box turned off at the wall now and only turn it on when necessary or when someone else in the house wants to watch something from a non-Freeview channel, so it gets a full reboot every few days. I bought a Freeview HD PVR to record anything from the main terrestrial channels instead and it has been 100% rock solid, never missed a beat. It just does what it's supposed to and does it quicker and quieter than the Q box ever could. Every so often we'll watch something together on the Q box but literally every time we do that there are at least a couple of drop-outs. It's maddening.
I'd get rid of Q in a heartbeat if it weren't for other members of the household. Like @Dirk Diggler I find the NOW TV app on Firestick to be excellent - infinitely more reliable. My brother has since killed his Sky Q contract completely and switched to Now and has had no issues since. I suspect I will be doing the same thing soon.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I'd get rid of Q in a heartbeat if it weren't for other members of the household. Like @Dirk Diggler I find the NOW TV app on Firestick to be excellent - infinitely more reliable. My brother has since killed his Sky Q contract completely and switched to Now and has had no issues since. I suspect I will be doing the same thing soon.

I know exactly what you mean and I think that's what keeps a lot of people going back to Sky, the familiarity with the system and setup. Some people see Sky TV as synonymous with full featured TV.

I had to strong arm the wife a little bit or we'd still have Sky. However, now that we've made the switch she's actually realised she can just watch something as opposed to setting series links - it's much more convenient. Yes, you could do that with the Sky box but why pay £££'s every month for hardware functionality that your TV already has.

If you have a decent internet connection then there's no reason to have Sky hardware at a monthly subscription. Sky know this is where the market is going, which is why they've made Now TV a serious contender with proper HD streams, competitive price and the facility to download to watch later.

 

[ChrisD.]

What’s the quality of sports on the Now TV app like now? It’s used to be a pixel mess a few years ago, have things improved?

 

[woppy101]

Believe me, I have trouble-shot every box I've had to the moon and back, as well as my brother's and my parents boxes. Between us we've probably had at least a dozen box swaps over the past few years for various reasons - V2's and V3's and every single blinking one of them hasn't functioned reliably. I'm extremely fussy when it comes to my AV kit as I work in TV production so I want the devices designed to show programmes I work on to do that properly.
I don't even have any miniboxes - no need for them at all, but every Q box I have had has suffered from the random audio drop-out issue. I have thoroughly tested every permutation of possible network interference (WiFi on, WiFi off, network resets, ethernet attached, ethernet not attached, broadband turned off completely, etc) as well as different TVs, cables, direct HDMI connections, HDMI ARC to an amp, optical connection to amp, optical from TV to amp, etc, etc, etc. Absolutely nothing works. The box just can't achieve the simple task of recording a programme and playing it back without random audio drop-outs. These are also now often accompanied by a frame skip at the same time.
As for housekeeping - I actually keep the Q box turned off at the wall now and only turn it on when necessary or when someone else in the house wants to watch something from a non-Freeview channel, so it gets a full reboot every few days. I bought a Freeview HD PVR to record anything from the main terrestrial channels instead and it has been 100% rock solid, never missed a beat. It just does what it's supposed to and does it quicker and quieter than the Q box ever could. Every so often we'll watch something together on the Q box but literally every time we do that there are at least a couple of drop-outs. It's maddening.
I'd get rid of Q in a heartbeat if it weren't for other members of the household. Like @Dirk Diggler I find the NOW TV app on Firestick to be excellent - infinitely more reliable. My brother has since killed his Sky Q contract completely and switched to Now and has had no issues since. I suspect I will be doing the same thing soon.

That sounds like a problem with your equipment TBH, what tv/receiver do you have?