How to haggle down the cost of your Sky bill

Want to cut the cost of your Sky bill by haggling down the price?

From my own experience cutting the cost of your Sky bill takes just minutes, and takes just a bit of preparation and a phone call! 

As someone who has managed to get a discount on their own bill I thoroughly recommend you give it a try. 

By saying you want to cancel Sky or even just asking for money off you can end up saving hundreds of pounds. What do you have to lose by asking?

Is it worth haggling with Sky?

Yes it 100% is worth asking for a reduction in your Sky package monthly bill. 

I myself have successfully negotiated a reduction in my monthly fee as have other people I know.

Brand new Sky customers always get the best deals, with a fixed cut price package that typically lasts for 18 months before increasing. 

If you are a long-term customer who has always paid their bills on time then this is your leverage! Why are you paying more, as a loyal customer, compared to a brand new one?

The reason is simply because they know if you like the service you’re most likely just going to keep paying what they ask you to pay. It’s easier than having to cancel and switch to another service.

Now, sometimes Sky may only offer a discount on a temporary basis, say for six months. This is where you need to negotiate to push for a longer term cut price. If you don’t ask you don’t get! Even if you are ultimately only offered a reduced fee for a few months you can still save hundreds of pounds overall! 

How I reduced my Sky TV bill

We got to a point with Sky TV where I was just disillusioned with what we got for the money. 

At the time we were paying over £55 a month for TV, phone and broadband, but we had also got Netflix and I was finding we were increasingly streaming content from there. 

I also noticed that I was forgetting to record my shows on the Sky TV box, and instead relying on the catch-up services such as Channel 4 On Demand. 

So I called Sky and said I wanted to axe our TV services and just stick with phone and broadband. I told them I wasn’t finding the TV services particularly interesting and was hardly using them any more. 

Within minutes I was offered a reduction to our monthly fee of £20 a month. 

I know from my parents’ experience that they also were able to make a significant saving, and were on a far more expensive package than me as they also had Sky Movies and multi-room. 

Ultimately I did go on to cancel our TV package having enjoyed a few months at the discounted price. When I told them I was determined to cancel I was asked if there was anything more they could do to convince me to keep my TV package, so there was definitely further room for manoeuvre in the pricing. 

I would put my success down to being clear that I had researched the prices, including looking at the competitors package deals for new customers along with Sky’s own prices for new customers. 

I was polite but firm, and was clear both times I spoke to Sky that I was prepared to walk away from the service altogether and use another provider.

Bottom line is, Sky wants to try and retain your custom as long as it can! You hold the power! 

How much will Sky discount you as an existing customer?

This really depends on what your Sky package and monthly cost currently is. It can also depend whether you have been paying your bills on time. 

Another factor can be whether you are close to the end of your contract.

If your contract is up for renewal soon then you’re in a stronger position, because you can say you’ll be walking away as soon as that’s up.

If your initial contract has ended and you’re simply in a rolling deal with Sky then you can negotiate right now. 

If you have previously asked for and had a discount on your Sky bill then it may be tricky, but not impossible, to negotiate another deal. It depends how much time has passed and if you are still on a slightly reduced bill right now. 

How to haggle with Sky to reduce your bill

Do your research 

First of all you need to take a look at the numbers so that you go into the negotiation armed with information! 

Before contacting Sky get the following information: 

• How much Sky offers new customers – there may be special seasonal offers on top of other discounts for new customers 
• Deals from other providers – check out what rivals are offering such as Virgin Media, BT TV and TalkTalk TV. 
• If you are on a bundle deal with Sky where they also provide your phone and broadband services then research those costs too as you may be able to get money off the entire package. 
• The monthly costs of the streaming services you use. Netflix is just £9.99 per month for me. That’s far less than a typical Sky TV subscription.

Have an idea of what you want to be paying 

Before getting on the phone or into an online chat with Sky customer services it’s wise to think about exactly what your ideal offer from them would be. 

This really needs to be realistic. We all want to pay £1 a month – that’s the dream – but that’s probably not going to go down too well if you’re currently pay over £50 a month. 

I think seeking out a 20% reduction in your monthly bill is a very reasonable request. It’s likely you’ll be offered 10% at first, so try to bring it down a little further. 

Get in touch with the company 

Discounts generally don’t just land on your lap so you need to ask for it!

There are two ways to discuss your Sky bill with the company and ask for a reduction in your monthly bill. Remember to set aside some time for the negotiating as it can take an hour or so. 

Online 

Head to Sky’s website and log in to your account. Next click “help” in the top right hand corner and you will see an option to for account and subscriptions and then an option to cancel your services. 

It will ask you what services you want to cancel and your reasons. Click on cost and then an offer should appear. The same goes for broadband and phone services if you have those, you will need to click through to those services individually to see if there is an offer for a reduction on your bill. 

If you still think you can get more money off your service then you will need to get on the phone with a customer services operator who you can haggle with further using the numbers you researched in the first step.  

Please note that at present this method seems to just lead to a request for you to call Sky to discuss further. You used to be able to get an automatic discount offer online, but that doesn’t seem to work for most people now. So the phone is your best bet.

By telephone 

Set aside around an hour for this conversation because you may need to wait to get hold of an operator and then once you’re on the phone the chat could take a while. 

You will be asked questions such as what you are currently paying your phone and broadband provider if you are not with Sky for that service already. They may use this information to offer you a more attractive package deal. 

This is the bit where you need to explain that you are considering cancelling your TV services, or that you’re unhappy with recent price increases, and that you would like to be offered a better deal. 

If they come back with an offer that you think could be better than tell them how much you think is reasonable to pay a month. Make sure this figure is realistic! 

Tell them what they’re up against 

Freeview costs £0 a month and has many of the same channels as Sky TV. 

Netflix costs less than £10 a month and has plenty of great content! 

Let Sky know that you have alternatives and that you’re happy to use those instead of their services. This could motivate them to cut their price to what you’re happy to pay. 

Ditch unwanted extras 

Are you subscribed to every extra Sky offers, such as Sports, Movies and Kids packages? Consider whether you need all of the extras as axing these is an immediate saving, which you won’t need to haggle with Sky at all. 

If you tell Sky you want to saving money on the extras you’re paying for by ditching them they may try to retain you by offering a temporary discount for a few months. 

Be prepared to walk away 

One way of sealing the deal on your ideal reduction in your monthly bill is to be prepared to say no and axe your Sky account altogether. 

If you do end up walking away, rest assured that I did several years ago and I really do not miss our Sky package. 

Double check the terms 

If you are getting a discount then Sky may want to lock you into a new contract of maybe 12 to 18 months. If you’re happy to do this based on the reduction they are offering then great. 

But if your financial situation may change before then it’s worth considering whether you want to be tied into a minimum contract period with Sky. 

Cheaper Sky alternatives 

Sky’s big rivals such as Virgin, TalkTalk and BT may well be able to offer you a more attractive deal, at least as a new customer for the first year or so. 

However there are other alternatives that mean you still get great TV and movies for less: 

• Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ may not offer the channels you would get from Sky TV but there is so much content on them and they are way cheaper. I actually currently have all three of these services, but even just one of them plus the Freeview channels provides loads of content. 

• NOW TV. This is Sky’s monthly streaming service featuring TV shows and movies. It works out more expensive than Netflix, because it has levels of charges with movies being an additional cost on top of their entertainment package. I recently tried out Now, because I wanted to watch the Friends special. I was paying £9.99 for TV plus £9.99 for movies, plus a £2 extra charge they added called a “boost” for HD quality TV. So that’s over £23 in total, meaning I wouldn’t call this necessarily a good value option. When I cancelled the NOW TV package it did offer to significantly discount my service for a fixed term (£3.99 per month for the entertainment package instead of £9.99 a month), so that’s worth considering. 

• Freeview. It’s free and has all of the major channels. The only ones you will be missing are the exclusives like Sky One and Sky Atlantic for example. However remember if there are any specific shows you want to watch from those channels you could purchase the boxsets at a later date, which would work out cheaper if it’s just the odd show compared to paying for the full TV service.  

If you’re looking for other ways to save money then check out my frugal living tips.