The Sky has fallen

I phoned up Sky today; the number to call is 0333 202 2135 . We have two Sky boxes, and we take everything except sport. We were paying £74/month.

I spoke to a speech recognition system, which asked me what I wanted. After several tries, to explain "price cut" "better deal" I had a slight inspiration; I said "CANCEL" nice and loud. That was understood, and very soon I was put through to an actual human. And I told him who I am, and explained to him that the problem is, we're paying too much.

He immediately saw the problem, and offered me a deal with the same access (Variety, Cinema and HD) for £51.20 instead of the £74 that I'm currently paying. So, a 30% fall in Sky price, just for making a phone call. Not bad.

This price will last until November 2018, and I'm guessing that at that point, they'll raise the price to some extortionate level until I call them again, and this time I took the direct number, which is 0330 041 3018.

This is actually a fairly common situation in the electronics world. You sign up for something which is a good deal at the time, but gradually prices fall, except you're still paying the same old price. The answer is to call your vendor and ask for a lower price, and you'll usually get it without hassle. And if you don't, you go to another vendor - which is what I did when I moved from Daisy to TalkTalk, and when I got my electric bill down by 20% by changing vendor.

So here's the lesson. Don't assume you're getting a good price for your services; phone them up and haggle. Or at least ask for their best deal.