Sky Talk Weekends

Just been told by an advisor the Sky Talk Weekends currently included in line rental is being removed from inclusive from December and will be charged at £4 per month.

I only have the landline for broadband so he said he would remove the service for me, if you're in the same boat you might want to look at that before you start being charged £4p/m for a service you don't use!

Comments

  • Aye UpAye Up Posts: 7,053
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    This has been in the pipeline for a while, they did on the sly too. When they announced the new pricing for line rental, they also removed said calls package. There is better value to be had elsewhere, however Sky also has discounts they can offer.....
  • sky0000547sky0000547 Posts: 240
    Forum Member
    Received a letter about it today. You will automatically enrolled to the Weekend Extra which is £4/mth but the first month is free. If you don't want it you will need to downgrade yourself either online or by phone to the basic pay as you go with phone tariffs at 11.5p/min otherwise you will be automatically charged the extra £4.
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    I got the letter yesterday. I'm actually on the Sky Talk Anytime UK package as I need the anytime calls aspect, mainly due to their evening period starting from 7pm instead of 6pm.

    The interesting aspect of it though, aside from the price rise, is that they're offering unlimited calls from your landline to mobiles.
  • BKMBKM Posts: 6,912
    Forum Member
    Aye Up wrote: »
    This has been in the pipeline for a while, they did on the sly too. When they announced the new pricing for line rental, they also removed said calls package. There is better value to be had elsewhere, however Sky also has discounts they can offer.....
    A lot of operators - led it should be noted by BT themselves - are now removing any inclusive call packages from line rental.

    BT used to be "inclusive weekend calls" - now none
    PlusNet used to be "inclusive evenings and weekends" - now none
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    BKM wrote: »
    A lot of operators - led it should be noted by BT themselves - are now removing any inclusive call packages from line rental.

    BT used to be "inclusive weekend calls" - now none
    PlusNet used to be "inclusive evenings and weekends" - now none

    That's interesting to know. Obviously i suppose they've realised they can charge more for the packages as add-ons.
  • BKMBKM Posts: 6,912
    Forum Member
    That's interesting to know. Obviously i suppose they've realised they can charge more for the packages as add-ons.
    Yes - PlusNet, for example, are now £3/month extra for Evenings and Weekends - and they are better than many as they allow such add-ons to be changed using their self-service web-interface on a "per-month" basis.
  • pgnlpgnl Posts: 273
    Forum Member
    I spotted the changes after reading an RSS feed last week and then got an email from Sky. I subscribe to Sky Talk Anytime UK at £5 pm soon to be Anytime Extra at £8pm.

    I was irritated by not only that change but the upping in line rental too by £1 pm. I checked elsewhere and found pretty much the only other viable phone only provider (I have VM for broadband) was the Post Office (which I understand is provided by Talktalk, terrible reputation), but then I read the following day that their line rental was going up £1 pm too.

    Anyway, I sat down and worked out how much my last two months calls would cost at Skys new rates and it was more than the £8 pm. I never use the landline to call mobile numbers (no doubt Skys reason for the increase), but I will take the increase of £4pm on the chin, even so I am really not happy.

    The situation where all landline providers automatically increase line rental is not good, especially when there is no tangible improvement or upgrade in phone service. I presume this must be due to Openreach increasing costs to the provider. How many people out there are getting an automatic pay rise at the moment? It feels like Openreach are abusing their monopoly position (for years), I think there needs to be more competition out there. Or are we all paying for BT's sport on TV ambitions?

    Ofcom are you reading this? Or haven't you got the **** to do anything about it?

    Patrick
  • jeffkey1jeffkey1 Posts: 385
    Forum Member
    I have looked at the new charges and its a close thing comparing the new costs per minute and the Anytime + Package Fee. £8.0

    64 Minutes last month, which I think will work out about £7.36 or more.

    We currently have the Anytime package with Sky but also unlimited calls on our EE mobile package.

    So I have been paying twice for the same thing !!!!

    The mobile coverage is good at home.

    So I have cancelled the Sky Call package.

    All I have to do is hide the Landline Phone !!!!
  • jthspacejthspace Posts: 189
    Forum Member
    If you read Sky's letter for PAYG telephone calls, they show something like 11.5p per minute. In the small print within the letter, they say there is nearly 17p connection charge for the call, so the first minute works out at 27p and then 11.5p thereafter.

    So, if you are thinking of dropping the package and going vanilla, watch out for the hefty connection charge as it may make a huge difference if you make a lot of short calls.

    I had the international option as my wife's sister lived in France so they could chat on the phone for up to an hour a time for £5 a month - I must have cost Sky money! Anyway, her sister has moved back to the UK, so inclusive UK calls and mobiles will work for me.

    Jeff
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    Well i've potentially done a very stupid thing, sort of :). I did ring sky after i got the letter last week to see if it was grounds to cancel and i was told initially it wasn't.

    I've been on with live chat tonight and they've said it is because the call package is being affected.

    Quidco have a £110 cashback offer to join plusnet, as well as plusnet's own £50 cashback offer, but it expires in about 5 minutes, so i've taken a punt and signed up with Plusnet in the hope that when I ring retentions tomorrow morning, I can cancel and tell them i'm switching.

    If they say no, then i'm buggered :)
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    They didn't say no, so i'm not buggered. All that lovely cashback :)

    (You can tell i'm very easily amused.......)
  • SambdaSambda Posts: 6,185
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    jthspace wrote: »
    If you read Sky's letter for PAYG telephone calls, they show something like 11.5p per minute. In the small print within the letter, they say there is nearly 17p connection charge for the call, so the first minute works out at 27p and then 11.5p thereafter.

    That's extremely sly of them. I might punt that one to Ofcom.
  • BKMBKM Posts: 6,912
    Forum Member
    Sambda wrote: »
    That's extremely sly of them. I might punt that one to Ofcom.
    This is EXACTLY the same as BT (and most other telecom companies). If a call is nor covered by inclusive minutes the first minute can cost ~30pence including the "connection charge" (~17p)
  • SambdaSambda Posts: 6,185
    Forum Member
    BKM wrote: »
    This is EXACTLY the same as BT (and most other telecom companies). If a call is nor covered by inclusive minutes the first minute can cost ~30pence including the "connection charge" (~17p)

    I was referring to the way they maybe trumping the 11.5p per min call cost but relegating the 16.9p "connection fee" to the easily missed small print. I.E. hiding charges in the small print. I was not attempting to indicate whether the "initial connection fee then a fee per minute" scheme is fair or unfair per se.
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