After my sub was killed on Monday, I just had access to the free stuff but couldn't watch any recordings on the box... So I dug my Freesat+ box out of the loft and swapped it with my Sky box - losing the ability to pause/record TV was bigger than losing any channels and I can do that for nowt on my Freesat+ box.

Most people don't have the luxury of a freesat pvr box of course. I agree losing those functions are a big deal, and it's why it makes perfect sense to disable them on Sky.

Luxury? Just go and buy one. Job done. Boxes aren't exactly expensive, and someone could even get a second hand one dirt cheap.

And it makes good business sense for Sky to keep people using a box that could be reactivated, rather than ditched.

But, hey, what do I know (or indeed Sky, which has emailed may users to say they've been given an extension of service for free)?

A good PVR costs £200 and upwards. Buying a machine with a second hand hard drive is not advisable.

Huh?

Question: if you have a Sky box for five years, is the HDD 'safer' if you owned it from new, than if you buy a year old set top box?

Humax do reconditioned units for a lot less than £200. Heck, a brand new Freesat receiver retails new for under £200!

I will admit that when I cancelled back in January it was a bit of a wrench not being able to record stuff to watch at my leisure. We got around it by purchasing a now tv box and using it to catch up. I don't think it's as big a deal as it once was, but it was nice when I returned to SKY to have the function back.

So will pay for itself in 10 months or less...

I got a promotion from sky today saying they would give me movies at £13 a month for 13 months for being a customer for 7 years. I'm not interested in movies, they gave me 2 months free a few years ago and the amount of repeats they had was annoying, not worth paying for. So if they think this would entice me to stay with them they have to be joking!
I'm after money off or so many months free with more than 50% off for the remaining amount before they keep me.

We got rid of Sky about 7 months ago. Did get several "offers" to remain, up-to 50% for a year.

2 reasons we left, 1 was because they offered us a loyalty deal of an extra Sky+ HD box with free installation and free multi-room and HD for a year, only to retract the offer once we accepted it. And 2, because it wasn't feasible to keep it going as most of the channels we watched we could get on Freesat and NowTV.

Yep absolutely if you're happy with the limited content on freesat, lack of HD content, and won't supplement the loss of Sky with other offerings such as Now TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime.

This sounds like the project fear being spouted by those who want to remain in the EU. 'Leave and cigarettes will cost £15' (despite constantly saying they want people to quit and use high taxation as a tool to achieve it)

I'm pretty sure most shops don't have dodgy second hand Freesat boxes on the shelf. They are brand new and fully guaranteed and have to meet the trades description act in terms of functionality.

Yes you can buy refurbished and second hand boxes, but that also applies to Sky. I've had several Sky+HD boxes from Cash Converters for £15 to £25. But they couldn't record, no YouTube on the big screen, USB media playback and no Netflix. All of which can be achieved with a reasonably priced box allowing the user to cut down on clutter under the Tv.

I know I'll be ignored as I'm 'an anti Sky troll' but it would be nice to hear why I'm wrong.

Maybe it's just undignified to buy something second hand, although I'd have no trouble saving £20-50 buying something from Amazon Warehouse or the Humax refurbished store.

And it isn't actually that hard to change a hard drive on most set top boxes, as people do all the time to increase capacity. Get a dirt cheap box and change the drive if you're that bothered.

You don't need a degree to do it, or need to worry about warranties if it's a year or two old.

No STB I've ever owned from Sky, TiVo, various FTA boxes have ever failed in over 15 years.

Oh wait, that's a lie. I had two boxes fail miserably, one bought new and one second hand. And they were both Sky boxes (Thomson Sky HD boxes).

So maybe the moral of the story is not to buy Sky boxes second hand!

For those who have disconnected ( Sky has actually gone off ).
From my recent experience, after giving notice I had the 35% off on my sky.
Close to disconnection- sorry can't remember exactly - on the sky service app I had a 50% off if I stayed with them.
After disconnection the 35% went on my sky.
Within a couple of days when I hit my sky button on the sky website twice to bring up a full menu of options, the last on the right was ' left sky in the last 12 months '. That then gave me 50% off any package for 12 months. Plus between £25 & £50 credit on my account.

Personally I waited and made a couple of calls and about 3 webchats untill I got 60% & £100 credit on my account.
This was less than 2 weeks after actual disconnection.

Hopefully this helps ....

Nobby.

So with 60% off for 12 months and £100 credit the family pack would equate to £9.67 on average each month over the 12 months. That I may except but I would prefer it down to somewhere between £5 and £7 per month equivalent!

That's what we've just got, ours was through the webchat too, been disconnected approx 2 weeks.

Was told (pinch of salt) that what was offered was the best possible deal they could do, ending up getting:

60% off full package, half price HD pack, 35% off multi-room, and £100 credit, and no contract, essentially that works out at £32PM, price lasts 12mths.

Also recently got:

BT Sport £10PM for 12mths, HD, with extra box......they can only apply discount for 3mths at a time, so I have to ring them every 2mths just to make sure we don't get charged full price...no really hardship.

And while I'm here, VM broadband 100mb, with line rental for £26pm, not sure how that compares, but overall I'm happy, so well work haggling with these companies.

thats impressive whats the technique you use?

Have you no shame? Poor Jeremy Darroch is going to have to take a huge pay cut now... You can't expect aurichie to pay the difference you know.

Well in fairness, regards $ky my bill is actually £56PM, and not £32 has mentioned, as I have two extra multi-rooms at full price (£24, they would only do discount on one, twisters ) which is why their probably a little more accommodating. However my two Sisters have those and they pay me £20 each PM, there happy as they have full Sky for £20, and I'm ecstatic has my bill for full HD Sky with multi is only really £16PM

I'm not the person you asked the question to but for me it's in your best interest to scope out promotional offers with BT for new customers and threaten to jump if they can't match it. You have to put them in a position were they're struggling to match that price unless they use heavy discounts.

I mostly use BTSport these days as i'm a huge motorsport fan. It's cheaper for me to jump to BT broadband and get it cheaper. They know it, i know it, so it's very easy to get a decent deai. I will never pay more than 50% for Sky as long as BT are around.

Getting BTsport discounted is more of a challenge for me as i have very little leverage. The only stance i can take is that i don't really need it (a major fib if ever there was one). If they call my bluff then i'm screwed!

I've been paying £13.99 for BTSport and HD. It's not due for renewal until September time but i'd very much like to get it reduced to £10 if i can. What is the extra box thing about it and did it influence the deal? I was told at the time that £13.99 was the best offer they had, which i was happy to take considering this around the time of the big price hike.

If you're under contract, then there's not much you can do until that ends, the original deal of '£10 for 3mths', I found on here last year, and what worked in my favour at the time was that I was a previous customer who was looking to come back after a 6mth absense, where you'll be coming straight off a contract, also, if memory serves it was just after the Football season ended, when many leave, so if you're looking for a 'Deal' come September, I wouldn't hold my breath, has many are looking to return.

The 'extra' box, that's merely anables you to watch through a second viewing card on another box, I believe they charge an additional £5 for that.

My footy team got relegated so i don't need the premier league coverage but at least it gives me leverage to get better deals Also, the motorsport season ends in November and doesn't start up again in March. Perfect time to not give them anything for 3 months. Hopefully this is enough to get a decent deal.

that's actually simmilar to what I got then isn't it?, 65% off (£38 down to £13) along with a new box ! I switched to BT

Thanks to everyone on this discussion. I was on a 12 month half price Sport deal and half price HD ending in July. I also have Variety and one multi-room.

Called and gave notice to cancel - immediate offer was 25% off the TV element. Looked next day at the Sky Service app - 35% off. Two days later sky.com offer was 50% off so I went to the retentions chat. The guy unfortunately (for him) cut and pasted much of his script into the opening exchange - including all the "GREAT OFFER OF 50%" and "GREAT OFFER OF 60% OFF" text!! )

His immediate offer was 35% off TV so I mentioned sky.com was offering 50% - which he magically found after a 0.0001s search. Told him it wasn't enough so he offered 5% off multi-room and £20 credit. I questioned 5% or 50% to which he responded 35%. Told him I'd think about it and was immediately upped to £50 credit.

I know I could probably do better but now have Variety + Sports + HD + Multi Room x1 for £49.55 instead of £83.50 and £50 in my account which brings it to about £45 per month over the 12 months.

Currently helping a colleague down the same path - she gave notice an hour ago, downloaded the Sky Service app and was already being offered 50% off.

Just go to ao.com and you can buy the latest Humax Freesat Box for only £184. That is only about 2.5 Months subscription that I am paying. I am really tempted to quit SKY and go the Freesat route.

http://ao.com/product/hdr1100s-humax...37185-125.aspx