Virgin Media Retention thread

pjvenner

What prompted me to raise this question is the following quote from a Daily Mail article about 'youview'.

Virgin Media lodged a complaint to regulator Ofcom complaining that the project was anti-competitive. A Virgin Media spokesperson said: 'There’s a pressing need for a thorough and independent examination of this closed, anti-competitive platform as it will restrict consumer choice and stifle innovation. :rotfl:

This seems a bit rich coming from a company that owns a monopoly on the UK cable network [please correct me if I am wrong].

What I'd like to know is: Is there anything that we as consumers can do about this situation? I thought monopolies were illegal under UK and EU law. BT lines and every other utility are open to competition but not cable services.

In my experience, VM raise prices 2-4 times a year safe in the knowledge that the vast majority of customers will just accept the increase - If you are persistent you can sometimes negotiate a better deal - if you are lucky enough to catch an agent who has had a good day.

If they had competitors that we could easily switch to then we might not have to go through this nightmare every few months.

If anyone from BT is reading this, can I suggest offering free installation to disgruntled Virgin customers? If you advertise it I'm pretty sure you'd get a lot of new customers before VM sit & and take notice.

clemof1

Advance charges £21.98



Main services (Provided by Virgin Media Ltd or Virgin Media Payments Ltd) £21.98
Description Date/period Amount
Telephone Line Rental 24 September - 23 October £11.99
Talk Unlimited 24 September - 23 October £7.95
Loyalty Pack: Phone, Bband & TV M 24 September - 23 October £-18.46
Broadband Size: M 24 September - 23 October £20.50
T V Size: M 24 September - 23 October £0.00

just did a copy paste from my paperless bill , i have been on this price for over a year and cannot ( or not been able to) get the price down any further ...
i try every few months , they say it will not get any cheaper than this ..
do i need to try the disconnections route?
any suggestions will be tried!

many thanks in advance
clemo

xman

I called 150 back in June and chose to speak to the “if you are thinking on leaving us” department.
Told them I was leaving because Sky was giving free HD boxes, etc…
In the end I got to keep my standard box plus a V+HD was delivered free of charge so now have tv in two rooms.
This was subject to a new 12 month contract of £45.74 per month, for the following services:
1 V+ box HD
1 Standard box
TV XL
Broadband L
Phone M

dazzaofdagenham

Do virgin mobile still do the netbook offer ?

Cant see it on the website ?

pickledonionspaceraider

Just rang them, and managed to get £4 a month knocked off my bill, and swapped to a v+ box for no extra charge. very pleased with that! I know it is a small victory, but hey!

jackvisual

Always be very wary with any "good deals" from Virgin Media as very often they tell you one thing and a few months down the line it appears the deal offered was not what was agreed. I know from bitter experience and they tie you into another lengthy contract without your consent. Trying to rectify it via their very poor customer services is traumatic to say the least.

The person offering the deal enters notes on your account which was not the verbal agreement and try telling that to Virgin and all you get is "computer says no". Check the original recording I say that will prove it - surprise surprise cannot trace the recording so customer is wrong!!!

I would be grateful to hear similar experiences and how they were rectified/

dazzaofdagenham

Is the Virgin Netbook available anymore ? Even as a rention offer ?

Darren

infil50

I got :-

XL TV
L PHONE
XL BB
2 X V+ HD BOX
1000 mins 0845

extra box was SD but will be upgraded and free router (never had one)

£53.96 was paying £67.66 that was without 0845

djh

Mercury99 wrote: »

Has anyone got a decent deal on broadband alone? I am paying £18 a month which seems a bit steep

(See previous posting 30/09/2009 Setup improved with the addition of Siemans S685 IP Handset)

I am currently paying £10.50 a month .The last call I made to Virgin (last year) they informed me I could stay on this deal without calling again.A year is nearly up so we shall see.

As a matter of interest I also use the connection for phone line via VOIP.
I ported my longstanding BT number to Connexin and use it for incoming calls.(great customer service and support)
This number can then be used anywhere in the world with a good internet connection.
Voipcheap.com is used for outgoing calls and this costs around £20 a year for many calls to landlines in around 30 countries.(good value no customer support to speak of)
I use a Siemans s685 IP phone which enables up to five VOIP accs,landline number to be used through the same handset.
I would be interested if this setup couid be beaten.

liam8282

I currently have a standard M Phone & L BB package.

Costs are

Line Rental - £11.99
Phone & BB Discount - (£12.50)
BB L - £25.00

So £24.49 per month, before any additional call charges.

My contract doesn't expire until January.

What sort of deal could I expect if I wanted to upgrade to include a tv package? I would be willing to pay upto say £50 pm, for the best deal I could get. How would I go about this?

Any advice? Thanks.