Virgin Media Retention thread

DoshSaver

greyster wrote: »

I have just M size broadband.

Been on £10 deal for several months but i was declined it a few months ago, saying it no longer is on offer.

Read this thread and saw it was back and asked for it. I am now back on the £10 a month deal. Its now called S size broadband as you know.

However there is a subtle difference this time, there is a 6 month contract attached. The last 6 month deal was £10 for 6 months but I could quit at anytime.

I'm now locked in until end of November/early December.

NOTE THIS: They are Capping, Shaping or sometimes called Traffic Managing the "Old" "M" 2Mbs bandwidth NOW called "S" if you elect to stay on it and they are NOT telling you!

I have been quite happy with 2Mbs as well for the last 3 years.

However, on 26 May I got notification that my bill would increase. So I naturally phoned them again and negotiated to stick with 2Mbs. What they OMITTED to tell me was that the downloads would be choked to 200MB using throttling (Capping, Shaping or sometimes called Traffic Management).

After a few days I started to notice a sluggish performance and then spent 3 days calling Tech support to find out why my bandwidth had plummeted to 0.5Mbs at certain times (every day) from 2Mbs.

Eventually found out that they were reluctant to permit customers staying with 2Mbs but was possible. But they want everybody over to 10Mbs (with the price hike).


I explained I was not a high user - they agreed- but the traffic management policy would be adopted for anybody that remains on 2Mbps. I do not down load much, typically “updates” or watch videos (1 hour per month perhaps via watch again such as BBC iplayer) but the "New" and secret 2Mbps is only for very very light browsing and downloading emails - be warned!
It amounts to about 6Gb per month inside hours 9am to 21:00.

I am now looking to leave, which is a shame but jumping from £10 to £20 per month for bandwidth I do not need is too much of a hike.

onejontwo

I like many others have been on a £10 2 meg bb deal until recently when I was informed about the price hike, I have now just negotiated a deal with 10 mb bb+ line rental + evening and weekend calls + no installation fee for £19.40 ie large phone + large bb with same phone number. I previously was with BT at around £17 for evening and weekend calls +line rental. It seems a good offer to me.

Elliebobs_2

I've only recently realised that I'm paying £37 for XL broadband (I also have XL TV, sport, V+ and phone with Virgin) This seems excessive to me. Out of interest how much do you pay for XL broadband?

bigstevex

Just changed to the following....
XXL 50mb broadband
XL TV
XL Phone
V+ Box

£68 a month and no way of getting it lower,

also, £99 installation but I'll get a £30 bill credit because new customers are currently being offered it!

Anixi

I've just rung them to try and negotiate a better deal as after my 12 months contract ended, the price shot up by £20, plus they were still charging me for paper billing after I switched to online billing 5 months ago!

I was on TV XL
BB M (2 MB)
Phone M

The guy offered me
BB M (the new 10 MB - which I thought we were all being upgraded to anyway unless otherwise asking to retain the S service?)
Phone M
and the freeview TV, for £25 a month, locked in for 12 months.

As I have halved my monthly bill if I take this offer - and they are reimbursing all the charges for the paper billing - this sounds a good offer to me. I'll check out what SKY have to offer and see if they can beat that price or match it with a better TV deal - is it worth a try ringing VM back in a few days and seeing if I can negotiate a better TV deal from them? It's not the end of the world if I can't, but I'd hate to not have a try if there was something they offered in a last-ditch attempt to keep me.

andrewhendry

right well i am an outraged customer right here, We have been with virgin, since it was telewest in scotland, we got the first tv boxes, 11 years ago and have had virgin in some way shape or form since.

Currrently i am on
BB XL - £37
Telephone line - £11
PAper Bill Charge (yeah thats right, Paper Bill charge eh) - £1.25
Removed the talk unlimited last month because of the paper bill charge.

So get this, i foned out this monring that i could get 50mb, which straight away i was so happy about, all day at work, thinkin, al call when i get home and upgrade, hopefully dont have to pay much extra.

So i called and have called 5 times now to see what the deals were, First person quoted..

50mb broadband will be ........£52 a month plus 80 for intallation.... so naturally i asked some questions seein that i actually work for a company that fixes virgin media v+ boxes. The guy said he wasnt technically aware so couldnt explain why then claimed to be a supervisoer when i asked to see one.

Second guy explained it a bit better, saying it would cost me...£52 for broadband with a 17 discount to take it to 35 a month, plus all the rest i would be paying an extra £14 pound a month, plus a £50 charge for intallation and activation. so naturally asked questions again, he said that its just something they are doing, cause they have to lay new lines?? (so they have to actually put new cables under the ground i said... oh no sir but its something to do with the lines....Yeah right)

So av came to this conclusion...Virgin media are just pushing this price on u for one reason and one reason only, cause its the only provider that is going to be able to give you this service for years to come. An am guessin if u threaten to leave, they will let u leave cause they will expect it.

I am soo angry at the moment i want to leave but i just cant do without my broadband, anybody got any ideas on how am going to get these charges down?

I can accept the £35 a month for the service, but am not paying for installation cause i can do it myself, and activation, fonin somebody to tell them ur account number and to activate ur service with one click cost £20.

Whats even better is that we have a bit Inspection 2moro from Virgin Media, an guess who will be confronting or at least seeing if he can find out some more information on this!

If anybody has any ideas about the prices, would be grateful.

The_Zealot

The_Zealot wrote: »

Well I did a bit more research and I would like to say that a V+ box is off the books, too expensive.
So what I would like to know is what is a good offer for L BB and L TV, or L BB and XL TV, no phone line.
And then, should I cancel first, or renegotiate a new monthly payment first and cancel later?

Cheers.

I finally managed to get hold of them before 8pm!
Unfortunately the offer I got was not as good as I hoped for.
Keeping BB 2Mbps + TV L would be 25£/month for 6 months, followed by 27£/month after that, no retention contract (she said).
I asked about BB 10 Mbps and that would be £28/month.
I am kind of alright with only 1£ more for 10 Mbps, I'm just not alright with 28£/month! When I joined VM I was paying 25£/month and after 14 months I still can't get a cost reduction.

I then asked if I could get a V+ box for 49£, but she said I could only get it with TV XL, which would be 39£/month with BB 2Mbps or 41£(!!!) with 10 Mbps! :mad: So I'd be paying more for the TV and they even dare increasing their profit margin 100% (from 1£ more to 2£ more) just because I considered having 10 Mbps? %$@#@%^$%$@#@%^$^&@##

Anyway, because I'm not stupid, I just sticked to the 25/month offer for now, which I can renegotiate at any time because I don't have any contract.
Still, I really think I should be able to get a better deal out of it. But how?

Also, they want to charge £9.50 for each extra V box! How crazy is that? Did you know that in other european countries, like Portugal, the boxes cost €2.50/month? And I used to think those were expensive! Talking about milking the cash cow without remorse!
Virgin Media: out of -5 to 5

ashtemple

virgin service is so poor. i cant stand watching tv on it as changing channel is such an issue and slow. the V+ serice misses at least one recording a week

the internet is fantastic tho.

if you know people at carphone warehouse, they give employee's the VIP package for half price. a good tip...

Associate

Need Advice please.

I am currently on Virgin Media Bband 10MB after they increased it from 2MB, which is £11 a month and my contract comes to an end on July 22nd 2009, after which I think it goes up to £20 a month.

I would like to have Bband without a phone line, which Virgin gives me.

I am not worried about speed, 2MB is sufficient for me, and I do not want to be tied to a contract after July 22nd.

The best virgin have offered me after speaking to Retentions a couple of times and even after the Chief Executives Office called me after I sent an email is:

2MB for £11 a month, with 12 month contract

or

10MB for £17 a month, with 12 month contract

They are not prepared to budge on this and didn't seem too concerned about me leaving them.

I probaly would've been happy with 2MB for £11 a month or even £15 without a contract.

Taking into account my requirements, speed unimportant and that I would like a Bband without a phone line:

1) Can someone please suggest how I can persuade Virgin to give me a good deal without a contract?

2) Can you think of any other companies I could go to that will meet my requirements?

3) Is £11 a month for 2MB + 12 month contract with Virgin, the best I can probably do with what I need?

Thank you.

Jay

greyster

Associate

In same boat.

Originally signed up to your first option, 2Mb a £11 a month, then realised they locked me into a 12 month contract after reading the letter they posted me. Previously I got similar deals with no tie in, just asked to phone back to renew the price every 6 months. Anyway they confirmed it was 12 months so I cancelled the renewal.

They said all I can do is pay £15-16 a month for 2Mb (no contract) or £18-19 for 2Mb (no contract) which is soon to be upgraded to 10Mb. Traffic shaping on the smaller tariff is quite bad also.

Anyway I've decided to pay £18 a month in the knowledge that it will be 10mb soon. I don't want to lock into another contract anywhere and don't want a BT line so will just have to live with it, until I move somewhere else (soon I hope).