Virgin media ripping off existing customers?

amano

Can anyone tell me whether it is legal for Virgin Media to do this ...

I have been being charged £43 per month by Virgin Media for a while now. I thought I was on the cheapest phone and TV package, but their mid broadband package (10MBps) and saw that online the equivalent triple bundle was £27 (£16 + £11 line rental) so I rang up to ask why there was a difference.

It turns out that unknowingly and without my agreement I had been put on a more expensive package for phone and TV, but even after reducing this to the same as the package advertised online they would charge me £35 (£24 + £11 line rental). Apparently the £16 package is only for new customers and existing customers have to pay £24 per month for the same package.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=15157

Now, first the £16 package is not an "introductory offer" for new customers (it does not increase to £24 after a period). Second it doesn't say anywhere on the page advertising the £16 package that it is only for new customers. Is it legal for them to do this and charge existing customers 50% more than new customers on a permanent ongoing basis?

Frankly I think this is a case of Virgin Media exploiting their existing customers. They know that for you to switch out of them you will have to pay a £125 reconnection charge to BT for your landline, which means that you are pretty much at their mercy to overcharging once you have joined.

I am going to switch out anyway as I think it is amoral for a company like Virgin to treat its existing customers this way (I have been with them 10 years). When I told the Virgin customer representative this on the phone he told me that an 8MB ADSL connection from O2 was not anywhere near as fast as a 10MB cable connection due to you having to share the ADSL line. He told me I would be better off with a 2MB cable connection than an 8MB ADSL connection. Is this true or is Virgin also giving misleading information to keep customers?

C.

msc1977

I couldnt say for certain but yes i would think it was legal, if it wasnt they wouldnt be doing it.
I work for one of the leading mobile networks and our new customer offers are always better than those for existing customers taking an upgrade. I get asked the question on an almost daily basis and i agree its not fair and it makes our life harder when existing customers should be rewarded with the better deals. Unfortunatley most businesses are out to increase their customer base and will only reward existing customers once they have already made the decision to leave. I will say that in the defence of the mobiole phone industry the network (certainly ours) is offered a big subsidy by the phone manufacturers for new conenctions, this isnt (for some reason) available on an upgrade, subsequently the cost of the equipment and the price plan will usually be more.
HTH

DatabaseError

Of course it's legal. by all means threaten to leave, they may offer you the same deal..than again, they may not