The Milton Keynes Money Savers Thread - Mark Four

NIC26

Can anyone recommend a good builder in the Milton Keynes area. My sister needs some work done on her roof to replace tiles that were damaged during bad weather. This has also damaged the hallway ceiling a little, that needs attention. She has tried ringing round the yellow pages but has not got a good response. Help appreciated.

tocadast

Me and my sis have both had work done by Total Build. I've also seen other work that they've done (before they worked on my house) and had references from previous jobs and they've all come back very good.

Not the cheapest price I had but very good.

I don't want to put their number up here (don't think it's allowed) but if you do a search for them I'm sure you'll find details on line.

Hope this helps

soolin

I have a specific Milton Keynes question, it is an odd one so please bear with me!

I part own a house in MK that is currently rented out. The house does not have a TV aerial or any form of Sky box but has a basic cable package installed with the house. We used to pay about 50p a week for the cable and got the 4 main channels (sometimes we got 5) plus Sky one and a couple of news channels. However when NTL changed to Virgin they stopped taking the money for the cable.

Due to a lot of misunderstandings I thought the TV had died and so phoned Virgin paid up a few years of back money and asked them to reset the system, and they confirmed that unless I had work done in the house it would be impossible to receive TV, I have also set up a DD to Virgin for £4 a month

However it now transpires that full TV coverage never ceased despite Virgin not turning up for any appointment to do whatever it is they thought needed doing.

Can anyone who lives in Milton Keynes shed any light on this at all? Does anyone else pay £4 a month to Virgin, am I being told porkie pies, is there something obvious that I am misunderstanding?

Sarahjovi

Hi, £4 is the current standard charge to receive the cable TV channels, it includes BBC1, 2 and News 24, ITV 1, Channel 4 and 5, Hallmark and Four Music and perhaps a couple I've forgotten!

Not sure what work they're talking about, I've lived here for 15 years and never had anyone to the house to do anything. All houses built in Milton Keynes had cable installed to start with.

If you want to put up a freeview arial (we have one in our loft), you wouldn't need to pay Virgin for the cable!

Sarah

soolin

Thank you for that.

You can see why I am thoroughly confused! Virgin are the most difficult company in the world to get sense out of, they have so far made five appointments to install (whatever imaginery thing it is they want to install) and cancelled all of them sometimes after the time they were supposed to have arrived. They insist I cannot be getting any TV without this work in the house, but my tenant says he does get TV.

I think I'll just pay my £4 a month and just forget Virgin and their strange installation issue.

cheapscate

? I've lived in MK for 5 years now and have Sky because the cable is not entirely reliable however upstairs I have no set top box and the cable is directly connected to the TV - this gives me channels 1-5 and BBC news. I do not pay any subscription. I understood this is free because when MK was first built they decided to outlaw TV aerials and opted for CATV which provides the TV channels for all dwellings. Initially this was provided by NTL but it is now Virgin. You can subscribe for additional channels if you want and they may give you a set top box.

soolin

i've spoken to Virgin again, they are still sure that I can't be getting TV, but I've told them my tenant can so I'll just pay my £4 a month and forget about it.

I hadn't paid anything for years though so maybe a lot of people were never charged and by phoning to ask what was going on I bought attention to myself, hence having to pay again!

Raksha

soolin wrote: »

Thank you for that.

You can see why I am thoroughly confused! Virgin are the most difficult company in the world to get sense out of, they have so far made five appointments to install (whatever imaginery thing it is they want to install) and cancelled all of them sometimes after the time they were supposed to have arrived. They insist I cannot be getting any TV without this work in the house, but my tenant says he does get TV.

I think I'll just pay my £4 a month and just forget Virgin and their strange installation issue.

Which part of MK is your house in? (What 'estate')?

soolin

It's in Bradwell, the house was built approx 25 years ago and that's when the original system was installed.

Mumto2

ruth_campbell wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Aerial Extreme (that's the ropes course next to Willen Lake, often confused with Airkix at Xscape!) is offering half price on the course on the last Sunday of every month for the 10am slot - it would make a childs ticket somewhere around £8 and adult about £11...quite specific times so you'd have to book in advance but I think it's worth it for the huge saving!

I took my kids there last summer and it's a really good day out...just make sure you wear sensible shoes because my slip-ons didn't go down a treat!!!

Ruth

I know it's a bit further from MK, but there's one of these opened up at Irchester Country Park. There's a course for little ones (4+, 1.05m) and then an older kids/adult one as well. The kids course is £10, adults course is £20 for grown ups, £15 for under 15's.

We didn't get to try it as I was alone with my 3 kids, but the young ones looked to be having a great time and it's the first time I've seen a course like this for such young children.