Downsizing but stuck with Virgin phone?

kijog

I'm thinking of leaving Virgin - I have XL phone, BB and TV but want to get my bills down from the £56/mth I am paying at the moment. The crunch has certainly hit in my house! I've been offered a really great Sky TV deal from a friend who works for them, but I think broadband and phone line looks like a problem!

I looked on the VM site and the lowest 'triple' deal (even though I won't need the TV) is £14. Although it does say I need to pay £11/mth for line rental = £24/mth

I have tried ringing Virgin to speak about reducing my package, but the numbskull at the end would only repeat "but you've got the best package...". He just couldn't accept I was willing to downsize.

Anyway, I rang BT to see what it would cost to get the BT phone line re-enabled. She said the only way to do it was pay the £125 for install and £28.50 for evening + weekend and 8MB broadband.

Intriguingly she asked if I had received any mail from BT in the last week - I said "no" and she replied that if I had done I would receive my installation for free. Apparently they have sent out an mailout to Virgin cable areas to tempt customers to return to BT. Can I find this promo code somewhere? £125 seems so steep!

So this leaves me more or less stuck. In some ways I regret hitching myself to the Virgin system!

Does any one have any other tips/suggestions for making this work with this Sky deal? Is the only way of getting a lower deal with Virgin is by threating to leave the whole lot as has been discussed in other threads?

Does anyone have any other options I could try?

macman

If the BT line is physically still there in your property and has a working master socket (plug in and see-you should still get a 'soft' dial tone, although you can't call out), then they will probably not charge you the full reconnection fee as long as you agree to to take a year's line rental with them. The quote is to cover them in case the engineer has to attend onsite rather than just do an exchange reconnection, for all they know you could have removed or damaged the wiring at the master socket.

zolablue25

Sky will refund your £125 BT connection fee as an account credit. I have had this confirmed over the phone having been told it by a door-to-door caller. IIRC it is also stated on their website, but I could be wrong on that one.

cheapandchick

thats brilliant to know zolablue. i have hesitated because of this but might just switch now! thanks

callmybill

Phone BT on 0800 085 2798 and quote code 'save on connection'

This will give you FREE CONNECTION saving £122.50 AND they will offer you a FREE HUB worth £88!:T

kijog

Thanks all. At least now I have the ammo to push Virgin properly as I can really leave them now. I spoke to their 'discuss your package' option people and I was told that the lowest they can bring my spend down to is £35/mth for M phone, L BB and M TV. And on the website it says you can have that for £25! So I rang them back and the next guy said it was £29 - it seems just random! said the difference was because former deal is for brand new customers only. Wonder how much it costs for ex-customers?!

I couldn't speak to the cancellation option people as that had closed for the night, but I'll be ringing them back tomorrow!