Beat the Virgin Media home phone and broadband price hikes 1 May 2009 at 6:12PM edited 1 May 2009 at 6:30PM in Phones & TV 20 replies 7.7K views

Former_MSE_Natasha

This thread is to discuss the following news story:

Beat the Virgin Media home phone and broadband price hikes

tiff

Wasnt this introduced a couple of months ago (charging for paper bills)?

BexTech

Came into effect 1 May 2009. Although VM emailed end of March with the details.

VM previously offered a discount for opting for eBilling, fir 50p then £1. Now they charge a surcharge of £1.25 if you don't take eBilling.

The price rises for 0844 and mobiles etc came in on 1 May 2009 too.

George-Derek

Although Virgin Media are increasing the price of their M broadband by £2 they will soon increase its speed from "up to 2Mb" to "up to 10Mb" at no further increase in price.

That said , it's a bit odd that Virgin are increasing their broadband prices when everyone else is reducing them.

atruefaker

Hello

Can you tell me if they sent letters or an email, as I was never notified of these costs - and have only found out when I went to check my online bill a minute ago.

Thanks

BexTech

atruefaker wrote: »

Hello

Can you tell me if they sent letters or an email, as I was never notified of these costs - and have only found out when I went to check my online bill a minute ago.

Thanks

I was sent an email back in March as I receive updates via email, other family members were sent letters.

ajgunn

atruefaker wrote: »

Hello

Can you tell me if they sent letters or an email, as I was never notified of these costs - and have only found out when I went to check my online bill a minute ago.

Thanks

I raised a complaint with the non-UK call centre about this a month or so ago when I noticed telestunt and telesavers billed at twice what I was expecting. They said they had sent a letter re. price increases, well I never received one and when I queried the dates they reckoned they'd sent the latest one on the day the price changed, none of it added up and my complaint has never been followed up ! I think their message is take it or leave it. You can see the price PDFs from this page - http:// allyours dot virginmedia dot com slash html slash phone slash callingcosts.html , you need to use the two in conjunction, non-geo categorizes into groups the residential gives the cost of the group.

Skeenfleent

BexTech wrote: »

I was sent an email back in March as I receive updates via email, other family members were sent letters.

A proper letter, with your name and address on it? Or just a glossy leaflet that usually consists of their highly-annoying marketing blurb (borderline illegal mis-representation, usually, e.g. "Fibre-optic broadband")?
I've got into the habit of throwing those in the bin to save myself getting angry.

When I received my bill, increased with no notice, I was annoyed, rang up, and only after this did a leaflet miraculously appear in the post. One titled "About our Price Changes".

Er, since when are prices that either stay the same or increase "Price CHANGES"? They're more accurately described as "Price INCREASES".

This is one more reason of many that Virgin Media have got a really poor reputation for honesty, integrity and transparency.

See thinkbroadband.com if you want confirmation.

I'm out of contract. I'd better talk to them today.

AngelaD

George-Derek wrote: »

Although Virgin Media are increasing the price of their M broadband by £2 they will soon increase its speed from "up to 2Mb" to "up to 10Mb" at no further increase in price.

That said , it's a bit odd that Virgin are increasing their broadband prices when everyone else is reducing them.

We only subscribe to the M broadband service and I had no idea that the price was to be increased. To be able to get speeds up to 10Mb, doesn't it have to be fibre optic? Our cable was installed in 2002 so I'm not sure we have the capability.

clickclash

George-Derek wrote: »

Although Virgin Media are increasing the price of their Mobile broadband by £2 they will soon increase its speed from "up to 2Mb" to "up to 10Mb" at no further increase in price.

That said , it's a bit odd that Virgin are increasing their broadband prices when everyone else is reducing them.

Well then again £2 for 2 more mb is a pretty sweet deal.

BexTech

Skeenfleent wrote: »

A proper letter, with your name and address on it? Or just a glossy leaflet that usually consists of their highly-annoying marketing blurb (borderline illegal mis-representation, usually, e.g. "Fibre-optic broadband")?
I've got into the habit of throwing those in the bin to save myself getting angry.

When I received my bill, increased with no notice, I was annoyed, rang up, and only after this did a leaflet miraculously appear in the post. One titled "About our Price Changes".

Er, since when are prices that either stay the same or increase "Price CHANGES"? They're more accurately described as "Price INCREASES".

This is one more reason of many that Virgin Media have got a really poor reputation for honesty, integrity and transparency.

See thinkbroadband.com if you want confirmation.

I'm out of contract. I'd better talk to them today.

I'm a member of the ThinkBroadband forum too, have been for several years, before the name change, often checking out there, even if not posting like I used to.

I received an email addressed to myself, other family members (who have their own homes etc) received it via letter addressed to themselves.

One of my emails below, family who received via letter was very similar.

"Important changes to your prices and services"

[FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular] [FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]TV: XL[/FONT] [FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]BroadBand: L[/FONT] [FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Phone: L[/FONT] [FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Acc. No: xxxxxxxx
[/FONT] [FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Area Code: 12[/FONT]
Dear xxxxxxxxx
[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]
We’ve got lots of things to tell you about your Virgin Media services.

Firstly, we need to let you know that some of our prices* are changing from 1st May. When you have a moment, [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]click here[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular] to take a look at how this affects you. If you’d like to remind yourself which package you’re on, just take a look at the top of this letter.

As one of our most loved customers, you’ll still get an additional discount on your services. From 1st May, this discount will reduce by £2.75 a month.

If you have itemised billing we have some good news for you, we’re removing the £1 charge for this.

[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Get paperless bills and save £1.25 a month
[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]To encourage even more people to choose eBills and reduce our impact on the environment, we’re introducing a £1.25 a month charge for paper bills. If you haven’t already taken the greener option, switch now and get your bills online for free.

Registering is easy. Go to [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]www.virginmedia.com/ebill[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular] and enter your account number and area code (they’re both at the top of this letter). Sign up before 5th April to make sure you avoid the charge going onto your May bill.

[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Better broadband for all
[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]There’s loads of new stuff to tell you about, too. Soon, you’ll be able to back up and store your most precious files for free with our brand new service called ‘V Stuff’. You’ll never need to worry about losing your favourite photos or your entire music collection again. Once it’s online, you can securely access it from any computer, anywhere. What’s more, you can get loads of free photos prints delivered straight to your door every month**.

[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Virgin TV just got even better
[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]We’ve also added loads of great stuff to our TV service, including ITV Net Player. It lets you watch a whole selection of ITV shows from the last 7 days in Catch Up TV On Demand and loads of series in TV Choice On Demand.

[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]Click here[/FONT][FONT=arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular] for more important info on all these. And if you’ve got any questions about any of the changes, call us free on 0800 952 2047.


Yours sincerely,
[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]*If you’re on a 3, 6 or 12 month offer, you won’t be affected by any price change (apart from the paper bill charge and call rate changes) until the offer ends.


**Subject to terms and conditions.
[/FONT]