Virgin Media

[Deleted User]

Due to the recent price increases, we have had an increase of £1 to our XL tv, £2 for the M broadband and a decrease of 50p off our loyalty discount!

So our bill has increased by £3.50, from £34.95 to £38.45/month.
We've read the terms and conditions and it says that we could cancel, even in contract if we didn't agree with the price increases.
So we rang up and were told that we couldn't as the bill is not more than 10% of an increase, apparently the 50p extra from the loyalty discount doesn't count?!?
I think this is crazy, where does it say that the bill has to be more than 10% more expensive before they will allow us to cancel?

Does anyone know the rules or is there anything we can do?
We only have a budget of £35/month (can't really be affording that tbh) and in our household every penny does count.

asbokid

purpleposting4 wrote: »

Due to the recent price increases, we have had an increase of £1 to our XL tv, £2 for the M broadband and a decrease of 50p off our loyalty discount!

So our bill has increased by £3.50, from £34.95 to £38.45/month.
We've read the terms and conditions and it says that we could cancel, even in contract if we didn't agree with the price increases.
So we rang up and were told that we couldn't as the bill is not more than 10% of an increase, apparently the 50p extra from the loyalty discount doesn't count?!?
I think this is crazy, where does it say that the bill has to be more than 10% more expensive before they will allow us to cancel?

Does anyone know the rules or is there anything we can do?
We only have a budget of £35/month (can't really be affording that tbh) and in our household every penny does count.

dunno about virgin... but check the ts & cs you accepted in the original contract, and any additional terms that were subsequently added, and to which you implicitly agreed. Other than that, perhaps there is a ruling about 10% viz the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations... There is, or was, a list of cases under these Regs on the Office of Fair Trading website..

Richard Branson is dumping his stock in Virgin Media.. so it's probably been milked dry as a cash cow.. personally, i've never rated them very highly... the underlying service courtesy of NTL was good, but virgin's customer service, and its price, were pants.

donnac2558

I believe the £2 increase in bb is because it is moving from 4mg up to 10mg, the lower rate no longer available.

Have you upped your services at all in the last year? If not you can I believe phone and just ask to leave. If you are still in contract 12 months you will have to pay the rest of the year out even if you leave.

Dial 150 and the selection will ask thinking of leaving us, pick that and speak to someone. You could also try retentions and ask about a better deal.

[Deleted User]

I guess they will just say we can't cancel due to that and although we have been with them for years, we moved house last december so I bet that starts a new 12mth contract?!

We will be leaving them tho as soon as we can, we only need the phone/broadband as we have freeview built in and there are plenty of good deals out there for the services we require. We have worked it out and can save £22/month, so it is worth doing when we can.

That and the fact that virgin have given us nothing special since being with them, no free wireless router, £75(!) for a V+ box that isn't even ours and if we want to downgrade one of our 3 services, it will actually cost us more because of their stupid 'loyalty discounts'. Why can't they just do simple packages that make sense and are the same for everyone?!?

Anyway, rant over. Will give them another try over this bill increase and see what they say.

soul619

yes moving house dose start a new contract! stupid isnt it! an it sais in t&c's they can up the price at any time

dumb_blonde

I rang up to pay a bill, I already pay £5 handling charge because i did not want to pay by direct debit, they also told me because i wont change to e billing it will also cost me an extra £1.50 to recieve my bill!
I want to switch but find it all a bit confusing.

soul619

dumb_blonde wrote: »

I rang up to pay a bill, I already pay £5 handling charge because i did not want to pay by direct debit, they also told me because i wont change to e billing it will also cost me an extra £1.50 to recieve my bill!
I want to switch but find it all a bit confusing.

if you get bb via cable from virgin its much easier to switch to bt or o2 for eg

ACDeag

soul619 wrote: »

if you get bb via cable from virgin its much easier to switch to bt or o2 for eg

Not necessarily you have to get a BT line fitted first, if BT fits it you will then be tied to a 12 month BT contract which means you cannot use TalkTalk etc.

I agree that having the choice is a lot better than being stuck with VM and their Ryanair type charges.

soul619

ACDeag wrote: »

Not necessarily you have to get a BT line fitted first, if BT fits it you will then be tied to a 12 month BT contract which means you cannot use TalkTalk etc.

I agree that having the choice is a lot better than being stuck with VM and their Ryanair type charges.

yes but theres none of this waiting round for migration codes an then fiding out you cant use as ur preivous providers not actually released the line ect