Virgin Media standalone prices

DWP82

Hi all,

First time poster here - been using the site for a while but I now have a problem with VM which I don't think has been covered in any other thread.

Basically I received my latest bill and noticed that it had increased by £5.00 on last months due to +£1.00 for XL TV, +£1.25 for Paper Billing, and a £2.75 reduction in my loyalty discount. I called them up as I believed I was on a 12 month offer after taking the V+ service in November 2008 and so shouldn't have been affected by the price rises. On this call I was told I was out of contract effective April 2009 (I took the deal I was on in April 2008 excluding V+) and that's why the prices had increased so I said that I'd be having a look at deals elsewhere with Sky / TalkTalk etc.

After scoping out some better deals via the forums here, I phoned back to cancel a couple of days later and was told that I was still in contract for the TV service as a new 12 month contract was started when I took the V+. Fair enough I thought, and so I asked if I could cancel just the phone and broadband and was told I could.

This is where the problem arose...

My current package (as detailed on my £1.25 paper bill) is:
Line Rental: £11.00
Talk Evening & Weekends: £3.45
Loyalty Pack BB, Phone TV 3D Sky: -£22.70
Free Voicemail: £0.00
TV Size XL: £23.00
1 Add Set Top Box(es): £15.00
Add Set Top Box(es) discount: -£10.00
Atraces: £0.00
Broadband Size L: £25.00
Paper Bill Charge: £1.25

I took from this that if I cancelled all other services and so lost my loyalty/bundle discount, I would end up paying £23.00 for XL TV and net £5.00 for the additional box. Imagine my surprise when I was told that if I took it on it's own it would be £27.50 for XL TV and £5.00 for the additional box. Justification for the extra £4.50 - none! That's just the way it is apparently. No one in customer services can shed any light on it (although one person tried to claim that it was half price line rental as I would still have their cables in my flat, at which point I told him that half of £11.00 is £5.50, not £4.50) and can't find anything on the website about it.

I have given my 30 days notice to cancel the phone and broadband and have sent a complaint regarding the transparency of their billing and am waiting for a response, but I'm sure some of you MSEs will know a thing or two that might help me. Is anyone else on the forum in a similar situation or just have the TV with no phone or broadband?

Any information or advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

devon_guy

I was told initially you could have TV as a standalone package and now told you can't as that was all I wanted as I am quite happy with o2 as my broadband provider.

However I think they make it deliberately expensive as a standalone as it then entices you to take a bundle and therefore they tie you in to more services.

DWP82

Thanks for your reply.

My issue is that I don't see how they can justify any deviation from the price of £23 for the XL TV if they are saying that I'm still under contract for it. They currently advertise XL TV at £21.50 if you take a phone line at £11 which implies a £1.50 bundle discount, but nowhere on the website does it give the current price of TV alone.

It just seems that by not giving all of the relevant info on the website, for example prices for potential new customers just wanting TV alone, that they can make it up as they go along.