Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

hymerman

Clutterbunnyy wrote: »

I just called Virgin to say I wanted to move to Sky as I was finding Virgin too expensive, I thought they would offer me a deal but instead the lady just said "ok", so all my services are being puuled in 30 days time.

Now I feelREally stupid and don't know what to do, any ideas.

Thanks

I just did exactly the same. I'm paying £27 a month for 10Mb BB, ordinary phone and whatever the smallest TV package is (got a broken aerial), and I worked out that I could get phone from BT and BB from O2 for £100 a year less than that (plus £70 cashback!), leaving me £170 to spend on a nice freesat box (have a satellite dish installed but unused) to replace the virgin TV.

I called up and explained all that calmly and they just said "well it looks like you'll have to take that offer up". I tried this a few months back when I first realised the price difference and they said the same. I never got a call back from them. So it really doesn't always work!

I'll just have to wait for my contract to expire at the end of next month. Since the BT free line installation offer ends this month I've had to take them up on it now so as not to miss it should Virgin not offer anything better soon.

dyls_2

I cancelled my virgin media account the other day, within 30 days I will be disconnected saving a whopping £60 a month. For this I was getting 20Mb BB, Middle TV Package and Phone. I have been a customer with virgin for more than 3 years and on this contract for over a year, so I didn't need to pay any fees as the 12 month contract was up. I honestly cant get my head around why they want to give new customers better deals than existing customers. :mad:

To cut a long story short I wanted to downgrade to basic everything which my m8 signed up to as a new customer with virgin for £25 a month, so 10mb BB, Phone and Basic TV, however virgin wanted to charge me £37 for this and no matter how much i asked them why they are giving new customers better deals than loyal customers like myself and wouldn't even match the new customer deal they wouldn't budge, the women Anne-Marie who I spoke to was all to happy to disconnect me. :eek:

I am glad to be honest I cant see why these companies act like this its dumbfounded really. I found out that in order to qualify as a new customer again you have to wait 3 months.

There are definitely other options around and I like the idea of 20mb broadband for a tenner if you are an O2 customer which I am. :cool:

Thats all I really have to say just thought I would share my experience with you. Great site as well. Shopping around defo saves you money. :rotfl:

happyally

Hi first time here totaly fed up with getting billed for wrong amount last 3months bill from virgin has been wrong every time always in their favour (suprise) also had an increase of £2 on my 2mb BB i had asked how they could justify a price increase for a service thats no longer available only to be told that i would be upgraded to 10mb free when its available in my area approx 2010 joke cant wait to get rid off them only problem is dont have a BT active line anybody any suggestions on how to aviod BT,s £129 connection fee.

vikramrkin

I had posted my story with Virgin Media on the same thread some time back. Now I am back with some updates on it.

In short, my one year contract with VM was over and I phoned them for a better deal. They didnt agree and I asked them to cancel. 2 days later, someone from VM gave a call and told me, for £15.95 a month he can give-

10 MB BB, Basic phone with free weekends. I didnt want the TV anyways, so I said yes to this deal.

When I got the revised contract, it said the £15.95 is only for 6 months, after which it will be £21 a month. In frustration, I phoned VM just to hear a tonn of apology. They suggested me to complain using the online complaint form.

I did write a detailed complaint and also mentioned that I am thinking of going to Ofcom if they dont resolve it. Guess what, in 5 mins of submitting the online complaint, a lady from VM called and told that she will give the deal for £15.95 for the whole year. Now I need to wait and watch what happens after 6 months.

Cheers
Vikram

Orchid150

I just called Virgin Media as they were charging me £41.50 a month for Broadband Medium, TV Large and Phone unlimited anytime. I had a chat with a lady called Chris and explained that if I moved to Talk Talk I could get the broadband and telephone with free evening and weekend calls for £19.50 per month. I explained that the TV cost is £11 per month so if I downgraded the phone to weekends and evenings free would she reduce the cost to £30 per month. She told me that this package cost £38 so I explained that I would have to cancel my contract. She tried to put me off by saying that it would cost £60 to activate my BT land line and I told her that I would recoup that cost in 3 months so long term it was worth my while. She then said she'd speak to a supervisor and came back and agreed.

So don't give up - I think it must depend on who you get on the phone.

Good luck :-)

saoliver

Up for my annual renewal with VM & called retentions to say "I'm leaving" etc etc, "tiscali is so much cheaper y'know" etc etc, "I'm not joking y'know , I'm definately going this time" etc etc, and all they are saying they can offer me is :

BB Medium (10Mb)
TV XL
Phone Medium

£38 pm.

i was paying £30pm but only had 2Mb BB, but to be honest thats all I really want, but they say that it would be dearer with 2Mb as they cant offer any deals on it. What do you think of what theyve offered?

StockportGerbil

Hi!
I'm currently on XL phone, XL BB and XL TV. The price has gone up to £58 pm.

Phoned up retentions and was offered same package for £50.20 (but electronic billing) after I pointed out the same package from Sky was £46 or so. The lady I spoke to pointed out (I believe correctly) that Sky would struggle to provide 20Mbps broad band from my local exchange. I do wonder if I could have got a few more quid off per month.

She also chucked in a V+ box for a one off £49 installation fee when I mentioned my other half was keen on a Sky+ box.

I hope that helps

Kevin

lucylou32

StockportGerbil wrote: »

Hi!
I'm currently on XL phone, XL BB and XL TV. The price has gone up to £58 pm.

Phoned up retentions and was offered same package for £50.20 (but electronic billing) after I pointed out the same package from Sky was £46 or so. The lady I spoke to pointed out (I believe correctly) that Sky would struggle to provide 20Mbps broad band from my local exchange. I do wonder if I could have got a few more quid off per month.

She also chucked in a V+ box for a one off £49 installation fee when I mentioned my other half was keen on a Sky+ box.

I hope that helps

Kevin

Hey Kevin
Saw your message and thought you might want to know, the Virgin HD box wont be a lot of good for a while, since Virgin only offer 1 HD channel, so the offer isn't really as generous as they make out

davidjones90

Hi guys,

I'm on

Phone Line M free weekend calls
Broadband L 20mb
TV M (freeview)
Talk Anywhere 400

I'm paying £49 / month have been with them now for 2 years and all our bills come in averaging £70-80 due due high number of international calls (I only recently added the talkanywhere bundle which costs £17 in itself)

I don't mind downgrading the broadband to 2mb if it makes it cheaper. TV I dont use either. I'm thinking looking from deals on here I should be able to get the broadband and phone for £20 + £17 for the talk anywhere.

what are people views?

Ypaymore

davidjones90 wrote: »

all our bills come in averaging £70-80 due due high number of international calls (I only recently added the talkanywhere bundle which costs £17 in itself)

Would you not be better off using a supplier like 18185 for your intl calls , ngn calls, and possibly other non inclusive calls via their 0808 freephone number.

http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php