Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

cocotwice

Thanks to this thread I managed to get £1.99 off my monthly line rental after lots of haggling. After being told 'no can't do that' three or four times over the course of 10 minutes she eventually offered it. Have also switched over to a prepaid package of 400 minutes that works anytime and includes calls overseas and to mobiles. My bill will now cost me about £27 a month which sounds a lot but I make lots of daytime calls as i work from home and my Virgin bills are usually between £29-50 a month so it's a major saving for me.
She has also offered me a free 6 week trial on the new 400 minute package and I can change it after the 6 weeks - i had to agree to a 12 month contract to get this.
Thank you so much MSE!

seaniboy

I got XL TV installed, landline (not used but part of package) & XL Broadband that runs just over 10MB and never over 13MB as my local V connection is saturated.

£60 for what I can get from Sky for £35 so its going to be a good bargaining tool not to get me to cancel with my 28 days.

MeanMrMustard_2

cocotwice wrote: »

Thanks to this thread I managed to get £1.99 off my monthly line rental after lots of haggling. After being told 'no can't do that' three or four times over the course of 10 minutes she eventually offered it. Have also switched over to a prepaid package of 400 minutes that works anytime and includes calls overseas and to mobiles. My bill will now cost me about £27 a month which sounds a lot but I make lots of daytime calls as i work from home and my Virgin bills are usually between £29-50 a month so it's a major saving for me.
She has also offered me a free 6 week trial on the new 400 minute package and I can change it after the 6 weeks - i had to agree to a 12 month contract to get this.
Thank you so much MSE!

That sounds like a good success story! Was this by calling the general enquiry line or the cancellation line? I got no joy with the general enquiry line. I am now really considering getting another deal, which is an odd feeling because I've always been happy with the Virgin service, but I'm contemplating moving my mobile from PAYG to contract, and the cost of that plus my monthly home bills could get unnecessarily high if I stick with what I've got.

freedomNadd

Hi
not happy with vm, I think I'm paying too much, my current plan is
line rental - 11.99
TV L, normal box - 12.50
broadband L - 25.00
Talk evening - 3.45
discount - 14.00

total - 38.95
I called yesterday and told them I wanted to disconnect, they gave me a better rate, said I would think about it and call back, called today and now another rep is saying the other rep got it wrong yesterday and they are giving me a higher rate than yesterday!!
I have been with them over 10 years and thinking of moving to the sky deal. Should I go through the termination process and wait for vm to contact me?
Thanks,

freedomNadd

paolodit wrote: »

Just negotiated with Virgin media for cheaper package:

• 2 months free
• 4 months at £32
• 6 months at £42
• (average price £35ish month over year)

For:

• XL tv
• V+ box free hd etc
• 24/7 phone calls anytime
• 10mb broadband

Key bargaining chips:

• 10 year customer
• Sky bundle offer £35 month (plus box, 2mb broadband, basic phone)
• O2's 8mb broadband + anytime calls at £20/month offer
• [FONT=&quot]Preprared to downsize tv to freeview + (buy box for £100 tesco and still able to watch what I want)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]18185 override option for cheaper calls anytime
  [/FONT]

My ultimate price point was £35/month - I didn't reveal this till MUCH LATER. This got me the two months free.

Hope this helps.

Hi m8, this sounds like a great deal, and I have similar bargaining chips as you, did you have to pay for the £49 HD activation fee?

freedomNadd

I have called CS today and requested to be disconnected !!, they gave me another deal but would not give me a V+ box for free :-(

katie_cat_2

This is only my second time posting on the forum so apologies if I get anything wrong

My dad is with Virgin Media, he has been with them since it was NTL. We haven't had any problems with them until recently. He has noticed the 'Telephone Usage Charges' have more than quadrupled in the past few months. For example May 2010 £4.42, June 2010 £8.68 and then August 2010 £36.92! I live at home with him, my sister and my brother. We all have mobiles and very rarely use the landline. When my dad rang after June's bill they told him the charges are in relation to calls made. They said that if they were to send out someone to look at it and there was no fault it would cost him £90 so naturally my dad said it doesn't matter. We all made a conscious effort not to use it over the following weeks. Then he gets the August bill through today. He doesn't pay his bill by direct debit (there is no talking to him, he doesn't trust the banks) either. The list of his main services are as follows with total cost for them at £41.74:

Line rental £11.99
Payment handling charge £5.00
Phone, TV & BB Bundle saving -£9.50
Talk weekends £0.00
TV size: L £12.50
Broadband size: M £20.50
Paper bill charge: £1.25

So all together his bill is £78.66. We don't have itemised billing so can't see what numbers and when they are being called. On the call section it says 152 calls made since last bill, I don't understand this. My dad is in the house on his own most of the day as we all work, if he needs to contact us he will use his mobile. I keep telling him to shop around and see what other deals are about but there is no budging him. Though I might be able to talk him in to it after this bill.

Can anyone give me any advice at all? It will be greatly appreciated.

Equinox1000

katie_cat wrote: »

...So all together his bill is £78.66. We don't have itemised billing so can't see what numbers and when they are being called. On the call section it says 152 calls made since last bill, I don't understand this.....

Get him to call Virgin and ask them who the calls were made to. They should have the numbers even though you don't have them itemised and they may be able to send you a copy (ask if there is a charge) so that you can dispute the bill if necessary. If not, ask them about their complaints process and use it.

As for the other stuff - some people are beyond help as you may find when you see the calls :-(

katie_cat_2

Thank you for your advice. We spoke to Virgin and they explained that his bundle only had free weekend calls, any calls made during the week were being charged. They offered the unlimited talk for £4 per month so he's happy enough with that.

I asked for the list of calls made for the August bill and they are sending that out at a charge of £2. For peace of mind I asked for the next few bills to be itemised. I'm also trying to talk him in to setting up a direct debit but this could take a while

Thanks again.

leeroy221

Hello All,

I have been with VM for the past 16mths and had no problems at all, thing is i am getting bored with the TV channels i have got.

Currently i have the lowest bundle of M TV, M phone and L broadband, this is the basic package.

I pay around £40 all in all each month for this package. This includes the line rental of £11.99 and calls, although we very very rarely use the phone, only for when my Wife calls her family in Thailand.

Anyway, i want to upgrade the TV to XL so my little boy can watch the cartoons and would also like to get the sports package.

Can anyone tell me if they have apackage similar to this and if they received any deals etc. On the website for the M phone L broadband and XL TV with sports they say it costs £56 + £11.99 line rental so £67.99 a month which is out of my price range unfortunatly. I am only able to afford around £40-£50 max per month.

If anyone could let me know any good deals they have got or any good bargaining tools i would very much appreciate it

Lee