Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

pug_in_a_bed

Hmmm
I'm currently paying £50 a month for 50mb bb, TV size L and phone free at weekends.

Moving shortly and my contracts up so selected the option I'm thinking of leaving as I'm moving.

Said to the lady my contracts due up, I'm moving and I'm thinking of going elsewhere. She said she could give me a discount as a mover she said i was eligible for new customer discounts, but that the 'customer relations' team might give me a better one so she put me through to them.

The woman was pretty rude actually, so much so I put the phone down! She was saying that no where else would I get unlimited downloads etc, so I pointed out that virgin media do have limits through their 'traffic management'. She got verrrryyy snotty then so i hung up

Might call back tomorrow and just speak to the moving team:cool:

Anon

pug_in_a_bed wrote: »

Hmmm
I'm currently paying £50 a month for 50mb bb, TV size L and phone free at weekends.

Moving shortly and my contracts up so selected the option I'm thinking of leaving as I'm moving.

Said to the lady my contracts due up, I'm moving and I'm thinking of going elsewhere. She said she could give me a discount as a mover she said i was eligible for new customer discounts, but that the 'customer relations' team might give me a better one so she put me through to them.

The woman was pretty rude actually, so much so I put the phone down! She was saying that no where else would I get unlimited downloads etc, so I pointed out that virgin media do have limits through their 'traffic management'. She got verrrryyy snotty then so i hung up

Might call back tomorrow and just speak to the moving team:cool:

Unless they come up with a fantastic deal it may be worth going through Quidco/TCB etc and getting at least £65 cashback (was £165 last month and seems to rise quite frequently) as you would then get a new customer deal anyway. The downside is that you lose email addresses etc.

Anon

reduceditem

pug_in_a_bed wrote: »

Might call back tomorrow and just speak to the moving team:cool:

Always just go straight through to the 'thinking of leaving' option and always start the conversation by stating that you'd like to cancel your services.

Remember, even if the bluff doesn't work and they give you a cancellation date, you can still phone up anytime within the next 30 days and un-cancel without agreeing to any new contracts.

pug_in_a_bed

thanks for the tips, will give it a go and let you know.
The thing that annoys me is that if i cancel the phone the bill goes up! Don't really need a phone as have many free mins on the mobile but there you go

thanks again

furbix

Just phoned and cancelled mine. The internet was fast, the tv was nothing special and the phone charges were okay but they made promises at the start to me they didn't keep.

jules9

My contract is up for first renewal on Nov 14th.
I phoned today as i currently am paying around £36 per month for:
standard tv box
med +
talk unlimited
broadband large

I said i was thinking of leaving and was offered (all with free installation saving £50):

high def box and same package as current for £35

V+ and same package for £40.49

V+ and all channels for £45.24

Do any of them sound like a good deal or should i be being
offered more to stay????

furbix

furbix wrote: »

Just phoned and cancelled mine. The internet was fast, the tv was nothing special and the phone charges were okay but they made promises at the start to me they didn't keep.

Gone back to them

Took a day off to get this sorted (plus some other household stuff) and ended up with the same provider. They said £23.49 for unlimited calls, line rental and large broadband. I basically took away the tv because I never have time to watch it and saved a tenner a month. o2, sky, talk talk, directsave were all much more for the same thing.

alduncan

alduncan wrote: »

Realising I was paying well over the odds after my contract expired (£26.99 for Broadband L, TV M and Phone M (was free L when still in contract)) I rang up to say I was thinking of leaving.

On the Friday, the lady offered me the same package but with an upgrade to Phone L, for £25.99 (signing up for another 12 months). I said I'd think about it, and she said she'd put a note on my account. I thought about it and decided that although it wasn't brilliant, it was better than having to have a BT landline installed and having slower Broadband (ADSL only at up to 4MB in my area) and losing the handy catch-up TV.

So, the very next day (Saturday) I rang up again and said I'd like the offer. But the guy on the phone said (with no prompting!) he could do the same deal for £21.99 a month! That saves me nearly £50 over a year, simply by not accepting their offer and calling back the next day! Mad! Of course I took it straight away- though who knows, maybe it would have gone down again if I'd have rung again the next day!

They are completely mad! How can they offer me something one day but a much better deal the next? Is it just random?! How does their crazy system work? Does anyone out there work for Virgin and know what's going on?!

Having said all this, I've still had problems as they were still charging me for evening phone calls and I had to call them again to sort it out. Also, the contract they've sent me adds up to £26.99 a month rather than the promised £21.99- anyone else experienced that discrepancy? I've emailed them so will see what they say...

After the discrepancy with the written contract as above, I emailed them a few days ago and got a call today. The guy said that there was no offer for £21.99 and the price is £26.99. When I insisted that I'd been definitely been told £21.99 he had the audacity to imply that it had been my fault through an 'miscommunication' and that there was no reason why the guy at Virgin would say it was £21.99.

So I said I'd cancel and then he saidwas still in contract- which I'd agreed to- for 12 months at £21.99!! Eventually he agreed to cancel it without any charge. But really, this kind of service and messing around is terrible. Time to be rid of them!

furbix

furbix wrote: »

Gone back to them

Took a day off to get this sorted (plus some other household stuff) and ended up with the same provider. They said £23.49 for unlimited calls, line rental and large broadband. I basically took away the tv because I never have time to watch it and saved a tenner a month. o2, sky, talk talk, directsave were all much more for the same thing.

Jesus christ this company is one of the worst I've ever experienced, dealing with these scumbags is making me ill. They've constantly lied to me to get my business. I agreed £23.49 on the phone and I get the contract today and it adds up to £26.94. I rang them to enquire about this and the lady said that the representative has to manually give me the discount each month to take it down to £23.49. She said that I have to agree to the contract at £26.49 and trust I will get the agreed figure, basically an illegal contract.

I am sick to my teeth of ringing these people, every time I agree something on the phone with them and get a contract sent out that is different.

I haven't been a member long but I honestly think this thread should now be locked and virgin media topics should be banned. We as consumers should stand together against these cowboy companies.

afur

has anyone got any experience of haggling down the price when switching from sky to virgin? i want to switch back to virgin as im unhappy with sky but they want an activation fee for their hd and i aint paying that much.