Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

VisTa.

Hello, I just got off the phone with virgin media and I was hoping someone could help me with this. We pay £60 per month (not including phone calls) for XXL internet L TV and M Phone.

I rang up and tried to haggle with them and the guy I had got was useless to say at the least, I threaten to go with sky he argued about how their services are better, I asked him was there any deals like a hd box or something he said no.

The guy kept telling me I would only get 2mb in my area and I told him it was complete crap and that my next door neighbour gets this and he argued with me again on this issue.

I then said I'm going to leave for sky as they are offering better deal for me and its cheaper. He didn't budge on nothing

Nicky321

VisTa. wrote: »

Hello, I just got off the phone with virgin media and I was hoping someone could help me with this. We pay £60 per month (not including phone calls) for XXL internet L TV and M Phone.

I rang up and tried to haggle with them and the guy I had got was useless to say at the least, I threaten to go with sky he argued about how their services are better, I asked him was there any deals like a hd box or something he said no.

The guy kept telling me I would only get 2mb in my area and I told him it was complete crap and that my next door neighbour gets this and he argued with me again on this issue.

I then said I'm going to leave for sky as they are offering better deal for me and its cheaper. He didn't budge on nothing

You actually need to give them your 30 days notice to cancel. I tried asking for more, threatening to leave and they just gave me the usual spiel about them being better. They did offer me (L) TV, (L) BB and (XL) Phone for £35.99/month, so I told them I was leaving, and gave them my notice. Within 48 hours VM retentions where on the phone and offered me (XL) TV, (L) BB and (XL) phone, along with a free V+HD box with free activation, and new phone number (worth £25) all for £37.99/month, which was more than what I was asking for in the first place!

TheJakeOfOld

I've not long gotten off the phone to Virgin regarding an upgrade to my set top box and was left completely dissatisfied.. I have a HD TV but am still using one of the old pre-HD boxes. I asked them if they'd upgrade it for me, mentioning how both themselves and sky offer HD boxes as standard to new customers, only to be told I'd have to pay:

£69.99 for the box itself (HD V Box with no recording features)
£20.00 (!!) for a courier to deliver the box
and
£40.00 installation/activation

I was stunned.. She wouldn't budge despite the fact I've been with them since the Telewest days and I could quote Virgin's own offers.
Going to leave for BT/SKY very shortly!

VisTa.

Well I waited around 30mins to an hour and rang back again the guy that I got his time was very helpful before I started to haggle really he had all ready given me half price line renting which would save me around a £10 per month.

I haggle with him for a while and he offered me the new tivo box (500gb one) for a 1 of payment of £50 with the old box being moved to a room upstairs but that would mean I needed to drop the broadband to 10mb which was 5x slower.

He gave me all that for £53 I said can you do it for less he put me on hold to talk to his manager and decided that to drop it another £3 which could give me a total of £50 per month for tivo, the old box in another room. Plus 10mb internet.

I told him I had to talk it over and he had put it on my account history for encase I called back later or the next day. I don't know if rather to haggle more or take the deal.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Cancelation booked for 23/7. Missed a retentions call by 1 ring (!). Phoned through on the '150' 'thinking of leaving' & was offered £38-99 inc. Line rental for a new TIVO, to keep 2 standard v boxes upstairs, 10mp bb, phone with free w/end calls.......BUT one off fee of £50 for the box. To be honest never record more than 50hrs of telly anyway (most is on catch-up) & don't use facebook, twitter, etc...so see no real advantage. The guy is calling me today. Good deal or wait for call from retentions?

Anyone have a direct number to retentions??...not the 'thinking of leaving us' number?

Hadenuff_2

I'm finally in the process of changing from VM. After almost continuous downages Bband and phone since December (following many other technical problems for 2yrs before) I've realised they're a bottomless pit for my money and frustration.

Having sent in three direct debit mandates over two years I finally had confirmation last December that my details were in fact on their system but none had been activated for home services (though they had been, from Day 1, for the mobile's account).

Having in the meantime been told, month after month that my credit card for payment over the phone was being declined, I was given a barcode to use at PayPoint shops earlier this year and was able to pay with the same card minutes later (incurring surcharges). The card happens to always have well over £1,000 available (and even VM bills have not been that high!).

Before providing me with the PayPoint barcode they had repeatedly charged late payment fees.

Last week I phoned and was told my bill was £89, this was eventually reduced to £39 (but that included his estimation of £5+ for calls during a second month with no phone line due to a fault in the junction box on the road).

The guy I spoke to on that occasion first told me that my card problems had been due entirely to their not taking payment by credit card at all ....... whaaaaaaat????

He then went on to offer to take payment on my card ..... eh? Do they just speak whatever pops in to their heads?

As usual the Santander card was declined (£1,400 available to spend) but payment was effected on another (despite the nonsense described above).



BUT :
The worst aspect of it all is the lies they have placed with the credit agencies re late payments.

I find they do not participate in the Ombudsman scheme (am surprised that it's even an option for them !) so am presently hoping they are co-operative with either the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme or Ofcom.

............................... sigh and inhale ... ..

i_like_shoes

i_like_shoes wrote: »

Well i've just bitten the bullet and have gone down the cancel route. . I have seen my bill gradually go up and up over the last 12 months.

The guy on the phone did do a very good job of all the pitfalls of leaving Virgin ..... apart from the world ending and i'll be swallowed up in a Black hole there was not much else he could have said really :-/

Anyway lets see if it works............ if it doesn't then i'll be broadband, tv and phone free for the first time in 13 yrs !!!!! and that is a very scary thought ha haa

UPDATE !!!!!!!

Got the call last night from retentions and its worked :T
My package now is :-
XL TV
M PHONE
M BROADBAND
HD
V+ BOX
was costing me £41 p/m which i know was still pretty good, but me being me i always want a better deal, so when they rang and offered it me for £33 i said "tell you what if you can do it for £25 then i'll keep it?" To my surprise she said agreed straight away !!!:eek:

Grrrr knew i should have gone in lower :mad:

DealChaser_2

i_like_shoes wrote: »

UPDATE !!!!!!!

Got the call last night from retentions and its worked :T
My package now is :-
XL TV
M PHONE
M BROADBAND
HD
V+ BOX
was costing me £41 p/m which i know was still pretty good, but me being me i always want a better deal, so when they rang and offered it me for £33 i said "tell you what if you can do it for £25 then i'll keep it?" To my surprise she said agreed straight away !!!:eek:

Grrrr knew i should have gone in lower :mad:

Thanks for the update, i like shoes.

I reckon £25 a month all in is great ...£33 would be pretty good too, IMHO.

One of the gripes I and many folks here have is with VM is that the deal quoted on the phone is not what you are charged in the end. Your deal seems pretty good to me, so I'd be particularly interested in hearing what you actually pay next month....

Does the company deliver on this promise, I wonder?

Payless_2

I have XL tv

L broadband

M phone

2 V+ boxes

I pay £51.49 a month with £1.75 loyalty bonus

I am going to phone shortly to try to get a better deal. My basis for this is I'm fed up with a call centre ringing on their behalf - 7 times in the last 2 weeks despite me telling them I'm not interested. The last time was 5pm yesterday even though I emailed virgin last week to ask them to put a stop to it

Also, a loyalty bonus of £1.75 is a joke as I've been with them for over 10 years.

What is the best section to contact? Cancellations seems a bit extreme as a first call. If it does get that far I intend to tell them that I'm getting a BT line reinstated as it'll give me more choice and that I'll get broadband from Orange for £10 a month and a freeview box.

Does anyone have any tips?

Fraglon

I have been a Telewest/Virgin customer for about 8 years now and have been successful in negotiating discounts in the past but I called them on Saturday to enquier whether they would reduce my costs and it was an emphatic NO!

My package was M TV, M broadband and M Phone, I also have a V+HD box. I very rarely use the phone and to be honest begrudge having to have the thing in order to have broadband and I quoted the cost for Primus Telco's phone and BB and was told " we provide a good service at a reasonable cost and if all I look at is the bottom line, there was nothing they could do to help me!

The most they offered was to take back the V+ box and reduce my bill by the £5 it costs me! Not really a saving and not what I was asking them for.
This seemed a bit tight especially as they currently offer a £100 cash incentive for new customers.

Either the person I dealt with was having a bad day or VM are changing their policy. Either way I have cancelled my service so thats £35 they are worse off next month!