Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

charlie792

Does anyone know when is the best time in attempting to negotiate with Virgin? I have 2 months left of my contract and I know that I have to give 30 days notice to end it and to be honest if they arn't prepared to offer me any kind of deal Im not prepared to stay because I can get Sky for cheaper, but what Im wondering is if I need to leave it until the very end of my contract and haggle or do it sooner rather than later?

jetblackice

Having last November called up asking for my MAC code and being put on Line rental, Talk L and BB XL for £16 p/m which btw is a £19.19 saving from the listed price..

Today I got a letter explaining my line rental was to increase as of the 1st Aug to 13.90. So I checked my bill and currently paying £12.24 before discounts so that's an increase of £1.66!

So I call up and quote the terms and conditions to them:

F.1 - We can change the charges as set out in paragraph H3, but if we do so, this may entitle you to end this agreement. You can read more about this in paragraph J6

J.6 (if) we and/or Virgin Media Payments make significant changes to the terms and conditions of this agreement (including the other legal stuff), you may cancel those services affected without penalty by giving us at least 30 days' notice in writing

They then explained that as they had already reduced my price that I would continue to pay my £16 p/m until renewal in November (at which point all my discounts end). I asked for his name and what call centre he was in and then he randomly offers me 50p extra discount for the next 12 months, so I now pay £15.50 until July next year, a saving of £22.39 a month

WIN

gc2787

Hi there,

I'd like some advice please on haggling with them as I want to be realistic with what to expect. My current spend is £54.79 and here is what I pay for:

XXL Broadband £45
Telephone Line Rental £12.99
Talk 08 2 £2
Talk Unlimited £8
Talk Mobile £1.75
Call Disp £2.05 (which I'm removing as the phone doesn't support it)
TV Size M £0
Bundle Discount £17

I think the phone charges in particular are quite high. The phone is used a lot at any time of the day but BT are offering a better deal with it coming out to be £15.

I also took the 50MB broadband when it was just released but I see new customers getting it for £15 for 3 months then £25 a month with the Virgin phone line.

We have TV with Sky so I have no need for the TV. Am I being realistic in wanting my prices reduced? We are out of contract and I don't mind taking my phone elsewhere. I do like Virgin broadband but I think it's a lot.

What do you think?

pompeypoppy

Just got off the phone with Virgin about renegotiating my service costs.

I find it best to go through the phone menu selecting "if you're thinking of leaving us" and continuing through to "disconnecting a service". This is retentions.

At the start of the day I was on the following:

XL TV (with V+ HD)
XL (20Mb) Broadband
XL (Free landline calls anytime) Phone

Total cost was set to be £52 as of this coming August with the new upcoming fee increase.

The guy on the other end was very sypathetic over the number of price increases (3) in the past 12 months and did his very best to help...

In August (the new £13.90 line rental cost) I will be paying £37.89 a month for the same TV and broadband packages and a M phone (Hardly use the landline in the week) package. This includes the line rental.

This was possible because Virgin have started to offer 18 month contracts, which reduced the price by about £6 a month. That's fine with me because I've been with them since they bought NTL. It also means that any price increase at any time of the contract would allow you to end the agreement if there are better offers elsewhere.

On top of the above price reduction I managed to wrangle the new and more powerful router for free. This is currently only available if you upgrade your broadband from the 10 or 20Mb up to the 30Mb.

To get this I literally said to the Virgin operator, "That sounds like a good deal, and I'll be happy to go ahead with it if you can offer the new router for free". He said he would just have to check and came back a few seconds later saying that would be fine.

The bottom line is that if the Virgin operator you are speaking to says they can't improve on your current services and their costs then you are not speaking to someone from retentions.

Wootball

I have just come off the phone from Virgin and gone from:

L broadband - 10mb
XL TV with Sky Sports
M phone - evenings and weekends
At £70

Up to:

XL broadband - 20mb
XL TV, with additional TIVO box and current V+HD box relocated in the house, both with Sky Sports
XL phone - free calls 24/7
For £59

I accepted, reckon that's a pretty good deal.

the_mackem

Had my call from retentions and here is what I have accepted:
XL TV + sports and movies
Xl Phone + caller ID
Xl Broadband + super hub
Tivo 500 Box

All for £66 per month, I may of been able to tweek a bit more but I am more than happy as I was paying £68 for a lesser package.

Hope this helps someone when they are negotiating for their new contract.

The mackem

Beedhams

I have bitten the bullet and given my 30 days notice so hope I hear from retentions! However I have been told that they will be coming to collect the equipment. The V+ HD box was originally £75 (which they were offering free a few weeks later...grrr!) but they gave us a £30 discount making it £45. Now they are saying they own it and the payment was for installation - I am convinced this is not right - anyone else come across this?

Payless_2

Beedhams wrote: »

I have bitten the bullet and given my 30 days notice so hope I hear from retentions! However I have been told that they will be coming to collect the equipment. The V+ HD box was originally £75 (which they were offering free a few weeks later...grrr!) but they gave us a £30 discount making it £45. Now they are saying they own it and the payment was for installation - I am convinced this is not right - anyone else come across this?

They are right. All boxes remain the property of virgin and we pay for their installation. The benefit of this is, unlike Sky, virgin fix the boxes for free if something goes wrong.

gc2787

Just an update from me.

Cancelled the package and had a disconnect date of 4/8. 3 days later they phoned and offered me to keep my original services (XXL BB, XL phone and M TV) for £35/mo, down from £54.

I'm extremely pleased with that, as they wanted me to move down to the 30MB for that price during my first call.

Good luck with your haggling.

samirD77

This is what I'm currently on:

Monthly Cost : £56.79
Telephone Line Rental £12.99
Talk Unlimited £8.00
Loyalty Pack B B, Phone TV 3 D Sky -£22.70
TV Size: X L £26.00
1 Additional V Box £15.00
V+ HD Monthly Fee £0.00
Add Set Box(es) Discount -£8.50
Broadband Size (10mb): L £26.00

I want to upgrade to Broadband 30mb and they will charge me £61.46

What do you reckon - ask to be disconnected and wait for retentions to call me back?

What if they don't, Can i cancel the disconnection as I dont want to leave (They are offering me lots of discounts which they might be happy to get rid off?)

Any thoughts would be appreciated!
SD