Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

bloody_useless

Don't know much about Talk Talk, however if you have broadband with Tiscali they offer a deal for £5 a month, this gives you unlimited free local and national calls and discounted (20% i think, don't have the paperwork handy, sorry) international calls.

Davez

Just phoned NTL, I'm currently on;
Telephone line Rental £ 10.50
2Mb Broadband £ 24.99

I moaned about their website deal here > http://www.home.ntl.com/page/td5 only being for new customers etc etc. and that I had been with them for years & talk talk do a good deal these days .. yad yada !

They offered me the same package i.e.
Unlimited 2Mb Broadband
& Talk Unlimited
Only £32.99 a month

but also with a Discount of £6.50/month until the year 2016 !! (10yrs woohoo).

so I get the same as now + the talk unlimited deal for £6.50/month cheaper - I'm happy nuff

tobias

i signed up with telewest and they installed everything a month ago for broadband (up to 4 megs), phone (free weekend l/line) and starter pack tv but immediately regretted it as i hadnt realised how little was on the tv pack, I already had a freeview box. I joined up online and now they have sent out a contract for me to sign. Can I still threaten to leave at this stage? Anyone been in this situation?
many thanks

sarabob

Was on 1mb + base phone (with "super-secret" 5p call plan, natch) for ~£30.

Was given the "talktalk is naff" spiel, but persisted that the price difference was worth the hassle (NTL telling people that someone else's CS is naff? Comedy gold...).

Initially offered £20.99 for telephone + 1mb. Mentioned that TT's phone calls were free and she threw in 24 unlimited. Said that TT's BB speed was higher and she said that 8mb is only theoretical (which it is - people on our street only get 512 on a good day, and I was rejected outright for ADSL when it first came round). I did upgrade to 2mb (4mb as of June) for an extra £2/mo.

So, upgrade from 1 to 4mb, unlimited phone calls for £7/mo less!

Make that call people!!!

BevS97_2

Whohoo, not sure if I've got as great a deal as everyone else, but since I don't do haggling, I am dead chuffed with myself!

I am with Telewest,
Line Rental 11.00
Essential TV 11.50
Broadband Complete 25.00
Plus call charges of £26.11 last month (many to overseas countries).

Just called them up, said I was thinking of going to Talk Talk, had to listen to a 10 minute spiel on how they weren't really that good, and it was only 'upto 8 meg' (interestingly Telewest website says 'upto 4 meg' which I pointed out),
anyhow, without any real prompting she gave me Free Talk Unlimited and Talk International, She said she was putting a £17.50/month credit on my bill for the next 6 months.

I can't find Talk Unlimited on their website, but I think that means they are paying my line rental for the 6 months as well.

I also changed my tv package down from £11 to £5.50 - we will lose some channels but nothing we actually watch (I am sure last time I checked we had to have a higher package for E4, which was why we bumped it up, but now E4 is on the lower level)

Anyway - Assuming my calls are free, line rental is paid, and the £6 for the tv, I've just saved £248 for a 5 minute phone call.

Armand

We currently have TV, telephone and BB with NTL costing almost £60 per month (having caller display plus a couple of other telephone preference options). Having researched the cost of Talk Talk to replace my existing BB connection with NTL and checking the cost of a replacement Sky package, I duly rang NTL pressing the option buttons for 'cancelling contract'.

Got to speak to a really helpful lady who firstly dissed the Talk Talk offer as 'not real BB' but eventually when I calmly stated that I couldn't see why I would stay with NTL when an equivalent package would come to around £40, offered to reduce the costs of my monthly package to around £45!!

I was nervous about ringing but am so glad I did. She even ensured that the changes to my package terms were effective immediately ensuring a credit to my account for the remainder of the month!:j

Spurred on, I've started to look at other monthly outgoings to see what else I can prune!

Glad to be a money saver

tpurch

I cancelled my NTL TV/Phone switched back to SKY for 6 months half-price and I have setup VIOP Phone with Sipgate.co.uk. NTL provide the Broadband 1MB Unlimited for 9.50

trking

... effectively my broadband for free - plus Talk 24 for 3 months (I'll hassle them to extend when the time comes) and no extension on minimum contract.
Thanks for the article Martin, and the forum posts that gave me an idea what's possible.
- Trking

mr_accountant

Lady_K wrote:

I'll be glad when I get my first new deal bills because if I've got the same as mickeypops but have the familypack tv aswell for £20.49 it still makes me think theres been a mistake somewhere but its what they have told me for sure I'm paying but I'll wait and see but if it ends up that theres extra charges on top I will complain

lady k , i have exactly the same but for £20.25 per month, with the talk 24 lasting for 3 months, and the family TV and b/band for 6m.

So i will be ringing back in 3m to try and extend the deal on the phone offer.

i have received my bill and it is easier to try and understand how the solar system works then ntl's billing system, but the first payment was around £21 and this month the bill is more or less the same ( I presume i have made some chargeable calls for the extra £1 or so) so i am happy, and saving at least £15 a month

i think you and i have received a fantastic offer

Lady_K

You must be on one bill for all of them are you?

At the moment mine are going to be separate. I've had my tv that was set at half price for 6 months, now I'm just wating for the phoneline and calls if any and the BB they shouldn't be too long now. I'll post when I find out exactly