Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

vic123

After my husband quoting Martin at me "its only your time" I spent about 10 mins researching alternatives on the WWW and realised I could get my BB and unlimited uk calls for £20.70 if I switched to BT and got free broadband with Sky.

Rang Virgin and explained I would be stupid not to switch so they put me through to cancellations who offered to keep me on my existing services which were costing me £43 pcm for £19.95. Made sure to check how long this offer was for and she said for life!!!

Hoorah - feeling very smug. Now waiting for Martin's alert to change energy suppliers so I can save some more.

:rotfl:

madmax69

Update 21st March 2007

Subscribed for the 2 for 1 offer at https://www.ntlworld.com (redirect) as previously posted. Gave a relative's phone number and valid contact email. Checked email would not be blocked by spam blocker.

No acknowledgement by email - hmmm... not looking good

Waited a while. No contact within 72 hrs via phone either

Emailed via their "contact us" section asking whether the changeover had gone though okay on the website.

Got an acknowledgement email that someone is "on the case"

Waited about 2 more weeks

No response

Sent another query email (via reply)

Got what looks like an automated acknowledgement

Few more days - no response - no email no phone call

Can't get thru on customer services. I don't have time to sit around for 20-30 minutes.

Although I've previously been billed for multiple services "in error" I have had to resort to the unthinkable and go back to the Virgin Media/NTL site and input my details all over again and give new install dates.

My sister says she just changed packages and no one bothered to confirm or advise of the install date either. When she finally got thru they'd set an install date but simply not bothered to get in touch.

Current status - still waiting for someone to get in touch - waiting since about 3rd of March (now 21st). No email confirmation etc.

It's clear the web form doesn't have an automated confirmation of order. Since SMTP is effectively zero cost I find this baffling.

I already have a complaint ready to be launched regarding the extortionate £5 "non-direct debit" fee which was recently covered by BBC Watchdog so I am aware of bigger issues.

Having worked in the call centre for a major UK utility I've been telling friends for well before the Watchdog program the case fior the £5 "fee" is not valid and the true cost of bill-generation is one of "fixed operating costs" and runs into pence not pounds. Ask a bank you don't bank with, what it will cost to EFT a bill via their system and you'll usually be told 50p (and the actual costs incurred are less than that). With modern EFT banking systems the fund transfer is (or should be) iimmediate unless the bank is profiteering by cacheing the funds. That leaves only paper, printing and postage costs.

Covering the costs of non-payers is more costly but it depends if your business model is built around the bizarre of not outright moronic idea of "punishing" good and reliable customers to cover the losses incurred by bad ones. From all the evidence I see NTL have been recruiting some pretty incompetent managment types who seem to think this is good practise.

If someone from NTL did their maths the penny might drop that it's a hell of a money-saver for them to get things right first time. Preemption (in most cases) is cheaper than spending time putting things right after they've gotten into a real mess. Plus, if you put a value on your brand image it saves a devaluation of your brand - something which can cost megabucks in the longer term.

Branson will certainly rue the day he allowed the Virgin name to be linked with NTL!. I despair with NTL - I really do!.

Abbiesv

I have just come off the phone to Virgin Media who have taken over the telewest service I've had for the past 7 years. I had read Martin's article about quoting the 'talk talk' deal & as I currently have phone, broadband & TV with Virgin Media at £59.75 per month, I realised I could save a LOT of money!

Problem is, I live in a relatively new build with no BT Line & I would have had to pay BT £130 for the installation! Nevertheless, I decided to call virgin (on 150 & selected the 'other' then 'considering to leave' option) to say I've realised how much I could save by switching my phone & broadband to Talk Talk & my TV to Sky (as I don't need the top package for the channels myself & my son watch).

Within seconds the customer service agent was saying, "well, I have managed to get your whole package down to £36.70 per month, plus; I've extended your free evening & weekend call package to free anytime. This is a lifetime offer & you don't need to sign another contract so can still leave if you want to" He told me he was actually quite surprised that he was able to reduce my bill by so much.

Needless to say, I've decided to stick with Virgin Media & wish I'd discovered Martin's site sooner! I've now got the top TV & phone package & the broadband package I was happy with, all at a fraction of the cost!! All I can say to any Virgin media customers reading this is give them a call!!!

Thanks so much for the advice, i'm going to go through my other bills now to see where else I can save!! ;-)

dominiquereynolds

Telephoned at 10:17 and speaking to a virgin media lady at 10:25

I was getting the following for £30.99 for the past 12 months
- 10mb Broadband
- Talk unlimited 24

I requested a permanant deal and they could not match the price they gave me last year. They could for 3 months.

They were offerring me the same for £37. At first I refused but no other offer comming. Even said its time to go back to BT ;-)

Asked if this price would include the 20mb service and told yes.

So now will be getting:
* Talk Unlimited 24 (with cheaper mobile and international calls things added)
* 10mb but when rolled out will be on 20mb

for £37.00 a month. So bring on the 20mb ;-)

This ties me into a minimum 12 month contract.

Lady_K

Are these loyalty deals set for 12 months then? coz they didnt say anything about a contract to me but I just wondered if it might be I hope not

dominiquereynolds

As I asked for a permanant deal I am tied into a minimum 12 months but it is a set price of £37. She did say that there will be yearly price increases.

Lady_K

I'm not sure of he said mine was for life or not I'm waiting for my first bill with this on to see what it says before rininging though

dominiquereynolds

dominiquereynolds wrote: »

Telephoned at 10:17 and speaking to a virgin media lady at 10:25



for £37.00 a month. So bring on the 20mb ;-)

This ties me into a minimum 12 month contract.

Billing working fine and only being charged £37. The first month was charged £35 and then they added the £2 increase for the 10mb service for £37.

And I notice that my area is being upgraded this month to the 20mb service

grundy13

I have to say im with virgin, if id have known they had just taken over ntl i wouldnt have bothered. i have been with them 3 months now and each month my bill has been wrong. i have had to ring up and get it corrected. then they have still taken the higher amount out of my bank despite saying they had put it right. they have given me a large discount on the package but it doesnt make up for there billing departments error.
RUBBISH RUBBISH RUBBISH:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

dominiquereynolds

grundy13 wrote: »

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I had the same problem last year. In the end I sent a letter and that got action.

Good luck