Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

veniepie

Over the last three weeks I have been negotiating with virgin media. I say three weeks because thats what it took to do a slow haggle. I was on TV L Broadband M and Telephone TEW. I was paying 21.50 a month for all of this as I had rolling credits on my bill anyway as I am an avid money saver, however, me being me, wasn't happy about my phone bills coming in at £40 + a month.

I phoned retentions quoted tiscalis deal (option 2).

I got my pack down to an offer of 19.48 for TV M Broadband M and Talk unlimted. Wasn't happy so I said i'd go away and think about it.

They called back the next day. They weren't budging on their offer so I said I would think about it. Took the womans availability times etc etc. Called back when I knew she was out of office and spoke to someone else. Said I was thinking of taking up the offer but I wanted to negotiate some more.

I got a free wireless hub thrown in to the offer and two free months services and £50 credit onto my deal.

Now thats what I call a wicked SLOW haggle.

My tip is to work on the people, and dont feel pressured into taking the first offers. Say you'll go away and think. Point out other offers available and get extras thrown in by quoting how long you have been a customer any poor service when received and stating how unhappy you've been with things when they have gone wrong. Make sure you know your calling prices etc and don't be scared to argue or afraid to say you'll go away and think about things! They always go on that they are cable so offer outstanding service. Forget this... Ofcom are making it so if it is said you will get upto 8mb broadband with a provider your supposed to get near that or that speed, so don't be afraid to show them you know what your talking about, if in doubt elaborate, say you have an active bt line also that has been tested so you know being near the exchange you'll get so much speed with your broadband. Even if tiscali isn't available in your area VM don't know that BLUFF THAM!

mizzy2

I have just started an account with virgin after cancelling the one in my old house as i was sharing this with housemates and am now living on my own.
I am paying 18.90pounds a month for mbroadband, medium tv, and talk evenings and weekends. The first person I spoke to wanted to charge an extra 5pounds for the tv but I just hung up, and phoned again and spoke to someone else who offered it to me for free.
I set up the broadband myself, saving the connection charge as the house was already set up for this. The phone line and tv are being installed this weekend but as it was a 2week gap between phoning and installation they offered me a free instellation saving 30pounds. i also asked them to credit my account with the cost of the phone calls as I was on the phone for about 1/2hour in total. They did this happily and its well worth asking them to do it.

nutmegman

What options do you think i have for Broadband only, i currently pay £18 per month for 2MB, i called and was told there was nothing they could do unless i took other virgin services...

I have a BT line only with calls via primus and skyfamily pack,i dont like virgin TV as we love Sky +

any thoughts?

asfr01

Hi there,

Ive been browsing this forum for a wee while... but the email this morning about cutting costs on your bband etc spurred me on, and I gave Virgin a call.

We were paying approx £25 for phone (evening and weekends) and Broadband M package. On top of this was approx £10 of call charges each month.... so £35 was being spent each month. We wanted the tv with them too, but it would just have been too expensive.

I rang and just said I was thinking of switching as due to the 'credit crunch' we have been sitting down with all our bills etc (not strictly true:rolleyes: )...
I mentioned other deals elsewhere, and after a lengthy chat I have only saved £5.... However... we now have

Broadband L
TV L
and unlimited calls

for £30 a month.

I thought this was pretty good. So only a saving of £5 but with upgraded phone and bband, and now with tv L as well.:j

Thanks everyone!

veruccasalt

We seem to pay a fortune to Virgin Media, compared to some on here, but maybe cos we have lots with them

My bill is as follows:
Line rental £11
Talk Unltd £7.95
Loyalty Pack BB/Phone/TV C Sky -£24
TV XL £22
NASN/Setanta £15
Movies 4, 5, Sports 1, 2, 3 £25
BB L £25
NASN Offer -£7

Comes to £75 per month

Does any one know if it would be worth trying to haggle costs down on this, or am I getting a good deal?

Thanks!

ljd2007

Hi I am a new poster here :wave: from reading my newsletter today I am prompted into asking advice about my VM Bill and tell you my experience of my call to 150 just now..
I explained to the man we have been Cable customers from way back (over 12 years) and as far as I can see existing customers get ignored and new customers get all the best deals...he said it's not the case (as he would)

I pay :
Telephone Line Rental = £11
Talk Ultd = £7.95
Loyalty Pack BB/ phone / TVC = - £23
Caller Display - = £1.75
TV Size XL = £22
Itemised Billing = £1
Broadband M = £18
Total £38.70p

with regard to my call I am no further on, I was told I am on the best possible rate for a customer and that no way it would be cut further..
We have no BT line so I would have to fork out for a new line in which at last time I looked was £100 + so I was afraid to say that I would go elsewhere..I told him the service had gone down and down, we rarely use the phone, hardly watch T.V. but use the broadband, and have noticed a big reduction in the speed, it's terrible at times..he suggested that I contact the tech. team :rolleyes:
I would like to know what do you think? am I getting a good deal? or would it be worth me trying something else..

mizzy2

veruccasalt wrote: »

We seem to pay a fortune to Virgin Media, compared to some on here, but maybe cos we have lots with them

My bill is as follows:
Line rental £11
Talk Unltd £7.95
Loyalty Pack BB/Phone/TV C Sky -£24
TV XL £22
NASN/Setanta £15
Movies 4, 5, Sports 1, 2, 3 £25
BB L £25
NASN Offer -£7

Comes to £75 per month

Does any one know if it would be worth trying to haggle costs down on this, or am I getting a good deal?

Thanks!

I think its worth haggling with the broadband costs, and also the tv costs. dont really know about all the addons.

karne

I have just rang Virgin and told them I was considering moving to Tiscalli (which I was) telling them I was happy with their service but that Tiscalli had undercut their prices and told them I would stay if they could match their price. She offered to match their £19.99 package (unlimited telephone and up to 8 meg internet package) but she also threw in Medium tv package for £19.49. I was informed that Tiscalli internet would only be about 2 meg speed as they were using BT lines (dont have enough understanding to know if this is true)and as we have a number of laptops in the house it could be much slower than my present 10 meg connection from Virgin. I therefore went for the 10 meg connection,unlimited telephone and M television package for £26.49. I am happy with this as they have reduced my current bill by £34.00 per month.
It is worth a conversation!!!:j

BexTech

nutmegman wrote: »

What options do you think i have for Broadband only, i currently pay £18 per month for 2MB, i called and was told there was nothing they could do unless i took other virgin services...

I have a BT line only with calls via primus and skyfamily pack,i dont like virgin TV as we love Sky +

any thoughts?

Did you go through to cancellations (retentions) or just the usual customer services?

The usual retention offer for 2Mbit broadband is £10 / month.

BexTech

ljd2007 wrote: »

Hi I am a new poster here :wave: from reading my newsletter today I am prompted into asking advice about my VM Bill and tell you my experience of my call to 150 just now..
I explained to the man we have been Cable customers from way back (over 12 years) and as far as I can see existing customers get ignored and new customers get all the best deals...he said it's not the case (as he would)

I pay :
Telephone Line Rental = £11
Talk Ultd = £7.95
Loyalty Pack BB/ phone / TVC = - £23
Caller Display - = £1.75
TV Size XL = £22
Itemised Billing = £1
Broadband M = £18
Total £38.70p

with regard to my call I am no further on, I was told I am on the best possible rate for a customer and that no way it would be cut further..
We have no BT line so I would have to fork out for a new line in which at last time I looked was £100 + so I was afraid to say that I would go elsewhere..I told him the service had gone down and down, we rarely use the phone, hardly watch T.V. but use the broadband, and have noticed a big reduction in the speed, it's terrible at times..he suggested that I contact the tech. team :rolleyes:
I would like to know what do you think? am I getting a good deal? or would it be worth me trying something else..

BT offer £30 install offer, though you need to make so many calls via BT otherwise they charge the full install price.

The package you are on is a current retentions offer, might be more miss than hit if you can get it reduced further and then you might find unlike many of these Sky prices matches any new reduction might not be for life.

I also get Caller Display for free as I told them BT and Sky offer it free. This and the retention Sky price match offer I am on is for as long as I remain a customer.

I'd post in the support newsgroups about your broadband issue:

See: https://www.virginmedia.com/newsgroups for details.

The group for broadband support is: virginmedia.support.broadband.cable