Virgin Media: Haggle down your costs.

Doodle2k

Hi Folks.
Following reading the article I gave VirginMedia a call to see if I could save some money. I got through calling 150 and selecting 2 and then 2 (thinking of leaving us).

Currently on
XL TV
L BB
4p Phone Plan
2 x Converters.

Currently paying way too much at over £77.50 standard charges and £11 a month calls.Yeah paying that much!:o

First call I was quoted £53.50 a month all in for exactly the same services. No change in packages or phone just the price. Second call was quoted £53.95 to start with but after a little bit of negotiation managed to get the phone upgraded to L (Free evening & Week End Calls) package for £49.95 a month everything else the same. Got quoted £38 for dropping the TV XL to L package.

Both times around its clear that once you except you are tied down to a 12 month contract. I know its alot better than what we are on I was hopeful on around £40 for our current level of services but I'm considering my options and said I'll call back.

Kyth

Hi,

Just rang virgin retentions team.

Currently on their broadband L package @ £24.47 per month
They offered to reduce it to £17 per month but the problem is I have to start a new 12 month contract.

I'm moving house soon too, and if I take it with me that means a new 12 month contract. If I don't take it the cancellation fee is £10 per month left!

If I want to cancel my contract now they say it's going to be £32 plus paying for an extra month connection.

Don't know whether to wait out the contract I'm on and cancel when I move house or to take the reduced cost and then renew my contract when I move.
Seems expensive either way...

chuckyegg

Woohooo!

Cancelled Virgin Media because the price they were offering for an all round package (so that I could get rid of Sky) was minimum £35 to include:

Large TV package with V+ for £69 installation cost
2mb broadband (enough for me)
unlimited free calls to uk

Virgin just called and offered me this for £30.46:

Large TV package with free V+ installation
2mb broadband
unlimited UK calls and also reduced mobile and international calls

Their customer service is shockingly bad but the price can't be beaten.

I did some really tough haggling last week which got me very little and it took for me to cancel and wait it out for a decent offer to be made.

spidergravy

Hi there, new to all of this, so apologies if someone's already answered. It's a silly question really - I have virgin media services for phone and broadband, and free cable TV with the package, but I also have Sky for the TV cos the virgin telly was rubbish. If I want to switch to sky broadband or phone package, or anyone else who requires a BT landline, do you know if I can keep my cable phone number? It's a brilliant number and I can remember it and as stupid as it sounds I wouldn't want to change to BT if I couldn't keep my phone number. Any ideas?!

BexTech

spidergravy wrote: »

Hi there, new to all of this, so apologies if someone's already answered. It's a silly question really - I have virgin media services for phone and broadband, and free cable TV with the package, but I also have Sky for the TV cos the virgin telly was rubbish. If I want to switch to sky broadband or phone package, or anyone else who requires a BT landline, do you know if I can keep my cable phone number? It's a brilliant number and I can remember it and as stupid as it sounds I wouldn't want to change to BT if I couldn't keep my phone number. Any ideas?!

Yes, you can port your number to BT.

Sponge

I'm having a BT line installed on the 5th and I'm keeping my cable phone number.

The engineer is coming between 8am and 1pm and the line may take until 8pm to become active, apparently.

You have to keep your VM account open so BT can request the number off them.

Keeping the same number was something I was keen to do and I hope the transfer runs smoothly, as I don't want the number to get 'lost'.

Bigwigg

Hi, just trying to look at cutting down the bills and think I'm probably paying too much for my virgin sevices. I've only got the phone and the broadband and I'm currently paying this:

Line rental - £11.00
Talk evening and weekends - £3.45
Broadband size M - £18.00
phone and broadband saving - £8.00 Meaning a total of £24.45 per month

Is anyone else on a cheaper deal or is this what I should be paying?
They keep offering me the digital tv for free but I don't really want that.

My fella was offered free broadband when he took out his new 02 contract but we need BT for that, would that work out a better deal though? Any help appreciated, thanks

scarletjim

scarletjim wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what I should expect to me paying for my package after haggling? I've been through the thread but not many people have 2 additional boxes... My bill says:

Line rental: £11
Loyalty Pack BB/Phone/TV B Sky: (-£21)
TV Size XL: £22
2Additional V Box: £30
Add Set Boxes Discount: (-£11)
All Movies & Sports: £25
Broadband Size M: £18

So total debits £106, total credits £32 = monthly cost £74.

Should I really be paying this much? I'd like to get it down by a tenner or so if possible, but we do use all 3 of our boxes and we do watch all those channels.

Thought I'd bump this in case anyone has a similar package or has any idea what I should be paying i.e. after haggling etc. Come on, some of you must be experts by now!?!

astral_dolphins

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate some help with this. I've been reading through the thread but I'm not sure what a lot of the services are and whether I'm getting the best deal for my money. If anyone could give me the heads-up on whether I could be getting a better deal I'd be very grateful. Here's what I'm currently getting:

Line Rental = £11
Talk Evening and Weekends = £3.45
TV Size: L = £11.50
TUL Base TV 512k Saving = -£6.49
512k Broadband (1gb) = £14.99
Total = £34.45

Thanks!

heebs

Hi all...thanks to all those who replied to me...i waited it out after giving notice to VM for upping my bill to £42 for
XL tv with v+
2mb BB
tel with w/end calls

they rang me and offered
XL tv with V+
XL tel (includes 24 hr UK landline calls)
10MB bb
for £43...will do e billing will bring it down to £42...not bad..upped my BB and tel and paying the same
Also asked them for
Wireless router
Free Asian channels for one month (they gave me a further 3 months at £10per month)
Free additional tel box installed downstairs as we never had on other than in one of the bedrooms when we moved to this house...another saving of £99...although i had to speak to 3 different people..2 asked me to pay £99...third time lucky and she agreed to credit me with £99 so i didnt have to pay for the installation.
They also gave me a £30 credit for not informing me of price hike and reduced current bill back to its former £30

Apart from the £30 credit and reducing current bill for not informing me...everything they gave me I had to ask for...so the moral of the story is for all my forum pals is IF-U-ASK-U-MIGHT-GET-IT...so dont be shy to ask ask ask..
tied down for another 12 months...

did want to try sky but they had no free installation or sky+box offers...ironically just got a leaflet in the post giving both free until 12th march...but i would still have to take on BT which could be expensive

ONE THING I FOUND OUT WHEN I GAVE NOTICE IS THAT ALTHOUGH I PAID ALOT OF MONEY FOR THE V+ BOX...IT REMAINS VM PROPERTY AND THEY TAKE IT AWAY WHEN YOU CANCEL...SKY DONT DO THAT...ONCE YOU HAVE A SKY+ BOX...ITS YOURS FOR LIFE...VM SHOULD TAKE HEED AND NOT EXPECT US TO PAY FOR SOMETHING THEN TAKE IT BACK...RANT OVER

Happy Haggling...:)