Virgin V+, how much should it cost?

bigvince76

I called Virgin today to enquire about V+ box because I have just got a HD ready tv so thought this would be a good upgrade. They told me that because I am on the XL tv package it would be free but I would have to pay £75 for installation. This seems pretty steep to me, especially as there is already a Virgin set up in the house.

Funny thing is if she had said the box cost £75 with free installation I probably would have ordered it there and then!

Is there a way to get a better deal, or even install it myself?

fleetingmind

The boxes belong to Virgin so if you ever left them you would have to return the box. Hence why they can't say the box costs £75 as it would imply the box would then belong to you which wouldn't be correct.

wattywattwatt

bigvince76 wrote: »

I called Virgin today to enquire about V+ box because I have just got a HD ready tv so thought this would be a good upgrade. They told me that because I am on the XL tv package it would be free but I would have to pay £75 for installation. This seems pretty steep to me, especially as there is already a Virgin set up in the house.

Funny thing is if she had said the box cost £75 with free installation I probably would have ordered it there and then!

Is there a way to get a better deal, or even install it myself?

I have tried in the past to get a decent deal on an upgrade to the V+ box but the last time they wanted me to keep my existing box also and pay an extra £5 a month for the privilege, do you know if this is still the case? I would be happy to pay the £75 but I have no need for two virgin boxes, I would, however like the facility to record from the cable on to a hard drive set up if this is possible. I currently have a HUMAX recorder but don't think this can be used to connect to virgin media.

TDS_2

I'm pretty sure you can't hook a PVR (like the HUMAX) to a Virgin Box.

I am also investigating the OPs dilema. There is a new V HD Box being released later in March which is basically a HD version of your current V Box (£49). The V+ Boxes are due to be replaced later this year when Virgin and Tivo join forces. By current PVR standards (freeview/freesat/Sky) the disk space on the V+ box is very small.

What I may do is get the cheaper V HD Box and bide my time for the better Virgin PVR (V++ ?!) when it finally arrives. Freeview HD is an alternative, but like Freesat is limited to only a handfull of HD channels.

lnjk

i ordered the v+ hd on saturday and got charged £75 i have just noticed it is £49 now

TDS_2

That's interesting. So both boxes will be £49, with the V+ (PVR) adding £5/month to your bill.

Did you get the newer Samsung box, or the Scientific Atlanta?

juca

OK, I have a digital set top box and I noticed on the virgin site today I can get a V+HD box for £49, phone call was made and guess what I sure can have the V+HD for £49 but I got to keep my old box and pay £5 a month for doing so,I explained I don't want to keep my old box, hence the phone call to upgrade, but no I have to keep my old set top box and they can set it up in another room for me, this I didn't want either, so I have to keep my old box,set up or not and be expected to pay £5 per month for the privilege. Also this is the case for the £75 deal, I was told this is the fee for having the V+HD box, but I thought having the XL TV package compensates for this.

bigvince76

juca that does seem an odd way of doing things, I don't want a second box either, I just want an HD box for the front room.

After being with Eurobell --> Telewest --> Virgin for over 12 years now Sky sure seem tempting... why are Virgin making it so difficult!

TDS_2

juca wrote: »

OK, I have a digital set top box and I noticed on the virgin site today I can get a V+HD box for £49, phone call was made and guess what I sure can have the V+HD for £49 but I got to keep my old box and pay £5 a month for doing so.

Thanks for posting this. I figured the extra £5/month was just an additional fee for having the better box (I also have no need for the extra box). Is there an additional fee for those on M+ rather than XL?

The other option is to take just the HD V Box out later this month for the flat fee of £49?

juca

TDS wrote: »

Thanks for posting this. I figured the extra £5/month was just an additional fee for having the better box (I also have no need for the extra box). Is there an additional fee for those on M+ rather than XL?

The other option is to take just the HD V Box out later this month for the flat fee of £49?

From the smallprint ive read it doesn't matter what TV package you are on you still have to pay £5 per month to keep your old box, I am making another phone call this morning to see what they can do, i was told about another deal, which if i remember right was, £35 for V+HD box , you dont have to keep your old box, but you pay an extra £20 per month on top of what your paying and this gives you 20mb broadband and unlimited calls on your phone ( i think ).

The one thing thats getting my back :mad: up is if your a new customer you pay £49 and thats it because you haven't got an old box to send back.

I will post later with any more info.

juca

Made the phone call to virgin ( foreign call centre i think ) and heres what they got to say...i can have V+HD box for £49 but an installation charge has appeared for £35, a £84 one off charge.......i do not have tokeepmy old box thus i do not have to pay the £5 extra charge per month. Im thinking the call centre staff do not have a clue whats been offered.