Sky or PlusNet

tunnel

Well i can't fault plusnet one bit. I recently noticed they were offering new customers cheaper deals on BB,line rental and inc calls so rang them up and they've reduced my package from around £31 a month to £25,could get it down even further if i pay for the line rental up front for 12 months(£3.50 amonth cheaper). I've done loads of comparisons and no-one gets anywhere near them. OP,don't forget to click through a cashback site like quidco if you sign up with them online,i've done this with mine,my parents and several others and have been paid cashback for each and everyone. PS,i'm not 100% sure, but i'm pretty sure plusnet is a sister company to BT but run as a separate entity

nigem

Wouldn't Virgin have let you become a 'new' customer, with all their discounts?

I am in a very similar position, but am out of contract in my late husbands name. I just havent decided to tell Virgin until I know who would give me the best deall? I had a feeling that when I do, it will open a new can of worms!

TomsMom

nigem wrote: »

Wouldn't Virgin have let you become a 'new' customer, with all their discounts?

I am in a very similar position, but am out of contract in my late husbands name. I just havent decided to tell Virgin until I know who would give me the best deall? I had a feeling that when I do, it will open a new can of worms!

Yes, I was offered for a new account to be opened in my name but they would not give me any discounts because of the exchange and it only being BT resold product, plus there being so few providers using it there is not the normal competition. I was told they lose money on these types of accounts so no discounts can be offered. I was paying £22.56 under the contract my husband took out, then they started charging an extra £6.10 for the Talk Unlimited after 6 months (that was my query, I, and hubby, thought it was for 12 months) so it went up to £28.66. They would not even offer me a contract at £28.66 and wanted to charge £33.66 and would not budge under any circumstances. There was originally a "competitor discount" but they wont offer it now.

They even offered to carry on the original contract even though they told me it was illegal now the account holder was deceased, but it would still have been £33.66, they would not continue it at £28.66. I just can't afford the extra £11.10 per month increase over the original contract, that was half as much again and then there would have been the increase in April as well.

I didn't ring and tell them hubby had died, I had a thousand and one other things to see to at the most difficult time that it didn't occur to me. I only got in touch with them because of them starting to charge for Talk Unlimited and I wanted to know why, and I mentioned that my husband had taken out a 12 month contract and since died half way through. If I hadn't have queried the increase in the monthly payment then I probably wouldn't have thought to inform them.

I wouldn't touch them again with a barge pole. Every agent I spoke to told me something different, one was rude and inferred I was lying - he told me there was no notes on the file requesting a manager to listen to a previous phone recording and ring me back with confirmation yet when I insisted he put me through to a manager it was confirmed the notes were on the file the agent just hadn't read the notes far enough down. Absolute tosspots - excuse me but as you can see I am still fuming over it and there will be an email going to the CEO once I've ditched them and got hooked up with Plusnet.

My disconnection date is 9 days short of the month I will have paid for by direct debit. I am convinced they wont be altering the direct debit which is due to be taken in two days time, and I expect I will have to try and get a refund of the 9 days overpayment and I can see further fun and games over that!

In your position I would be looking for deals, research for reviews on the providers who you take a liking to and then see what Virgin can offer you as a new customer with an account in your name. If you are hapy with the service VM have offered you up to now and their price is good then go for it, if price is important go for the best price you can find with a provider with good reviews.

By the way, I am on Virgin National (ADSL) not cable. My daughter's mother-in-law is on cable and when her husband died she rang them up and had the account changed into her name, no hassle. Apparently they will do it for cable customers but not for national customers. Utterly crazy!

At the end of the day I am saving over £200 a year by moving to Plusnet on the new price Virgin quoted me so it's turned out to be very beneficial for me in the end but I think their customer service in the circumstances has been disgraceful.

nigem

Thanks for your very comprehensive reply! I have been a cable customer since they invented the cable! We swapped packages a few times, and were at a point of trying to decide on the best for us, but never quite got round to it. Probably for the best as it turned out, as we would have added lots of sport for DH to watch.

Theres quite a few utilities and the like that I still havent informed as I havent got round to it since he died in Oct.

Good luck with your complaint (well in anticipation of another problem).

TomsMom

nigem wrote: »

Thanks for your very comprehensive reply! I have been a cable customer since they invented the cable! We swapped packages a few times, and were at a point of trying to decide on the best for us, but never quite got round to it. Probably for the best as it turned out, as we would have added lots of sport for DH to watch.

Theres quite a few utilities and the like that I still havent informed as I havent got round to it since he died in Oct.

Good luck with your complaint (well in anticipation of another problem).

Ah, as you're cable then you might find it plain sailing getting the account changed to your name if you want to stay with them.

My OH died in October too. All our utilities were put into joint names when he knew his illness was terminal so I just haven't bothered informing them. When the contracts are up (gas/electric) I will get the new contract in my name. Council tax sorted to get the single person discount. I changed to a water meter in December so that's in my name only but on the average consumption so far, working out what it would cost for the year then I am not much better off - about £60 per year on current prices - and for the belt-tightening I'm doing on water consumption I don't think it's worth the hassle for just over £1 a week.

Best of luck with getting a new deal with Virgin or whoever, definitely worth doing a bit of research.