Thinking of leaving Virgin- best thing to do?

jonf

Hi all,

I'm really getting sick of Virgin thinking they can put an extra few quid on my bill what seems like every other month- my bill has increased from £20 when I joined a few years ago to £37.46 and now they want to increase it by a further £1.75! We have 'talk unlimited' but hardly ever use the landline, 'M' size tv- all channels of which we could get with freeview and 'M' broadband which isn't exactly fast (about 10mbs)- I'm feeling like this isn't a deal to shout about.

So I'm seeing what look like some good deals around- SKy and Talk talk etc (I'd have to get the old phone line reinstated I know) and am wondering if I should move or try and get a better deal from Virgin- I haven't had any problems with Virgin but I need to reduce my bill- (I want unlimited broadband download limit).

I know this is well trodden territory but I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice

thanks, Jonf

ilovelacoste

i am also in the same boat as yourself jsut had a email yesterday to say from the first of april my bill will be increasing by £2.60.
I rung them from the landline as it is free and after speaking to a nice helpful bloke got my bill down by £6 a month with no change to my package.
The trick is to ask about a loyalty discount which they will give you unless you ask you wont get!!
The fella told me the bigger the package the bigger loyalty discount you can get.
My package is now going to cost me £37.50 a month for m+ tv L phone and L internet plus my tivo box.
Give them a call see what they can do for you you might be surprised, they might suggest different package for your needs but rember do ask about the loyalty discount
hope this helps you:)

robt_2

jonf wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm really getting sick of Virgin thinking they can put an extra few quid on my bill what seems like every other month- my bill has increased from £20 when I joined a few years ago to £37.46 and now they want to increase it by a further £1.75! We have 'talk unlimited' but hardly ever use the landline, 'M' size tv- all channels of which we could get with freeview and 'M' broadband which isn't exactly fast (about 10mbs)- I'm feeling like this isn't a deal to shout about.

So I'm seeing what look like some good deals around- SKy and Talk talk etc (I'd have to get the old phone line reinstated I know) and am wondering if I should move or try and get a better deal from Virgin- I haven't had any problems with Virgin but I need to reduce my bill- (I want unlimited broadband download limit).

I know this is well trodden territory but I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice

thanks, Jonf

Surely that is the first thing to sort out then?!

As in the post above, phone retentions. Have a comparable package from Sky in front of you (from their website for example) and quote what you can get from them (including new customer offers).

macman

Your problem appears to not be VM price increases, but the fact that you've taken out a package which doesn't suit your needs. (e.g. a unlimited talk plan if you don't use the phone). And if you can get all the TV channels you need on Freeview or Freesat, then why would you have subscription TV at all?
It's not a fixed price contract, so VN can increase it whenever they wish. Equally, you can use that as a way out without paying any ETC, if you choose to reject it within the time frame.

GooliesOfFire

I also got the letter about the increase yesterday. Increase by £2.60 I think. I'm with Virgin for their internet, and it's been faultless so far. In August I decided to get the lowest TV and telephone packages for additional 10 quid. I don't use the prone at all except for 0800, 0845 calls and have it for emergency if I ever need to ring Virgin about something (better not because their CS in India really sucks). My wife wanted their cable TV (our freesat reception is poor in summer because of the huge trees in front of the house, and I couldn't be bothered to get an areal for freeview), so extra 10 quid for both tv and phone seemed reasonable.
I last two months I've been paying for some movies on demand about 20-30 quid a month, I will just watch cut expense on those movies to cover 2.60 quid increase as I don't really need to watch them anyway.

Back to the topic. Price increase gives it's a great way to walk away mid contract without penalty. But then ask yourself whether you have any better alternative to Virgin Media internet? There is BT in my area, but after 6 years with BT I just left them because they couldn't fix the broadband. On top of that I paid 220 quid for leaving them early (I had another 12 month deal with them) as I didn't want to argue with them anymore and they wanted more time to fix the problem. I was sick of waiting. So another reason never to go back to BT.

Peggie

Thanks for the post Jonf. I have a similar issue with high monthly costs to Virgin. I take their Broadband service plus Cable Phone. I don't take their TV package as Freeview is fine for us. Trouble is the monthly bills seem to be rising, especially the landline calls, which we rarely use. I would like to change to a different provider for broadband and landline but I do not have a BT line in my house. Anyone know a good provider who would not need a BT line to connect me? Thanks - Peggie

macman

Peggie wrote: »

Thanks for the post Jonf. I have a similar issue with high monthly costs to Virgin. I take their Broadband service plus Cable Phone. I don't take their TV package as Freeview is fine for us. Trouble is the monthly bills seem to be rising, especially the landline calls, which we rarely use. I would like to change to a different provider for broadband and landline but I do not have a BT line in my house. Anyone know a good provider who would not need a BT line to connect me? Thanks - Peggie

All ADSL broadbad requires a BT-based line (not necessarily one provided by BT).
Without one you are stuck on VM cable forever.

goingsenile

I've also been looking into the same today but having been with virgin (national not cable) for the last 13 years I'm unsure!!.

I currently have my phone line and the virgin's talk unlimited package including caller display as well as the medium broadband (up to 10 GB) which is costing £32 a month. I don't use the home phone very much so could cut it down to evenings and weekends but that would still be £28.

Had a look at sky and can get the same thing for about £22 or O2 (my mobile is with them ) for about £20 and am wondering if it is worth the hassle changing.

I presume I would no longer be able to use my virgin email addresses but can you still get access to them online - just that's that's the only email address I've ever had .

Thanks
AJ

Kirri

I've tried but Virgin won't offer anything other than keeping it at the same price and not implementing the April price rise which is hardly a great deal! It's already too expensive though as there has been multiple small price rises this year which strangely they denied saying they'd only had one?!

Not sure what to do, just totally cancel and hope they offer something lower? I can't afford to be without internet access though at all at the moment.

onesixfive

I Moved from Sky/BT/Orange a couple of years back to Virgin - the full package - TV, Broadband & Landline in a consolidation & costcutting exercise.
I have to say - their broadband is 2nd to none.
Plus I do like the Tivo box we moved to last Sept/Oct.
BUT the prices have crept up & up, and now they tell me they are adding a further £4 (yes - I know its only £4!) to my monthly bill - this will take it to around £62 a month - excluding any "stray peak calls",and I DONT EVEN HAVE SPORTS OR MOVIES!
I have a Tivo box, an extra box upstairs, XL TV, Evening & Weekend Calls, L Broadband, + Phone line rental. (Plus As Part of the Tivo deal _ I'm on loyalty discount of £8 month until Oct! taking me down to £57) - by Oct I'll be paying £70 !! -
Some of the sky bundles appear good value - BUT I wont get my bits n bobs like my extra box, & great internet. (I'm not bothered about HD).
HELP !!!

missfit44

There is a clause in the virgins terms and conditions which states that if any increase is above £1.00 and is detrimental to the customer you can cancel early without paying the early termination charge. I know because I used it this week. I sure its also on the letter informing you of the increases in prices. The first man I spoke to cited the clause that says virgin are allowed to increase their prices. I cited the clause which I think is in their terms and conditions under J3 which states the above cancel without paying a fee. Told him to read the terms and conditions which he eventually and reluctantly did and lo and behold he found the paragraph, he originally quoted me £145 to finish early. Hope this helps someone leave without penalty