Disconnecting from VM - business must be good!

justbiteme2k

I also phoned to cancel VM the other day.

I had three reasons I was not happy:

1. Unwarranted price increase
2. No Formula 1 channel (without adding hugely expensive Sky Sports package)
3. Adding another STB is expensive compared to Sky's "magic eye"

The VM guy tried to match Sky's package but came out more expensive even with his ~£10/month discount. I confirmed with him I was out of my contract commitment period and said I'd think about it.

I pondered for a few days and decided on leaving them, so I call back. This time the guy tried to match the deal from Sky but was only able to offer a £5/month discount so we continued with organising the disconnection. (not sure hwy man#1 was £10 and guy#2 was only £5 but anyway...)

So, a few days later, someone from the retentions team phones me up... the conversation literally went:

Me: ahoy, hoy!
VM: hi, I hear you are wanting to leave VM?
Me: yep
VM: when you called to set up the disconnection, did we offer you a better deal to stay?
Me: yes, but it was only a discount of £5/month and that Sky was still £15/month cheaper.
VM: ok then, bye bye... and he hung up!

I got the distinct impression he had a quota of people to call. He had no intention of trying to retain them, despite his self proclaimed title by working in the retention team.
Either that or business is so good for VM that despite their increased prices they're secure in the knowledge they've got enough customers, and a few leaving doesn't really matter.

At over £75/month though, you'd think (or perhaps you wouldn't) they'd put some effort in to at least matching their competitors prices.

It's a shame as I had no real issue with the VM product, just don't like spending £100's more a year that I can get cheaper from Sky.

justbiteme2k

I posted this (or a very similar version) on the VM forum, only to have it deleted. (no private message or email explaining why)

I then posted a thread asking why it had been deleted, but they deleted that too. (no private message or email explaining why)

I was feeling naughty by this point (I'd clearly been if they were deleting me all the time) so I posted again suggesting that they employ people to answer customer threads instead of employing people to merely delete them...
GOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!! I get a private message:

Hello ,
Both of your threads have been removed as they do not fall under the remit of the forum. This is a forum for help and support with your services, and neither of your threads are seeking this.
Thanks

So my reply was:

Ever so sorry for breaking your rules... I can see how, as a customer facing organisation, you couldn't possibly show your customer base that you are capable of rectifying a problem and that the preferred approach is to sweep them under the carpet. Never fear though, I shall move my efforts to a public forum where you precious rules do not take effect and your delete button has no power.

So here I am

spike7451

Of course adding a second STB is going to be more expensive than adding a magic eye,you have a monthly charge which,for Sky is £10.25 & around £5 for VM,whereas a magic eye is only going to cost a few quid to install..As with VM,the may be install charges to get a second STB installed as well.
AND you also have to have the sports package with Sky to get the F1 channel so in reality,your only gripe is the price rise & them not offering you more than they could realistically offer you.

justbiteme2k

Not really Spike... allow me to explain.

I don't want Sky Sports, I have no interest in watching anything on those channels, I've done without Sky Sports all my life. I would like the F1 channel, a situation I am forced to deal with since the BBC decided to reduce my viewing pleasure, without reducing the license fee. It is VM who choose to bundle the F1 Channel in with Sky Sports Collection... they didn't have to, they could have taken the same option that Sky did and make it a sport for the masses (the way sports should be! but that's another grumble)

As for the additional box... I already have two V+HD boxes, I wanted a 3rd TV in the kids play room. Again VM choose a STB that isn't compatible with remote control operation the way Sky boxes are. They force you to have a second or third box. I don't buy your comment on installation either, in fact adding a Magic Eye is often harder and involves adding more cables; One for the magic eye (for remote operation) the other for the HD feed to the TV.

So, sure my gripe is the price rise... but also they cannot offer what I would like, for the price I can achieve it for from their biggest competitor. If you are going to be in the home entertainment business you need to be competitive with your offerings. Not offer something that you perceive is better (and at a greater cost) despite the fact your customers (me in this case) don't want it.

What's next, gold plated and diamond studded boxes for £1000. Sure it's "better" but does anyone really want that. (I love silly examples! lol )

penrhyn

To get Sky Sports F1 with Sky you need either the Sports pack, or the HD pack.

With Virgin, I'd imagine that Sky stipulate to VM how their packages can be bundled, so as not to dilute Skys USP.

For example Sky do not make Sky Atlantic available to VM, Sky offer free F1 if you take the £10.25 HD pack, the old bait and hook.

justbiteme2k

penrhyn wrote: »

To get Sky Sports F1 with Sky you need either the Sports pack, or the HD pack.

I thought it was the Entertainment Extra package but either way i want HD, I have that with VM and I want the Entertainment Extra package as i have that with VM (XL TV) too... so F1 == free

penrhyn wrote: »

With Virgin, I'd imagine that Sky stipulate to VM how their packages can be bundled, so as not to dilute Skys USP.

For example Sky do not make Sky Atlantic available to VM, Sky offer free F1 if you take the £10.25 HD pack, the old bait and hook.

Which is fine, I don't have a problem with USP.

My gripe is that VM aren't interested in keeping my £75-£80/month and that the retention team guy was pretty rude/crappy at his job.

spike7451

justbiteme2k wrote: »

Not really Spike... allow me to explain.

I don't want Sky Sports, I have no interest in watching anything on those channels, I've done without Sky Sports all my life. I would like the F1 channel, a situation I am forced to deal with since the BBC decided to reduce my viewing pleasure, without reducing the license fee. It is VM who choose to bundle the F1 Channel in with Sky Sports Collection... they didn't have to, they could have taken the same option that Sky did and make it a sport for the masses (the way sports should be! but that's another grumble)

As for the additional box... I already have two V+HD boxes, I wanted a 3rd TV in the kids play room. Again VM choose a STB that isn't compatible with remote control operation the way Sky boxes are. They force you to have a second or third box. I don't buy your comment on installation either, in fact adding a Magic Eye is often harder and involves adding more cables; One for the magic eye (for remote operation) the other for the HD feed to the TV.

So, sure my gripe is the price rise... but also they cannot offer what I would like, for the price I can achieve it for from their biggest competitor. If you are going to be in the home entertainment business you need to be competitive with your offerings. Not offer something that you perceive is better (and at a greater cost) despite the fact your customers (me in this case) don't want it.

What's next, gold plated and diamond studded boxes for £1000. Sure it's "better" but does anyone really want that. (I love silly examples! lol )

You also have to have Sky Sports 1 & 3 to get the F1 channel on Sky or the HD pack so the minimum cost there is £10.25 for the HD pack.As to the comment the magic eyes are harder to fit,rubbish..I've fitted loads of them when I was working for Sky & later myself.
Sky magic eye's are only one cable,a coaxial cable from the RF2 output on the Sky box,If you want to run a HDMI cable for the HD from the main box,then that's up to you but a magic eye will give you SD channels either way.
As for Virgin 'choosing' not to allow a magic eye to be used with their boxes,the are ones on the market that can be used with VM boxes,the reason VM since day one when they were CableTel,NTL,TeleWest ect decided not to use the magic eye's was because,unlike Sky,you don't own the equipment so to allow a customer to add a 'magic eye' to a cable box was going to be an option for a later date,the connections are there on some box,they chose not to use them for numerous reasons,cost being one of them.

smackaine

I have a lot of sympathy for retentions guys. Their power isn't limitless and if he genuinely could not match the offer Sky had given you, there really wouldn't be any point keeping you on the phone any longer.

From what's stated in the OP, he didn't appear to be particularly rude, just doing his job.

That being said, the offer itself doesn't sound great, so maybe he was just a crappy agent. Either way, it's certainly not in his interests to lose you as a customer and based on how much you pay VM, it's not in theirs either.

Protest with your feet and leave. Losing your business is barely a drop in the water, but if this sort of thing happens on a large scale, they'll soon notice and overhaul their retentions policy.

You may also get a rather desperate call closer to the end of your notice period with a couple of better offers anyway!

justbiteme2k

spike7451 wrote: »

You also have to have Sky Sports 1 & 3 to get the F1 channel on Sky or the HD pack so the minimum cost there is £10.25 for the HD pack.

Indeed, i've already said that and i want the HD pack.. i have that with VM... who doesn't like the HD crispy goodness.

spike7451 wrote: »

As to the comment the magic eyes are harder to fit,rubbish..I've fitted loads of them when I was working for Sky & later myself.
Sky magic eye's are only one cable,a coaxial cable from the RF2 output on the Sky box,If you want to run a HDMI cable for the HD from the main box,then that's up to you but a magic eye will give you SD channels either way.

Who the hell wants SD? lol
Fitting two cables from two different points in the house IS harder than fitting one cable... surely you are not disputing that?!
Additionally, there isn't a DIY option for building your own HDMI cables that is widely used (if at all), so running a single HDMI cable across the house (and even outside) involves drilling much larger holes and makes routing them through ducting embedded in walls much harder.

spike7451 wrote: »

to allow a customer to add a 'magic eye' to a cable box was going to be an option for a later date,the connections are there on some box,they chose not to use them for numerous reasons,cost being one of them.

If the connections are there on the box, how is this a cost reason? and again they chose not to, forcing a much more expensive option for the customers.



Anyway, i've had enough of this magic eye talk... i weighed it up and i think i'd be better off adding the 3rd STB to my install (with VM or Sky).
The interesting thing now though is that with Sky, as a new customer there is a cost to adding additional STB's but as an existing customer, (from what i saw on my friends account), it's cheaper. I wonder if i can become a customer with one STB, then the following day, as an existing customer, add two new boxes... or does my "new customer" status last 12 months or something... hmmm...

justbiteme2k

smackaine wrote: »

I have a lot of sympathy for retentions guys.

Oh totally... i wouldn't want that job, i doubt it's very satisfying for them... but equally, getting to the point of having to cancel isn't very satisfying for the customer either. I guess some jobs are just that way

smackaine wrote: »

Their power isn't limitless and if he genuinely could not match the offer Sky had given you, there really wouldn't be any point keeping you on the phone any longer.

Understandable, but a £5 discount on a £75/month deal, especially when his colleagues only days earlier gave a better discount seemed odd.

smackaine wrote: »

Protest with your feet and leave

I guess I'm going to have to. I also read somewhere that Sky have been offering half price line rentals for 6 months to some customers so i'll call them tomorrow and see if (as a returning customer) they can beat the deal i can get from TopCashBack.

smackaine wrote: »

You may also get a rather desperate call closer to the end of your notice period with a couple of better offers anyway!

I thought that, but i need to organise Sky pretty sharpish, so I'd place money on them leaving it too late

Niv

justbiteme2k wrote: »

Oh totally... i wouldn't want that job, i doubt it's very satisfying for them...

I dunno, I would quite like the job. I would love to have to speak to people that want too take the p i s s out the company I work for only for me to tell them to b u g g e r off if they want.

Not saying that applies to you ( I dont believe it doesbtw) I am just commenting to the quoted comment.

Niv

(p.s Newsflash MSE p i s s and b u g g e r are not swears, I chose these instead of what I wanted to say! get real pfft)