Virgin Media Price Increases From 1/2/2013

cooldaz

No email just my invoice online. Been on the phone and they ay if I cancel I will have to pay a cancellation fee

[Deleted User]

cooldaz wrote: »

No email just my invoice online. Been on the phone and they ay if I cancel I will have to pay a cancellation fee

The E-Mail was weeks ago. Virgin will say you were sent it, very likely you deleted it unread.

anna_24

I never had an email or post about the increase either (although I was aware of the new charges). I phoned earlier today to complain and was told the letters went out in November... Def not received one of those, and def didn't get an email - I file them all and I've searched through all of them, and not one said anything about an increase.

The guy on the phone said he'd let me cancel if I wanted without charge - which I don't want to do, just re-negotiate!

Uther

I just found out about the price increase also. It appears they did send an email but they sent it to my virgin email address that I never use.

I called them up but was told I was stuck with this price now and can't cancel my contract.
I will make a formal complaint because I am really not happy with this above inflation increase. I still have another 12 months on the contract

urgentappliance

It's nice to hear that we have more option for media selection. I think increase in price of virgin media is give hike to other competitor who also wants to increase their prices.

Gopes

Uther wrote: »

I just found out about the price increase also. It appears they did send an email but they sent it to my virgin email address that I never use.

I called them up but was told I was stuck with this price now and can't cancel my contract.
I will make a formal complaint because I am really not happy with this above inflation increase. I still have another 12 months on the contract

Exactly the same for me. I agreed a 12 month 'retentions' contract at the end of November, starting on 8 December (L TV, 30mb BB and basic telephone) for a juicy £26.40 per month.

I have just noticed that they promptly increased this to £29.49 (a 12% increase). I have checked back through my records, but can find no evidence of them having written to me informing me of this.

I have just rung up customer services, he was unhelpful and just said it was sent out - but all contracts were subject to price increases, and so basically "tough". I pointed out that it was unfair on the consumer if VM could increase prices at any time, but that the consumer remained tied in for the period of the contract. I asked what was to stop them offering contracts at e.g. £1 per month - and then as soon as the customer signs on the dotted line, increasing it to say £100 per month. He just said that all telecomms companies operate on the same basis :mad:

I still have a good deal, so probably wouldn't leave anyway - but I think I should make a complaint - if nothing else, to force them to provide me with an explanation as to how they can increase my contract without notifying me or giving me the option to exit...

Is it worth complaining, or should I just grin and bear it (like I said, I am not actually unhappy with the deal - even at the increased price).

Gopes

[Deleted User]

Gopes wrote: »

Is it worth complaining, or should I just grin and bear it

The poster you replied to found out in February about the February increase. Even if you failed to get the advance E-Mail about it, I doubt you could complain that you have yet to receive your Virgin bill for the last three months!

Anyway, all the price increase would allow you to do would be to have cancelled without penalty and you say you're happy with the deal you have....

Gopes

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

The poster you replied to found out in February about the February increase. Even if you failed to get the advance E-Mail about it, I doubt you could complain that you have yet to receive your Virgin bill for the last three months!

Anyway, all the price increase would allow you to do would be to have cancelled without penalty and you say you're happy with the deal you have....

I take your point. However, the reality is that for the past 5 months, we have been living on a building site (painting/decorating), and so have not (up until a couple of days ago), logged in to the VM website to look at the bills in detail. Given the fact that we do make phone calls, I simply saw £30-£35 per month go out by direct debit, but never actually looked at the bills (which VM don't send in hard copy).

Ultimately, it is not the cost as much as the fact that if you sign up for e.g. a 12 month contract at £x per month, there is usually an understanding that both parties honor that agreement / contract. What has happened here, is that VM have decided to unilaterally changed the fundamental terms of the contract (i.e. significantly increase the price), without getting formal agreement from the other party. As mentioned, I can find no record of having received the letter - and even if I had, it seems unreasonable that they can change the terms of the contract - but the customer cannot.

What do you think would happen if I wrote to Virgin media informing them that I have decided to reduce my monthly payments by £x per month, for XYZ reasons - presumably they would laugh at me, and pursue payment for the full payments for the duration of the contract...

Anyway, I take the point that it is a waste of time to complain, but I still think that it is fundamentally out of order for VM to change pricing mid-contract (regardless of whether they write to their customers informing them of their intention)...

G

[Deleted User]

Gopes wrote: »

I still think that it is fundamentally out of order for VM to change pricing mid-contract (regardless of whether they write to their customers informing them of their intention)...

It would be interesting to know just how many customers actually cancelled as a result of this increase. Unfortunately, if not too many did cancel then Virgin Media will be encouraged to do the same in future (as may other suppliers).

buglawton

Anyone noticed that banks, PayPal, Ebay have a messages section in your account where you can review new and old messages?
And you get an Email notification when new messages come in.
Despite Virgin Media offering incentives to 'go paperless', it does not seem to want to use such a message box to communicate price hikes.
Wonder why that might be?