Virgin Media Moving issues

rhysowen9

Hi,
I have been in a Virgin Media contract for appx. 6 months out of an 18 month contract now.
Out of this I receive my Phone Line, M+ TV, and Double Speed Unlimited Broadband.
I will be moving house on the 19th of this month and rang CS to notify them.

They have told me my area is not covered by fibre, so I have to use their national service. This includes:

Loosing my TV package
Dropping to up to 9mb broadband with a 40mb download cap
Paying extra for BT line rental

So to recap, paying £5 more than I am now, losing my TV and getting s**ty internet...
This is appalling?!

Is there anyway I can be release from my contract because of this when there are clearly better options?

Buzby

Er, no? You are moving to an uncabled area - this is hardly their fault. Since you will be dependent on a different carrier's infrastructure it will certainly cost you more (for an inferior service) but at least you will not be hit with the full cost of termination that would otherwise be due.

This is one of the gotchas of moving - the cancellation costs are part of your relocation.

rhysowen9

Yea I guess...

The worst bit for me is that the estate agent at the new property was convinced that there is a Virgin Media service wired to the building.
We signed the contract and agreed to move on the 19th.
So we went to virgin who did their check and said, nope. No fibre service...

Weighing up the costs, I think I'm going to pay the £180 cancellation fee, because after new set up fees, it would be cheaper to just get a new telephone and broadband provider and just deal with Freesat or something ;/

Apparently Tesco will do me £13 line rental through BT and a mere £3 a month for broadband...

Over 18 months this works out (including set-up/cancellation fees) around £10 cheaper and would mean slightly faster broadband.

macman

The EA works for the vendor and wants a sale...
How difficult would it have been to put the postcode into the VM site and check for yourself?
Bear in mind that if you stay with Virgin on Virgin National, then you start a new minimum term contract of at least 12 months.
Since both Tesco and Virgin National are the same resold BT Wholesale product, how do you work out that Tesco will be any faster?
The Tesco £2.99 product is a capped product-just 10GB. if you are switchng from VM cable broadband, you may not find that adequate for you.
I'd start with an exchange search on https://www.samknows.com for your LLU options.

rhysowen9

Oh? I thought I saw an unlimited d/c > 14Mb at that price? saw it on broadbandchoices I think...
I'll have to recheck.
Yea my problem is I short term rent, so everytime I move VM want a brand new 18 month contract opened + £80 setup...

Ah, LLU presence AOL, C&W, talktalk and sky/easynet...

rhysowen9

Options that I feel are right to think about:

SKY:
£10 line rental
+ 6 x £10 payments for broadband
No setup fee
12 month contract

Tesco:
£14 line rental
+ 12 x £2.5 payments for broadband
No setup fee
12 month contract

The price difference is a gimmick, they both claim the same speeds.
Of course sky is a bit more reputable in the digital market than Tesco.

I have a decent technical knowledge but as soon as we go telephone engineer style I'm clueless

visidigi

If you have received your letter from Virgin Media in the last 30 days or less informing you of the price rise coming in February then you can call up virgin and cancel all services without exit fees or anything else.

This is a unique (and good time for you to be doing this) as normally you wouldn't be able to get out of the contract at all...

macman

Why the focus on Tesco? If you just want a basic 10BG capped service then Plusnet Value is the obvious one to go for at £5.99. It's running on the same BT network, but at least has reasonable CS, and offers short term contracts. Factor in some cashback (usually about £38 on Quidco) and that cost comes down again.
Otherwise, if you want LLU, Sky is the obvious choice, with a truly unlimited tariff.

rhysowen9

both of the tariffs I quoted are uncapped

chanz4

get a mifi if you rent , then no more cancellation costs

rhysowen9

I would like a half decent speed though