Tariff increase

maljo

Should companies be allowed to increase tariffs mid-contract?
Received text today from Virgin saying they are increasing tariff by 2.9%.

d123

Go have a read of the OFCOM pages about this, it currently is permissible for them to do it, and any increase under RPI is very hard to fight.

macman

Unless it's a fixed price contract, they have every legal right to do so, and always have had. Whether they ethically should do so is of course another argument altogether.

MillicentBystander

Which? are campaigning hard at the moment to get OFCOM to make mobile contracts a bit like gas and electric contracts - increase the price during the term and leave penalty free. AFAIA, and disappointingly, only one mobile company (and even then it's an MVNO) has so far signed up to pledge their support although tesco mobile have also stated no mid term increases.

ZhugeEX

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Which? are campaigning hard at the moment to get OFCOM to make mobile contracts a bit like gas and electric contracts - increase the price during the term and leave penalty free. AFAIA, and disappointingly, only one mobile company (and even then it's an MVNO) has so far signed up to pledge their support although tesco mobile have also stated no mid term increases.

Which mobile company?

MillicentBystander

ZhugeEX wrote: »

Which mobile company?

The one you (erroneously) labelled a seller of pyramids.

ZhugeEX

MillicentBystander wrote: »

The one you (erroneously) labelled a seller of pyramids.

Yeh i hate utility warehouse with a passion due to their business ethics and values.

MillicentBystander

All about opinions I guess but I've been a very happy customer for several years. Now talktalk is the company I hate with a passion (even though i sort of use their BB lol but thankfully not their awful CS) but you are apparently a happy customer so go figure

ZhugeEX

MillicentBystander wrote: »

All about opinions I guess but I've been a very happy customer for several years. Now talktalk is the company I hate with a passion (even though i sort of use their BB lol but thankfully not their awful CS) but you are apparently a happy customer so go figure

Opinions FTW!

Yeh i've found talk talk great. Mainly due to the deals and discounts i've got. Plus i find their policies on how they handle customers to be better than other ISP's. Customer service has improved a lot, but i still use the members forum if i have any major issues.

Although now that we've started talking about BB companies. That's another sector you can add to the list of companies that need to stop increasing line rental mid contract.

MillicentBystander

I can only agree with that sentiment! Funnily enough, my supplier increased line rental recently but actually reduced my phone line rental/BB combined bill by almost £3. Very unusual. As you have probably gathered from my posts on this forum I can't stand companies who are so desperate to keep customers no matter how bad the service gets that they insist on long term minimum commitments. Long term contracts are for dummies.

ZhugeEX

MillicentBystander wrote: »

I can only agree with that sentiment! Funnily enough, my supplier increased line rental recently but actually reduced my phone line rental/BB combined bill by almost £3. Very unusual. As you have probably gathered from my posts on this forum I can't stand companies who are so desperate to keep customers no matter how bad the service gets that they insist on long term minimum commitments. Long term contracts are for dummies.

How does that work? :think:
Well that's only good right.

I agree with you there. Long term contracts are never the best idea.

But, if you know how it works, what you're getting and whether you can afford it then i don't mind a long term contract. I would call myself a fully informed consumer as i like to research everything 100% before committing.

For example, the only reason i took out an O2 contract 3 years ago was because i made £160 profit from the 24 month contract after it was up. So that's an example of how long term contracts can benefit consumers as well if you know exactly what you're getting.