Virgin £15 sim only not quite £15!

frugalandproud

Hi all, I'm new to this site, first post...

I've been a Virgin media and Virgin mobile customer for years. With the mobile stuff, I was on a sim only contract, and recently changed it to get their sim only deal for £15 a month as a I got myself a new swanky phone and needed the internet on it.

I took the deal in June, with no minimum contract - "pay monthly contract", £15 a month for unlimited data: internet/texts/calls. I was quite happy with the deal as it's a pretty decent one, but less than a month after I'd taken it, I received a letter saying my tariff would rise to £15.90 a month, with no explanation given. I have not gone over my limits (although it is unlimited, there is a fair usage limit mallarkey).

I'm pretty miffed about this, as although it is only 90 pence a month, I've no guarantee that this will not happen again (Virgin have a history of rising their tariffs on a regular basis, be it mobile or media stuff). And more to the point, their sim only deal (VIP sim) is still advertised on their website for... £15!!!

Any suggestions, and anybody else having had the same issue? And... being bothered about it as much as I am?!

Thanks!

frugalandproud

Ok, I'm guessing I'm the only one affected here. I'll challenge it anyway!

IanR2012

frugalandproud wrote: »

Ok, I'm guessing I'm the only one affected here. I'll challenge it anyway!

Let us know how you get on since I was considering this plan myself.

Their T&C's do allow price rises, but only as much as RPI and 90p on £15 equates to 6%.

d123

IanR2012 wrote: »

Let us know how you get on since I was considering this plan myself.

Their T&C's do allow price rises, but only as much as RPI and 90p on £15 equates to 6%.

Unfortunately wont really benefit the OP, if the charge is above RPI they have the right to cancel, but as they are on a 30 day sim it doesn't mean much, the OP can walk away with 30 days notice at any time anyway.

IanR2012

d123 wrote: »

Unfortunately wont really benefit the OP, if the charge is above RPI they have the right to cancel, but as they are on a 30 day sim it doesn't mean much, the OP can walk away with 30 days notice at any time anyway.

It's not so clear on the VM T&C's. All they say regarding price rises (that I can find) is "Monthly price may rise in line with RPI."

No mention of the possibility of them raising prices by more than RPI and what the consequences are.

So potentially you can stop the rise, as it is above inflation, leaving VM to find a reason to withdraw the Service. But acceptable reasons are all defined so if you haven't broken one of their rules they will struggle to withdraw the Service.