Virgin Media BB TV - Existing Loyal Customer

Darenth87

Apologies in advance if this is a repeat of an old thread but I cannot help but feel VM intentionally puts customers in a spin over its myriad of variable prices packages deal and offers bill credits loyality discounts and DD discounts etc to existing customers, me in particular right now - I need to try and get my monthly cost down but a phone call today to VM proved confusing, very nearly cost me I suspect £12 to £15.99 per month extra from November, and very much highly frustrating. Any pointers would be appreciated if you have found your way through the VM minefield.

Why is it if I am a New Customer the deals are extremely simple to grasp - you see what you are getting and the TOTAL monthly cost yet as an existing customer there seems to be a few pitfalls and the headline deals on their website that you want to switch too are suddenly shrouded by smoke and mirrors IMHO. I am almost termpted to ring them and cancel eveerything THEN ring them as a new customer to get their BIG EASY or BIG BANG offer which if you read the blurb is very straightforward - the way it should be but try switching to one of the bundles as an existing punter and you get sent down so many alleyways that somehow leads to a cost not disimilar to what I am trying to move away from at present! Crackers.

Let me start with their Line Rental Saver - Many of you will have had the letter through telling you of the great saving if you pay in advance for 12 months line rental - I took them up on this deal last year but never asked any real questions. I dont use or even want a landline. A phone is not even plugged in on the wall. I am told by VM this line rental is nothing to do with my Broadband or TV so I dont need to be paying the equivalent of £12 per month for it.
HOWEVER and this seems to me to be the crutch kicker, if I dont continue with it my existing packaged deal circa £32 a month (PLUS £144 ONE OFF LINE RENTAL ANNUAL) = true monthly cost circa £44 what VM are saying is that I will lose the discounts they allow on my current package which would take me to an amount more than what I would have paid with line rental. Is it me or are they taking the Michael? So if I want a small package of BB and TV only then essentially they are saying to me well pay us at least £12 per month on top and your base package will benefit from good discounts? We dont know what these discounts are but that seems to be besides the point. I feel I am between a rock and a hard place and that to keep my monthly cost down I am compelled to contiunue to pay line rental for a phone I dont own or use just for the discount on my BB and TV. Stop me if I have got this completely wrong and point me in the right direction.

Regarding a new deal going forward the chap at VM today told me I could take out the BIG BANG package that gives me the same TV that I have now but with 100 Mb BB (better than my current 60Mb) for £30 per month. Eh? I still have to have line rental of either £12 added if I take the saver deal or £15.99 if I dont.
On the VM website this deal is just £20 per month for 12 months PLUS £15.99 line rental = £35.99 a month - this is where I prefer to be but just you try and get this deal from them without being tied up knots. Clearly this includes free landline calls so I could connect my phone back up but at least I have then slashed my monthly cost down by nearly 1/3 from £44 to £30 so I wouldnt mind this. Why cant I take the £20 BIG BANG deal as an existing customer and that way I dont have to borther with forking out a lump sum now for line rental saver as the monthly cost based on the higher standard rate line rental is a figure I can live with at least for the next 12 months ?

If there a piece of the puzzle I am missing please feel free to steer me in the right direction cos VM seems to be deliberately aimed at creating confusion with all of its various ways to put a new package together for an old customer.

kwikbreaks

If you took BB only then that would be a (very) few pounds less than phone + BB. As you take TV too then I'm pretty much certain dropping the phone will end up costing more. VM telephony tends to be expensive so although no phone line is needed to deliver the TV or BB they want you to have it in the hope you'll use it.

It sounds like you've only spoke to front end support (Indian accent?) who do not have access to the best retention deals. Do some research on what Sky and TalkTalk would cost you as a new customer - don't forget to figure in any cashback deals too (Quidco TopCashBack). Then you can call in and say you are considering moving to (whicever) because it will only cost you (what you worked out). That should result in you being transferred to the retentions team (UK based). See what they can offer - it will result in a new minimum term. If still unhappy then take up any better deal you can with somebody else.

bluenose1

I know exactly what you mean OP. I have spent an hour looking at their site and none the wiser. Think I am going to ring and cancel to hopefully get a better deal off retention.

Armorica

Whenever I call Virgin they are falling over themselves to reduce the price I pay. (We usually have the movie channels for xmas, and I call to get them removed and they'll usually pull an additional discount out of somewhere. This year, I got upgrade to a Tivo for ten pound less a month than I was paying)

Unfortunately, and in common with almost all other providers, you are tied to the landline service. There is a provider for London now that doesn't need the landline. And I believe that if you use (if still available) Virgin's ADSL product you don't need a landline with them (but you may need BT's)

With an increasing number of people simply not using their landline, I suspect those arrangements aren't going to last much longer.

hmmm http://www.simplifydigital.co.uk/details.aspx?nBundleId=40426 implies virgin don't need a landline. It may be the TV package not the broadband that is tied now?

Darenth87

i called them today on 150 to discuss my bundle.
my line rental saver deal expires soon so i was told i would be free to just not have line rental at all. this saves me £15.99 per month-great!

not so fast....apparently i get a discount of £12.50 for having BB, TV and landline as a bundle. i was advised to call back next month after my last line rental saver month has expired but the customer rep wouldnt tell me one way or the other if my bill will simply reduce by £15.99 every month going forward or whether they will then via the back door remove the £12.50 "discount" i had before. if they do all ive done is reduce my monthly payments by £3.49 not £15.99 and over 12 months thats a hefty difference.

i politely suggested that I was a hairs breadth away from just ending the package and sending them the equipment back but that didnt net me the hoped for yielding on the part of virgin to just offer me an improved deal on the spot afterall it saves everybody a lot more time but it was not to be. Martin Lewis makes these phone calls seem all very easy yet despite a pleasant and affable chat with the lovely lass at virgin all i came away with was to ring back next month.

it remains to be seen what that next phone call will net me....

Darenth87

just to add i did point out that i would quite like to go onto their Big Easy deal £15 per month 12 months plus £15.99 line rental so just £30.99 (much more in budget) but that was a deal for brand new customers. to switch to the same bundle as an existing customer is £28 per month plus the £15.99=£43.99 per month. quite a difference again.