MSE News: Virgin Media customers to be hit with 5.9% price rise from February

fariefarie

valiantlady wrote: »

Does anyone have the phone number for the retentions department?.

Rang before Xmas to go over the details of our bill as it was going up by £8.
Apparently because we are on an old tarrif we have lost our discounts. Was offered a new deal with 6 months free Sky Sports. Rang back today and they have reduced the offer to 3 months.I also see that new customers are getting £100 off their bills on the website and if you go through Tesco 5000 club card points!.
Annoyed with myself wish I'd accepted the deal last week.

So I thought I would contact retensions and try to cancel and see what that brings.

I called 0345 454 1111 (number from Saynoto0870.com) as 03... numbers are included in inclusive minutes from mobiles.. or u can call 150 from virgin phones for free and go through options on both.

walio

visidigi wrote: »

You cannot sign up with cashback in a different name for three months, on that point he was factually accurate.

OK, might be in their rules, but do you know cases where people were rejected for that reason?
Makes no sense, imagine I am moving out, someone else moving in the flat and they want Virgin services, but can't get new customer discount because of the three months "rule".
There might be rules, but do they really enforce them?
That way they would just put off customers from staying with them. Seriously if I moved in to new flat and Virgin told me they can't give me new customer discount I would just tell them to stick it and would go to competitors.
Anyway today is exactly two weeks as I called, so we called back and said we'll take the offer, but they couldn't offer it anymore, no more sky sports and movies, although before that they told it's valid for two weeks.
Well if they can't offer what they promised then I can't stay with them, told them consider this call as cancellation request then.
They said my last day would be 1st of February and that I would have to return all the equipment provided by them. Which is fine with me, there is BT infinity available in my area that I might just take it if Virgin don't call us back with their offer just so we stay with them. If they don't - no big loss, their superhub is so bad that I can't rely on it and had to buy my own router. Wouldn't work for hours/half a day, and I work from home quite often, meaning if I don't have internet at home I have to work from the office which is 130 miles away...

captaindismay

I'm yet another VM customer unhappy with the price rise.

I have a quick question - technically I am out of contract (I signed up for an 18 month deal two years ago), does this give me more or less bargaining power when contacting them about leaving etc?

I have 30mb BB (which I can upgrade for free to 50mb), TV M+ and Phone + and am paying £45ish a month, soon to go up to £50. £45 is a rip off, so £50 has gone beyond a joke.

northwest1965

captaindismay wrote: »

I'm yet another VM customer unhappy with the price rise.

I have a quick question - technically I am out of contract (I signed up for an 18 month deal two years ago), does this give me more or less bargaining power when contacting them about leaving etc?

I have 30mb BB (which I can upgrade for free to 50mb), TV M+ and Phone + and am paying £45ish a month, soon to go up to £50. £45 is a rip off, so £50 has gone beyond a joke.

We have just accepted this package from VM. Paying less than £40 inludes talk umlimited

captaindismay

northwest1965 wrote: »

We have just accepted this package from VM. Paying less than £40 inludes talk umlimited

I just rang VM and have been offered a post Feb 2015 price of £40.48. No changes to the package. I did try and get at least the phone bumped up to unlimited weekend and evenings but no luck.

I told them I would need to discuss the offer with my wife but said I'd be thinking of under £40,

Am I likely to get the price dropped if I push towards a cancellation? I'm not much of a haggler you see!

Just to note I was put through to "customer relations" for this offer. It's part of their loyalty discount.

Balderdosh

I'm sick of Virgin Media's price increase tactics and despite the fact I will be calling their retentions team yet again, for what it's worth I decided to lodge a complaint with Ofcom.


My complaint is:

a) VM periodically upgrade Broadband speeds and add TV channels supposedly free of charge, regardless of whether you want or need the added bandwidth or new TV channel.
Then, later, you receive a letter out of the blue significantly increasing the cost of your existing package. (T&Cs may allow them to do this, but isn't it dubious practise?)

b) The compulsory landline charge, even if you don't want or need a landline, is also dubious practise.

OK, I'm free to cancel and look elsewhere for these services. However, is the above practice reasonable?
Instead, upgrade/charge increases could operate on an opt-in basis: retain existing features for same charges plus a CPI-related increase; Or opt-in to new features accepting revised charges reflecting the added value.

The compulsory landline charge may well be due to shared telecoms infrastructure. However, whatever the reason, customers should not be forced to pay a charge for services not required, even if it meant recouping costs elsewhere. The net effect is those customers benefitting from landline deals are being subsidised by BB/TV subscribers.


I have been with VM since the days of NTL many years ago and consider myself a loyal customer.
In the past I have called VM to complain over price hikes. This has always resulted in a reduction or loyalty discount.
Obviously, to-date I've ended up staying with VM. If I did decide to leave this time, at least one downside is the loss of my email address.
My email address is as key as my postal address. (At least Royal Mail have a post redirection service!)
In hindsight I should have migrated to a portable email address, but when I first subscribed to NTL, hotmail et al did not exist (I believe).

From the forum postings, its clear that customers are being charged differing amounts for the same or similar package combinations, as a result of various loyalty discounts and/or retention offers.
That's fine, it's up to customers to negotiate what they pay in all sorts of markets, but BB at least is becoming an almost essential 'utility' these days.
So, isn't this a similar situation to utility companies' tactics of having a multitude of tariffs making it extremely difficult to know which is the best deal?
This prompted the government/Ofgen to clamp down on them, forcing them to simplify tariffs and improve transparancy of charges.

Perhaps if many VM customers raised a complaint with Ofcom, there maybe a chance of VM being told to amend their ways.
Whilst it may be legal, VM's tactics are highly dubious in my opinion.

I recently upgraded to TiVo from V+, which committed me to a new 12 month contract. One simple thing VM could do to earn some respect would be to include in the T&Cs a clause
to exclude you from any generic price increases for the duration of the new contract.

I think customers are getting a worse and worse deal from VM, despite their claims of offering a more reliable and higher quality service.


Am I being unfair or misguided? I know VM are a commercial organisation offering services which all are free to take or leave, but all the same .....???

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

AndyPK

are you forced to have a landline with VM ?

I think its cheaper if you do (when you pay rental in advance for the year)

northwest1965

Don't have to have a phone line. Only £2 in it though if you don't (if you do, weekend calls incl)

valiantlady

valiantlady wrote: »

Does anyone have the phone number for the retentions department?.

Rang before Xmas to go over the details of our bill as it was going up by £8.
Apparently because we are on an old tarrif we have lost our discounts. Was offered a new deal with 6 months free Sky Sports. Rang back today and they have reduced the offer to 3 months.I also see that new customers are getting £100 off their bills on the website and if you go through Tesco 5000 club card points!.
Annoyed with myself wish I'd accepted the deal last week.

So I thought I would contact retensions and try to cancel and see what that brings.

I have just rang again to cancel. Offered the same deal. 150mb broadband/ XL Tv/evening weekend calls 3 months Sky Sports plus upgrade to TiVo from V+ box. £60 for 6 months £65 after.
Currently paying £64.99.

Does anyone think this is a good deal?

northwest1965

valiantlady wrote: »

I have just rang again to cancel. Offered the same deal. 150mb broadband/ XL Tv/evening weekend calls 3 months Sky Sports plus upgrade to TiVo from V+ box. £60 for 6 months £65 after.
Currently paying £64.99.

Does anyone think this is a good deal?

Our old deal was XL TV. Anytime phone and Tivo box 50mb B/band £62 (before price increase)

Do you need 150mb? I guess you do as you have it now:)