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

jhe

ellie3009 wrote: »

People who have got new deals, what was the minimum term they made you sign up for? I want to re-negotiate, but I don't want to be tied in for more than a year.

12 month for me

AndyPK

yes I think the renewal contract is 12 Months.

visidigi

12 months here, make a point of it on the phone too so its recorded.

robertoegg

I've just called up and they have fobbed me off saying my t's and c's mean I have to accept price increases. £14 --> £16.50

Any thoughts?

FLA27

Robertoegg - Did you go through to Customer Services or did you go through to Retentions? I went through the 'I wish to cancel one or more of my services' and the 'I'm thinking about leaving' option. I don't think CS can always really do much.

It will ultimately depend on the set up you already have as to how much of a deal can be done. I don't mind a small increase but for me my increase was over 13%.

robertoegg

I moved back in August from a property which could get Virgin to one that couldn't. As part of that move, it was cheaper to renew with a basic £14 account at a relatives house who could get Virgin. It's not used so I thought this might be my ticket to cancel it all off finally!

I'll check the t's and c's.

This whole episode highlights the ridiculous bureaucracy of these big companies though. In order to get Virgin at the relatives house, they had to send engineers to work on getting a feed off the mains one day before they sent another set of engineers to feed from there into the house. Factor in the installation, the new box, etc and you have a process that cost waaaay more than both of us walking away.

joshw86

They hiked our prices by 10% in January of this year (broadband plus landline went from ~£29 to ~£33), and we got a letter through yesterday saying that the price is going up by £3.64 in February '15.

How they can justify raising their prices by over 20% in a 13 month period is beyond me. Utter bullşhit, and they'll be getting a drubbing over the phone from me shortly.

joshw86

After grumbling to several layers of management, I've had my package switched to a cheaper (and faster) one, and a £10 existing customer discount to last for 18 months. This means I'll be paying ~£24 til November 2015, and from then until May 2016 with a £10 discount on whatever package I choose.

Pays to be an inveterate grump sometimes.

robertoegg

I've now cancelled. Called back up and explained it was a significant change in fee for me and they accepted and cancelled from 1 months time. Cheers for the heads-up MSE.

p.s. I didn't need to be a grump

SquirrelNuts

How did you all find out your new prices, did you have to phone in for them?

I joined Virgin on a bundle package in around May - BB 50mb, TV XL, Phone M, single Tivo box which is currently £54.99 including line rental.

I havent had any emails or letters, and because this isnt one of the newly named bundles, have I been spared a price increase I wonder?