Haggle with Virgin - our new guide

Rottijim

Hello
I've always been pretty happy with Virgin's broadband service but not with their pricing or their (and other companies') tempting offers for new rather than existing customers. I'm a longstanding customer who would prefer not to move but doesn't like being taken for granted.

I phoned them recently to see if they would haggle regarding my mixed bundle priced at £59.49 per month for broadband allegedly up to 200Mbs, TV and landline. My last bill was £67 including calls. Having done my research on Martin's site I could see unbundled deals from eg Vodafone + Now or even (I didn't know they did this) Shell Energy + Now for my postcode, coming out typically at £30-£35 per month for 55Mb plus.

First call to 150 went to a call centre abroad and was disappointing: they offered to cancel the forthcoming September £3.50 a month increase for 6 months. Not impressed. I rang Virgin subsequently and insisted on being put through to Retentions. They disputed that any other provider would match Virgin's broadband speed and made great play of their 200Mb network, not that I get anything close to that. However, they realised that I was serious about walking away, which I was, and offered me the same package for £37.99 a month with no September increase.

So, £59.49 rising to £62.99 =£755.88 pa. Now reduced to £37.99 = £455.88pa = £300pa saving for some phone calls! Motto: stay persistent, check what's available for your postcode.

Thanks as ever for Martin's brilliant site for making the research so much easier.

RenMarZap

Back in May's MSE weekly newsletter i saw a deal from Virgin, £30/month for the first 12 months. I followed the link, signed up, on the website confirmation all looked well. I took a screenshot of it. Since then I'm battling with Virgin as they are charging me double at £59/month. Today I received a pathetic reply (the first one incidentally) to say 'it's what i signed up for'. I only email them so i have a trail of what is being said, I do not wish to call them to have it out with a poor customer service person who cannot help me beyond what's on their screen.
I am £348 worse off over the one year contract period. I only changed from Plusnet at £32/month to have Virgin Tivo included which I rarely use now. I only want broadband, I don't want or care about any other TV subscriptions (certainly not sport).
What do I do? I cannot find the MSE email with the offer, if anyone could send me a link I'd be grateful.

buglawton

RenMarZap wrote: »

Back in May's MSE weekly newsletter i saw a deal from Virgin, £30/month for the first 12 months. I followed the link, signed up, on the website confirmation all looked well. I took a screenshot of it. Since then I'm battling with Virgin as they are charging me double at £59/month. Today I received a pathetic reply (the first one incidentally) to say 'it's what i signed up for'. I only email them so i have a trail of what is being said, I do not wish to call them to have it out with a poor customer service person who cannot help me beyond what's on their screen.
I am £348 worse off over the one year contract period. I only changed from Plusnet at £32/month to have Virgin Tivo included which I rarely use now. I only want broadband, I don't want or care about any other TV subscriptions (certainly not sport).
What do I do? I cannot find the MSE email with the offer, if anyone could send me a link I'd be grateful.

You say you took a screenshot of the deal you were signing up to? Really? If so, go to Small Claims Court with it and watch Virgin cave. Otherwise you were aware of the unexpected price but didn't use your 2 week cooling off period to cancel it for free.

RenMarZap

Thanks for the small claims court tip. I will certainly not stand down. I would share the screenshot but am failing on the techno side

whitewitch21

How do we stand when in a 12 month contract agreed for a set amount...and now 2 months later I get an email saying my bill is going up by £4.50?? Have checked the contract and says I will pay the set amount for 12 months. Seems very sneaky.

JJ_Egan

As per identical posts it depends upon your contracts terms and conditions .
Usually something like > we reserve the right to raise prices of the contract .
If so that comes under OFCOM leave without penalty rules .

whattochoose

I currently have Virgin Mix TV, M100 Fibre Broadband, landline (free weekend calls), and a TIVO box. I'm presently paying £29.50 and find this good value for money. However, in October I lose a £10 discount, and then in January my rental line saver expires and my monthly rental jumps to what seems a whopping £58.50.
Now even though I realise a large charge was previously incurred to secure the rental line saver (which is no longer available),
once paid I could forget about that and feel sanguine I was paying less than £30 for TV/phone/broadband/TIVO.
I will shortly need to ring Virgin retentions to seek out new discounts, but in truth I am loathe to leave them, since I've always been satisfied with their service, particularly their broadband.
However, if I'm faced with an implacable, inflexible attitude I may be forced to look elsewhere, particularly since I'm now retired and family economics are something I now have to pay greater attention to.
I'm just wondering if anybody has felt the need to leave Virgin as a result of their price increases, and been happy with an alternative service they have switched to?
Thank you.

cambb

So cancelled my phone + BB 350mb as i was over 12 months yesterday as i was paying £45 a month. A call today from retentions and was offered 100mb for £23 or 200mb for £25 no phone line. I took the 200mb on a 12 month contract with no price increases.

SamMoneySaver

How many days did you wait for them to call you?

Tao81

I want to cancel Virginmedia, will miss the fibreoptic BB, all I really use.
Currently have min. TV package (TIVO box faulty and now find happy with just using internet TV)
Have phone line which never use. Get the impression phone line can be unbundled these days? - not so in the past.
(Family member works for Virgin and they told me ages ago, if I come off contract with VM for 12 months, apparently can apply to go back on with them for half price, under family member deal)

However, where do I start?
How do I find out what speed I'm truly getting via fibreoptic BB? and if sign up with another company will they need to fit another cable at huge expense?

What other alternatives may I have?
Previous post mentioned bypassed Virgin router, connected house up to 4G router (not too techie familiar with this myself) and the family didn't notice a difference in delivery speed?

Any suggestions or advice?
Feel really dumb at all this! Having embarrassingly sat happy & pretty, as an over paying Virginmedia customer for years...Time for change!