Haggle with Virgin - our new guide

hardleyouth

hardleyouth said:

Hi,
My fibre broadband contract ends with Virgin Media on the 7th.  I detest VM customer services with a passion and have no interest in renegotiating with them, and Community Fibre have offered me a price match of £23.50 for a 150mbps fibre to the property connection so I'm leaving.

My question is now that I have reached the end of the contract, I presume I don't need to provide a month's notice to Virgin?  Can I literally just say a data and they charge me pro-rata for the days I need until the new provider's connection is in place?  I have tried to check the contract but the 'my account' of the VM webpage is down for me (of course). 

Found the answer: 30 day notice even after contract end.

I hate Virgin Media with a passion and my advice to anyone and everyone is go and haggle elsewhere, wherever possible.  It's just not worth the stress of dealing with these cowboys. 

driver_rider

Virgin have annoyed me "retentions" have quoted me 80PM for a broadband package that costs 65PM.  I haven't had the best experience of Virgin my connection was slow to begin with and hasn't been great since.  I will probably hand in my notice on the weekend.  There can not be many takers on their ultimate bundle.  I am happy to go without internet for a few weeks, whilst I wait for a good deal.

PZ19

Retentions seen to be up in air at minute with Covid, some furloughed, some working from home, with few in call centres.  Week after cancelling with genuine intention to move to Sky, my package was going up to £115..sky offer similar for £70, broadband lot slower, retentions deal was £65, so decided to stay.   Internet only with weekend calls 100mb £30 200mb £36 which both seemed high.

driver_rider

Retentions seen to be up in air at minute with Covid, some furloughed, some working from home, with few in call centres.  Week after cancelling with genuine intention to move to Sky, my package was going up to £115..sky offer similar for £70, broadband lot slower, retentions deal was £65, so decided to stay.   Internet only with weekend calls 100mb £30 200mb £36 which both seemed high.

Thank you that is very helpful.  I will be handing in my notice over the weekend.  I currently don't have a TV and I reckon I could manage without internet for a few months.   I am convinced there will be deals to be done with the economy being in the state that it is.

PZ19

driver_rider said:

Retentions seen to be up in air at minute with Covid, some furloughed, some working from home, with few in call centres.  Week after cancelling with genuine intention to move to Sky, my package was going up to £115..sky offer similar for £70, broadband lot slower, retentions deal was £65, so decided to stay.   Internet only with weekend calls 100mb £30 200mb £36 which both seemed high.

Thank you that is very helpful.  I will be handing in my notice over the weekend.  I currently don't have a TV and I reckon I could manage without internet for a few months.   I am convinced there will be deals to be done with the economy being in the state that it is.

driver_rider said:

Retentions seen to be up in air at minute with Covid, some furloughed, some working from home, with few in call centres.  Week after cancelling with genuine intention to move to Sky, my package was going up to £115..sky offer similar for £70, broadband lot slower, retentions deal was £65, so decided to stay.   Internet only with weekend calls 100mb £30 200mb £36 which both seemed high.

Thank you that is very helpful.  I will be handing in my notice over the weekend.  I currently don't have a TV and I reckon I could manage without internet for a few months.   I am convinced there will be deals to be done with the economy being in the state that it is.

Internet can be found for way cheaper than Virgin, Now TV is £17.50 for 12 months if you use Quidco cashback.. BT £25 with cashback.  Unless you have FTTP, Virgin Broadband is lot better however, and they know that.  

JJ_Egan

A Lot better in what way ??

Customer service .Prices  , Congestion , WiFi on Router etc etc .

Speed may be but who needs 100 meg plus .

Geof73

We've been with Virgin for years but we're wanting to move now, do they raise the cost of your virgin mobiles if you leave virgin media? I know it was cheaper for existing virgin media customers when we got the mobiles but can't find anything that says we have to remain customers for the full term of the mobile contracts.

PhilK2

VIRGIN MEDIA : IF YOUR HAGGLING FAILS... CALL BACK A FEW DAYS LATER !!!
Learnt a lesson this week with Virgin Media. Different advisors offer different discounts to keep customers!
I have 100Nf broadband, phone with talk all day (incl line rental) and basic TV ... £62/mnth
I got really annoyed that a new customer could have the same on an 18 month deal for £29   !!
CALL ONE:  I told them deals offered by BT and others and that I was leaving. The agent would only offer me £49/mnth... so still £240 a year more than a new customer.  The agent refused to budge. I declined.
CALL TWO: About a fortnight later I called agin. Very sympathetic agent. Immediately agreed a further loyalty discount to £39/mnth. I accepted this.... still not as good as a new customer deal, but I didn't want the hassle of moving provider, I lOVE the speed of their broadband, and I like the TV recorder box. 
SO... if your haggling with an agent does not work, leave it and call back later !!

RAFFLES

We had 100mb & basic TV for £33 pcm. Been with Virgin for 20 years. They tried to put price up to £59. Gave them 30 days notice. A week later I called them and told them that I was about to sign a contract with Talk Talk, free phone line fitting all for £24 and were they interested in matching it. They offered £39. 
  \we signed with Talk Talk, they then called offering £35. I politely declined, explaining that due to their diabolical customer services and that horrific music that they murder your ears with for an hour at a time when you try to contact them, made it impossible to stay. Every time I tried to contact them, call would be diverted to India or some other far away call centre who could never actually help. 
  We are now with Talk Talk. We get 69mb & new phone. We don't use phone as we have mobiles. No problem with speed, all works great and all for 18 months @ £24.
Virgin are History! (not tried Talk Talk customer services yet....................)

mrsmalls

I've been with Virgin for a year and in my area nobody is matching the speeds so I didn't really want to risk moving providers. The contract was M100 which was perfect for me and the contract was coming to an end at the end of the month. I was paying £33 promo price down from the £49 original price. So they emailed myself to inform me the promo price was coming to an end and I had to start paying the £49 which I wasn't happy about as you can imagine. 

I first called on the 13.10.2020 and tried to negotiate a deal just being honest saying I don't want to leave because I'm happy with everything but I can't afford to go any higher as the current price is within my budget and with the higher price I would have to terminate the contract. They said the best they could do was £39 and I said I wasn't happy with that either and ended the call.

I called back on the 19.10.2020 to try again to get a better deal. I just so happened to see a deal that day online exclusive for new customers for the same plan at £24 per month, so I mentioned this and said that it was a liberty to be offering that price to new customers and trying to hike mine up and I couldn't/wouldn't be paying the £49 per month. They passed me to the higher team as the 1st person said £47 was the best they could do. I repeated this the more senior call handler and he said I understand I'll put you on a £29 which I was very happy about and agreed. Thanks for all the advice guys and would definitely recommend calling back again if the 1st conversation doesn't go your way.