Haggle with Virgin - our new guide 24 August 2015 at 5:03PM edited 25 August 2015 at 4:06PM in Phones & TV 383 replies 108.2K views

Dobbiesox

Indeed! I guess you're right. But it's the culture Virgin created.

Dobbiesox

Totally agree Colin_Maybe.

EachPenny

dave_dph wrote: »

Hi EachPenny

Have a look at the recent posts in the Virgin Retentions thread. I seem to recall someone posting £21 per month for phone and broadband which was offered by Outbound Retentions.

Thanks dave_dph and thor. The £21 per month is very tempting! Tried calling again today and managed to get down to the £26 mark - which appears to be cheaper than the new customer price of £32 pm +20 activation. Something doesn't seem quite right.

dave_dph

Hi Each Penny

Virgin won't offer you the best deal unless you actually cancel and wait for them to call you back.

As long as BT Infinity is available in your area here is your bargaining point with Virgin:

50Mb BT Infinity including line rental on 12 month contract = £28.99 per month + £59.99 activation & delivery

BT cost = £407.87 per year (£33.99 per month)
BT Reward Master Card £200
Quidco cash back £90

Total BT costs = £407.87 - £290 = £117.87 per year (£9.82 per month), after factoring in the Reward Card and cash back.

Check BT Infinity availability here: https://goo.gl/b04EOC and then phone Virgin to cancel. You will enter a 30 day notice period during which you can call them back to withdraw notice if they haven't contacted you.

I cancelled on a Tuesday and they started to call me on the Thursday.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

David

EachPenny

dave_dph wrote: »

Virgin won't offer you the best deal unless you actually cancel and wait for them to call you back.

Thanks David, I'd read about this on the threads and am normally quite willing to go down to the wire if need be

What I thought didn't sound right was the fact my current offer is less than what a new customer would pay - unless that price is also negotiable. I'm used to seeing new customer deals way lower than the best prices existing customers can get. There's also a lack of clarity over whether quoted prices include VAT.

I'm also factoring in I have a Virgin mobile phone and somehow have ended up with unlimited landline calls and texts at zero cost... I daren't ask about it in case that isn't what I should be getting, likewise I'm slightly reluctant to risk losing my VM connection in case the two are somehow linked. The mobile 'deal' is worth many pounds per month to me

With your sound advice I'm going to be pushing the boundaries a bit more though!

BTW, after my last experience with BT I would also factor in the cost of terminating the BT package at the end of the deal in the average monthly cost. I left them because my line was faulty and they wanted to make the standard fault repair charge. When I left I paid the standard ADSL disconnection charge through very gritted teeth, and vowed never to return, despite being a BT shareholder.

Dobbiesox

Indeed! I guess you're right. But it's the culture that Virgin has created. I personally don't want the stress of haggling. Just want to be offered a fair price and feel valued.

bingo_bango

So, I've just cancelled VM and now (hopefully!) will get a retentions call.

They did offer the Player pack for £42 with a one off £50 credit, but I pushed and explained the BT offer which was coming in around £19.49 pm. They couldn't budge from the offer above (~ £38pm with the credit) so I went ahead with the cancellation.

Let's see what happens now!

ChrisH1

It certainly seems Virgin won't offer a deal unless you cancel. In an effort to reduce costs, I asked if I could cancel the TV bit, but keep the phone and internet. A very gruff bloke told me it was cheaper to go for the lowest TV inclusive package, thus reducing costs to £42 p.m, a massive saving of £4. As a tempter, he offered £30 back, over 12 months.

Despite my best endeavours, (poor phone package, clunky out-dated Tivo box etc) he wouldn't budge an inch. After some deliberation, I agreed, but the whole conversation left a nasty taste.

A couple of days later, after some research, I found a package with a landline company at £25 p.m., fixed price for 24 months, expected broadband speed of 40 mbps, no installation fees, one-off payments, nothing. All the BT infrastructure was in place from previous contracts. I phoned Virgin and cancelled the new contract and reverted to my old contract, which was about a week away from expiry.

The communication has been excellent and they will port my old number across, which then led, surprise, surprise, to a call from Virgin as to why I was moving the number. The upshot was an offer of 1 years free line rental, retaining 100 mbps broadband, but no TV, for £19.50, 1 year contract.

I said thanks, but no thanks, you could have offered that befre, you're previous attitude has lost you a loyal (6 years) customer. I don't need 100 mbps, and have a perfectly adequate Freesat box with 2 tuners, which does pretty much what the Tivo box will do, only more smoothly.

If you want a better deal from Virgin, you need to go through the motions of leaving, not just threaten to.

AndyPK

Yes I heard that TalkTalk £25 for 2 years deal on the radio this morning.

tonygee99

I currently have broadband only (SuperFibre 70 @ £31.24 pm) and wish to upgrade to a package that includes Sky Sports and BT Sports. Full House Sports is available to new customers for £75pm. Has anyone got a good deal whilst upgrading from broadband to a TV package?