Virgin Media retention deals (post your haggling successes)

leew

Kev27 said:

BigBlueSky said:

Has anyone had any issues with accepting the automated discount on the phone queue removing their other discounts ? - A family member had that issue about a year ago, but not sure whether that issue still exists.

I've just done this and the automated operator does say that this will not affect my current Contract, and the £2.50 discount will last for 6 Months. I wen't ahead with it anyway, and will be hopefully still be paying £19 for 50meg... I will of course be ringing them if anything changes and telling them that there was no mention of losing any other discounts.

Cheers Kev27, I may chance it then because I gave up holding the line after 10mins because I have a life! 

Keithy13

Called Virgin last week to give 30 days notice, Current package was £58 per month for 100Mb, calls at weekend and basic TV channels. Also due to increase by £4 a month in March. I got new 18 month contract fixed at £40 per month. Biggest issue was the agent's very poor english. So £22 monthly saving.

victor2

Calling them does seem to get someone on another continient, who has a far better command of English than I can claim for any foreign language, but barely sufficient to discuss things like contracts.

In contrast, the guy who called me from retentions was a very amiable and helpful chap who spoke English as a native tongue, had a sense of humour, and understood what I wanted!

leew

Ive just rang again and the automated discount no longer comes up for whatever reason and goes straight to the music waiting game 

Hung up as I can't be bothered waiting and then speaking to someone who barely understands me grrrrrr

MrN_2

Thought I'd share my experience, in case it helps anyone.

Like many people, I received the letter saying Virgin wanted to increase my monthly cost. For 200mb broadband - no TV or phone - I was paying £46 a month. They wanted to increase this by £3.25 a month, so with 8 months left on my contract it felt like time to haggle. First I used their online chat, but it's awful - I just went around in endless loops with a bot. 

So having wasted a bit of time messing with that, I called their customer services and selected the option for 'I want to leave'. While in the queue, I received the automated message saying I could have an automatic discount of £3.25, cancelling out the price increase. At this point though, I'd spent too long on this and wasn't happy, so I persevered.

I'd gone in armed with competitor offers, so when I got through to a representative, I quoted Sky's offer of 500mb for £45 and said I was leaving for it. The rep went away in classic 'speak-to-my-manager' style, and came back with an offer of reducing my monthly cost from £46 to £36, and increasing my broadband speed from 200mb to 500mb. Not bad when I started off with an increase of £3.25.

JamesN

IM said:

Just spent a painful hour on the phone to VM retentions, with someone who didn't speak English as a first language and who didn't really seem to have any knowledge of Virgin products and bundles...

I'm long out of contract, but have finally been kicked out of my stupor by the latest price rises.

Have been paying £133.84 (due to go up to £142.34) for 200 meg broadband and 'Full house' TV (that includes movies plus Sky and BT Sport channels in HD).

The initial offer was a reduction to £104/month - which eventually came down to £94.75, but I'm not sure that the latter was a like-for-like.

I gave up in the end, saying I needed to discuss with my wife.

Coincidentally (or not), when I've looked at the Sky website and created a TV-only package with Sky and BT sport in HD (but no movies) it was coming in at £76 - which when added to VM's price for broadband-only at 200 meg of £28, comes out at £104...

What I am learning is that it is impossible to properly compare deals - and that the headline offers aren't what they seem... It's 15+ years since HD TV launched, and pretty much every set sold since then will be compatible, yet everyone hides the add-on you have to pay for HD channels.  

Anyway...

Part of me is thinking I ought to strip back to just the broadband and go down the IPTV route, but I'd rather not.

So, based on the experience of my fellow forumistas, what is the target I ought to be setting myself for broadband of 100+ meg plus a TV package including HD sport?

I'm not entirely bothered by retaining the movie channels (I'd be happy to pay for individual films, on-demand if I have to) and just wish I could ditch the channels (kids, music, shopping etc.) that I never use but which come bundled by default.

If you’re struggling to compare. My advice would be to read back through this and find someone who is paying for everything at a discounted rate. At least then you’ll know your maximum. Then just take things you don’t want off and expect a reduction for those. 

IM

JamesN said:

IM said:

Just spent a painful hour on the phone to VM retentions, with someone who didn't speak English as a first language and who didn't really seem to have any knowledge of Virgin products and bundles...

I'm long out of contract, but have finally been kicked out of my stupor by the latest price rises.

Have been paying £133.84 (due to go up to £142.34) for 200 meg broadband and 'Full house' TV (that includes movies plus Sky and BT Sport channels in HD).

The initial offer was a reduction to £104/month - which eventually came down to £94.75, but I'm not sure that the latter was a like-for-like.

I gave up in the end, saying I needed to discuss with my wife.

Coincidentally (or not), when I've looked at the Sky website and created a TV-only package with Sky and BT sport in HD (but no movies) it was coming in at £76 - which when added to VM's price for broadband-only at 200 meg of £28, comes out at £104...

What I am learning is that it is impossible to properly compare deals - and that the headline offers aren't what they seem... It's 15+ years since HD TV launched, and pretty much every set sold since then will be compatible, yet everyone hides the add-on you have to pay for HD channels.  

Anyway...

Part of me is thinking I ought to strip back to just the broadband and go down the IPTV route, but I'd rather not.

So, based on the experience of my fellow forumistas, what is the target I ought to be setting myself for broadband of 100+ meg plus a TV package including HD sport?

I'm not entirely bothered by retaining the movie channels (I'd be happy to pay for individual films, on-demand if I have to) and just wish I could ditch the channels (kids, music, shopping etc.) that I never use but which come bundled by default.

If you’re struggling to compare. My advice would be to read back through this and find someone who is paying for everything at a discounted rate. At least then you’ll know your maximum. Then just take things you don’t want off and expect a reduction for those. 

That's the frustration though, isn't it - you can't actually opt out of things that you don't want, because of the way they create bundles.

I'd love to be able to go through the full list of available channels and choose my own bundle. Instead, in order to get what I want, I'm forced to take (and pay for) loads of content I'm not interested in.

Mark2019

IM said:

JamesN said:

IM said:

Just spent a painful hour on the phone to VM retentions, with someone who didn't speak English as a first language and who didn't really seem to have any knowledge of Virgin products and bundles...

I'm long out of contract, but have finally been kicked out of my stupor by the latest price rises.

Have been paying £133.84 (due to go up to £142.34) for 200 meg broadband and 'Full house' TV (that includes movies plus Sky and BT Sport channels in HD).

The initial offer was a reduction to £104/month - which eventually came down to £94.75, but I'm not sure that the latter was a like-for-like.

I gave up in the end, saying I needed to discuss with my wife.

Coincidentally (or not), when I've looked at the Sky website and created a TV-only package with Sky and BT sport in HD (but no movies) it was coming in at £76 - which when added to VM's price for broadband-only at 200 meg of £28, comes out at £104...

What I am learning is that it is impossible to properly compare deals - and that the headline offers aren't what they seem... It's 15+ years since HD TV launched, and pretty much every set sold since then will be compatible, yet everyone hides the add-on you have to pay for HD channels.  

Anyway...

Part of me is thinking I ought to strip back to just the broadband and go down the IPTV route, but I'd rather not.

So, based on the experience of my fellow forumistas, what is the target I ought to be setting myself for broadband of 100+ meg plus a TV package including HD sport?

I'm not entirely bothered by retaining the movie channels (I'd be happy to pay for individual films, on-demand if I have to) and just wish I could ditch the channels (kids, music, shopping etc.) that I never use but which come bundled by default.

If you’re struggling to compare. My advice would be to read back through this and find someone who is paying for everything at a discounted rate. At least then you’ll know your maximum. Then just take things you don’t want off and expect a reduction for those. 

That's the frustration though, isn't it - you can't actually opt out of things that you don't want, because of the way they create bundles.

I'd love to be able to go through the full list of available channels and choose my own bundle. Instead, in order to get what I want, I'm forced to take (and pay for) loads of content I'm not interested in.

Completely agree! The phone line is the one that gets me… I don’t even have a landline to plug in yet am forced to take it out in order to get a cheap deal! Somehow when you start removing it the price then increases. 

victor2

Mark2019 said:

IM said:

JamesN said:

IM said:

Just spent a painful hour on the phone to VM retentions, with someone who didn't speak English as a first language and who didn't really seem to have any knowledge of Virgin products and bundles...

I'm long out of contract, but have finally been kicked out of my stupor by the latest price rises.

Have been paying £133.84 (due to go up to £142.34) for 200 meg broadband and 'Full house' TV (that includes movies plus Sky and BT Sport channels in HD).

The initial offer was a reduction to £104/month - which eventually came down to £94.75, but I'm not sure that the latter was a like-for-like.

I gave up in the end, saying I needed to discuss with my wife.

Coincidentally (or not), when I've looked at the Sky website and created a TV-only package with Sky and BT sport in HD (but no movies) it was coming in at £76 - which when added to VM's price for broadband-only at 200 meg of £28, comes out at £104...

What I am learning is that it is impossible to properly compare deals - and that the headline offers aren't what they seem... It's 15+ years since HD TV launched, and pretty much every set sold since then will be compatible, yet everyone hides the add-on you have to pay for HD channels.  

Anyway...

Part of me is thinking I ought to strip back to just the broadband and go down the IPTV route, but I'd rather not.

So, based on the experience of my fellow forumistas, what is the target I ought to be setting myself for broadband of 100+ meg plus a TV package including HD sport?

I'm not entirely bothered by retaining the movie channels (I'd be happy to pay for individual films, on-demand if I have to) and just wish I could ditch the channels (kids, music, shopping etc.) that I never use but which come bundled by default.

If you’re struggling to compare. My advice would be to read back through this and find someone who is paying for everything at a discounted rate. At least then you’ll know your maximum. Then just take things you don’t want off and expect a reduction for those. 

That's the frustration though, isn't it - you can't actually opt out of things that you don't want, because of the way they create bundles.

I'd love to be able to go through the full list of available channels and choose my own bundle. Instead, in order to get what I want, I'm forced to take (and pay for) loads of content I'm not interested in.

Completely agree! The phone line is the one that gets me… I don’t even have a landline to plug in yet am forced to take it out in order to get a cheap deal! Somehow when you start removing it the price then increases. 

They just put bundles together that they can sell to the majority. It's not worth their trouble to offer endless combinations of things, so they put the price up if somebody insists on something different, or simply say it's not available.

Don't think I'm praising them. When I gave my cancellation notice because of the price increase, my phone line mysteriously went dead that day, but broadband continued working. I had reported that fault and had an engineer booked by the time retentions called me (on my mobile) to entice me to stay. Even the retentions guy said it was purely coincidental that my landline had failed. I accepted his offer and we joked that my landline would probably start working again. It did, as I realised when an engineer called me on it saying he was just checking the fault and couldn't see anything wrong!

JasperAlex

Great haggling today. Called up retentions about my £3.25 price increase and they offered to increase the price even more by £8 on a new 18 month contract. Lovely stuff. Have now cancelled.