Virgin Media retention deals (post your haggling successes)

dareusj

tg99 said:

dareusj said:

Cancelled and 2 days later recieved a callback from retentions.

200mb broadband (boosted to 350mb with Volt as have cheap O2 Sim only)
Maxit TV with BT Sport ad Sky Sports (SD)
Talk Weekends

£50.25 a month for 18 months

Was on 100mb, Mix TV and Talk Weekends before for £38, going up to £66 after price increase and contract ending in Feb. Big footy fan so more than happy with all the sports channels and faster broadband for £12 extra a month. Extra TV channels with more to watch keeps the other half happy as well

Was that the opening offer on your call from retentions or did it take some effort to work them down? Hoping to achieve a similar price!

They called me and we basically had a chat about what was important to me TV and broadband wise. Was initially looking to go back to basics. They offered me basic broadband and TV initially for £30pm - which is same price as for new customers I believe, so wasn't overly won over by that.

Then I guess the upselling starts. Said that we watch some of the extra channels that you can't get on the basic TV package, and could I just add these on as a extra channel pack. Said that would be £37 (so not discount really) and that they could offer me the full main tv package with BT sport for £41. When I said I was a big footy fan that's then when they offered me the above with the sky sports for £50.25

No haggling needed though. They offered me the above directly. Have been a customer for 7yrs, so not sure how much that impacts things. But as others have said it does appear to be a lottery somewhat! 

Didn't stop me from trying to haggle though by asking for a one off discount etc, but to no avail really. The package already included a one tier speed upgrade on the broadband from the equivalent bundle on their website

FaceHead

dareusj said:

...which is same price as for new customers I believe, so wasn't overly won over by that...

Getting new customer prices as a 7 year customer is, I think, a result. The new customer prices are heavily discounted, so getting the grossly overinflated out of contract prices pulled back to something close to new customer prices sounds like a win.

PZ19

My brother in law cancelled his internet week ago last Thursday, not heard anything.  Just internet and w/e phone, although never uses phone and not plugged in.  They don’t call everyone. He’s quite happy to leave

tg99

dareusj said:

tg99 said:

dareusj said:

Cancelled and 2 days later recieved a callback from retentions.

200mb broadband (boosted to 350mb with Volt as have cheap O2 Sim only)
Maxit TV with BT Sport ad Sky Sports (SD)
Talk Weekends

£50.25 a month for 18 months

Was on 100mb, Mix TV and Talk Weekends before for £38, going up to £66 after price increase and contract ending in Feb. Big footy fan so more than happy with all the sports channels and faster broadband for £12 extra a month. Extra TV channels with more to watch keeps the other half happy as well

Was that the opening offer on your call from retentions or did it take some effort to work them down? Hoping to achieve a similar price!

They called me and we basically had a chat about what was important to me TV and broadband wise. Was initially looking to go back to basics. They offered me basic broadband and TV initially for £30pm - which is same price as for new customers I believe, so wasn't overly won over by that.

Then I guess the upselling starts. Said that we watch some of the extra channels that you can't get on the basic TV package, and could I just add these on as a extra channel pack. Said that would be £37 (so not discount really) and that they could offer me the full main tv package with BT sport for £41. When I said I was a big footy fan that's then when they offered me the above with the sky sports for £50.25

No haggling needed though. They offered me the above directly. Have been a customer for 7yrs, so not sure how much that impacts things. But as others have said it does appear to be a lottery somewhat! 

Didn't stop me from trying to haggle though by asking for a one off discount etc, but to no avail really. The package already included a one tier speed upgrade on the broadband from the equivalent bundle on their website

Thanks for the detailed reply. Hoping for a similar outcome shortly! 

reddwarf2002

PZ19 said:

My brother in law cancelled his internet week ago last Thursday, not heard anything.  Just internet and w/e phone, although never uses phone and not plugged in.  They don’t call everyone. He’s quite happy to leave

I can confirm this to be true in my experience. They never called me this year.

tg99

Anyone got an idea of what kind of price Outbound are offering for the basic tv and phone package with 200MB broadband? Price due to go up to c£55 soon when contract ends and price rise comes in.

PZ19

PZ19 said:

My brother in law cancelled his internet week ago last Thursday, not heard anything.  Just internet and w/e phone, although never uses phone and not plugged in.  They don’t call everyone. He’s quite happy to leave

Update on this, they didn’t do a full cancellation. Only cancelled his broadband and not phone, which wasn’t right, hence why no phone call I assume.  He sorted 200mb plus weekend calls for £22.  Previously paying £30 for 100mb which was going up to £54 at ended contract.  So he very happy with that

Rev

Got the price increase email last month, called to cancel and was offered the £3.50 add on till my contract until it finished. Accepted but my bill went up from £21 to £28 this month. Best price they could offer was £28, So a £7 increase. Apparently they couldn’t apply the discount they said they could last month. And couldn’t explain why my bill was going up £7 not £3.50.

So just cancelled, let’s see if they call me back with an offer.

EDIT- Damn, just checked several BB comparison sites and outside of VM the only internet available is standard broadband. Top speed of 10mb.

Really hope VM call me back.

tg99

Has anyone agreed a price in a call from outbound retentions and then called up within the 14 day cooling off period to say changed mind and thus try to get a further discount?

Reason I ask is that I cancelled yesterday and had outbound call today, best I was able to get them to was £59pm for:

Maxit TV inc BT Sport
Sky sports SD
basic phone (weekend calls)
200MB

This is the same package as I was on previously (£64-65 pm due to go up to well in excess of £100 in March when contract ends) so on the one hand it’s good that now cheaper but on the other it is not as cheap as Dareusj £50pm and PZ19 (equivalent to £50pm too given has HD Sky Sports). I did mention these prices in our call but could not get any lower than £59. Person I spoke to said it is the case that the system will sometimes generate different prices for different customers even if on the same package.

PZ19 - you mentioned your Dad was on £66pm but with HD so effectively same as my £59pm..is this something he got from outbound retentions call recently too or more historic?

I doubt if I call up and say I’ve changed mind that I’ll get anywhere (though nothing to lose) and the risk I suppose if I go through with changing mind and ‘re-cancel’ is that retentions don’t call back again or if they do that this time the price is actually higher than £59.

PZ19

tg99 said:

Has anyone agreed a price in a call from outbound retentions and then called up within the 14 day cooling off period to say changed mind and thus try to get a further discount?

Reason I ask is that I cancelled yesterday and had outbound call today, best I was able to get them to was £59pm for:

Maxit TV inc BT Sport
Sky sports SD
basic phone (weekend calls)
200MB

This is the same package as I was on previously (£64-65 pm due to go up to well in excess of £100 in March when contract ends) so on the one hand it’s good that now cheaper but on the other it is not as cheap as Dareusj £50pm and PZ19 (equivalent to £50pm too given has HD Sky Sports). I did mention these prices in our call but could not get any lower than £59. Person I spoke to said it is the case that the system will sometimes generate different prices for different customers even if on the same package.

PZ19 - you mentioned your Dad was on £66pm but with HD so effectively same as my £59pm..is this something he got from outbound retentions call recently too or more historic?

I doubt if I call up and say I’ve changed mind that I’ll get anywhere (though nothing to lose) and the risk I suppose if I go through with changing mind and ‘re-cancel’ is that retentions don’t call back again or if they do that this time the price is actually higher than £59.

My dad got called by a field sales rep, a week ago last Friday, who also doubles up on retention deals.  He got same as you except sports were in Hd.  He pays £66, the difference to yours is the £7 they charge for sports Hd I assume. Prior to that he was paying £65 but like you going up to way over £130 if I remember.  Other sites have reported that they call you back a few times.  In my experience I’ve always gone with first call and tried to get nest price.  My last retentions deal for same package with Hd sports was £56 finishes in July so I’m fully expecting it to go up quite a bit.  I seem to recall Sky charge them for Hd so don’t have huge leeway on the sports Hd price