Virgin Media retention deals (post your haggling successes)

frosch411

There was just no budging on Virgin's side at all; called them for a third time today and all that could be done was an offset of the £7 increase to my current £23/m for 125mb. 
From May, I'll pay £24.40 until my contract runs out in MAR-2024.
What a slog 

Anon

frosch411 said:

There was just no budging on Virgin's side at all; called them for a third time today and all that could be done was an offset of the £7 increase to my current £23/m for 125mb. 
From May, I'll pay £24.40 until my contract runs out in MAR-2024.
What a slog 

Have you CANCELLED as mentioned regularly on this thread? 99% of the time the best deals are offered only if you cancel. A few people have secured a better deal by threatening to leave. Most have had to actually put their cancellation in (you can cancel the cancellation if it backfires, you have 30 days). If you haven't cancelled then in most cases you won't get the best deal as they cannot physically see it on their system (so they aren't just being awkward or not budging, computer says no). Inbound cancellations is just a glorified Customer Service team with limited options to pacify/keep you. Once you cancel, it moves you to Outbound Retentions/changes the settings which may open up different options to keep you.

Outbound don't always call back, but in most cases do (make sure you have checked your marketing settings to allow VM sales calls). Whether you are happy with the offer is then a separate challenge, as they offer different people different offers. 

Good luck.

frosch411

Anon said:

frosch411 said:

There was just no budging on Virgin's side at all; called them for a third time today and all that could be done was an offset of the £7 increase to my current £23/m for 125mb. 
From May, I'll pay £24.40 until my contract runs out in MAR-2024.
What a slog 

Have you CANCELLED as mentioned regularly on this thread? 99% of the time the best deals are offered only if you cancel. A few people have secured a better deal by threatening to leave. Most have had to actually put their cancellation in (you can cancel the cancellation if it backfires, you have 30 days). If you haven't cancelled then in most cases you won't get the best deal as they cannot physically see it on their system (so they aren't just being awkward or not budging, computer says no). Inbound cancellations is just a glorified Customer Service team with limited options to pacify/keep you. Once you cancel, it moves you to Outbound Retentions/changes the settings which may open up different options to keep you.

Outbound don't always call back, but in most cases do (make sure you have checked your marketing settings to allow VM sales calls). Whether you are happy with the offer is then a separate challenge, as they offer different people different offers. 

Good luck.

They already identified themselves as retention, and marketing preferences all on.
Have contemplated to go through with cancellation, but cannot deal with the hassle nor the knowledge that it's not a guarantee they'll call to tempt me back as I need the www to WFH (I am a perma WFH employee where decent speeds are vital).
So in the end budged.
Let's see what will happen in 11 months time when the contract runs out 

humax123

frosch411 said:

Anon said:

frosch411 said:

There was just no budging on Virgin's side at all; called them for a third time today and all that could be done was an offset of the £7 increase to my current £23/m for 125mb. 
From May, I'll pay £24.40 until my contract runs out in MAR-2024.
What a slog 

Have you CANCELLED as mentioned regularly on this thread? 99% of the time the best deals are offered only if you cancel. A few people have secured a better deal by threatening to leave. Most have had to actually put their cancellation in (you can cancel the cancellation if it backfires, you have 30 days). If you haven't cancelled then in most cases you won't get the best deal as they cannot physically see it on their system (so they aren't just being awkward or not budging, computer says no). Inbound cancellations is just a glorified Customer Service team with limited options to pacify/keep you. Once you cancel, it moves you to Outbound Retentions/changes the settings which may open up different options to keep you.

Outbound don't always call back, but in most cases do (make sure you have checked your marketing settings to allow VM sales calls). Whether you are happy with the offer is then a separate challenge, as they offer different people different offers. 

Good luck.

They already identified themselves as retention, and marketing preferences all on.
Have contemplated to go through with cancellation, but cannot deal with the hassle nor the knowledge that it's not a guarantee they'll call to tempt me back as I need the www to WFH (I am a perma WFH employee where decent speeds are vital).
So in the end budged.
Let's see what will happen in 11 months time when the contract runs out 

Grow a pair and cancel,

mits999

frosch411 said:

Anon said:

frosch411 said:

There was just no budging on Virgin's side at all; called them for a third time today and all that could be done was an offset of the £7 increase to my current £23/m for 125mb. 
From May, I'll pay £24.40 until my contract runs out in MAR-2024.
What a slog 

Have you CANCELLED as mentioned regularly on this thread? 99% of the time the best deals are offered only if you cancel. A few people have secured a better deal by threatening to leave. Most have had to actually put their cancellation in (you can cancel the cancellation if it backfires, you have 30 days). If you haven't cancelled then in most cases you won't get the best deal as they cannot physically see it on their system (so they aren't just being awkward or not budging, computer says no). Inbound cancellations is just a glorified Customer Service team with limited options to pacify/keep you. Once you cancel, it moves you to Outbound Retentions/changes the settings which may open up different options to keep you.

Outbound don't always call back, but in most cases do (make sure you have checked your marketing settings to allow VM sales calls). Whether you are happy with the offer is then a separate challenge, as they offer different people different offers. 

Good luck.

They already identified themselves as retention, and marketing preferences all on.
Have contemplated to go through with cancellation, but cannot deal with the hassle nor the knowledge that it's not a guarantee they'll call to tempt me back as I need the www to WFH (I am a perma WFH employee where decent speeds are vital).
So in the end budged.
Let's see what will happen in 11 months time when the contract runs out 

You need to cancel otherwise they will have your pants down!

andylad72

andylad72 said:

andylad72 said:

Currently £54 a month for M350 BB (Volt boosted), Maxit TV, Talk Weekends, V6 box and a TiVo box in a second room. Due to increase by £15 a month with the price increase. Spoke to retentions today who offered a £15 a month discount until my contract runs out at end of July, then price will jump to £85 per month. Declined that offer and handed in my cancellation. Will wait for the call and report back.

So...first call today from VM. Best the chap could do was to keep my package at the same price on a new 18 month contract, but no protection against April 2024 price increases. Declined the offer as I don't think that's their best deal. I'm happy to leave so will wait and see. Anyone sat through multiple retentions calls to get the best new deal, or is it one call and one offer only?

So, had a subsequent e-mail offering me my same package for £44 a month for another 18 months. Phoned up the 0203-743-6947 number to check the details on that as was unsure if it would include my second box. All options explored to reduce cost further as additional box was adding £10 a month making it £54. 
In the end, after much searching and having my second box upgraded from Tivo to V360, I settled on the price for another 18 months with no price increase this year.
So, after all that I will be paying the same as I am at the moment for the same package, with an upgraded second box, and no price increase this year.
£270 saved over next 18 months was worth 2 or 3 phone calls. Really was the best I could get this time round. Good luck all!

powerful_Rogue

Crafty sods. When I phoned up on the 24th Feb they offered me a new contract for 18 months at the same price with no changes to services. (You can see from my posts in this thread on that date)

That new contract started on the 26th March and noticed my broadband speed had dropped. Well it seems the dishonest sales person dropped me down to M50, which when boosted with volt makes it M125. Not the same as I was on before, M125 boosted with volt to M250.

Just put a complaint into VM and also requested a copy of the call recording via SAR.

PZ19

Just sorted my dads out, spoke to a very helpful lady in the North East. Currently pays £66 for maxit, sky sports Hd and 200mb..bill was going up 1st May to £87.  Auto discount was £10.75pm, but got through within 5 mins to a real person who applied a discount to make it £11 cheaper than he pays now for next 3 months and then £5 cheaper for final month of contract in August.  Can do the ringing up at renewal time again.  Surprisingly very easy, saving money all for 10 mins phone call.

bignred05

Phoned up earlier today.
got through within minutes to be fair, although it took nearly 30 minutes on the Phone.

currently paying £20 for M250 Broadband only (with Volt/O2 add on included) was going up to £27.

Initial offer was 3 months reduced to £16, then £23 a month
Thanks but No thanks.
oh hold on, I'll just check a few other options there are then.
Next offer, 3 months reduced to £16, then £21.40 a month (So, only an increase of £1.40 Sir)
Thanks, but no thanks I'll give you 30 days cancellation notice.

OK I'll transfer you to cancelations 
*i went from a UK contact centre to a foreign contact centre then.

straight away they offered to waive any increase and stick with the £20.
took longer waiting for her to update details then anything else.

requested and was told I would get a copy of a new/updated contract confirming details.
also mentioned the fact this call is being recorded, yeah.

Overall very pleased with myself.

Timotheus

Current package - 

Broadband: M250 Fibre Broadband
TV: Maxit TV, Virgin V6 Box, Sky Sports Collection, Sky Sports HD
Phone: Weekend Chatter

£76 but going up soon.

1st April - Contacted VM via Whatsapp to see what deals were available. Went through the usual Bot (round in circles) and got through to an agent. I was offered a new deal that was £78 but I said I couldn't afford it. Proceeded to cancel, was offered £75 due to being loyal customer - £1 off by current contract for being loyal. Then he told me that I was not allowed a better deal because it is for new customers only and I was once a new customer and already had a deal. I then said that I could be a new customer with Sky and get cashback through my work scheme saving me lots of money (which is true). He then said he would look to find a new package for me. Heard nothing. I wrote back and it put me right at the start again with the Bot. He must have hung up on me. 

2nd April - Tried again but with the full intention to cancel. Went through the same bot scenario until I got through to an agent. I mentioned I wanted to cancel. They offered me a deal for same package for £88. More than yesterday and totally ignored my reasonings for not being able to afford £76 I currently pay. Ended up being a waste of time so I kept pushing to cancel with this being day 1 of my 30 day notice. They then told me that they will cancel me but gave me a disconnection date that was less than 30 days. I made them change that despite them blaming the system. This was changed quickly by them when I called them out. 

3rd April - Got a call from the loyalty team. The person told asked me why I was leaving. I explained and they understood. They asked if they could put together a package. They offered me the exact same package that I am currently on for £58 - £18 less than I am currently paying. I am sure I could have pushed a bit harder but to be honest I was happy with that deal so I accepted. 

I think the person told me that I could add a sim to my deal for £6 and it would enable a broadband boost. I haven't done the research so I wasn't sure what the person meant. Does that ring a bell with anyone here? They said I could add that at a future date if it was something I wanted.  


Conclusion:

Whatsapp was a waste of time and frustrating. The only positive is that you have what they say in text (for evidence). After cancelling (which I was definitely going to do due to how annoyed I was), the phone call from loyalty was a breath of fresh air and actually made me feel like a loyal customer. I'm sure I could have pushed harder but I am satisfied with that offer and happy to pay it. I just wish we didn't have to deal with all the unnecessary hassle to get a reasonable price. 

Broadband: M250 Fibre Broadband
TV: Maxit TV, Virgin V6 Box, Sky Sports Collection, Sky Sports HD
Phone: Weekend Chatter

Was £76 (and rising) now £58