MSE News: Virgin Media to hit customers with price rise of up to £42/year

lbsagada

Spoke to VM today and a very rude lady tried to convince me that I cannot cancel as my contract is still ongoing. Referred to the wording of their letter then she abruptly told me all services will stop in 30 days and put the phone down. Used the chat service to inquire about the fate of my advance line rental just to be told I won't get a penny back - outrageous! did anyone have similar experience:mad::mad:?

AndyPK

This is the situation with all advance line rental (12 month+)

It's the gamble you take. Pay in advanced and get a discount + no price rises in it for 12m.

However you can't get out of the contract easily without loosing money.

So you choose wisely when you go for LRS, (at the start of a contract when you are on discounts)
but not towards the end. (without good reason)

worried_jim wrote: »

I've binned the phone and TV and gone BB only. All calls are now made through messenger and I have Amazon prime for tv.

How much do you pay for that now?

What speed ?

worried_jim

AndyPK wrote: »

This is the situation with all advance line rental (12 month+)

It's the gamble you take. Pay in advanced and get a discount + no price rises in it for 12m.

However you can't get out of the contract easily without loosing money.

So you choose wisely when you go for LRS, (at the start of a contract when you are on discounts)
but not towards the end. (without good reason)




How much do you pay for that now?

What speed ?

100mb for £32. Used to be on 200 but haven't got over 100mb for three months. I just wanted rid of the phone line but when they evaluated my tv habit it turns out 88% of my viewing can be had on Freeview so I said the tv can go as well. Halved my bill.

Tabers

There appears to be hundreds of disgruntled consumers who agree a 12-month contract with virgin media (broadband) only to find they hike the prices over the course of the 12-month, even though they ask you to agree (e-sign) and sign your contract.

Most of these customers contact virgin only to be told, it's an increase across the board and there is nothing you can do about it, apart from leave. Virgin know the have the fastest speed and too a large degree 'have you over a barrel', if you want fast broadband.
My question is: why with all these customer complaints, does know one champion this cause Ofcom could but apparently do nothing.

So who will, Martin !!!

13paul13

Hi all

I have still not received an email or a letter.

I called Virgin on 28 August 2016 and the operator said that my bill would be going up by £2.48 per month (£3.49 including line rental) from 1 November 2016. I asked if she could send me an email or letter setting this out, but she said she was unable to. However, she said the standard price increase correspondence for my area was "being processed" according to the computer system.

My questions are:
1. As I have been verbally informed by a Virgin employee that my bill will increase, can I give my 30 days notice to leave and not be charged, or do I have to wait until I receive written correspondence?
2. Can I insist that Virgin send me out a letter/email manually (as who knows how long it will take for the computer generated one to arrive)? I want to give my notice as soon as possible.

Kind regards,
Paul

chaotic_j

Hi,

Been with Virgin Media for 6 years, started off with broadband and TV but went to broadband only about 4 years ago. Calls received and made using sipgate (VoIP) landline number watch freeview for TV or streaming services.

Last year I was paying £19.50 for 70Mb my loyalty/deal came to end and did not renegotiate so have been paying £28.25, now received a letter saying increase of £2.99 so will be paying £31.24 come November.

I rang retentions and explained I saw a very good offer for BT Infinity. Told we use 400GB (down) a month and that BT is only fibre to the cabinet, it's not as fast. Said the price was very tempting and Virgin Media free speed increases are not really free (goes up every year to pay for it). He said that the most investment has been made in the XL TV package and unfortunately all other customers have to foot the bill for that.

Offer I was given:

Switch to 50Mb package on 12 month contract, first 6 months £23.25 a month (so £7.99 discount) and then another 6 months £26.25 a month (so £4.99 discount).

I said I wanted to think about it and give my 30 days notice and I was told if I did that 'I may not necessarily have this offer available to me any more - I would not be able to call them back as they don't have a number to speak to them.'?

So I've had the deal saved to my account and have not given notice yet. Apparently if I find a deal that's better I should call and give them details and then actually cancel?

What do you make of this? Don't really want to switch but could save rather a lot.. is BT Infinity a really poor service or something?

Thank you in advance.

AndyPK

Hmmm

So this VOIP? Can you get a local number assigned to it ?

So how do these VOIP phones work? WIFI handset ?
or can you get a box to plug into a standard landline phone?

Dave360180

Got the letter, called up today. Person I spoke to said it wasn't on the system? They gave 6 months worth of £3 credit and then another £20 credit with a bit more prodding.

catlovin_gal11

I think it is all about what is important to you. They keep bringing out all of this wiz bang gadgetry, great if you have the money and don't mind spending it. I had enough of VM last year, as I only had the basic TV bundle, yes broadband was fibre optic, but again it depends what you want. I have TALK TALK, basic bundle, really cheap, and I pay for line rental a year in advance, so even cheaper. I use those booster plugs on my TV and computer, as my modem is in a different room.( Think this may also solve the problem of being further from the exchange, but I am no techno wizard). Catch up TV is great, no problem using it and speed when watching things on internet is fine. If you use a lot of portable devices, it may be different, but I tend to wonder if the praise of Fibre Optic is over the top to sell it. Maybe if you download films, it may load slightly slower. I saved a lot ditching Virgin Media, and for the prices they charge, I don't think I will go back.

tizzle6560

Just got a letter through saying our bill is going up by about £3 a month. Am assuming everyone else has had the same?

Annoyingly in my area, Virgin were the only provider offering fibre optic cabling so not sure I have an alternative I can move to; but wondering if any one else has fought the increase in price?