Is this a mis-sell by Virgin?

TheStretchedElf

Recently changed my package with virgin after speaking to retentions and my options boiled down to the following:

1. Drop down to 50mb for £34pm
2. Stay on 100mb for £36pm
3. Increase to 150mb for £34pm for 6 months then £37 thereafter

I chose option 3 (it seemed like a no-brainer).

However, after receiving the new contract in an email it shows that the £37pm is actually part of an 18 month loyalty discount, after which the cost per month will be £45. This was never mentioned to me during the phone conversation and I agreed to the package on the basis of understanding £37pm to be the non-discounted price.

Just wondering what I should do... I'm already using the new service as they sent me a replacement router out straight away and I activated the new services when I got it. My ideal solution would be to continue with the service on the price I thought I'd agreed to, ie 150mb for £37pm (£34 for 6 months). Any advice?

Thank you

onomatopoeia99

After 18 months you will be free to leave so what the price is after that is unimportant. You can just go elsewhere. Further, if you expect the provider to guarantee prices beyond the length of your minimum term, then you are going to struggle to find anyone that will supply you.

TheStretchedElf

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

After 18 months you will be free to leave so what the price is after that is unimportant. You can just go elsewhere. Further, if you expect the provider to guarantee prices beyond the length of your minimum term, then you are going to struggle to find anyone that will supply you.

I take your points, but after reading the contract I was left feeling that I'd been deceived through omission. Why not tell me the real price it will revert to is £45? It certainly feels like I've agreed to one thing and got another. And while I don't expect prices to remain static I think at the point of sale the full price I would end up paying when discounts had expired should have been disclosed. I wasn't even told the £37pm was part of a discount.

[Deleted User]

TheStretchedElf wrote: »

I take your points, but after reading the contract I was left feeling that I'd been deceived through omission. Why not tell me the real price it will revert to is £45? It certainly feels like I've agreed to one thing and got another. And while I don't expect prices to remain static I think at the point of sale the full price I would end up paying when discounts had expired should have been disclosed. I wasn't even told the £37pm was part of a discount.

Presumably the length of contract was mentioned at some point? 6 months @ £34 and then 12 months @ £37 or 18 months mentioned (presuming this is for 18 months).

They're not required to state the price after your contract has ended I don't think and expecting them to guarantee the price for ever more is just silly.

jb66

It doesnt matter as when virgin put the price up annually you can renegotiate prices again

kwikbreaks

Renegotiation is VM's business model - it keeps people locked in and any that don't agree with the lock ins will be paying way over the odds. Having people in a minimum term is pretty much essential to retain them through the almost inevitable local oversubscription which can see speeds plummet and takes them months to fix.

AndyPK

I reckon you will have restarted a 12 month contract
and given you a discount for 18 months.

The prices are just the way they have to work the system to get you a good deal

AmIBeingRobbed

Yet another case of a telephone & Broadband Supplier saying or suggesting one thing and contracting for another. Sad that OFCOM will not regulate cowboys out of the industry which has reduced getting a phone service to a game of smoke and mirrors. The real problem is it is virtually impossible to check everything stated is in the contract.

If you are better off on the old agreement or another one with them, you could probably revert on the basis of a mistake....i.e. There was no agreement because the terms were not clear.

[Deleted User]

AmIBeingRobbed wrote: »

Yet another case of a telephone & Broadband Supplier saying or suggesting one thing and contracting for another. Sad that OFCOM will not regulate cowboys out of the industry which has reduced getting a phone service to a game of smoke and mirrors. The real problem is it is virtually impossible to check everything stated is in the contract.

If you are better off on the old agreement or another one with them, you could probably revert on the basis of a mistake....i.e. There was no agreement because the terms were not clear.

Except that doesn't seem to be the case here.

He's getting a discounted deal and at the end of the contract it'll revert to their full price. If he doesn't want to pay that he either renegotiates before the end of the deal or he schedules a cancellation and goes elsewhere.

He wants to pay the discounted price forever and a day.