Virgin media tv/broadband /phone bundle rip off

tikiwagon

We have been a customer of Virgin Media for approximately 14 years, over the years we have added certain items to the package and wanted another Tivo box added this year, so I rang and went through the costs with the lady on the phone and agreed that it would cost roughly £33.67 a month, which was fine for the first few months and then last month we ended up with a bill of £55.87 for a month, so I rang to query this, I was told that I had to now pay for line rental, which when I asked the lady on the phone how much it was going to cost a month total, I was told the £33.00 figure, so I asked to have the phone line removed, but was told that it would only take roughly a £1.00 off of the bill? I was absolutely disgusted that this was not explained to me when I asked before we bought the extra Tivo box, it isn’t like we have anything flash, we have internet, home phone (which never gets used and is for a small part time business), and 2 bog standard Tivo boxes, with no other upgrades and it costs this much a month? There are so many offers out there for people, that I am thinking of moving, The main question is why do they not do a good deal with just tv and broadband and bump up line rental and phone, They dont like you not having that on the deal.

bengalknights

What you gotta do is leave and hold out, retentions will then call you.

kwikbreaks

There is a very good chance that they started a fresh minimum term when you changed your package. Cancelling now could be very expensive unless you are within 30 days of being notified of an increase. This is the way VM do business.

spencer_dd

I have had the same trouble with Virgin Media saying one thing and finding out it was wrong. I have left them and gone with BT. The customer services told me not to return their Tivo box and recyle it which I have. They have since told me they will charge me £80 if I don't return it. A battle is on.
I think we all need to record all our phone conversations with these big companies.

tikiwagon

Thanks for the help, Looks like we will get nowhere with them as always, Still don't understand why they cant do a deal without the phone service,I don't want to move as we have broadband with them and i can see changing being a lot of hassle

kwikbreaks

The way it works is that they give a discount on the BB service if you take the phone. That discount is close to the basic phone cost so you save next to nothing by cancelling the phone. You may not even be able to if you use their TV. How they package their services is up to them and it's up to your whether you buy or not.

The main reason they want to push their phone is because their charges are high and they hope you'll use it. You can't even use services such as 18866 without messing about (many offer a freephone access number as well as the carrier preselect). When I was on cable I subscribed to a VOIP service rather than put a phone on their line. I still use it now I'm on a BT based service.

tikiwagon

Thanks for that what is voip service?

JJ_Egan

Voice Over Internet Protocol .

Phone calls over the internet .

kwikbreaks

In my case I use Vonage. It had been £7pm for anytime calls together with caller id but it just shot up to £8,50 which was annoying however I'll probably stick with it as another feature is to forward calls to an app on your mobile and I do spend a lot of time away from home.

phillw

tikiwagon wrote: »

so I rang and went through the costs with the lady on the phone and agreed that it would cost roughly £33.67 a month, which was fine for the first few months and then last month we ended up with a bill of £55.87 for a month, so I rang to query this, I was told that I had to now pay for line rental, which when I asked the lady on the phone how much it was going to cost a month total, I was told the £33.00 figure,

It was common for VM to offer half price line rental for the first part of a 12 month contract, I think ofgem told them off for that as it confuses customers and looking at their prices now they seemed to have stopped it.

I would, first have a look at what new customers pay for what you are receiving & then dig out any emails or paper work you received when signing up. Then phone them up again and ask what you are being charged now and what you were being charged before & why there is a discrepancy. If they say that it was explained to you & you have no record of it then tell them that you were never told this and ask them to listen to the original call.

If they can't prove that they told you, then raise a complaint and demand to be charged what you agreed.

If they did tell you then raise a complaint that their pricing was confusing.

If you would be happy to pay the new customer price then say you'd be willing to accept a new 12 month contract at that price. If they won't then take it to the ombudsman

teddysmum

bengalknights wrote: »

What you gotta do is leave and hold out, retentions will then call you.

That's fine with tv, but difficult when phone and internet are involved, as a cease would be charged.


Virgin are different, but with such as Sky, the advice is to cancel and have tv cut off but only leave with phone/internet, if you are migrating elsewhere . (Virgin differs in that going from its cable system involves a cease anyway.)