Virgin Media Haggling

PZ19

Silvia2001 said:

In my area Virgin Media is the only provider of broadband. There is no openreach network. They may be aware of the situation. I don't know how to bargain for a better deal as I can not leave them. I can pretend but in the end I should get what they offer. Any hints? 

Just ask, tell them you are struggling to meet your bills, and is there anything they can do to reduce the amount.  If they cant then you can still say well in that case I will have to live without the internet for a while and put cancellation in.  You have 30 days then to change your mind or if no one calls you back with a better offer to keep you.  The first call you make should save you money if you don’t want to go through the rigmarole of putting in a cancellation notice

chacal25563

Dreadful recent experience with Virgin Media. I'm a legacy customer VM inherited from Ntl and have benefited over the years from various loyalty deductions. Contacted them mid January to discuss contract in light of price hike - stood to lose deductions with current contract in July so wanted to negotiate extension of loyalty benefits. 

Wasn't happy with offer (£38/month for 50 Mbs Broadband and basic TV package) so said I was was leaving. Broadband services immediately disconnected despite the 30 day cancellation period. Took 4 days to get services reconnected since when received welcome email to VM as a new customer on the same package on an 18 month contact for £56.

Continued to get conflicting emails from VM stating that on the one hand I would be disconnected on 28th Feb and others confirming a new contract and a £56 bill payable on 10th Feb.

Finally spoke to someone yesterday reiterated that I did not agree to the new contract and would be leaving VM. Was told that my services would be disconnected on 18th Feb, that I should pay £56 bill and that I would receive £19.10 refund. Requested written confirmation of refund, ideally as a revised bill, told that this was not possible.

This morning (31.01.22) I received an SMS from VM informing me that a technician would be calling today to collect by router and Tivo box.

Unable to log onto VM account to check contract status due to technical problems at their end.

This strikes me as wilful incompetence that borders on vindictiveness.

Could anyone enlighten me on their experience of leaving VM and advise on whether I should take it on trust that I will receive the refund (its not clear what I am being refunded on)?

Fatboywhoosh

Called VM today on their 0800 952 2277 number, as I also have received a letter confirming the £5+ per month increase. In addition to this increase, my current contract deal ends in April (TV, phone & BB), so the total increase from that point would have put me up to around £85 per month. After going through the usual automated systems, I didn't need to wait very long before I was speaking to one of their assistants. For me this was a very positive outcome, as I am now paying £48 per month, which is a lower cost to that I was making before I made the call. Granted I did need to agree to an 18 month contract, but this was something I was very happy to do, as I normally try to set up a longer term contract.
For me it was certainly the right thing to do, so I would encourage others to give it a go (or try again), as it worked for me.

sjaeagle5

My recent experience with VM:-
My price was potentially due to go up by 65% as my contract was coming to an end.
If I wanted to just keep on going with no intervention the cost would've been £53.
I spoke to Customer Retentions and the best they could offer me was £48 for 18 months.
The CR department advised me that they offer better deals to customers who have 3 or more services with them.  As I only have 2, the discounts are not as good.
I said I would need to cancel so was put through to the Disconnections department.
Their offer of £33 pcm (phone (talk more anytime) & 200M broadband (Volt)) was a lot nearer the mark than I had hoped for, so I went for that.
I saved myself a potential £360 over 18 months.
It took me 4 phone calls (150) and 2 failed WhatsApp chats to get this done as it was a few days ago when their systems were not working properly.

jjklubklass

Ive been with Virgin media for years, been paying £35 just for internet and had a letter saying it's going up to £38.50 next month so I decided to look around at other deals, seen Vodaphone are doing a deal for £19 a month for 24 months and a free Amazon £100 gift card, the speed with Vodaphone was only half the speed of Virgin but I thought at least I’m ready with a real deal if they ask who I want to leave to go with, so I phoned Virgin up (17 mins to get through) and said I want to leave as the bills are too much, he then said I can give you double the speed you have now and lock the price at £35 for 18 months? I told him its nothing to do with the speed as the service is great, but I want to get my bill down to around half the cost, he said that the best he could do so would I like to be put through to cancelation, I told him yes, waited another 20 mins to get through and explained it all again, the girl was lovely, she said you have been with us for so many years and she would love for us to stay, let's see what she could do for us, after a few mins of me telling her what I was going for with Vodaphone she came back with "we can offer you what you are on now (108MB) and reduce the cost to £20.00 a month for 18 months"! Well, I obviously jumped at the offer, I didn’t want to leave Virgin as I’ve never had an issue and the service and internet is great, but just goes to show if you are persistent you may get a much better deal, so I’ve saved over 18 months £270 if the price had stayed at £35 a month or saved £333 with the price increase next month 

PZ19

jjklubklass said:

Ive been with Virgin media for years, been paying £35 just for internet and had a letter saying it's going up to £38.50 next month so I decided to look around at other deals, seen Vodaphone are doing a deal for £19 a month for 24 months and a free Amazon £100 gift card, the speed with Vodaphone was only half the speed of Virgin but I thought at least I’m ready with a real deal if they ask who I want to leave to go with, so I phoned Virgin up (17 mins to get through) and said I want to leave as the bills are too much, he then said I can give you double the speed you have now and lock the price at £35 for 18 months? I told him its nothing to do with the speed as the service is great, but I want to get my bill down to around half the cost, he said that the best he could do so would I like to be put through to cancelation, I told him yes, waited another 20 mins to get through and explained it all again, the girl was lovely, she said you have been with us for so many years and she would love for us to stay, let's see what she could do for us, after a few mins of me telling her what I was going for with Vodaphone she came back with "we can offer you what you are on now (108MB) and reduce the cost to £20.00 a month for 18 months"! Well, I obviously jumped at the offer, I didn’t want to leave Virgin as I’ve never had an issue and the service and internet is great, but just goes to show if you are persistent you may get a much better deal, so I’ve saved over 18 months £270 if the price had stayed at £35 a month or saved £333 with the price increase next month 

Great work.  Where’s that Vodafone offer? I know someone who may be interested in that

starskys2505

I have to say that I had a very positive experience with VM.

Out of contract so already in a good position, did my research and found I could get roughly the same speed broadband (380Mb) with another provider, but for significantly less. I also had going to Freeview in my back pocket.

Gave them a call, (Sunday aftternoon) bypassing straight to the retentions team and got straight through. Told them I wasn't happy with the price increase and needed to save money. 

Didn't accept the first offer, so they offered a further discount, ending up with an increase in the BB speed keeping my existing TV package and still saving over £20pm and around £400 over 18 months.  

Happy bunny. Do your research I know what you are looking to achieve at then end of the call.

dander

Got an absolute brick wall out of Virgin today. Was on Broadband, TV, and phone and been with Virgin for 15 years out of contract for a while so paying way over the odds, which I suspect is the problem, I think they had a mark on my account that I was an easy target for the high prices.

I've always stuck with Virgin because I have no TV aerial on my house so can't get Freeview and don't have a BT line, so would have to pay their connection fee before I could sign to any non-cable broadband. I had already decided to get rid of TV because I'd rather use that money to pay for streaming services so I stumped up for a new house aerial a few weeks ago and I thought I would just cancel that and keep landline and broadband. I'm still reeling from the price they offered me - £48!!! They kept saying "The price today for YOU..." like they knew they were offering me way more than the fair price. Even after I pointed out that new customers were getting the same service for £28 and after 18 months that price went up to £45, so £48 wasn't even the standard price, it was an extra expensive one just for me, they still wouldn't drop a single penny! 

My mind is pretty boggled that other people get offered big reductions and I seem to be the one person on the planet they just offer a surcharge for paying them too much for too long. I didn't accept of course. I just cancelled the whole lot on the spot. I'd rather suck up the charge for reconnecting to a BT line than deal with a company like Virgin any more. At least with a BT line, I'll have the freedom to just switch providers every time I'm out of contract and not have to bother with Virgin's games.

PZ19

Friend called today, their 100mb going up from £30 at end contract shortly to £54.25.  First offer was £36, got put through to cancellations they offered £27 with 10gb sim, or £30 without sim!  50mb was £24.  He cancelled.

khickey88

I called up yesterday and as I don't care about the TV channels I've got I'm happy with freeview they offered me.. 
100mb broadband 
Lowest TV package (freeview) 
Talk weekends(which I don't use)
All for £50 a month 
Does this seem expensive? 
Should I ask to cancel to see if they can offer better?