Got a surprise deal out of Virgin Media - and I hate haggling

tanyo78 · 24 February 2022 at 9:21PM

“Haggling” with Virgin Media really works - but it’s not really haggling, it’s just being prepared.

My village can only get fibre/cable broadband from Virgin Media - so they have no competition. I felt sure this was going to be a problem for me.

I missed the end of our Virgin Media contract (Previously £28/m and, for the final month £32. This was for M100 with landline plus weekend calls). I am uncomfortable with haggling and probably was just avoiding it. When this month’s bill for £51 turned up, I changed my attitude!

After looking at advice on MSE, I got my facts together. I knew the figures I needed: my own bill details; what VM was offering new customers; and what other companies were offering (elsewhere)

I also knew why I would leave if there wasn’t a reasonable discount offered. As a pensioner I cannot afford to be wasteful. A high price was “more than I could afford”. This, to me, isn’t haggling - it’s simply matter of fact.

How much discount was I looking for? No idea! But definitely back to £32!

It took me three days to get through to VM but eventually I got there. A polite woman with fluent English but a strong Asian accent dealt with me. Being old and a bit deaf was a problem for me - which I explained to her. I took the MSE advice and was polite myself. I immediately explained to the rep that I could not afford the current price. She then offered me the same features - except double the download rate (200Mb!) for £32. I felt fairly happy with this.

However, I recalled some advice that suggested not accepting the first offer. I said I wished to discuss the cost with my wife and could I ring back about this. The rep said OK but could not guarantee that the offer would definitely still be available. Fear of missing out almost crept in - but my good preparation reminded me that, if I did miss out, it was no different to having walked away in the first place.

A brief chat with with my other half confirmed the deal was acceptable. I rang VM back half an hour later and said I was calling once again about the cost of my account. The new rep (as before, polite, fluent English, strong Asian accent a bit hard to understand) immediately offered me the same features as in the earlier call - but for £25!

The reality had been that it had taken very little effort on my part to “negotiate” this deal.

By the way, in the details, this is nothing to do with the Volt offer - I don’t use O2 for my mobile.

But it was nice to know I didn’t have to “haggle” and got something “extra”..