Virgin Media have me trapped, what is best to do? 17 March 2022 at 10:35PM in Broadband & internet access 4 replies 194 views

Lisacolesavingmoney

I'm paying £40.25 for super fast broadband and a SIM I didn't want, don't need and have never used. There are 2 of us in the house and a handful of devices, we don't need super fast connectivity.

My contract ends in April 23 and to downgrade to 100mbs (which would cost £33 a month) I have to pay a disconnection fee of £161. To leave Virgin I have to pay a £240 disconnection fee.

Can someone help me check my logic here please.

I can get 100 for £15 a month on a 12 month contract with Onestream (or a few others for close to that price). Adding the £20 a month disconnection fee (£240/12) makes it into £35. If I stay with Virgin on the cheapest they offered me - the M100 at £33 that will cost me £47.(£161/12)

It looks like it is cheapest overall for me to pay the £240 disconnection fee and move to another supplier. That would save me £5 a month.

Is it worth the hassle? 

I've been WhatsApping Virgin Media since 11am, it is now half 9 at night, I can no longer think straight!

PZ19

Don’t what’s app. Call. Explain your situation, you never know they may be sympathetic. Probably unlikely but best to chat to someone.  Only you know if saving a fiver a month is worth the hassle.  I am assuming you have the funds to pay the £240 disconnection fee up front and if you do maybe a fiver a month probably isn’t worth it.  Why did you sign up to a contract that you didn’t want?

Lisacolesavingmoney

Thank you. I'll call tomorrow. I signed the contract when I moved house and to be honest it was so complicated and so stressful I just agreed to everything. I thought it was a shorter contract, I thought the price would be lower for longer. My fault but I didn't have the head space to deal with it properly.

JSmithy45AD

Lisacolesavingmoney said:

Thank you. I'll call tomorrow. I signed the contract when I moved house and to be honest it was so complicated and so stressful I just agreed to everything. I thought it was a shorter contract, I thought the price would be lower for longer. My fault but I didn't have the head space to deal with it properly.

I'd personally just use the current contract and see what offers are available in April 2023, it's not worth the hassle and stress that you've already put yourself through.

phillw

Lisacolesavingmoney said:

It looks like it is cheapest overall for me to pay the £240 disconnection fee and move to another supplier. That would save me £5 a month.

Is it worth the hassle? 

I don't know, figure out how many hours it will take you and decide whether your time is worth £60.

Talk to the company that you are thinking of switching to, in case they have additional fee's for activating the telephone line.

When I switched away from Virgin, I had to give them 30 days notice. But if something goes wrong with the new phone line, then you'd be without any service. So you have to decide whether to overlap and by how much. I also had trouble porting my phone number, it took weeks of hassle.

This was 10 years ago, so it may have improved. I wouldn't recommend Virgin unless you are going to stay with them & if you do decide to leave then you shouldn't be thinking about returning ever. I'm not saying they are bad, but it doesn't really make sense to keep switching to them and away from them based on what other companies are offering.