VIRGIN MEDIA horrible company but NOT blackmailers....

Nonum2018

EDIT *** I AM NOT ACTUALLY BEING BLACKMAILED - VM ARE NOT FORCING ME TO DO SOMETHING  - VM ARE NOT THREATENING ME  - BLAH BLAH BLAH *********

Like many my £85 vm deal is expiring and jumping to £147.  I can't afford to pay that and actually dont want to keep the full package any longer so cant really afford £60-£70 plus any longer.

Ive gone round in circles for days with VM on whatsapp (horrible horrible service - thats another story) and also compained on th eVM community and be in talks with the forum team over PM's.

To sumarise - they have acceptable new customer deals around £45 - sky have deal at £50 with neflix (so save my netflix sub approx £10).  cheapest deal I got offered was approx £67 (included a £10 discount for similar package). Still too much, fedup of this song and dance with VM every 12 - 18months so I confirmed my canceltion.

NOW the dance is over and the disgusting BLACKMAIL begins....

I have Lila connect in my area so can get full 1GB broadband at £30 - however there is a wait time for instal. Im think ok, strip my package to boradband or minimum package whatever and pay FULL price (no discount obviousley) rolling until its installed.  The answer NO - They cant offer anything.  My only options 
1. go on a new 18 month deal
2. Pay £147 rolling to keep my connection live until new connection is live
3. Go through with cancelation - LOSE my broadband until i get something new setup

I work from home - I HAVE to have broadband.  They are FORCING me to pay £147 (which i have said i CANNOT AFFORD) to stay connected until my new connection can go live. This I feel is disgusting!!! 

Does anyone have any advice on what i can do?   Only thing I can think is pay or increase phone contracts temporarily and try hotspotting :-( 
 

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure on where the disgusting blackmail is coming in.

You have a choice of cancelling, going onto a rolling contract or taking a new deal. There's no blackmail element, unless they've also got hold of some nude pictures of you or something.

Why not use some form of mobile wifi if you don't want to go onto a rolling contract?

Nonum2018

The blackmail is the fact to keep broadband for the period between my new install and contract ending I must pay £147.

they won’t let me pay a full price now discount broadband only.

SO … as I said - I lose my broadband and have to tether to a phone OR Pay £147. 

They won’t strip my services and let me pay FULL PRICE - I’m not asking for discount here - for broadband only on rolling temporarily.

it’s a straight PAY or Lose it. 

I said already I would go to a FULL PRICE rolling contract to keep temporarily- They are telling me I can’t take a different package it’s £147 or nothing. 

Brie

I'd keep phoning them up and asking why they can't give you the same service offered to new customers.  And again.  And again.

Nonum2018

To be honest I am sick of the dance and happy to leave now - i spent days talking to them through whatsapp and then the forum. Itried ringing, on hold for an age then got cutoff - they didnt call back.  Its too expensive anyway in my current situtation, Ive been with VM for over 10 years - and always paid for a deal im happy to afford  - as soon as i actually need to reduce my package for the first time,  they still want to charge more than I can afford and I can finally get better fibre deal elsewhere.

My problem is i need the broadband to work from home - yes I can use mobile for a while - but its not ideal - plus kids will be without internet for gaming/streaming.

ladruid

I unfortunately go though this every 18 months with Virgin so empathise with you. It sounds like they gave you various options, and although you might not like the options, they are your options to choose. This is business not blackmail.

A 4G/5G router and unlimited monthly rolling Giffgaff 5G sim is a viable option for those who need Internet access without the contractual commitments. Yes, you need to buy a 4G/5G router, but at least your kids would have Internet access and you could run it on a month by month basis till you main Internet provider of choice is installed.

Regards
La

Jenni_D

They are not obliged to offer you a month-by-month (rolling) contract of a lower plan - declining to do so is NOT blackmail. Therefore your options are as per @Deleted_User above.

OR - for broadband only what about going mobile (MiFi) for a short period? You can get SIM-only plans that have either a data limit or a monthly rolling contract. That might tide you over.

Nonum2018

Apologies to anyone/everyone I seem to have offended by saying im being blackmailed!!!
 
NO they do not hold information over me that they are threatening to release  if i dont comply. NO they arent forcing me to do any criminal activity where etc... etc...

YES I do have other options I know this and they have given me 2 options.  Stay for another 18 months or pay £147 rolling.

To be clear, by the legal definition I DO NOT ACTUALLY think I am being blackmailed. 

I AM very angry with there treatment of my situation and very very frustrated at the options availble.

I cant afford to pay £147 per month.

I am a long term customer, spent lots of money over the years, accepted plenty of deals because they were reasonable enough and I was too lazy to move provider.

They dont want to offer me a deal I find acceptable - fair enough - thats their choice as a business and my choice to accept or move on.

I am happy to move on, they are happy to lose me as a moaning customer - no one has loyalty as we all know - its down to money.

Whatever word you want to use to describe it - that wont offended everyone as its not technically correct -  Im not sure,  they leave me no viable option but to lose my internet and get some sort of temporary solution setup in place. "Gimmie £147pm or bye bye, on your way, have fun sorting something else out and spending more money on a temporary solution". 

I repeat - I am happy as I am leaving them (MY CHOICE) to pay whatever the FULL cost, no discount etc... just to keep internet alive OR FULL LIST PRICE whatever - cost of minumum package  I can to keep running for a while.  They refuse to offer anything like this.  They sell sell sell - I stupidly accepted what was a good offer at the time and could afford  - and now Im literaly STUCK on that last package with NO alternative to reduce my cost without signing on for 18 months.



 

ladruid

Have you spoken to other providers to see the lead time for getting their services installed?

Plusnet 'say' they aim to install it in 5-10 days, would be well within your months cancellation period for Virgin. Also its not too expensive at £25 a month for 70mbit fibre, downside is the 18 month contract.

Regards
La

Nonum2018

Thanks ladruid

I’m moving to fibre, so can’t sign up for a new contract. Just been looking at 4G routers so possible temp option. Amazon seem to have some around £60-£70 plus £35 for a unlimited gift gaff sim.  - that may be the route I have to go down :-( 

Just SO SO frustrated that I have to shell out for something like this for the sake of 2-3 months when I already have all the VM equipment and connections but have no options to keep going that I can afford

ladruid

What you suggest is what I have had to do for one of my clients. They moved to a farmhouse and had no Internet so as a stop gap they has a TP-Link M7350 4G LTE MiFi from Amazon (about £65) paired with the Giffgaff £35 unlimited golden goodybag. Its out in the sticks but still gets about 28mbit a sec. Was good enough to stream Sky and was decent enough for VPN access to corporate servers. The Data usage was about 350GB a month and Giffgaff never seemed to complain.

Regards
La