We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Virgin Media, crikey....
Victorthe2nd
Posts: 54 Forumite
Just thought I'd share this. I've been a Virgin Media customer for many,many years. Until this month, I was paying £56 per month for 'phone, TV and broadband. I got an email from Virgin saying they were going to increase that to £85 per month - that's about a 50% increase!! So, on the 'phone I go and we agree at £64 per month on an 18 month contract.
8 days after agreeing to that, they email me to say that as part of their annual increase, my bill will increase by £12 per month.
Back on the 'phone I go.
During the automation / identity check process, I get a message saying that if I press option 1 at this point, my increase would "only be £6 per month". I ignored that and duly got to the Retentions Team who started the conversation by admiring how long I'd been with Virgin Media for. "Yes", I said, "It's called loyalty and I expect the same in return".
Anyway, I now have a new 18 month contract (just 8 days after the last one) at £63 per month which is lower than it was when we agreed a contract 8 days ago.
During the conversation, the lady advised that the most recent email advising the £12 per month increase was standard Virgin Media increase of "RPI plus 3.9%". To be fair, she was very uncomplimentary about the fact that Virgin had tacked on an additional 3.9% on top of an already high RPI. I've noted that, in the contract, they say that the price will increase in 18 months to £79 per month, so they're using today's RPI (plus 3.9%) irrespective of what RPI may be in 18 months time.
I just thought a) what price loyalty unless you make the effort to call them and b) what a bizarre sequence of events c) how can they possibly call an agreement a "contract". The moral is, of course, speak to these people if they try to enforce unacceptable price increases.
8 days after agreeing to that, they email me to say that as part of their annual increase, my bill will increase by £12 per month.
Back on the 'phone I go.
During the automation / identity check process, I get a message saying that if I press option 1 at this point, my increase would "only be £6 per month". I ignored that and duly got to the Retentions Team who started the conversation by admiring how long I'd been with Virgin Media for. "Yes", I said, "It's called loyalty and I expect the same in return".
Anyway, I now have a new 18 month contract (just 8 days after the last one) at £63 per month which is lower than it was when we agreed a contract 8 days ago.
During the conversation, the lady advised that the most recent email advising the £12 per month increase was standard Virgin Media increase of "RPI plus 3.9%". To be fair, she was very uncomplimentary about the fact that Virgin had tacked on an additional 3.9% on top of an already high RPI. I've noted that, in the contract, they say that the price will increase in 18 months to £79 per month, so they're using today's RPI (plus 3.9%) irrespective of what RPI may be in 18 months time.
I just thought a) what price loyalty unless you make the effort to call them and b) what a bizarre sequence of events c) how can they possibly call an agreement a "contract". The moral is, of course, speak to these people if they try to enforce unacceptable price increases.
0
Comments
-
Whats your package?
Seems like a bad deal imo.
A family member got M350, Maxit TV and weekend phone for £38 today. Originally it was £57
You should have either spoken to outbound retentions 020 3743 6947 or called to cancel and then awaited a call from outbound retentions0 -
OK, well thanks. I thought I'd done OK. Appreciate the contact numbers though.0
-
what was the package you were offered for the £63Victorthe2nd said:OK, well thanks. I thought I'd done OK. Appreciate the contact numbers though.0
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.4K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.8K Spending & Discounts
- 244.4K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.2K Life & Family
- 258K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards