Virgin Media - New Contract

garichd

Hi All, 

After negotiating with Virgin Media in response to their price increase letter, I received a new contract. However, the contract now states that Virgin Media reserves the right to increase prices at any point during the contract term without providing any further details. Unlike Vodafone, which states that there will be an annual price increase based on CPI, Virgin Media's contract is very open-ended. Do you believe that this term is fair?

Here is a snippet of the clause :

swanseajack47

Virgin are complete bar stewards! We recently received a letter stating that our price increase would be £7 a month for a contract which, up to now, had been costing £24 per month.  That's a 29% increase!  So I rang up and the guy in customer retentions claimed that was correct "because the 'non-discounted' contract price was actually £51".  Luckily, I had the contract in front of me and could see that the £51 referred to the price that the contract would revert to at the end of the contract.  So, basically, he was LYING! Only when challenged on this fact did he then proceed to offer the same services for £25.40 per month until the end of the contract, which we accepted.  Their customer service is awful.

Richardbajor

A little hassle free tip for lazy people. 

My contract was coming to an end and it was going up £10 a month and I was umming and aaghing about whether to ring them as it gets tiresome having to phone up every year.  In the end I did ring them and it was all automated but just doing the automated bit and pressing thinking of leaving I got an automated message saying "good news- we can reduce your bills for 6 months by £6 a month" click 1 for yes and that was the end of it.  So that's toughly 10% off for next 6 months.

Doesn't mean I won't want to go through the full negotiation of options in 6 months time but does put off the day of reckoning.

Bucki

To keep it simple.
yes VM has the right the rights to increase the price and will offer you the option to cancel the contract without any penalty fees.

i would suggest to call VM and ask to speak to retention department. Tell them ur not happy and cannot afford the price increase and consider to leave. They will do the most to remove it  

just stay firm and concise. 

I done this recently … got the letter about price increase and got it removed

Englander

Hello,

I contacted Virginmedia about the price increases and got no help at all, I spoke with at least 4 different people and asked to speak to cancellation department in the end and was still told that they cannot offer anything better or keep me on the same months costs and was told that to cancel would cost me £268.  I called back spoke to others and same again.

They said that the customer should have contacted them before 4th April for changes or cancellation, which to be honest, their email does say that, but the email went into my spam folder.

However, I must admit their customer service is pathetic, I also liaise with them for my business customers and they are awful.

Zopa_Trooper

Okay, here is my experience over the last 48 hours. Virgin increased my contract from £21 to £28, then £44. I rang them to tell them I wish to cancel, they offered me a discount back to £28, said that's the best they could do. I said I could see 5 companies advertising broadband for less than £25 (including Virgin for new customers) some higher than the 57mb I currently am getting, therefore could they put me through to the disconnection department. I was put through and they said £25. I turned them down, said I wasn't going to mess about, I'd go to Vodophone for £27, minus a £130 voucher. Virgin turned tut, said I'd lose my long established email address, I'd be cut off on May 25th, I'd have to send back their equipment, I'd still have to pay £44 for one month. I said that's okay with me and told them to continue with the disconnection.

I contacted Vodaphone (very professional) and they set the ball rolling to have me connected with them on May 25th.

Today I received a message from Virgin. Said they have a new offer for me, £22 for 18 months with an increase to my mb. I rang them, spoke to the lady, she offered me my original package for £17. She then asked if I would like an increase in the power, I said according to my son I didn't need it and I didn't want to pay anymore anyway. She said that's fine, I'll increase it anyway for the same price and I agreed the 18 month contract. I've just checked and I am now getting 134mb.

Rang Vodaphone and cancelled, again they were very good.

So to summarise, from £21 for a little over 50mb and after the price rise I'm now on £17 for 134mb. I hope my experience helps someone else. My only regret being I was a bit quick off the mark contacting Vodaphone, I should probably have left it a few days.

flaneurs_lobster

Excellent haggling, well done.

If you rely on that VM email address it would be a good idea to set up another address that doesn't rely on you having a broadband contract with the operator. You've got 18 months to tell your contacts about the address change. 

croakman

I took out an 12 month contract in January and 6 months later they increased the bill by 18%

I called to cancel yesterday and was told it would cost me £271 to exit early.

it is simply scandalous that I can agree to be a customer for 12 months but the service provider can increase prices during that period. The price and contract period should be fixed and not be subject to change. Mobile and Broadband operators see able to make inflation busting price hikes and build them into contracts. O2 for example have rate of inflation pulse 3.75% increases each year. This should not be allowed!