Reducing virgin media package when contract ends.

AliceW

My virgin media package is M250 Fibre broadband and Talk more anytime for phone. (I don't need a TV package) My monthly bill is now £63 with £9 discount so I’m paying £54 a month. I live alone so don’t need M250 broadband. I use a desktop computer just for browsing the internet.

When my contract ends I’m considering having a basic internet (M50) and basic phone as I hardly use the phone (but for peace of mind need to be able to ring family anytime if I or they have a problem) and I think it maybe costs more to have just broadband with no phone? I have a very basic pay as you go mobile. Apparently I could get a cheap mobile sim-only deal that would mean I could ring any UK mobile or landline anytime.

 Would changing to basic phone and basic internet be likely to save me much money, does anybody know? All I can see is deals for new customers.

And do I need to ring retentions to sort it out?

Thanks.

 

Detail_Merchant

I had been paying £35/month (with a £24 discount off full price of £59) for M125 + Talk More Anytime until February this year.
Then I got the email about future price rises (April 2024 onwards) being RPI+3.9% with no chance to leave due to those rises.
It didn't have any price rise for April 2023, but it allowed me the chance to renegotiate, as the change meant I could leave early.
I pointed out to them that another internet company had just laid new fibre right past my house, and were offering a good deal.
My initial contact didn't offer much discount, so I put my notice in to leave Virgin.
Then within a day, I got a call from someone else at Virgin, who could offer a reasonable deal.
I managed to get M250 + Anytime chatter + Stream from VM (I don't use it currently for TV) for £28/month.
So I reckon you should be able to negotiate a much lower price than £63/month.
But it is useful to be able to tell them about the details of an alternative that you will go to if they don't give a good price.
Good luck.

retiringtoosoon

You should be paying around £22 a month tops.

AliceW

Thank you.  It looks like you don't get a reasonable deal unless you actually put in the leave and can quote a much better deal from another company?

Detail_Merchant

AliceW said:

Thank you.  It looks like you don't get a reasonable deal unless you actually put in the leave and can quote a much better deal from another company?

I think putting in the cancellation is essential to get a good deal.
Being able to quote a possible alternative helps.
In early 2022 I was paying £41/month for a similar package, discounted down from £57, and the discount was due to end soon.
I looked up Now Broadband, who were offering a deal for £25/month including unlimited calls - not as fast, 63mbps, but we could have coped.
In fact, the Openreach lines to my house will only offer around 20mbps which would not be great.
But I used that potential deal to get VM down to £35/pm.

So definitely cancel to get a good deal, but when they call you, have details of a competitor package ready to quote, even if in reality you aren't likely to take it, to encourage them to offer a decent price.

knightstyle

Negotiate hard and tell Virgin you are leaving as you can get a much better deal...