Renewing virgin media contract

jenkis02

I will probably only echo previous replies but I think VM's way of "doing business" surely can't make business sense, can it? This time, my new price was a 25 per-cent increase! A very stroppy lady assured me it's common practise (for all suppliers) and I will need to negotiate (again) to get a more reasonable increase. I have incidentally, been with them for 15 years, so just can't be bothered with the same old rigmarole every time. I've moved to Vodafone and all is good. I assume that many people won't bother so pay the increase, but what about reputation? Maybe I'm getting old, but that used to be a priority for companies, not it seems, anymore!  

facade

randalf72 said:

earlier this year my Virgin contract was increased by 14.4%, way above inflation and in the middle of what I thought was a fixed term contract.

I tried negotiating with them to no avail because both Virgin and myself know that there is no option other than Virgin if you want fibre in my area.

Now I'm out of contract I was. doorstepped by a representative of BRSK who was offering 1Gbps broadband, fibre to the premises, at a fixed two year contract of £30/month and free installation.

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Two points here

1) Virgin try to sign you up to "a better package" at the same or a lower price, and then give you a fixed monthly discount, to catch you out at the mid contract price rise (that is now written into the T&Cs for all contracts)

It works like this:

They give you the £200 a month package for £50 by applying a £150 fixed discount each month (£200 - £150 discount = £50)

The mid term increase is inflation + 3% (IIRC) that applies to the £200 the package costs, not the £50 you pay.

Say inflation is 7% + the 3% = 10%. The increase is 10% of £200 = £20, so you are now paying £50 + £20 = £70, a 40% increase on what you actually pay.

This is how they got a 14.5% increase last time as inflation was 10.5%. They caught me as my increase was over 30%, so I jumped ship to BT.

2) All telecoms providers now have a term in the contract where you have agreed to the mid term price rise of (inflation + even more) at the outset so you can't leave when they apply that increase any more as they are not changing the terms of the contract.

If you try and leave mid term Virgin will charge you for all the remaining months of your contract anyway, same as a mobile phone provider.

ian9999

randalf72 said:

earlier this year my Virgin contract was increased by 14.4%, way above inflation and in the middle of what I thought was a fixed term contract.

I tried negotiating with them to no avail because both Virgin and myself know that there is no option other than Virgin if you want fibre in my area.

Now I'm out of contract I was. doorstepped by a representative of BRSK who was offering 1Gbps broadband, fibre to the premises, at a fixed two year contract of £30/month and free installation.

what's more, if I had a referral code I'd also get a £75 Amazon voucher if they use this code 6CZ7

We'd both get a voucher so I would benefit, don't use it if that offends.

I checked the trustpilot reviews and they were better than Virgins.

So I booked them in to do the install and called Virgin to cancel.

Virgin have gone from absolutely no discount available, to 350Mbps for £40 a month to, wait for it, £28 a month with a free o2 sim thrown in.

It's amazing what they can do when there's some competition.

As it happens, I'm staying with BRSK. they seem a whole lot nicer to deal with

Hi Randalf72,

Do you still like BRSK, I am thinking of having them.

Currently they are new in our street and are offering the 900mb services for £22.50pm for 24 Months

Ian

Tanglin

My Virgin Media (VM) contract for Broadband, TV and landline services is due for renewal on 1 March 2024.  Since October I have been inundated with emails or notes on my account asking me to renew early for great offers. 

On each occasion the message from VM has been 'Same package, Same Price, No fuss'.   It can't be the same package because it doesn't include TNT Sports that I have at present and as a result it won't be the same price. When I have contacted VM to find out what the price would be I have been quoted various prices surprisingly none that have been the same as I am paying now.   The latest price quoted is £98.00 (£80 plus £18 for TNT Sports) which is a whopping 19 per cent increase.  That would be for March 2024.  After April 2024 if you use today's inflation figure plus 3.9% it would then rise to £105.75 and then using the same current multiplier would rise to £114.10 from April 2025 to the end of the contract in September 2025.  An increase of 44% by the end.

I'll wait and run the contract through and see what they have to offer a month before.