Sky to Virgin Media

katies_mum

Hi, please has anyone moved from Sky to Virgin recently.  I have been with Sky for about 8 years now and had the ``As a thank you for being with us, we’ve added new offers to minimise any increase to your account``  there is no new contract.  My price is going up to £79.50 for Signature, HD, BB and unlimited calls.   I am assuming that I would still have to give 31 days to leave them? but it does not say this on the email.

I have found an offer with Virgin Media who we used to have before Sky, for all of the above with faster BB it works out at £49.99, with no set up fee.  I spoke to VM by chat and was advised that they can transfer both my BB and TV to them without me having to contact Sky I just have to complete the order online.  I have only ever heard of BB being available for transfer and I am now becoming rather confused.   Please if anyone has moved recently did you have to contact Sky to inform them you are leaving and give 31 days notice?  I just want to ensure I do this correctly.  Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

born_again

I would cover yourself if moving & give them notice you are stopping their service.

Sky BB is based on Openreach copper cables or fibre & is not the same as Virgin BB, which is cable based.

Peter999_2

The new One Touch broadband service is now up and running.    You just need to sign a contract with Virgin and they will inform Sky that they are losing you.

It is all explained in the Ofcom webpage below.   There are teething problems, as explained in the page, but it is still up to Virgin to resolve them.

Simpler and quicker broadband switching is here - Ofcom

ButterCheese

Virgin are the only company who provide full fibre BB in our area, so if we want anything faster than 46Mb/sec we had to have virgin.  They are a terrible company, and after the first year will keep raising your prices.  I had a deal for £30/month.  At the end of the year they said it was going up to £70/month, so I haggled it down to £32.  A month later and I got a bill for £69 - so I complained and they had actually deleted the contract I had signed with them for £30/month.  I complained to their CEO and stated that what they'd done was illegal.  Eventually I got another contract for 2 years at £39 which was the cheapest they'd go (this is for BB only).  They also sent me through an O2 SIM card, which I said I didn't want, and then started charging me £30/month for a SIM card I had not even taken out of the packet.  Another 3 or 4 phone calls and a lot of reminding them of my rights.  After a lot of time and effort, they finally cancelled the SIM card bill and refunded my £30.

Then this year, another letter to say our BB will be going up to £74/month - the best we could get them down to was £49/month for half the speed (150MB when we had previously been on 350mb).  I know every company does it, but VM seem to be the worst for doubling all of your bills after 1 year, underhanded and dishinest tactics.

I would advise going with someone else if you have that luxury

katies_mum

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

I have read about the new One Touch broadband service, but know that Sky and Virgin provide broadband in different ways,  The person I spoke to at Virgin by chat was adamant that Virgin would manage the switch and I didn`t have to do anything.  They also informed me they could do the TV as well and I didn`t have to do anything (I have this in writing) but again didn`t believe them.

I`m also a bit confused if I do decide to move to VM, I have to give 14 days notice for BB and 31 days for TV, but VM have said I would need an engineer as its over 8 years since the box on the front of our house was used and I think Sky cut the wires.  I am assuming an engineer would do both jobs at the same time so would it be best to give 31 days notice for both?  

I hate having to grovel for a decent price with anyone, but think I am going to ring Sky this afternoon and see if there is anything they are prepared to do to keep us as a customer, but somehow I doubt it very much!  But better the devil you know..

ButterCheese, I am so sorry you have had such an awful time.

katies_mum

Sky rang me once but again I was offered a silly price, I rang them last week just in the hope they might want to keep us as customers but price was again too high.
Virgin was installed this morning, guy was here at 8.30am and everything was up and running within 30 mins. I am saving £39.51 a month which over a year amounts to £711.