Doing the Virgin Media renewal dance.

minimalising

I always negotiate before renewal but today didn't go well.

My contract is going from £54 to £91 a month.  So I phoned and the first person offered me three rubbish deals.  The most annoying being £77 for slower internet than I've got now.

Asked to cancel and got a fairly disinterested guy from retentions.  Best he could do was £69 for a similar package to what I have now.

Called his bluff and am now on day 1 of my 30 day cancellation period.

My question here is have I negotiated myself out of a deal?   Should I expect them to contact me or do I just wait it out and then call back in a couple of weeks?

The contract is in my name and right now new customers pay 34.99 a month for what I've got.  

JIL

I hate having to phone at renewal time. However this time 2 months before the end of my contract I got a letter asking me if I would like to extend my contract by a further 18 months? The price offered was £5 per month more, than I was paying. 
I waited until the last day I could and logged on and accepted. 

Not sure if others got this offer? 

Have you tried the online chat? Could you price yourself up as a new customer and ask them to match it?

I think they will contact you, give it a week.

minimalising

I didn't get that offer.  Not tried the online chat, I might give that a go but I assumed getting through to Retentions is where the real deals happen.

I've read that it's possible, albeit against the rules, to get my wife to sign up as a new customer so we might try that.

jbrassy

minimalising said:

I've read that it's possible, albeit against the rules, to get my wife to sign up as a new customer so we might try that.

I've done this many times without any issues. It's a bit annoying having to cancel and take out a new contract in your partner's name, but it's the most surefire way of ensuring you're on the best deal.

minimalising

jbrassy said:

minimalising said:

I've read that it's possible, albeit against the rules, to get my wife to sign up as a new customer so we might try that.

I've done this many times without any issues. It's a bit annoying having to cancel and take out a new contract in your partner's name, but it's the most surefire way of ensuring you're on the best deal.

Is there anything I need to know about the process?  We run out in 29 days, can I get her to apply now?  Do you have to send back the old gear and get new stuff in?  Do they question you about it at all?

TheQuaker

I phoned up this morning at half 8 as my deal ends in a month. Got an offshore call centre and after some chat going nowhere, was transferred to a nice lady in the UK who gave me another 18 months at £24 - less than I'm paying now - £28 something  for 135mb and the stream box. Surprised I was. Was expecting to have to leave. 😃

JohnSwift10

My contract with Virgin is also going from £54 but to £94 in a couple of months and I am going to have to renegotiate. 

However FTTP has just been delivered to my street so I wonder if that will make a difference as before all I could get was 20Mbps and they knew that when I threatened to leave them before.

TheQuaker

Guy offshore offered me 38 quid a month from what would have been 50. I said no, cancel. Then I was transferred to a really nice lady in the UK who offered me 24 !

jbrassy

minimalising said:

jbrassy said:

minimalising said:

I've read that it's possible, albeit against the rules, to get my wife to sign up as a new customer so we might try that.

I've done this many times without any issues. It's a bit annoying having to cancel and take out a new contract in your partner's name, but it's the most surefire way of ensuring you're on the best deal.

Is there anything I need to know about the process?  We run out in 29 days, can I get her to apply now?  Do you have to send back the old gear and get new stuff in?  Do they question you about it at all?

You have to send back your old equipment and they'll send you new equipment. They never questioned me about it. I cancelled my old contract over the phone, then applied for a new contract online. You can get your wife to apply now and ask them to start the new contract the day after your old contract ends.

judpudding

My contract came to an end and with increases and deals ending I was paying £122 for all the sports channels etc. I couldn’t afford that so I went online and the best they could do was £118 so I told them to cancel it. 

On the 28th day of the 30 day cancellation period I got a text offering me £25 broadband, so I called the number on the text and asked out of curiosity what would be the cost for keeping all services as they are… she said £63 for 18 months.. down from £122!

So my advice is to hold out until close to 30 days for this text. And when you get it, don’t do the online chat (cos they were useless!), call up and they’ll give you the very best deal. 

Mutton_Geoff

Recently renewed and pay £22 for broadband only, no landline or TV.