If I change broadband supplier will they cancel my virgin media contract for me

barnehurst

Or get someone to call on your behalf and tell the call handler that you give your friend permission

AndyPK

The problem with this, is that you are unlikely to have an openreach fibre connection to your house. I assume the supplier you are moving to will use the OR network.

The government is forcing everyone onto fibre (whether you want it or not), and to get that sorted could take 3 months. 

So if you want continuous service, that letter is likely to leave you without BB service for 2 months! 

So if you want continuous BB, I would try and use the OneTouch service. 
And then cancel TV, when you see someone digging up the pavement, and except you will pay a couple of months extra TV service

southsidergs

Why on earth do you need to overcomplicate it? The OTS has been introduced to make switching suppliers easy so just do it & DO NOT contact Virgin that would maybe cause issues

Ayr_Rage

southsidergs said:

Why on earth do you need to overcomplicate it? The OTS has been introduced to make switching suppliers easy so just do it & DO NOT contact Virgin that would maybe cause issues

The issue with OTS is the TV service, haven't you read all the posts?

recci

AndyPK said:

The problem with this, is that you are unlikely to have an openreach fibre connection to your house. I assume the supplier you are moving to will use the OR network.

The government is forcing everyone onto fibre (whether you want it or not), and to get that sorted could take 3 months. 

So if you want continuous service, that letter is likely to leave you without BB service for 2 months! 

So if you want continuous BB, I would try and use the OneTouch service. 
And then cancel TV, when you see someone digging up the pavement, and except you will pay a couple of months extra TV service

But i don't use the TV service at all, the box isn't even plugged in, they just forced it onto me because it was the same price for broadband only as it was for the full package including tv and landline which as never used.

According to the switch i can get full 900mb broadband to my home but an engineer will need to come out. I am not going to initiate the switch until 30 days before my contract ends. But also send a letter informing them of my 30 days notice before that.

QrizB

recci said:

According to the switch i can get full 900mb broadband to my home but an engineer will need to come out. I am not going to initiate the switch until 30 days before my contract ends. But also send a letter informing them of my 30 days notice before that.

You will be running a real risk of being without either Virgin or your new service for weeks, possibly months.

If this doesn't bother you (eg. you have a chunky mobile data plan for your phone) then that's not a problem. But most people would wait until the new service is up and running before cancelling Virgin.

What stops you signing up with your alternative provider immediately (without using OTS) rather than waiting?

Ayr_Rage

@recci whether you use the TV service or not that is part of your contract, as is the landline.

Be prepared for VM to ask you to return all of the equipment they have supplied.

iniltous

If all you want is broadband from the new provider , no phone , no tv , and want to be as sure as you can be of not having any ‘hassle’ with Virgin , sign up as a new (not migrating) customer with whatever FTTP provider you are going to use , then they don’t need to use OTS for your order , to all intents and purposes , they treat you as a new customer not a ‘switching’ customer.

By doing this , your letter to VM then is then definitely your notice to quit , and  you are not reliant on OTS , what’s more you can hedge your bets with the date  , by asking the FTTP provider to install a week or two before the date you have instructed Virgin to cease your service with them  , that way you shouldn’t have any break in service although you will be paying for two services for a short while ,it should also cover any delay if there is a problem with the FTTP installation , something another contributor seems to think is likely, even though you haven’t given any indication that your FTTP installation isn’t anything other than straight forward so no reason at all to suspect that this will be an issue .

 

AndyPK

I share your frustration about trying to cancel TV service with Virgin, and them saying, keep the box and have the freeview channels only.

You basically have 2 options.

1) Do it manually, and except you will pay a months worth of extra costs to Virgin. (BB and TV and phone), to ensure you have continuous BB service.

2) Try and use the one touch service, and once under way try and contact Virgin to say you want your TV service to cease at the same point. The computer may say No, as a switch is under way. In which case you may have to pay an extra month for the TV service. 
I worry too much, and maybe this would somehow lock you in for another 1/2 years of TV service/charges.
You would use this method if you want to transfer your phone number

iniltous

AndyPK said:

I share your frustration about trying to cancel TV service with Virgin, and them saying, keep the box and have the freeview channels only.

You basically have 2 options.

1) Do it manually, and except you will pay a months worth of extra costs to Virgin. (BB and TV and phone), to ensure you have continuous BB service.

2) Try and use the one touch service, and once under way try and contact Virgin to say you want your TV service to cease at the same point. The computer may say No, as a switch is under way. In which case you may have to pay an extra month for the TV service. 
I worry too much, and maybe this would somehow lock you in for another 1/2 years of TV service/charges.
You would use this method if you want to transfer your phone number

Why will they have months of extra costs , you have no idea how quickly or slowly the FTTP provider, which may be an Alternative Network or Openreach will take to connect the OP to FTTP , it may be a few days , the OP has a date when they become ‘free’ of any VM contractual obligations , as they apparently only want broadband they can obviously afford to order just that product from the new provider, and time it so that it coincides with the VM cessation date (  they have advised VM of their intention to quit on the first outside minimum term date ) , via a letter ( personally I’d also call to make sure it’s been acted upon ) ,

if the OP is a little cautious they could get the FTTP installed a week or two in advance that way the only extra cost is a week or two of having two providers, not months ….you seem to assume ordering and getting FTTP installed takes a long time , it may for some , for others it’s very quick , the OP has not indicated that there are any potential problems so the obvious assumption is it will take a few days from ordering to provision 

This from an earlier post is nonsense 
The government is forcing everyone onto fibre (whether you want it or not), and to get that sorted could take 3 months.