Who Thinks MSE should ban Virgin Media from Weekly Emails?

dj101

MSE regularly promotes "Low Price" Virgin Media Broadband packages in the weekly emails when it is well known that Virgin have mid-contract price rises and that at the end of the low price deal you will face a pretty big increase and that Virgin are renowned for poor technical service and terrible Customer Service. To add insult to injury, just try leaving them. Its torture and is going to cost - LOTS! They do not honour any commitments and their complaints process is a complete joke. 

So - Why are MSE promoting this company to MSE users when they know that those users who take up Virgin's "low price Introductory Offers" are letting themselves in for so much pain. Surely as a champion of consumer rights MSE should ban mentioning Virgin until they substantially improve their service and support for customers.   

oldernonethewiser

Other companies have in contract price rises. 

Some people seem to get on alright with Virgin so it must suit them.

MattMattMattUK

dj101 said:

MSE regularly promotes "Low Price" Virgin Media Broadband packages in the weekly emails when it is well known that Virgin have mid-contract price rises and that at the end of the low price deal you will face a pretty big increase and that Virgin are renowned for poor technical service and terrible Customer Service. To add insult to injury, just try leaving them. Its torture and is going to cost - LOTS! They do not honour any commitments and their complaints process is a complete joke. 

So - Why are MSE promoting this company to MSE users when they know that those users who take up Virgin's "low price Introductory Offers" are letting themselves in for so much pain. Surely as a champion of consumer rights MSE should ban mentioning Virgin until they substantially improve their service and support for customers.   

Pretty much every broadband supplier has mid-contract price rises and the price rises significantly at the end of the contract period, in fact I am not sure you will find one that does not. 

The solution as always is to switch at the end of the contract period, get cashback, a voucher and a new deal. 

singhini

dj101 said:

MSE regularly promotes "Low Price" Virgin Media Broadband packages in the weekly emails when it is well known that Virgin have mid-contract price rises and that at the end of the low price deal you will face a pretty big increase and that Virgin are renowned for poor technical service and terrible Customer Service. To add insult to injury, just try leaving them. Its torture and is going to cost - LOTS! They do not honour any commitments and their complaints process is a complete joke. 

So - Why are MSE promoting this company to MSE users when they know that those users who take up Virgin's "low price Introductory Offers" are letting themselves in for so much pain. Surely as a champion of consumer rights MSE should ban mentioning Virgin until they substantially improve their service and support for customers.   

Perhaps they don't know.

Have you any evidence? 

Why don't you ask them directly (you can send a message to any or all of the MSE Teams) 

Here's a clue (just remember to take out the space between @ and MSE 

@ MSE_Team1

@ MSE_Team2

@ MSE_Team3

@ MSE_Team4

@ MSE_Team5

Grumpy_chap

MattMattMattUK said:

Pretty much every broadband supplier has mid-contract price rises and the price rises significantly at the end of the contract period, in fact I am not sure you will find one that does not. 

My experience with Virgin Media is wholly different to that reported by the OP.

I re-joined VM around 2017 at £40 per month.  
The response when there was a fault was superb.
Renewal has always been fair.  Latest renewal in March is 2 years contract at £44 per month, first 6 months half price, no mid-contract price review or inflation adjuster.

Think that solution meets what the OP was seeking.

I think the solution was possible because I opted out of the premium TV, which is where some consumers gladly pay "money no object" prices and there is limited competition.

JSmithy45AD

I'm only on BB with VM but I was aware of the mid contract price rises (the same as almost every other supplier) and I know that at the end of the contract my discounts will end and I may be on full price. It's obviously not a huge price increase either, it's just the end of your discounts (and, the same as almost every other supplier). Never needed tech support or CS but I doubt I'll have any issues myself. If and when I leave I'll just leave i up to whichever company I'm moving to (the same exact way I joined VM).

So, nice rant but entirely wrong. It did make me laugh though, so thanks, OP.

dj101

Well I am glad you are all happy with VM. My experience was different. I am/was with them for 13 years as they were the only fibre to house in our area- I am currently fighting to leave. While it was a good deal at the beginning and I had reasonable support for the regular technical issues and service failures, over the last few years both the technical issues and customer service have worsened significantly. Oh and the price I am/was charged has risen to over £70 a month for a basic 125mb plus phone no TV service. Recent technical issues have included random days without service and recently the great experience of a Virgin engineer using my "live and in use at the time" cable to supply the house next door rather than laying in a new cable. That took over a week to get sorted as Virgin insisted it was a fault in my router. Now I am trying to leave having moved house and signed with a new provider who offers 500mb at £42 per month without any mid contract price increases. Having given them the required 30 days notice and agreed a final bill and had emails confirming the cancellation of my service they have failed to port my phone number (after three requests so far) claim that my account is till live and I have to give them a further thirty day cancellation notice and pay for the additional time and also a significantly larger final bill. Yes I am trying to complain but  they misconstrue everything you say (like the problem is that I didn't tell my previous supplier I was leaving!)  and keep wanting me to call their Retentions Department to discuss a new deal  and why Virgin is so good for me. Oh and every email is sent to an old email address that I have continually asked them asked them not use in every email since 2023. Bah. 

unforeseen

MattMattMattUK said:

Pretty much every broadband supplier has mid-contract price rises and the price rises significantly at the end of the contract period, in fact I am not sure you will find one that does not. 

I'm with Airband, they have no in-contract price rises. I have a fixed price for the next 2 years.
However they use their own infrastructure rather than Openreach's. 

prowla

MattMattMattUK said:

dj101 said:

MSE regularly promotes "Low Price" Virgin Media Broadband packages in the weekly emails when it is well known that Virgin have mid-contract price rises and that at the end of the low price deal you will face a pretty big increase and that Virgin are renowned for poor technical service and terrible Customer Service. To add insult to injury, just try leaving them. Its torture and is going to cost - LOTS! They do not honour any commitments and their complaints process is a complete joke. 

So - Why are MSE promoting this company to MSE users when they know that those users who take up Virgin's "low price Introductory Offers" are letting themselves in for so much pain. Surely as a champion of consumer rights MSE should ban mentioning Virgin until they substantially improve their service and support for customers.   

Pretty much every broadband supplier has mid-contract price rises and the price rises significantly at the end of the contract period, in fact I am not sure you will find one that does not. 

The solution as always is to switch at the end of the contract period, get cashback, a voucher and a new deal. 

I am with Zen - they didn't have mid-contract rises and their renewal price for the next year was also unchanged.

southsidergs

dj101 said:

Well I am glad you are all happy with VM. My experience was different. I am/was with them for 13 years as they were the only fibre to house in our area- I am currently fighting to leave. While it was a good deal at the beginning and I had reasonable support for the regular technical issues and service failures, over the last few years both the technical issues and customer service have worsened significantly. Oh and the price I am/was charged has risen to over £70 a month for a basic 125mb plus phone no TV service. Recent technical issues have included random days without service and recently the great experience of a Virgin engineer using my "live and in use at the time" cable to supply the house next door rather than laying in a new cable. That took over a week to get sorted as Virgin insisted it was a fault in my router. Now I am trying to leave having moved house and signed with a new provider who offers 500mb at £42 per month without any mid contract price increases. Having given them the required 30 days notice and agreed a final bill and had emails confirming the cancellation of my service they have failed to port my phone number (after three requests so far) claim that my account is till live and I have to give them a further thirty day cancellation notice and pay for the additional time and also a significantly larger final bill. Yes I am trying to complain but  they misconstrue everything you say (like the problem is that I didn't tell my previous supplier I was leaving!)  and keep wanting me to call their Retentions Department to discuss a new deal  and why Virgin is so good for me. Oh and every email is sent to an old email address that I have continually asked them asked them not use in every email since 2023. Bah. 

Ports are gaining provider led so that's not Virgin's fault

saajan_12

dj101 said:

Well I am glad you are all happy with VM. My experience was different. I am/was with them for 13 years as they were the only fibre to house in our area- I am currently fighting to leave. While it was a good deal at the beginning and I had reasonable support for the regular technical issues and service failures, over the last few years both the technical issues and customer service have worsened significantly. Oh and the price I am/was charged has risen to over £70 a month for a basic 125mb plus phone no TV service. Recent technical issues have included random days without service and recently the great experience of a Virgin engineer using my "live and in use at the time" cable to supply the house next door rather than laying in a new cable. That took over a week to get sorted as Virgin insisted it was a fault in my router. Now I am trying to leave having moved house and signed with a new provider who offers 500mb at £42 per month without any mid contract price increases. Having given them the required 30 days notice and agreed a final bill and had emails confirming the cancellation of my service they have failed to port my phone number (after three requests so far) claim that my account is till live and I have to give them a further thirty day cancellation notice and pay for the additional time and also a significantly larger final bill. Yes I am trying to complain but  they misconstrue everything you say (like the problem is that I didn't tell my previous supplier I was leaving!)  and keep wanting me to call their Retentions Department to discuss a new deal  and why Virgin is so good for me. Oh and every email is sent to an old email address that I have continually asked them asked them not use in every email since 2023. Bah. 

Well that's the point isn't it - peoples experiences are different, it shouldn't be harder for everyone to compare a mainstream provider which will still work well for the majority. 

Speaking as someone who had my own painful Virgin customer services experience (they failed to honour a retention deal agreed, signed me up for O2 sims, 6 months to get it fixed). I still know sales people and operations teams can be terrible at times in all companies, and regardless its worth seeing the deal to be able to decide myself whether its worth the % chance of such an issue if the deal is £x cheaper. 
* Perhaps with a note on customer services or satisfaction scores.