VIRGIN Media - bill more than DOUBLED !

Suzycoll

Hi all

I have Virgin Media broadband & am paying £29 p.m. My contract ends in March 2026 & it is going to increase to £62 p.m !! 

They have given a few options on my online account - none particularly appealing & still an increase.

Yes, I know it's all a big game to them & yes I know I can switch.

I'm not well at the moment & not really up to dealing with it atm. There's no way I can afford £62 p.m as I'm off sick from work & my wages are due to halve in March. 

I'm not entitled to benefits (I checked).

I would be happyish with a SMALL  increase every year & not to switch.

WHY do these companies do this? do they think EVERYBODY is up to sorting out switching? Its so annoying 😥

Anyone have any tips to make it easier please 🙏 

Woodstok2000

I'm sorry you're not well. Switching is very easy, and if you can post here you'll be able to manage it no bother.

Use a couple of comparison sites to find the best deal you're happy with, then phone virgin and try to negotiate a match.

If virgin give you a decent deal, job done. If not, cancel and initiate the switch.

This is a good starting point:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/compare-broadband-deals/switching-broadband-provider/

Isthisforreal99

Most first year deals for new customers are artificially low to lure new customers in and then reality bites in year 2.

As above check comparison sites and see if this new bill is as bad as it seems. Although £62 solely for broadband does seem high.

iniltous

Although I appreciate your mental and financial state , you are in the worst position position  to be on a network (Virgin) that has no legal obligation to offer wholesale access (Openreach) or their business model is to be a wholesaler (City Fibre ) so by being reluctant to move to a network that has competing ISP’s on it you are pretty much at their mercy , they basically have you captive and can in effect play hard ball with you , even threatening to leave has no potency unless the way they receive notice is from a new company, that may get a response and a better offer to renew, but just saying I’ll leave to a customer service representative when you have no intention to do so is pointless.

Finally , £29 may be a fantastic price that can’t be maintained if you are  on multi Gb speed broadband with TV that includes sport , movies etc  , or may be a poor or average price for mid speed broadband only , and £62 an outrageous price if ordinary broadband is all you get from Virgin , so without knowing what products you get from Virgin for your £29 now and will pay £62 for in March it’s not really possible to say if what you want is reasonable.

beckstar1975

I had rubbish offers on my account so went into chat where they offered me Netflix, movies, sport, HD, kids, entertainment and 1gb internet for £80 a month for 2 years.

 Didn’t have to speak to anyone. No worse than posting here other than it took about an hour all in 

QrizB

You have my sympathy.

I went through the same dance with my breakdown service provider yesterday.

Renewal quote: £270.

Quote from their major competitor: £79.

Phoned them to stop the automatic renewal and (surprising no-one) they matched the price. 

Suzycoll

iniltous said:

Although I appreciate your mental and financial state , you are in the worst position position  to be on a network (Virgin) that has no legal obligation to offer wholesale access (Openreach) or their business model is to be a wholesaler (City Fibre ) so by being reluctant to move to a network that has competing ISP’s on it you are pretty much at their mercy , they basically have you captive and can in effect play hard ball with you , even threatening to leave has no potency unless the way they receive notice is from a new company, that may get a response and a better offer to renew, but just saying I’ll leave to a customer service representative when you have no intention to do so is pointless.

Finally , £29 may be a fantastic price that can’t be maintained if you are  on multi Gb speed broadband with TV that includes sport , movies etc  , or may be a poor or average price for mid speed broadband only , and £62 an outrageous price if ordinary broadband is all you get from Virgin , so without knowing what products you get from Virgin for your £29 now and will pay £62 for in March it’s not really possible to say if what you want is reasonable.

I get the 2nd  lowest broadband package 25mpb.

The main reason I used Virgin is I WFH &  need broadband that will support the IT used for work. 

I have had Talk talk & EE but it was not enough to WFH & kept on cutting out. Coverage in my area is patchy & most neighbours use Virgin due to this 

Suzycoll

beckstar1975 said:

I had rubbish offers on my account so went into chat where they offered me Netflix, movies, sport, HD, kids, entertainment and 1gb internet for £80 a month for 2 years.

 Didn’t have to speak to anyone. No worse than posting here other than it took about an hour all in 

Thanks for your reply.

I don't want or cant afford the TV package 

JSmithy45AD

Suzycoll said:

iniltous said:

Although I appreciate your mental and financial state , you are in the worst position position  to be on a network (Virgin) that has no legal obligation to offer wholesale access (Openreach) or their business model is to be a wholesaler (City Fibre ) so by being reluctant to move to a network that has competing ISP’s on it you are pretty much at their mercy , they basically have you captive and can in effect play hard ball with you , even threatening to leave has no potency unless the way they receive notice is from a new company, that may get a response and a better offer to renew, but just saying I’ll leave to a customer service representative when you have no intention to do so is pointless.

Finally , £29 may be a fantastic price that can’t be maintained if you are  on multi Gb speed broadband with TV that includes sport , movies etc  , or may be a poor or average price for mid speed broadband only , and £62 an outrageous price if ordinary broadband is all you get from Virgin , so without knowing what products you get from Virgin for your £29 now and will pay £62 for in March it’s not really possible to say if what you want is reasonable.

I get the 2nd  lowest broadband package 25mpb.

The main reason I used Virgin is I WFH &  need broadband that will support the IT used for work. 

I have had Talk talk & EE but it was not enough to WFH & kept on cutting out. Coverage in my area is patchy & most neighbours use Virgin due to this 

Why wouldn't any broadband be usable for your work?

How do you mean "coverage is patchy in your area"? That term usually applies to a mobile signal, not BB.

Switching is as easy as posting on here, presuming you have a fast enough available service (do you have full fibre there?) your easiest option is simply to switch. VM will come back with a better offer but if you've already initiated a switch I'd let it go through.

Suzycoll

JSmithy45AD said:

Suzycoll said:

iniltous said:

Although I appreciate your mental and financial state , you are in the worst position position  to be on a network (Virgin) that has no legal obligation to offer wholesale access (Openreach) or their business model is to be a wholesaler (City Fibre ) so by being reluctant to move to a network that has competing ISP’s on it you are pretty much at their mercy , they basically have you captive and can in effect play hard ball with you , even threatening to leave has no potency unless the way they receive notice is from a new company, that may get a response and a better offer to renew, but just saying I’ll leave to a customer service representative when you have no intention to do so is pointless.

Finally , £29 may be a fantastic price that can’t be maintained if you are  on multi Gb speed broadband with TV that includes sport , movies etc  , or may be a poor or average price for mid speed broadband only , and £62 an outrageous price if ordinary broadband is all you get from Virgin , so without knowing what products you get from Virgin for your £29 now and will pay £62 for in March it’s not really possible to say if what you want is reasonable.

I get the 2nd  lowest broadband package 25mpb.

The main reason I used Virgin is I WFH &  need broadband that will support the IT used for work. 

I have had Talk talk & EE but it was not enough to WFH & kept on cutting out. Coverage in my area is patchy & most neighbours use Virgin due to this 

Why wouldn't any broadband be usable for your work?

How do you mean "coverage is patchy in your area"? That term usually applies to a mobile signal, not BB.

Switching is as easy as posting on here, presuming you have a fast enough available service (do you have full fibre there?) your easiest option is simply to switch. VM will come back with a better offer but if you've already initiated a switch I'd let it go through.

Thanks for your reply

I'm not technical at all . I guess I meant the speeds (with other providers) were not enough to do my job ( kept on crashing). That is what my IT dept said anyway.

This is why I'm dubious about switching. Yes I am on fibre at the minute. Are you saying if I choose a provider with fibre I won't have this problem?

As I said I'm not up to all the malarkey atm

Ayr_Rage

Time to get on the likes of uswitch and see what products are available from other ISPs.