You Fibre claiming my Virgin Media service will decline, so I need to sign up with them

NecessaryAnkles

I got home from work in the evening & had been back for only a couple of minutes when a cold-caller from You Fibre knocked on my door. I'm autistic & sometimes cant process lots of information quickly, especially if I'm tired, so I can't remember some of the details but it was to do with Virgin Media planning to change how they provide broadband in the area (either their underground cables which only they use or a box on a nearby mast which she kept pointing at - she kept going on about the differences between normal telephone masts & ones which also provide electricity, or something - can't recall why).

The gist of it was that Virgin Media are evil corporate types whose service was on the brink of seriously declining in my area due to a planned change in how it's provided & that I should sign up with You Fibre before this happened. I said (truthfully) that I was mid-contract & switching now would cost me hundreds in termination fees. She replied that not switching now would also cost me hundreds in terms of the cost of restoring my service to what it was, that she's been al over the UK & spoken to customers who this has happened to & that it's cost them a lot of money & time to sort out (somebody in Scotland told her that it had been a nightmare, etc) which is why I need to switch ASAP. After telling her numerous times that I'd only just got in & would look into it later, she eventually left.

She seemed sincere but the content of what she said came across as scaremongering. If she'd knocked on my mums' door & given the same pitch, my mum probably would have signed up to her out of fear. So I wondered if there was any truth to her claims or if it was just an old-school sales tactic of trying to scare people into signing up with them? Presumably if Virgin Media did do something which severely affected my service, I would have the right to get out of my contract or make some sort of claim with them?

littleboo

It's nonsense, ignore them. Ask them to put their claims in an email to you if they return.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656236/you-fibre-claiming-my-virgin-media-service-will-decline-so-i-need-to-sign-up-with-them

Yep, absolute nonsense that is scaremongering at best and should be illegal as they're flat out lying to you and are basically trying to scam you.

Just be polite in the future, but don't engae and answer questions, just say no thank you and close the door.

beckstar1975

I an autistic too and hate people coming to my space uninvited and trying to sell me things. I always say politely that I don't sign up to anything at the door and then close it.

I am hoping that the more people do this the less profitable doorstep selling will become and it will stop (I can dream!)

born_again

she's been al over the UK & spoken to customers who this has happened to & that it's cost them a lot of money & time to sort out (somebody in Scotland told her that it had been a nightmare, etc)

In which cse then it would have been something that would have cropped up on here. Or in reviews online.

Sounds like a nice complaint to You Fibre about their staff & the lies they are using as sales tricks.

infj

Umm, Virgin Media have just bought YouFibres owner, so this is an interesting sales tactic 🙄

We have Youfibre and I must admit my heart sank when I saw this news in the FT. Not expecting much from Virgin in terms of cost or service.

southsidergs

She's actually breaking sales rules effectively by denegrating another provider so should really be reported

oldernonethewiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81892526#Comment_81892526

Ask them to put everything they are saying in a letter and to post it to your address. No need to give them any more info than they already have. 😉

What a horrible person with a horrible sales tactic.

Kim_13

As above, it is nonsense. If any part of Virgin's service could be properly described as worsening, it would be landline, as they have already transferred to using WiFi to run the service - so it will not work in a powercut or during a period of internet disruption. But others are heading the same way so as you are mid contract, it would not make sense to pay out hundreds of pounds in termination fees to end up in the same situation with another provider sooner or later.

If you did want to leave mid contract, then it would make sense to move somewhere with a documented offer to pay towards your exit fees (EE I believe) and not some cold caller who will probably also attempt to match that when they have no authority to do so - and you would receive no money from them when it was all done. Many cold callers these days seem not to even be from the company they claim to be representing, signing people up to business contracts with no cooling off period instead. There have been posts that they don't even charge what they say they will charge and/or the allowance doesn't match what was claimed, leaving people going down the legal route to try and escape the contract on the basis that it isn't what they agreed to.