MSE and Virgin Media

jhobson

I just signed up to Virgin Media using an offer from MSE - this gave me a great rate and I'm really pleased.

I'm less pleased by the fact that although the MSE advert for MSE states that

This equivalent monthly cost adds in...

• ‐ The current £19.99/mth price
• ‐ A price rise to £23.99/mth on 1 Apr 2027
  

It does not show that the price rises to £76/mth in 2028!

I now know that having read the documentation sent to me, but I do think MSE should make this clearer on their list of suppliers offers!!! Is it just Virgin who try this on?

I assume that a month before I just call VM and threaten to leave and they will offer me a price close to what I will be paying at that point? (or I have to switch to another supplier)

Neil_Jones

So you have a deal for 24 months and then you go out of contract and you pay full whack at that point?

That's pretty much normal if you do nothing.

If I look on MSE site I can see the following which suggests to me the price is only good for two years so I would expect it to not be this good after 24 months.

Detail_Merchant

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6657272/mse-and-virgin-media

I agree that it would be better if MSE did state the follow-on price too.
Almost all broadband providers have their out of (minimum term) contract price higher than the initial deal price. But VM have the highest multiple, over triple the in-deal price, whereas for most providers it is more like double.

As you say, a month before the deal ends it is best to investigate your options:

• If you log in to your VM account near the end of your minimum period you may find a deal offered to re-contract for another 24 months. In my experience the price is a little worse than before, but nothing like triple.
• You can call VM and threaten to leave. From what I've heard they will offer some kind of deal, maybe better or worse than the online offer.
• You can look around at what deals other providers are offering.
• What has worked for me the last couple of times is to actually give 31 days notice to leave. Last time they mentioned the new one touch switch system, but I said to go ahead with cancelling in 31 days. Then ,within 24 - 48 hours, VM called back and offered a deal as good as a new customer. If you have already investigated what other providers offer then you are in a good position to decide whether to accept this offer.

Ms_Chocaholic

Isn't the £76 per month the out of contract price you will pay if you don't agree another contract.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81902958#Comment_81902958

It is. The MSE Unbundled website (like any comparison site) states that it is for a 24 month contract. Does it really need stating that it'll go up to full price after the minimum term? I wouldn't have said so.

It won't even be £76 even as it'll have two April price rises on top by that time.

jhobson

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81902958#Comment_81902958

Well I'm not sure - it just says that's the rate after 2 years

Ms_Chocaholic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81903437#Comment_81903437

It is pretty clear it is, presumably you have signed up for a 24 month contract, they're just giving you the price it will be once the fixed term ends. A bit like your energy contract, you agree to a price for a set period and at the end of that period you go on the variable rate which is higher. Virgin are just being clear what you will pay if you don't fix again. Don't overthink it.

jhobson

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81904073#Comment_81904073

No not really - Octopus don't play silly games like increasing the price per kWh by three times if you allow yourself to go onto their standard rate.

jhobson

It's funny that you are saying this is perfectly normal, yet I have been out of contract with TalkTalk for the last 6 months. Am I paying a silly rate now? No. In fact I am paying exactly what I was paying when the contract ran out. They recently told me that they wanted another £4 a month to recontract for the same service so I simply stayed as I was. Then they did the £4 a year instead of CPI + 3.7% increase thing, so I looked around and found the MSE / Virgin offer.

I have never used a broadband provider who thinks it's appropriate to screw the customer if they don't recontract.

Anyway I have diarised it now so they don't catch me out.