MSE News: Virgin Media customers to be hit with 5.9% price rise from February

anotheruser · 25 January 2015 at 7:35PM

I called to cancel in the end, but VM ended up calling me back (the day after I signed up to BT!) and offered to cancel the price increase and give me 6 months of Netflix free.

It would be much easier to keep paying the same £13, so that's all okay for me.

Skintski wrote: »

I didn't even get as far as telling her what the deal was, she offered to upgrade us from 30mb to 50mb and the bill drops to £24.49 on a 12 month contract but the deal stays live for 18 months.

That's free anyway.

Anyone who was on the 30Mb BB can upgrade to 50Mb for free. Visit your customer area online and you can click the "Upgrade" button near the top.

Also, if anyone wants the "50% off for VM customers" link:
http://www.sky.com/shop/offers/switch-to-sky/

ortolickus · 25 January 2015 at 8:28PM

Excessive even by Virgin Standards.

First they said my 'services' were going up by £3 and that i could leave if i didn't like it. I wrote and told them that i'd paid my phone a year in advance so leaving wasn't really an option, and did they seriously intend to increase my £9.50/month broadband contract by £3.00: a 32% rise?

The responses i received - amongst all the promotional spiel (VM largely see complaints as a sales opportunity) - finally came up with an increase of £2.64. This represents a far more reasonable 28% increase.

A further protest brought another missive full of more marketing verbiage and assurances that the increase was necessary to maintain the high quality of TV, mobile, etc services - none of which i use.

I feel as if they've exploited my current prepaid situation to enforce a totally inordinate levy. The only small comfort is that it probably cost them more to reply to my letters than they will make with their greedy profiteering and if i can put one person off them with this rant then all the trouble will be worth it.

tasha42 · 25 January 2015 at 9:06PM

sujman wrote: »

I get below currently for £59.99 (before price rise)

Talk Weekends
TV Size: XL
1 Additional V Box
V+ HD Monthly Fee
TiVo Monthly Fee
Broadband Size: XL (Up To 100mb)
Line rental

Yet to ring for a better price but last coupe years they've hardly moved and I couldn't get a better package from sky

Thank you so maybe I wouldn't get a better price really then :-( off I go to BT maybe

teggs · 26 January 2015 at 1:11PM

sujman wrote: »

I get below currently for £59.99 (before price rise)

Talk Weekends
TV Size: XL
1 Additional V Box
V+ HD Monthly Fee
TiVo Monthly Fee
Broadband Size: XL (Up To 100mb)
Line rental

Yet to ring for a better price but last coupe years they've hardly moved and I couldn't get a better package from sky

I have this exact package. I am paying 6x£52 and 12x£67 over my 18 month contract. I'm 6 months in and I can cancel without penalty. Just had call from retention offering same package for £47 for new 12 month contract. I am not going to be able to better that with sky.

peter999 · 26 January 2015 at 9:14PM

MSE_Helen wrote: »

Virgin Media customers' bills are set to rise from 1 February 2015, but affected customers can leave penalty free...
Read the full story:

Virgin Media customers to be hit with 5.9% price rise from February

Virgin Media says no other prices are changing and that broadband-only customers are unaffected by today's news – prices for these customers already rose by £1.50/month in October (see the Virgin Media broadband customers face price rise from October MSE News story).

"There are no changes to our call charges or talk plans. We're doing everything we can to keep any increase as low as possible, especially for our existing customers."

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

You have been given wrong information by Virgin Media, for me:

Talk Unlimited is increasing by £1/month

Broadband (M) is increasing by £2.84/month

One very annoyed VM customer ! :mad:

visidigi · 26 January 2015 at 10:19PM

ortolickus wrote: »

Excessive even by Virgin Standards.

First they said my 'services' were going up by £3 and that i could leave if i didn't like it. I wrote and told them that i'd paid my phone a year in advance so leaving wasn't really an option, and did they seriously intend to increase my £9.50/month broadband contract by £3.00: a 32% rise?

The responses i received - amongst all the promotional spiel (VM largely see complaints as a sales opportunity) - finally came up with an increase of £2.64. This represents a far more reasonable 28% increase.

A further protest brought another missive full of more marketing verbiage and assurances that the increase was necessary to maintain the high quality of TV, mobile, etc services - none of which i use.

I feel as if they've exploited my current prepaid situation to enforce a totally inordinate levy. The only small comfort is that it probably cost them more to reply to my letters than they will make with their greedy profiteering and if i can put one person off them with this rant then all the trouble will be worth it.

£9.50 a month for broadband? Is that an already discounted deal or just your list price minus the line rental saver?

The % increases are worse if you're already discounted.

sg0102 · 27 January 2015 at 12:47PM

Had a couple of calls from the SKY outbound team, and in the middle of a cracking deal my phone cut out. Was able to gain the same offer when I called the winback team (subject to manager approval).

50% off TV package for 12 months (12 month contract)
£5 line rental for 12 months (18 month contract)
6 months free SKY Fibre Unlimited (18 month contract)

No installation or activation fees.

I called Virgin to cancel and they offered to move me to their latest broadband deal saving me about £2 a month, off my current £55 a month for TV XL, Phone & Broadband.

Pretty pleased with the deal!

Danjames · 27 January 2015 at 2:14PM

My package with Virgin:

Tivo plus 1 extra normal box
'L' Package
Broadband
Weekend calls

Was going up to £51 per month. Phoned to cancel last week and was offered £46 per month and free netflix. Declined

Phoned last night and was offered the above at £39.95 per month, plus free month (11 for price of 12) plus free BT Sport and Netflix for 6 months! Bargain.

phatbear · 27 January 2015 at 5:08PM

just re-phoned virgin to confirm my de-activation date and they said it wasnt on their system so they made some tapping noises and then found it still no mention of a deal, well apart from not putting the price up which isnt much of a deal.

oddly yesterday i received a come back to sky letter where i can have any package half price for 12months, as long as i use my existing eqpt and im looking at bt infinity so i get bt sports and i can get £60+ cash back and £125 sainsburys voucher so i guess thats the end of virgin for me

ic · 27 January 2015 at 9:28PM

Been a customer for about four years now, always ring with this price rises to see what they can do for me. Currently on the equivalent of the "Big Easy" package (M+ TV, M Phone, L Broadband) paying £19 a month - I had a £3 discount from the last time I rang that would run through till May. This meant my monthly price was due to rise next week by £3.62, then £3 again in May. I'm already on line rental saver until Sept.

Rang to explain I was conscious my price would rise twice, and weighing up my options. Chap ummed and ahhed a moment, then offered to keep the price at £19 a month if I commit to another year. Snapped his arm off. He then went on to throw in Netflix for six months for free too - so well worth the five minute call!

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MSE News: Virgin Media customers to be hit with 5.9% price rise from February

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