Virgin didn't want to match online offer

So, I'm an existing Virgin customer and my contract period ended, so my account flipped to their monthly rate and jumped by 20% to £56.50/month for 200 Mbps.


I checked their online offers and there's a deal at £32/month for 18 months (12 month contract) +£35 setup fee -£50 bill credit.


I called to discuss the options for bringing my bill down and they said the best offer is £44/month (ie. £12/month more); I pointed out their web site and said I'd prefer to pay £32, but they said they can't offer that to existing customers.


So, the costs for the 200 Mbps connection are:

• Monthly basis: £56.50 = 678/yr
• Best offer contract: £44 = 528/yr
• new customer deal: £32 = 384/yr

I said the £32/month offer is the deal I would like, but they said no.


So I've given them my month's notice to disconnect; apparently I need to wait 90 days before I can become a customer again, but I'll save £170 in the process (and the link was via TCB, with £100 cashback - it expires tomorrow, but I expect there'll be another at the time).


It's a bit curious that they'll go through the rigmarole of disconnecting, returning the kit, closing the account, losing 3 months, creating a new customer, or maybe losing them permanently, etc., but ho-hum...



Meanwhile, I also have Sky BB (which I have used as a standby, but have just got an unlimited deal on that, so it should be good), so I might not even need to go back to Virgin at all.