VM to change their call charges

[Jonessie]

I just received my bill from VM and was astonished to read the notice in the centre of the first page which read...?

From 6th July, the way call charges are calculated is going to change. Instead of charging to the nearest second, calls will be rounded up to the next minute. So for example, a call that lasts 4 minutes and 50 seconds will be rounded up to 5 minutes. If you have a phone package, any calls made outside your call plan will be rounded up to the next minute. For more information go to www.virginmedia.com/callcharges/

OK... let’s try and make some sense out of the above notice – firstly, you notice they have given an example of 4 minutes and 50 seconds which makes it look great. When in fact, it’s the complete opposite, for example if you make a call which only lasts 1 minute and 5 seconds you will be charged for a 2 minute call. I have spoken to Consumer Direct about this and they were very interested in the proposal from VM, Their example was, I quote “What if you just make a quick swift call to say you will be their in 10 minutes and you’re just leaving...” the length of the call is probably no longer that 10 seconds to get that sentence out or leave a message, therefore, you are going to be charged for a minute call when you was only on the phone for 10 seconds. This is in breach of the Sales and Supply of Goods Act and the Sales of Goods Act, as they are in breach of contract. They were very interested in this and have passed it over to Trading Standards to investigate further.

[Rapid Dr3am]

This was changed months ago. At least I got a letter about it months ago.

[joglynne]

Same here in Manchester. I got the letter informing me of these increases at least a couple of months ago. If I remember rightly it triggered a few posts on this forum about cheaper phone suppliers/options.

[ACDeag]

I think you will find VM have done nothing wrong, the argument is that it is a free market and you can get your phone service from other companies.

In fact I do not understand why anyone would want Virgin's expensive service. Get a BT line then get your calls from Primus, where for no charge you will get free evening and weekend calls, and on top of that pay per second and 0845/0870 which are upto 84% less than VM charge.

[bonzoe]

Plus VM have a connection charge on top.

P.S. T-Mobile are going down the same route charging to next minute instead of per second.

[dcclanuk]

I think you will find VM have done nothing wrong, the argument is that it is a free market and you can get your phone service from other companies.

In fact I do not understand why anyone would want Virgin's expensive service. Get a BT line then get your calls from Primus, where for no charge you will get free evening and weekend calls, and on top of that pay per second and 0845/0870 which are upto 84% less than VM charge.

Yes, what VM have done is not wrong, but just annoying for customers:(

[valor]

Well i guess its no big deal to myself personally, i very rarely use my home phone as ime rarely at home, all calls i make are on my mobile as i have a decent call package, gotta use up all my monthly minutes.

[markknell]

Are we able to exit from an existing contract due to the price rises?

[Stuart]

If you are not within your first 12 months, yes.

[shepard]

As I have discussed on other sites, now that BT has confirmed a further price reduction in their Talk Plans will Virgin Media be quick to follow suit this time to stop the company hemorrhaging phone customers as their last quarter results showed, or will they run themselves further into oblivion?!

BTs New Prices:

Option 2 For Talk E&W is reducing from £3.95 to £3.45
Option 3 For Talk Unlimited is reducing from £9.95 to £7.95

Personally I think VM should get rid of Talk Weekends (M) and make it Evening and Weekends for £12 - then have Talk Unlimited (L) for about £18, and Talk Unlimited Plus (XL) which includes Talk Mobile, Talk International, Caller Display, Anonymous Caller Rejection, Ring Back When Free, 3 Way Calling, and Voicemail Plus for £24 - that would make their phone packages more appealing to customers!!

Also an option to add text bundles to the Talk Anywhere plans would be an option where you get your texts for a lot cheaper than the standard 10p/text charge...

What does everyone else think?!

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

From 6th July, the way call charges are calculated is going to change. Instead of charging to the nearest second, calls will be rounded up to the next minute. So for example, a call that lasts 4 minutes and 50 seconds will be rounded up to 5 minutes. If you have a phone package, any calls made outside your call plan will be rounded up to the next minute. For more information go to www.virginmedia.com/callcharges/ (http://www.virginmedia.com/callcharges/)

OK... let’s try and make some sense out of the above notice – firstly, you notice they have given an example of 4 minutes and 50 seconds which makes it look great. When in fact, it’s the complete opposite, for example if you make a call which only lasts 1 minute and 5 seconds you will be charged for a 2 minute call. I have spoken to Consumer Direct about this and they were very interested in the proposal from VM, Their example was, I quote “What if you just make a quick swift call to say you will be their in 10 minutes and you’re just leaving...” the length of the call is probably no longer that 10 seconds to get that sentence out or leave a message, therefore, you are going to be charged for a minute call when you was only on the phone for 10 seconds. This is in breach of the Sales and Supply of Goods Act and the Sales of Goods Act, as they are in breach of contract. They were very interested in this and have passed it over to Trading Standards to investigate further.

Looks like it applied from the 1st of May, all my calls on my bill since the end of April are rounded one way or another to a full mniute

Just looked at your link and it states 1st May so not sure where you got your July date from

[Taf]

My letter states 6th July also!

[Florence]

This letter is because the call rounding is implemented in ICOMS only and your accounts will be moved to ICOMS on the 6th July

[technoboy]

Thankfully I don't have a landline. The value for money gets worse and worse.

However, you'd be still badly off under BT. They are taking a leaf out of the VM book and are going to raise their, comparatively recent introduction of 3p, connection charge, to 6p. Further, they also will round up to the next minute. Peak time calls will be 3.5p/min so the minimum charge goes up to 9.5p. Not so long ago is was 5p and charges were by the second.
The only good thing is the off peak calls will be priced about 4.5p for the first hour of a call.

On a brighter note here is always the Tiscali offer of all UK 01/02 calls included, landline rental and up to 8Mb/s unlimited broadband for a flat fee of £20 (if connected at your local exchange). Alternatively they do a £15/month offer, with line rental, just weekend calls inclusive, and only 2Mb/s unlimited broadband.

[ACDeag]

Thankfully I don't have a landline. The value for money gets worse and worse.

However, you'd be still badly off under BT. They are taking a leaf out of the VM book and are going to raise their, comparatively recent introduction of 3p, connection charge, to 6p. Further, they also will round up to the next minute. Peak time calls will be 3.5p/min so the minimum charge goes up to 9.5p. Not so long ago is was 5p and charges were by the second.
The only good thing is the off peak calls will be priced about 4.5p for the first hour of a call.


Good thing about a BT line is you do not need to use BT for your calls. Primus still offer a very good deal with free evening and weekend calls for no fee.

[MikeyB]

Just got this letter today, 7th September, and the date for the new "rounded to next minute" charges on my letter is 6th October.

Time to think about changing phone providers?
Shame as I'm on the 2 for £20.

[tweetypie/8]

Well i guess its no big deal to myself personally, i very rarely use my home phone as ime rarely at home, all calls i make are on my mobile as i have a decent call package, gotta use up all my monthly minutes.

got to go along with that :D