Re: Price rises this year.
 

Still not received any price increase notification, my contract ends in June !

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It is making the BBC/Freeview look particularly good vfm, with the licence fee frozen. Why didn't the Gov also insist on freezing cable/satellite/broadband? People are paying over £1000 a year to the like of VM/Sky, and the licence fee is a fraction of that. ( but its the licence fee they complain about !)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

No comparison.
The licence fee has to be paid, even if you dont watch the BBC, its not optional.
VM/Sky/Others are optional, i.e. by choice.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I also took the opportunity to rid myself of that too. :)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Excellent news.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I’m tempted by Sky Stream, 31 day rolling contract. No long term contracts that can increase!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Indeed they are :)

Instead of becoming more competitive and improving their absolutely abysmal customer service though, Virgin think it's a good idea to hike up their prices by much more than their main competitor (Sky) during the worst cost of living crisis that most have experienced in their lives.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

You only need a TV licence if you watch and/or record live TV channels and/or use BBC iPlayer. Streaming sites like NetFlix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ don't need a licence.


https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes, which is still the vast majority, and the 'channels' you watch may never be the BBC.

Also, unless it changed in recent years, you only needed the ability to watch tv channels, even if you never actually did so.
[ or you could prove you only ever watched streaming on your shiny new flat screen ].

iPlayer is an oddity, it asks if you have a licence, but has no way to verify if you say 'yes'. I dont really see how its different to something like Prime.

---------- Post added at 02:01 ---------- Previous post was at 02:00 ----------

Well presumably they can still increase the 31 day price.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

VM are promoting the M50 tier again (I think this had been removed from sale?) Does anyone know if its available through retentions too?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I could be wrong but is that not their “social tariff” for those on certain benefits?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

No, its only 15MBps (£12.50) or 54MBps (£20) for those on Universal Credit.

Other providers also allow people on Pension Credit, Income Suppirt, Income Based ESA, Income Based JSA etc to join their social tariff, but with Virgin one has to be on Universal Credit.to qualify.

How much s it for 50MNps?

Maybe the fact that we're in a cost of living crisis is starting to dawn on them as people use the price rise get out clause to cancel, so they're again offering a lower speed/price to try and retain some Income from these xustomers??

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes it is. AFAIK only those on Universal credit (or at least one of them).

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Maybe it is and the poster meant to actually say 54MBps?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Cheers, pip.

---------- Post added at 12:40 ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 ----------

M50 is 54Mb.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It's not the social tarrif, it's widely available and costs £25pm to new customers: https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/broadband-only

I saw it advertised on TV this morning too.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

They possibly have re-enabled sales of it since the price rise, but they did stop sell previous to that and offered it as one of the social tarrifs still available at £20pm.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

From the Daily Mail

Virgin Media sent most audacious price hike letter I've seen, says RACHEL RICKARD STRAUS: Telecoms giants take us for fools... it has to stop It is putting my broadband bills up by 26 per cent. This increase is coming in the middle of my contract and is more than double the rate of inflation.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Looks like their response to those who can't/won't pay the price rise could be, not to reduce the price, but to offer to reduce their speed.

Re-introducing 50M gives those on the previous lowest speed somewhere to be directed to.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Anyone tried would be plenty for me but still waiting for price rise to come to me:shocked:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I couldn't understand that at first. Punctuation exists for a reason.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

And you complain people pick on you. I wonder why that is?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

So ... do you wonder why he complains ? or why people pick on him. :D :angel:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Someone ought to tell RACHEL RICKARD STRAUS not to worry, the free market will be along shortly to resolve all her problems.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Could not please !:)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Still not got the dreaded email, starting to be more hopeful isnt coming my way.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

No hope of that. I have not had one yet , sure it will come soon.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Maybe it depends on when you’re out of contract? My contract ends mid-June and I’ve had nothing yet

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Same here but l am expecting it in the coming weeks..

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes death, taxes and a regular VM price hike are all guarantees :D

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I got a letter not an email. Always do for some reason. The actual price rise is in a very small font.....

Tempted just to cancel, good chance I'll be moving to a non cabled area this year and certainly don't want a new VM contract on the new crap terms. RPI + 3% , and no cancellation rights is taking the p*ss. No wonder the regulator is looking into it.
Don't think that cable living in my ground for the past 25 years has been working that hard. Even Arthur Scargill wouldn't have asked for that level of rise...

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Punctuation is important (especially to those with some forms of disability).

These days I sometimes make errors when posting, which is why all my posts are subsequently checked by a facilitator.

Also, shall we eat, fathe has a totally different meaning without it :D

Re: Price rises this year.
 

[QUOTE=RichardCoulter;36145880]

Also, shall we eat, fathe has a totally different meaning without it :D[/QUOTE:

you'll are confusing me now .

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Think i may cancel virgin media & try now tv broadband & phone 30meg bb + call anytime phone + entertainment & cinema 12 month contract = £37.00 per month sounds a good deal ?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Do you only have DSL where you are? 30 megs a bit on the low side

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Might need to learn to spell or have a moan with your 'facilitator'.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Can't help but get the feeling that the rises by the various businesses are simply because their T&Cs allow it, rather than a need to cover any increased costs.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes it does. One of my carers mentioned she'd moved over to Now as it was much better than Virgin - this sounds like the same deal :)

---------- Post added at 21:15 ---------- Previous post was at 21:13 ----------

It's plenty for a lot of people though.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I would imagine that all of the price rise notifications have to go out by the end of this month so that VM customers have their 30 days to cancel before all remaining contracts get hit by the inflation-busting increase and punitive contract rewrite on April 1.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The price rise looks like a very strange business model by VM when there are now so many other providers in the market and people are price sensitive due to the energy prices.

Are VM simply looking for a smaller number of customers who pay more for the service, this is an option if you want to remove traffic from the network whilst retaining the same turnover.

Whatever the objective behind VM's business model the risk must be that a significant number of customers vote with their feet and VM has to cut their prices to entice them back.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I think a lot of people forget that businesses also have the energy price rise problem.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

For me, the more reasonable Sky increase and promotional offers for Sky Stream make this a no-brainer once I get my notification from VM.
Virgin’s change in T&Cs is inexcusable profiteering

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Exactly, and the extra business have to pay to their suppliers who also have energy price rises.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That’s the way a free market works, Virgin are free to decide what’s best for their business and the consumers are free to decide what’s best for them.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Considering this too, but with Sports instead of Cinema.

How do you go about adding more than 1 package, whenever i click to add entertainment, after adding sport, it only shows entertainment.

---------- Post added at 12:29 ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 ----------

I am going to use this page to speak to an advisor: https://www.virginmedia.com/help/pricechange2023

We only get post once a week!

She just said to me that from 1st April I can call up to "get a better deal".

£21 a month price rise is awful!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I don't think anyone said otherwise, but people need to stop having a go at businesses because prices are going up and then saying people are struggling because of the energy prices like it doesn't affect businesses.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

If you look back at my prevoius post I have already stated that I have had NO issues with the VM service or with VM itself, however it is a fact that many people\companies are struggling finacialy and are being forced to look after every penny.

My decision looks to be fairly easy one and is not wholly based on the VM price rise, I can have FTTP and a faster broadband speed, at less than I am currectly paying VM, the providers 24 month contract guarantees "No midterm contract price rises". If these deals are available in other areas then consumers will be attracted to them

I would be foolish not to consider my options.......caveat emptor

I have not had any communication from VM about the price rise yet and I will talk to VM before I put my notice in.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

So I looked at Sky Q and Sky Stream, 18 month contract with kids, sports, , UHD, multi room and that really annoying ad skip add on for Stream.

Including 59mpbs BB, looking at £100 a month!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

How does this compare to Virgin after their price increase?

Sky are managing to keep their price rise to below inflation. I imagine that to be able to do this they must have improved efficiency, cut their profit margin or believe that being the lowest increase out of them all will generate at least dnough extra income to cover the costs of not putting up prices by inflation.

If you aren't bothered about recording, Now TV is even better value. This is even with standard pricing, but i've very rarely paid that. The cheapest i've had for Entertainment is £1 per month and zero for Cinema (I don't bother with sports).

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I think it will be around £90 with Virgin, but then I do not like the new terms of being able to do this again with no option to cancel.

NOW TV looks good value, esp via Talk Talk, who have a box with the app so you can at least get Freeview channels.

My worry is it is too complicated to use, especially for my 4 year old. At the moment he simply presses the mic and says "nick jr".

Would he have to fire up the NOW TV app and browse that way to get to the kids channels? I will need to check if either of my TV's have the NOW TV app. I do have a fire stick, but think that will be just as akward to navigate too.

Are there any cheap PVR boxes where you can record normal TV but also has the NOW TV app?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

After a week your 4 year old will giving you lessons :) :) :)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Breakdown of Sky’s increases (apologies if it’s been already posted)

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...ice-rises.html

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I'm not sure as I've only ever looked into BT TV where Now is on the EPG and can be recorded.

Sky scrapped their Now TV boxes in favour of making their app ubiquitous on TV's etc, so hopefully it will be on your TV's

The people that I know who have it have a Freeview or Freesat recorder and use the Now TV app for pay TV, either live or on demand.

Note that the kids channels are included in the price with Now TV and don't require a £6 extra monthly payment like Virgin or Sky.

If your TV's don't have the app, Now TV boxes are plentiful & cheap, in fact I might have a spare one that you could have or you may be able to cast it to your TV.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Sky have the benefit of being a major rights holder, in that a greater proportion of their costs (thinking Premiership football primarily) has a fixed, or at least defined, cost throughout the duration of a contract. Sure, inflation will push up the value of each contract in the long run however it will only follow through into the bottom line at renewal with each rights holder.

A relative is seeing their Sky plus broadband package go up from £79 to £89, so it’s certainly double digit percentage increases.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Best thing to do is to decide what you want and/or the minimum that you actually need and then compare prices.

Sky increase is approx an average of 8% and Virgin about 12%, but it ultimately will depend on what services one has.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

FYI Sky’s current offers end on Thursday Feb 16. No doubt new “limited offers” for new customers will replace them

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Our Sky bill is going from £95.50 to £105.50. This in addition to the £3/month increase in our Sky mobile bill a couple or so months ago.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I tested it on my TV's app and it looked good. Plus has other streaming apps and I believe my TV can record to USB.

I also have a fire stick, but that involves changing the source.

Regarding kids, to get Nick Jr etc, you have to pay the £6 extra to get the channels + on demand content, which is a lifesaver!

My mother in law has a NOW TV Sports pass, witch boost, i may piggy back off her account! So will only need broadband.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Kids pack is now included in the Entertainment pass. Now TV dropped the £6 charge when the Disney channels closed.

I think the standard price is £9.99 per month, but you get the first week free. If you regularly play the cancellation game or take up an offer (set marketing emails to yes & regularly check your account messages) you can get it for much less. My cheapest offer has been £1 per month, you should at worst get it for £4.99 a month for, say, three or six months

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I rang up earlier today and was told I am exempt for duration of my deal. I asked if they sure and they insisted. Guess I find out in two months?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I am supposed to be and my contract reads like I am so hopefully

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Did they tell you why? My contract is up in June and I’ve not had the letter or email yet so I’m wondering if people at the end of their contracts are exempt

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I’ve not received any notification ether and my contact ends in a couple of months!!!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

You will probably get the email/letter at the end of March/start of April, ready for 1st May.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I started my new updated contract in October 2022 and haven't received an email or letter about a price increase. Hope they don't spring it on me a couple of months when it will be too late to leave or negotiate.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I'd expect you'll get a communication soon then.

This Price rise applies to all bundles agreed before 1st November 2022 (even where any discounts delay the actual increase till the end of the discount)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The notifications are being staggered (presumably to stagger calls to CS), so just because other customers have received a price rise notification and you haven't doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be getting one in due course.

---------- Post added at 13:10 ---------- Previous post was at 13:05 ----------

Even if the price rise is negated with increased discounts, meanong thst the net figure remains the same, would Virgin hotify customers of the change in make up of their account? Could they cancel in these circumstances?

Benefits are recalculated every April, but we were legally bound to send them a letter even if the amount received remained the same.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes they said was part of my offer.

---------- Post added at 13:20 ---------- Previous post was at 13:13 ----------

Thanks, thats specific info, I signed up a week or so before that date, so should mean it applies to me, I have a feeling when I rang they just wanted me off the phone. I will report back here if I do get the email or it rises in April/May without one.

If I get it, really unlucky how close it is.

So I read my PDF contract, surprisingly there is no clause saying VM can increase with inflation, which I expected to see there.

It even specifically says this. (£1 higher than quoted on phone)

So the person on phone might have been right.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Both O2 and Virgin Mobile currently advise customers of their RPI+3.9% increase before it happens, even though there isn't a right to cancel.

I'd expect the same will happen for Virgin Media cable services too next year.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Translation please:rolleyes:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Any change to the DD amount they have to notify you in advance. They're not doing any favours here.
Anyway the regulator is looking at these no cancellation clauses. VM and others might have to change tack.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I know for a fact my next negotiation will only be accepted if it is either in writing not to go up or £4 cheaper that it is now to take it into consideration

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I would be happy with that as I could leave due to the price rise and move to YouFibre which is a higher speed (FTTP) and a lower monthly cost 👍👍

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Basically i'm asking if someone has a price rise, but doesn't end up paying more, will Virgin send out a notification and can this be used to get out of a contract early.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

RTCs will apply to anyone who gets a price rise letter this time.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What? If someone has a price rise, but doesn't end up paying more then they haven't had a price rise.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

If a tree falls in the woods and there’s nobody there to hear it, does Richard complain to Virgin Media?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Technically they will have had a price rise in the cost of their services, even if this rise is negated by an increased discount.

If this isn't classed as a price rise and there is no right to cancel early, it would be unfair if a price rise took place further down the line when the discount that negated this price increase expired. Virgin sometimes offer discounts that don't last for the duration of the contract.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

So it's irrelevant as at the end of their discount they have a right to cancel.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Today if you have an 18 month contract and 12 month discount, you wouldn't have an RTC when the discount expired. Only where an previously unknown price change (or other materially detrimental impact) was notified would the RTC apply.

As part of these price rise comms, customers are also being advised about the change in the terms and notify them about the RPI+3.9% increase from 2024 onwards.

Once those apply from May, you don't have a RTC within your minimum term for the RPI+3.9% increase.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The problem with these RPI\CPI+??% mechanisms is that applying them on a yearly basis may make the company uncompetative in their market place. The company can apply discounts to their "Headline\Price book" prices but what are those discounts worth if they can be erroded by mid term contract price rises. There are now quite a number of smaller regional Fibre companies entering the marketplace with some very nice offers, my granddaughter had a leaflet pushed through the door from a company called FibreNest yesterday, I had never heard of them!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I just did a whats app chat and asked about the price increase even though I hadn't received notification yet. The person I spoke to said that because I took my contract on 27th October 2022 I was not listed on the system for a price increase. They said this 2 times, in different wording but the same meaning.

From what you say, should I be concerned that I might of been fed false information (even if the agent I spoke to thought they was telling the truth)? I don't want to miss out on notification and find my price has increased come april.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Just had the email. My price is going up which is unexpected by 25%!
I pay £28 they intend to increase it £7

City Fibre and Openreach both have my area on the roll out for FTTP and I know Openreach are active in my town. I am tempted to wait till the 23rd March and call and take the £3.50 the phone offers for 6 months leaving just a few months paying £35 in the hope my area is built by the end of next January. My other option is to force a new 18 month contract now and hope the build is finished then. Dunno what to do

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I am so confused on what to do!!!!

I REALLY like having HD channels (ITV 2, 3 etc) on my TV downstairs and bedroom AND the ability to record. I hate watching things on ITV on demand as you have to watch the adverts or fork out the monthly ITV X fee.

I wonder what VM will offer to remove Sky Sports, Cinema, UHD and maybe even reduce my BB speed (1gig is way too much for us)?

As I said before, my only other option is Now TV, but then with TalkTalk you can only get ONE box which you can plug a USB in and record too. We need one in both rooms....

First world problems!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD & ITV4 HD are now free on satellite. Buying a Freesat PVR would allow you to record for free too.

If you wanted to supplement this with pay channels, i'm not sure if Freesat carries the Now TV app, but most TV's do these days.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes that’s a possibility, NOW TV access is sorted.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Just got mine. 500mb going up £7 to £44. I can get brsk for much cheaper so its great timing for me.

It says I have until the 24th of March to give notice to cancel. When I give notice do you get the usual 30 days or is it days? I need to plan around getting brsk installed and not paying for 2 broadbands.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

yeah 30 days notice

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Wait till the 23rd of March and then give 30 days notice that should give you time to sort out another provider.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I don’t think Virgin care about customers leaving in their thousands over the price rises, especially as BT’s companies are imposing similar increases.
Sky is the only big telco not on the inflation plus 3.9% gravy train and I’m sure that’s just market opportunism on their part and temporary.
I’ve been with NTL / Virgin since the 90s. I’ve never felt so under-appreciated by a company supplying me services. The whole situation stinks of profiteering and exploiting the apathy of customers who don’t notice what’s happening until it’s too late.
OFCOM is compliant in this. Who do we report OFCOM to for failure to fulfil its duties?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

:rofl:

This is Ofcom’s duty as laid down by the Government. Free market, innit?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I'm 12 months into an 18-month contract, I was assured on a few occasions during the process and during my 14-day cool-off period that this contract would not be subjected to any price increases.

Today I received the email that my bill is going up £21.50 from May 1st, I currently pay £76 a month.

TV360 is definitely going, (Maxit TV and Sky Cinema) and landline if I can as I don't have a phone connected.

I had just started a free months trial on Sky Stream, (Puc) Picture quality is great, especially on music channels, and the sound is louder than TV360, which was always lower than the original TiVo box.
With Netflix Premium at £8, Discovery+ included, I would save there too.

We never really watch live TV anyways, and maybe one movie a month on Sky Cinema.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I was looking at Sky Stream, but really need the ability to record.

Like you, we never watch Live TV, but record programs rather than watching on demand to skip adverts.

With Sky stream there is no recording so only on demand to watch content, therefore Adverts.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I've decided enough is enough. With the 02 sim probably going up 17% (that will be £4 extra a month) AND with VM announcing that they will be bringing in the same yearly rises for TV and BB, I'm out.

Surprisingly, BRSK are cabling up at the moment and they have an offer on FTTP...first 12 months half price for 500 Up/down - £16.50 and then £33 a month (2 year contract) which is cheaper than VMs 350 (Shame BRSK don't do a 250) More importantly they guarantee no mid-contract price rises.

I'll be using the VoIP change as an excuse to cancel and I'll be moving over to BRSK and Sky.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Best Sky Stream offers ended yesterday. I was quoted £65/m last week. Enquired today and it was £90/m
Incidentally, if you have a TV that can handle USB drives you can probably record from Freeview channels onto that

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What Sky Stream services were you going for? That sounds a lot!

I tested this out and it’s quite clunky.

And you can only record one at a time.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I was surprised. I put Sky Entertainment , Netflix HD, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Superfast Broadband, Multiroom, and Sky Stream in the basket.

If I add BT Sport it’s £115, and I will need a new OpenReach connection

Best value alternative broadband I’ve found is NOW, £22/m

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That’s as much as Sky Q! They no longer do a months trail.

So your had your email/letter?

I was told my price rise will be from 1 May but no notification.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

These prices are from the website on Feb 17. I expect Sky will offer new deals in the coming weeks and a phone call will hopefully get a better deal.
No letter or email yet from Virgin and I’m out of contract in June. It’s the T&C changes that will drive me to leave VM after more than 25 years

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Same, would need a pretty good deal to keep me, but the fact they would be able to do this again without RTC is what’s making me think

Does Sky Stream not do trials anymore?