Re: Price rises this year.
 

I had an email telling me my package is increasing by £6.0, and that is for 50 BB, no tv or landline

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Or search around for another provider as you will be subject to an Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation, plus an added 3.9% next year, perhaps you might be able to negotiate a discount and a Zero price increase for the duration of your new contract, worth a try

Bare in mind that any future price increase is based on the list price of your package rather than the discounted price you negotiated.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

looks like all ISP are doing the same linking there price rise to RPI + 3.9 % or there about with no ( RTC ) in T&Cs . no point in shopping around just hope virgin media will give people a good deal after all it is a good service for the most part . i will stay with them
until my end date of my contract & see what offers thay give me ?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Most other suppliers are using CPI rather than RPI and CPI is normaly a lot lower.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Does anyone know how list prices compare between providers? Are VM's bigger than BT's for example?

A bigger % increase on an already bigger list price would be pretty insulting to customers in a cost of living crisis.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

They are in it to make as much as they can. Nothing else. Direct debits and customer apathy are gold dust to these companies.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I agree, VM can change their list prices whenever they want and that has 2 effects

1. It increases the amount they receive from their RPI + 3.9%
2. People think they have secured a good deal as the list price is heavily
discounted.

The down side is VMs (list\discounted) price in relationship to its competitors in the same market place.

caveat emptor

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I agree, you have to play them at their own game - I've never paid 'full price', but I know people who do through apathy.

The way I see it is I can't control how VM (or any other company) sets their pricing, but I can decide who I spend my money with. There are no alt-nets in my area and getting an Openreach line installed is a challenge for me as the previous owner built a porch on top of the line and my drive is block paved, so the underground cable can't easily be accessed. Sky previously told me none of this would be a problem and they'd arrange for a pre-install visit, though I still think this could cause hassle and have the potential to go wrong.

So, my approach when I get my email will be:

1. Try to renegotiate with VM, with a requirement for:
a) a fixed price for the duration of the minimum term, or...
b) max 12 month minimum term.
2. Try Three's 4G home broadband.
3. Try an Openreach-based provider for install.

We'll see what happens!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I have Toob outside the house, 0.9G for £25 a month.Vm wants £42 for 250M.
I will another go on Monday

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Toob is one hell of a deal :)https://www.toob.co.uk/

These providers are out there but you have to do a bit of digging to find them.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Well Talk Talk EE & other big ISP are using RPI i have had a look around but at the end of the day it is up to the customer . for me it is virgin media the devil you know than the devil you don't know .

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Only Virgin and O2 using RPI according to USwitch

https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/gu...t-price-rises/

The difference is significant. Consumer Price Index (CPI): 10.5% in January 2023
Retail Price Index (RPI): 13.4% in January 2023

I’d love an explanation from VMO2 as to why they alone are using RPI which was discredited years ago as an inflation metric

Re: Price rises this year.
 

http://https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/02/a-quick-look-at-the-changing-growth-of-uk-full-fibre-altnets.html

I didn’t realise there were so many “AltNets” in the UK!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I’d not bother learning them all. Most of them will go to the wall soon.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Some of the altnets also offer price guarantees to avoid mid-contract price rises. Youfiber are building here and I'll be jumping to them from EE as even with an early termination fee £1 a month for 3 months will more than pay for it, then £29 a month for the rest of the 2 year contract sure beats out the monster price increase EE want to slap on me.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yep and most of them will have a mindset of "Get big enough to be bought out by one of the big ISP's"

Last year I was offered a job at 3 of them, all of which offered "Shares" etc and a reduced but still decent salary, or I could have a larger salary with no "Shares".

Told all 3 that I wasn't interested, I knew what they were trying to do and I prefer Job Security.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What happened to all the small energy companies when they couldn’t sustain their low prices?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The Altnets are probably better placed, due to their size, to install the gigbite network and get it up and running, its inevitable that some of them will be taken over. Large companys often become large companies by aquisistion it is going to be intresting to see how the market place develops in the next few years.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Youfibre are building in my postcode area as well, they look a far better option than VM you can get YouFibre 500 for £27.99 a month fixed for 24 months and that's both upload and download

Virgin's closest would be M350 at £39 a month, giving only 36Mbps upload speed

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I think VM need to update their modelling lest they become like IBM.

Once enough of the country gets competing networks, then ye olde phone/tv/broadband *forced bundles will look increasingly unattractive, even the up/download speeds are clearly possible as everyone else can seem to do it, why not VM

Speaking honestly, how many here wouldn't switch if competition was available to their address?
I'll be the first to hold my hand up, and will act once my options become available.

*forced meaning unfavourable terms if you don't go for a 3 package bundle.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

If Youfibre go active in my area before April 4th I will be seriously considering ditching VM and getting sky stream. If they don't, I'll have to wait until January when my contract ends

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The IBM model is a good example, at one time Xerox were domininate players in the photcopying market place, they charged what they wanted. Then one day a ship carrying photocopiers made in Japan arrived in the USA over the next few years Xerox went into freefall.

Its only resonable that people will act in their own intrest.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I have no FTTP competition. Not dropping back to VDSL speeds.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Maybe VM realise they don't have a monopoly on fast speeds any longer. That's why they are desperate to get the punters to sign up for 18 months, even if it means big discounts on the alleged full price. In the long run, their business model/monopoly is in trouble.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I got my price rise email last week. Rang up this morning and have had the amount credited to my account until contract end. So no price rise. All done in less than 10 mins.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That seems common. Pis*es me off that they make you call or you get the price rise - most customers won’t pick up the phone and will get fleeced. Apathy rules

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I just rang them and got my butt kissed for being a customer for 23 years haha

She offered me 100% discount till end of contract next Jan

However she listed the prices and it appears she gave me a £7 discount from today. She told me it is applying to my Feb bill due tomorrow and my March bill on top off the rest of the term. So bonus

Re: Price rises this year.
 

How long will it take them to inform all customers of their position?

VM are managing to send me spam, broadband tips. and other types of emails during this period.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Same here..

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Last comms will go out by end of March, and when you get it depends whether the change applies on 1st April or 1st May - it'll tell you when you're informed.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I called this morning @08:05. OPTION.. Thinking of leaving, connected to an auto voice service, offering me a discount, no new contract. I accepted.

My contract finishes end of July This year.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thanks for clarifying Ben. Presumably, if we haven’t heard by Wednesday (March 1st) and there’s 30 days’ notice we’re looking at the price rise from May 1st?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The £7 discount she gave me was for 18 months for some reason with no contract change. Obviously if I do stay next year there will be a new negotiation and new contract but the only way I am staying is if the offer is a deal price - £10 at least to cover the 2 Aprils a new contract will cover

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes, as I believe it's any comms that went out from 14th Feb onwards that have a 1st May change date.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I have just phoned and ignored the automated £7.50 discount option offered for just 6 months and opted to speak to a human being instead.

I spoke to the agent who brought our increase of £15 down by £12.75 which brings our total discount upto £29.75. I wasn't able to get them to get rid of the full increase or fix my price till the end of my contract in May 24 so I will have to see what I can renegotiate when the April 2024 price rise is announced.

And Breath....Please don't tellI me I should have pushed for more as I've got the shakes getting that result. Off for an early G&T to calm my nerves. :D

Re: Price rises this year.
 

As long as you are happy

The one I spoke too put herself on the backfoot by ass kissing me about my 23 years custom. All I needed to do was say I want to put my 30 days notice and I ended up getting more than I expected

Well done :)

April 2024 price rise you can do nothing as they have written it into the terms this year. Due to your contract ending in May though you are ideally placed to put your 30 days in end April get the best deal and only have to worry about 1 April in between which you want them to factor ito the deal

Re: Price rises this year.
 

With this April 2023 increase being £15 having that increase reduced by £12.75 to £2.75 was far more than I expected.

As for April 2024, with my contact ending in May 2024, I should have more bargaining power.

Will make sure I have a good stock of Gin laid in.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Same here.

Have a couple of G&T's before you ring next year. Hopefully OFCOM will have stopped midterm price rises by then.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Had an OpenReach sub contractor out unannounced yesterday I guess to pull the fibre from the telegraph pole to the house.

---------- Post added at 20:39 ---------- Previous post was at 20:35 ----------

VM keep calling me but I’m ignoring them. Why don’t hey email me!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I've called retentions twice so far, and overseas call centres answered both calls, (usually get UK) the first offer was to cancel out my £21.50 price increase until July when my contract runs out.
Today's offer was £21.50 off my bill for 18 months without a new contract, I declined but the lady put notes on my account in case I took up the offer later.

One thing that stopped me from accepting the offer was because the offer was from overseas, in the past, I have been promised things that weren't true.

My price rise comes into force May 1st.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Same here. I was promised that I would get to keep Full House TV, which wasn't true.

Getting them to put notes on is no longer a guarantee as they either don't put notes on after saying they will do, or put down something different to what was agreed/offered.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

They do however record calls, which is handy if ever you ever go down the complaint route. I'm sure you never would Richard ;)

I seem to have exchanged Full House for Maxit in my latest deal; v little difference apart from a few children's channels. No issue for me, but it may be for some and the difference should have been explained.

I guess the guys on retentions are on a bonus for the amount of punters they retain/sign up. Crap job, but blame the system/company, not the poor sods manning the lines trying to earn a crust.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Wouldn't think there'd be a way of keeping Full House or the other older TV packs when agreeing a new deal at this point.

But absolutely that needs to made clear before the change is made.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

So some customers are getting considerably more notice than others?

I have rang twice now, as like others I want to negotiate a rebate, the first time I was told I was exempt, the second time the person had no idea as there is nothing on my account for it.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Got my email 2 days ago, £6 increase on my £42 50Mbps broadband and anytime calls. Called retentions today and settled for a £6 discount to negate the increase and a speed upgrade to 132Mbps on my existing contract which runs until Feb next year. I may cancel at the end of the contract as I should have FTTP available by then.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Just been looking at possible upgrades to my package. It says an extra 25p/month for 18 months for the same package, but with a new contract. Would that dodge the planned £15/month increase?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Probably, but be aware you're signing up for. An inked in inflation busting rise, with no cancellation rights next year. I got my package lower than it is now with that in mind.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

But I'd still be dodging this years increase, and if I don't have a new contract I would still have next years increase on top of this years.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Re. post #331

Have just Rx'd new contract, no price increase, and a reduction of £4:00/month.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I must be missing something...

Everyone seems to be phoning retentions to haggle the increase but my e-mail clearly says the price increase won't effect me until after my current price offer ends (Which is July)

Are most out of contract? Just curious

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Got a letter today saying I am exempt, so old royal mail beat electronic email.

Exact phrase in bold "this 2023 increase wont affect you until your price current offer ends".

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Received a letter today informing my bill will be increasing by £15, and I have up to 10th April 2023 to discuss it with them (change/cancel) without any cancellation fees.

I will ring them Friday morning to discuss options, armed with the info I can get the Sky streaming box, with Premium Netflix, UHD add-on, ad-skipping, and 78Mb (ish) BB for £59.50.

If we have to change, we won’t get the BB speed we have now (250Mb), and SWMBO won’t be able to record her property make-over/cookery/medical etc. reality shows, but we can live with that (well, the COD updates will take five times a long, but hey-ho).

I’ll update after the call…

Re: Price rises this year.
 

We moved over to Sky a few years ago and yes we noticed the lower download speed for the first week or so and then it stopped being an issue. I can still download stuff quicker than I can watch it and streaming UHD on 2 TV's while general browsing isn't an issue so we're happy.

To be fair though, work wise I'd like a higher upload but when we left VM the top package was only 200Mb so we didn't loose anything on the upload but when a fibre package comes along we'll jump ship because I work with massive spreadsheets, databases and audio files so upload is a bottleneck.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My parents got this in their email...

So does that mean, when their offer ends (October time I think), it'll increase by £21.50 or another £21.50 on top of what it was going to go up to anyway?

The O2 part of the contract is seeing a £5 a month increase as well.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I suspect it'll be £21.50 on top of the discount, you can easily work it out by looking at the normal price then adding on 14%

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That mobile increase is ridiculous! I’m on Three and my increase in April is 79p (I now have unlimited everything for £16.79/m)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Not sure how they've worked that out. December CPI + 3.9% (which is what Three say they use) is 13.1% so you should have had an increase of £2.09

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Or stick with one that doesn't rise prices during your contact :D

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Rang retentions today to discuss what could be done re: the pending £15 price rise. I have a retentions deal for Talk Weekends Phone, Maxit TV (inc. BT Sports), 360 box and Volt Gig1 paying £75. The lady I spoke to (in the Philippines) gave me additional £15 discount straightaway so I now pay £60 for April and then £75 (again) for the rest of the contract. I said thank you! :D

What I did notice that when queuing for Retentions, I could hit "1" to get an automatic £7.50 discount for 6 months. Advice: ignore this and hold to speak to a human.

---------- Post added at 18:43 ---------- Previous post was at 18:42 ----------

My email, sent on 22 Feb, said:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Think before you jump ship to another ISP because all the ISP companies are going to increase there prices . my contract ends in July so i will ring them & haggle for a new deal but if i am not happy with what is on offer then it is time to consider moving on after 15+ years with virgin media .

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thing other isps have competition in the market and once on FTTP or FTTC you can be a new customer every contract and have all the benefits offered. For example if you go through a certain comparison site you can get the best price BT offer and £100 prepaid card. Imagine deals like that every contract just to swap out a router

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Question.

I'm on a discounted contract until January 24 an agent has told me adding Sky Sports UHD would start a new contract, is this true?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Hi Gavin,
I added Sky Sports UHD and it didn't start a new contract.

As far as I'm aware, it's treat the same as adding the Sky Cinema and Sky Entertainment UHD pick.

30 days’ notice is required to remove Sky Cinema and Sky Entertainment UHD pick, or any other additional picks.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That's what I thought, maybe I was given duff info, but I don't know for sure.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Ring again and ask to speak to an adult, or someone in the UK. (Even better go to the actual sporting event and see it in the highest definition possible :) )

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yep but I’m taking this opportunity to ditch a lot of the packages I no longer need, now, rather than in 6 months.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I complained about being lied to, but the recording was "Not available".


However., they gave me some personal picks for free by way of an apology, which I doubt they'd have done if they didn't have proof that I was lied to.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My wife has GiffGaff, £10/m. No rise. I don’t know why my Three charge is only going up by 4.5% but I’m not going to rattle that cage!

---------- Post added at 07:53 ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 ----------

From a far greater distance than you’d watch your TV though!;)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I haven't had an email yet. My new contract started on 3rd December, do the price rises apply to me?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Keep an eye on the post, a few of us here have been informed via snail mail instead.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

£21 on the Virgin element of my Ultimate Volt package. From the end of my contract later this year.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My contract ends June 14, so I'm expecting my notification to say a £21 increase on my Ultimate Volt from either May 1 or June 14. Either way, I'm cancelling. I wonder what VM's "churn" numbers are going to look like for 2023?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I got an email from VM telling me my wife’s SIM-only mobile contract (1gb data + unlimited mins & texts) was going up from £7.93 to over eight quid.

Two days later, got a letter from them offering 5gb data, plus unlimited mins/texts, for £6 on a 30-day contract.

No-brainer!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Lol, or ring the local water company. They will probably have more of an idea about the anawer to the question :D:erm:

---------- Post added at 18:08 ---------- Previous post was at 17:59 ----------

Earlier today one of my carers phoned them after she mentioned her bill was going ip from £31 to £40.

She is on 100 BB and the lowest TV & phone.

The first giy saying she could have the same services for £42 and then £39 after the price increase.vvHe then passed her onto someone else who messed her about (saying her password was wrong, asking other questions, her giving them and then being put on hold as he thought thst she had gone away to find tje infirmation)she was offered the existing price of £31 until the end of her contract.

She will review matters then.

It looks to me like they're basically trying it om with those daft enough (or vulnerable enough) to pay a lot more and rolling over if these price rises are challenged.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I had email saying package was going up by £21.50 per month even though still in contract spoke to them and they have added £21.50 discount immediatley so going to be cheaper for a couple of months

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I think VM are trying to avoid churn with these offers of discounts till end of contract period, thus making their FYE figures look better. It wouldn't look good if a shed load exited their contracts because of this change.....spreads out that churn over a longer period.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Quite possibly, yes. If so, they must have underestimated the number of people who would resist their attempts to get more money out of their customets. You'd think that they'd have taken inflation and the cost of living crisis into consideration, especially when most of their products are either luxury or non essential products.

If only a couple of people in a street cancel, this cancels out the extra revenue from those who paid up.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Exactly. They’ve also underestimated how aggressive offers from Sky, BT and the new ISP are. I wonder if other Liberty Global companies are imposing annual RFI plus 3.9% on customers or if VM came up with such a terrific wheeze themselves? There’s no mention of their other EU businesses squeezing customers to the benefit of shareholders in the latest LG reporting https://www.libertyglobal.com/wp-con...esentation.pdf

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My contract ends in July i will see what they offer me or cut back in the bb speed to may be 50meg have basic phone & cancel the tv & if that is still to expensive then i am off to another ISP that will accommodate my needs i don't like the idea of a massive price rise every year + no RTC now "

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Sorted - continue paying what I'm paying now, with a new contract for 18 months (which works for me, as the current one ran out in November this year).

I'm happy with this outcome.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Did you phone their 150 phone number Hugh or their retentions phone number?.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

If you ring 150 fom landline then retentions is one of the options in the rather large menu. Not sure what happens if you ring from a mobile or non VM landline. Is there a specific number for retentions?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Got mine on chat , paying less than before , it's crazy.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

l am still waiting for their price rise correspondence but l just want to be ready to go when it eventually does arrive.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

151, then took the various options.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Some seem to be being put into a new contract and others not.

The problem with being put into a contract is that that those thst are will be forced to pay the oncrease in 2024 and possibly 2025.

Hopefully Ofcom will outlaw the proposed change to above inflation price increases without the ability to cancel.

I don't hold out much hope though to be honest. Their remit from the Government is a softly softly approach to regulation

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thanks as a letter has just dropped through the door and the price rise is a eye popping £21.50 from the 1st of May.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

An additional £258 a year thats a lot of money :td:

I have still not had any notification.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Just phoned them up and they have applied a £17.50 monthly discount until March 2024, so we are happy with that.

l just said we want to cancel our contract and they quite obviously had their scripted reply ready.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My rise would have been £7 which on my £29 is almost a whopping 25%.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Can anyone confirm how much Ultimate Volt should be out of contract?

The website states £136 but it's unclear if that's including the O2 price of £25 or not. My belief is that it was £136 plus £25 making it £161 for the full price of Ultimate Volt.

I ask because when my discount runs out, my contract states that my price will be £111 which when you add on O2 of £25, does make it £136. Yet my sister who is on the same budle (different discount) on her contract, after the discount ends, states it will be £136, making the full bundle £161 with O2 added on.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I bet if we compared everyone's subs on this forum we'd all be paying different.
VMs pricing is deliberately vague designed to get as much out if you as possible...
When I first had a cable account, over 20 years ago, everything was itemised. You knew exactly how much you'd pay if you upgraded or downgraded. Now it's a guessing game....

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The VM part will be £136 after discounts expire, plus whatever price rise you’ve been notified of, which I’ve seen is £21.50 on Volt, so that’s £157.50/m, plus your O2 cost if you decide to keep that.

New customers can get the same bundle for £60/m and £25/m for O2.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

So come the price rise, Ultimate Volt is going to cost £182.50 full price? That seems ridiculously expensive.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What is the draw of volt ? Seems a expensive way to get what is O2 , even Tesco give the O2 extras or what ever they are called. Have it but have never bothered!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Because it IS ridiculously expensive! The £25+ for a monthly mobile tariff is twice the market rate for mobile and the VM element is extortionate too. The company thrives on people not realising and just continuing without renegotiating at the end of their discounted contracts.
I’m using the break option I’ll have with these price rises to have the OpenReach wiring reconnected for our house and then I have options with FTTP fibre. Might go Sky Stream, might go NOW on a Roku. All considerably cheaper than Virgin.
Never had the need for 1Gb broadband in our house

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That's more of an RRP.... I doubt anyone is paying that.

Makes the so-called saving quite good.

I've a volt package which I will not renew in may next year.

I took it as it suited at the time and I was effectively getting sky sports and movies for free.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Think I'll stick with my £5 a month ASDA (vodafone) payg bundle. Granted, it doesn't sound as sexy as 'volt'.;)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The problem is, before Volt came along, the Ultimate Oomph bundle wasn't actually that bad of a deal for everything, Ultimate Volt came along and suddenly they are shotting £25 a month on when it used to be included in the bundle.

---------- Post added at 19:48 ---------- Previous post was at 19:46 ----------

I just wanted the RRP as to what it should cost. So it seems they mucked my contract up in my favour because after discount, the Virgin Media side is only £111 instead of £136

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yep, seen a report when someone rang retentions, at first they got offered the half discount automated, then call handler only offered same, then 20 mins later was offered 75%, then after another 10 mins of haggling offered the full rebate, it seems designed to milk the most they can get away with but also with the elasticity to back down if it means keeping the customer.

When I ordered my current service the price I am on now apparently wasnt available, but after some time the lady suddenly offered it me. So even on new orders it seems all over the place.

---------- Post added at 10:07 ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 ----------

For me it was the huge discount.

I could get gig1 for £64 a month, or £29 a month with the O2 sim (which is £12 month). So a saving of over £20 month in total. (more if the sim is actually useful to you).