Re: Price rises this year.
 

Nice one…but to some degree you're just kicking that can down the road until the next price rise

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Isn't that most of us been doing for years . No matter which supplier you choose, switching is surely just a different way of kicking it down the road.:rolleyes:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Might well be but every year I go through the pantomime with virgin over my contract and always manage to negotiate a good deal

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Been kicking every can down the road on price rises (tv, phone, broadband, mobile) every year anyway. 2023 isn't new it's just bigger.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It's the pantomime we go through every year

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Just got our letter, £7 a month increase, ouch.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It is, and I’m not naive enough to believe the other suppliers are that much better. In the past I’ve spent a frustrating day or two negotiating a new deal but after more than 25 years this time I’m angry. Angry at the indefensible greed of the price rises and angry at the annual price escalator added to the new Virgin T&Cs. I’m counting the days…

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Totally understand , not dig , genuine question .Whom is offering a contract that's a package of TV and at least BB that does not have such a cause ?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Sky.
Also, only Virgin uses the higher RPI (currently 13.8%) rather than CPI (10.4%) https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Of course, the current RPI is irrelevant. Increases will be next April when inflation will be significantly lower.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What we are assured of is that VMs prices will be more than inflation. No reason whatever apart from blatant profiteering. Haven't seen any expansion of their network locally for years.

lt will backfire if they lose customers to the new boys, hence them doing anything to get folks to sign up for 18 months and getting rid of the cap on cancellation charges. It will get them in the end though, the market has changed.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

From there web site Sky Q, Sky TV, Netflix & Superfast Broadband

Avg. download speeds of 36Mb/s

Now,£45
a month for 18 months

18 month minimum terms. Set-up: up to £48.95. Prices may change during this period.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

just had a chat with VM about canceling my contract be for it ends 14 July they said it be £38.50 think i may pay this as the impression i got was they are not concerned at all about long standing customers leaving they did not even ask why. i been with VM 15 years & 4 months !

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Nope, they couldn't care less anymore about how much business people have put their way over many years. Loyalty no longer counts for anything, they just want to aqueeze every last oenny they can out of people now, probably before selling the company on again.

Then it's a case of rinse and repeat.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My experience of most companies in the last few years is the same, loyalty means nothing to them.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

There are many Business reports that show that acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer.

VMs business model makes little sense

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It depends if they’re actually losing customers (on any meaningful level) or not. Even their most vociferous critic, over many years on this forum, still subscribes.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Liberty strategy appears to rely on the majority of customers accepting the above inflation increase or not getting through on the phone.
Over the years I’ve learned to ring retentions every renewal and negotiate. It can take a few hours and a couple of calls but to date it’s resulted in a decent deal. Next month I’ll do it again

Re: Price rises this year.
 

yes very true think i am going to look at the offers on ( u switch ) for a deal i am very disappointed with VM may be thay going to sell out to O2 !

Re: Price rises this year.
 

They probably, like myself, have no choice but to stay with Virgin until competition appears (though I have now closed all accounts that I control and dropped the final one to the bare minimum possible).

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Well I am currently on the Chat and getting nowhere. The agent is just constantly asking me questions and then taking 10 to 20 minutes to reply with another question. I suspect there is a deliberate delaying tactic going on here. I initiated the chat at 14:02 and it is now 15:18 and we have got as far a my landline usage.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It's how I got mine took over 4 hours ! Just keep banging away, good luck;)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I did and got a decent deal

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Glad to hear , so it was worth it!;)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I was on WhatsApp for 3 hours 47 minutes.

Instead of a monthly £9 increase I ended up with a £6+ decrease, confirmed by email.

Only problem is it is until my end of contract in September when I will have to go through the whole pantomime again!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I was notified of a £6 increase on my £42 bill and managed to negotiate a new deal by phone. No price increase and a speed increase from 50 Mbps to 125Mbps. No new contract.

Unfortunately when the e-mail confirmation came through the promised speed increase had disappeared!

I posted on the Virgin Media forum and an agent got involved and had the speed increase re-instated after listening to the recording of my call. I also seem to now have a price reduction to £36!

So, a satisfactory outcome but I had to work hard to get it. It would so much easier if there was a fixed price for a specific service that everyone paid.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

This has been the outcome for me on several occasions after ringing retentions. Negotiate a deal, then deal isn't as stated so over to the Community Forum. They usually fix it first time although I have had issues carry on with more than one forum agent getting involved. As you say it can be hard work and is very annoying.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Ahhh, but that way they wouldn't be able to screw extra money out of those who pay inflated prices due to inertia, vulnerability or because they are foolish enough to assume that Virgin automatically honour agreements made.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Why would Virgin offer discounts to everyone when the competition isn’t uniform?

Sky, BT and everyone else do exactly the same thing.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

You may well be right, but that doesn't make the practice any more paliable

---------- Post added at 20:06 ---------- Previous post was at 20:05 ----------

You may well be right, but that doesn't make the practice any more palatable

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Has anyone on Ultimate oomph (with an O2 SIM) done any negotiations recently?

I'm interested to how it works now that you are billed separately by VM and O2. Phone both? Just VM?
The O2 SIM is used by my other half but the GB allowance is far too high for her needs, I'd like to reduce it down when the contract is up in July to save money but unsure if VM can do this or O2 need to.
It certainly isn't straight forward any more.


On a separate note, I was an existing O2 customer before the merger and it only took them 14 months to double my GB allowance... Typical VM

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Yes - I have for a new contract for both.

Before £25 was a part of your total package. With the switch to O2 you can keep the top tier broadband and tv at £25 less.

VM do all the transfer work for you.

But you can also downgrade your O2 contract to a cheaper one so instead of unlimited data you can choose a realistic one for you.

As you know as VM customer which ever level of data allowance you select is automatically doubled - but you have to ask at times.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thanks ozsat.
Looks like I can treat them seperately now. I haven't been able to change the O2 contract as it isn't up until July but it will be the first thing I do on the day it is up.
I weirdly look forward to the end of contract negotiation with VM, always fun trying get the best deal and tieing them up in knots with all the info I'm armed with

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I'm planning to ditch the O2 Sim and work on Virgin to keep everything at the price I'm paying now and I will be happy. I will be switching the sim to Smarty my other half barely uses 5Gb a month nearly £30 for a sim with a terrible signal is taking the piss. With the savings on the sim, virgin can go up by £20 I will still be saving.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Was paying £44 pm for ultimate oomph. Didn't want to pay the price rise so rang up and got it nullified. Fine I thought.
Think someone has made a mistake somewhere though as my latest bill is £17 and new contract states further price will be £22pm for remainder of contract. Will see if next bill adds price rise on to go back to £47.
(something similar has happened to me many years ago)
Will enjoy this until youfibre comes live in my area at end of the year.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

If it's of any help, I just renegotiated my Virgin pricing and then messaged O2 via their website to get the associated 'Volt' SIM cancelled, as VM said they have no way to change plans or cancel these (althought they are able to sign people up at te beginning...)

After being told it would be x,y & z amount to cancel - They eventually relented and cancelled with no fees. Be firm and tell them that you will simply stay on the chat until you are satisfied. Just takes time for them to respond!

Tom

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Virgin’s revised Terms and Conditions are particularly galling but I can’t help but suspect that these companies are all as bad as each other and even the new Alt Nets will in future get away with whatever they can. The problem is the lumbering incompetence of OFCOM, which serves the companies rather than the customers

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thanks Tom
I'm looking forward to the challenge, it sounds like it is inevitable I'll have to pay more for VM when my contract is up but if I can knock O2 down considerably then it softens the blow/might make things cheaper overall.

I've had two RPI increases from O2 since I last renewed my VM contract so the SIM is now just over £32/month... Horrendous amount

Re: Price rises this year.
 

You can downgrade the O2 contract if it was swapped over from VM.

Remember what ever data level you choose gets doubled.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I had registered with Openreach, asking to be informed when their fibre was being installed (as it wasn't even planned when I last checked).

Received an email today letting me know my address was now in the planning cycle, but no further details, so I went on to the website and checked - let's put it this way, the outcome was underwhelming ....

Re: Price rises this year.
 

If you have Virgin fibre, OpenReach don’t see you as a priority for their fibre

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Must be Openreach email day. I got an update email from them today too, and they now tell me we've changed from now to Dec 2026 to they've reviewed their plans and they currently can't deliver full fibre to our address. They add that circumstances change and they hope this is just a temporary setback and they can bring our address back into their future build plans.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I too have just had an Openreach e-mail telling me that they are now not going to be able to provide FTTP to my address. Fortunately Lit Fibre has recently become available so I will have an alternative to Virgin when my contract expires. I guess Openreach think it's not worth being in a 3 horse race!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The question if true what do they know , or do virgin customers just scare them.:shocked:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Confused

VM are quoting £902.80 for an Early Disconnection Fee, my contract started before April this year yet the website states "If your current contract with us started prior to 2 April 2023, we currently cap the amount of the Early Disconnection Fee so that you will pay no more than £288 (includes VAT)."

So which is it? I have TV, Internet and phone

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 19:56 ----------

Never mind, they've admitted they got it wrong and it is £288

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Still a rip off if you've been a cable customer for years. Under the post April rules, some could face >£1k in disconnection fees. Doesn't cost that much for someone to click a mouse. If only Ofcom weren't useless.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

…but it’s not about clicking a mouse; it’s about breaking a contract.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Mid contract price rises are breaking a contract. The regulator, if it does its job, should stop that otherwise it existence is pointless.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

not if they are contracted in

Re: Price rises this year.
 

The VM standard contract is scary, not only does it allow price changes, but it allows VM to void the contract it essentially has a clause that the contract can be changed by VM whenever they want.

As you said the regulator should never have allowed these contracts to be given out in their current form. They one sided contracts, the customer has a penalty if they leave early, but VM can just rip it up.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Are there any "fair" contracts from telecoms companies? Are BT or Sky any better? Genuine question. VM seem to be going out of their way in 2023 to screw customers right royal and proper these days.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Probably all similar.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Having looked around at ISP contracts thay are all the same virgin media are just falling in line with other ISP T&Cs as customers we have little or no room for complaints we just have to accept any price rise or change in T&Cs it is just the way things are now !

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What is the benefit, for the customer, of entering into a termed (18/24 month) if it doesn’t fix the price.

VM could offer you a monthly rolling contract, you would still be bound by the same performance T&Cs.

The answer is a termed contract provides a secure revenue stream for VM and the company is, of course, valued of its secured and potential future revenues.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I think it was OFCOM who introduced the 18/24 month contract terms - didn’t they all used to be 12 months? They probably did it for the telcos and didn’t give any thought as to how it would impact customers.
The only broadband I’ve been offered on a twelve month term is from NOW

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Which virgin did all the time prior to new terms :D

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Aquiss, who I've moved to, have a 12 month contract with free installation and no price rises.

Cuckoo, who I also looked at, have the same or if you agree to pay £60 installation, they do a rolling 1 month contract from day one.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I'm out of contract next month so I rang this morning to see what they could offer me. Got through to UK Retentions in two rings at 8.15am. Helpful guy told me the full price for Volt then offered me 18 months for £75/m, cheaper than my current deal. I accepted. I know there is likely be a price rise next spring but I've now got the lowest price I've had for my services in 25 years so I'll swallow that.
Seriously looked at Sky Stream but to match the services we currently get that came in at unaffordable £145/m for similar bundle with dribble-speed broadband.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

What number did you use?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It is documented all over this forum that the only way to get the very best deals is to put your 30 days notice in ands wait for them to call you. In my experience it is the next working day

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Someone I work with tried this, they didn't call back and just let them cancel.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

150 from our VM line, then worked my way through security and selected the "if you're thinking of leaving us" option. Thinking it would be an ordeal I'd set aside the morning but it took less than half an hour. You hear absolute horror stories, but this was a good one.
Now I just hope OFCOM outlaws mid-contract price rises before next spring…

---------- Post added at 16:12 ---------- Previous post was at 16:08 ----------

It does feel like it's a complete lottery. There's a new COO announced who will be responsible for "improving customer experience" so things might change

Re: Price rises this year.
 

There might be a lottery element, but I think if the account is set to not allow marketing calls, it might be a blocker for retentions trying to keep you.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Talked to retention's online as my contract ends in June all they offer me was £80.00 for m250 / talk anytime phone & maxit tv with sky sports hd i said no thanks i was paying £49.12 before price rise . think i may go to talk talk they offer 150meg BB only for £28.00 !

Re: Price rises this year.
 

With a 'Contract' you are quoted a price that is (or supposed to be) fixed for the duration of the term, but now it seems that Virgin-media can increase prices whenever and by however much they like, so what is the point of a contract which ties you to a company that does not respect its customers. I have been a customer since the very beginning (Blueyonder), but in future- NO MORE CONTRACT, I will move my account to where I can get the best value

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My new FTTP is installed (Youfibre) and my termination letter to Virgin has been written. I have 150mbs "up and down" for £21.99 a month, for 24 months, with a gaurantee of NO "in contract" price rises.

Happy days

Re: Price rises this year.
 

First bill in after price rise took effect.
£29.37 for ultimate volt. Will be gutted when this ends in January.
Youfibre now in round my way so will probably get that.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

How on earth do you get Ultimate Volt for £29.37?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My guess is that they mean O2 element went from £25 to £29.32. I rang and downgraded to £17+ . Still on volt

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Up 22% for me. With an odd entry stating that I changed our package recently. I didn't! The only contact I have had with VM in the last months was to ask them to reattach their cable to the outside wall.

Now they are not answering their phonelines! :mad:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

O2 Bill is £14, O2 decided to not freeze the price for new customers like what VM did, was £12 prior to May.

Still £2 is much better than it would have been if VM imposed their increase.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Mine also talks of change of package ,I havent:monkey:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Three weeks on and I'm a Sky customer. Why the change of heart? Quite simple - Virgin never sent me any documents detailing the price I agreed with Retentions, and when I rang after two weeks to check what my next bill would be I found that there was no record of the deal. Worse, they couldn't match the price I had been given and told me the best they could do was £95/m.
I rang Sky, got a deal for £65/m for a pair of Sky Stream pucks, Sky Entertainment, Sports, Cinema, 68Mb broadband etc. The pucks were in, up and running the next day, the broadband installation will take another week.
Yesterday a lady from Virgin rang to confirm we wanted to transfer our phone number to Sky. She then offered me all our existing Virgin services for £55/m. I told her what had previously happened and how I felt I could no longer trust Virgin Media offers made over the phone. If they could offer a price like that, why was I told they couldn't and it would be £95/m?
So I'm now a happy Sky customer. It may turn sour and I might return to Virgin at some point but the way I feel about the company right now, I seriously doubt it.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

There is retentions then there is real retentions. First call can only offer you so much so always put your 30days notice in and wait for the call. I hate it, I hate the policy I hate how unfair it is and I hate how Virgin have treated their customers since they bought out all the old cable. Alas there has never been any broadband better but not with FTTP rolling out more and more the choices are getting better. As soon as FTTP is here and I am out of contract I am offsky and good riddance to VM

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Virigin have transformed themselves into a very strange company, they have good products but the people led services that support those products are awful.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

When I last recontracted I rang up and only asked for new customer price. I was offered it for less. Then I thought I’ll be cheeky and ask about Xbox for new customers. Couldn’t have an Xbox but was offered bill credit monthly extra. Then when I got price rise letter I rang up to say I didn’t want to pay it. No hassles given it straight away. The price rise seems not to have been applied to my account in any case.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

i understand that virginmedia are offering rolling contracts now so customers can cancel when they like so if you don't like how much the price is going up then cancel !

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Havent they done that for a long time - at higher prices to start with ?

( Actually, I think that may have been mobile )

Re: Price rises this year.
 

yes you may be correct . but i think it is a good idea my contract ends July 14 i will phone them see what they offer me if i am not happy with the offer them it will be sky / talk talk for my bb / phone package .

Re: Price rises this year.
 

https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/rolling-contract

Rolling contracts are expensive, now there's a suprise


Due to the £45 rolling contract fee, you’ll pay more for the initial set up than you would on a fixed term broadband deal, regardless of whether you choose a broadband only or a broadband and phone rolling contract

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Of course rolling contracts are more expensive. There’s no commitment to staying for a period of time.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Mine is mid July too.

Don't forget to phone 30 days before (the next week or so) to avoid that incomprehensable partial bill that is always tricky to see if you've been correctly charged :)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That is, of course, true but what is the benefit of a termed contract for the customer when the price isn’t fixed for the contract term!!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

I still haven't managed to talk to anyone at VM! :mad:

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It depends on whether the cumulative cost over a particular time period is higher or lower, including the price increase which will be applicable (and likely higher) for the rolling contract.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Virgin Media are now allowing customers to opt out of their contracts for free according to a YouFibre salesman

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Well the YouFibre salesman must be right. Hes away with his commission by the time VM charge you.... Was he called Richard Turpin ?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

And there are Fairies at the bottom of our garden😂😂😂

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Just phoned VM in the last hour as my current contract was up next month. Used the thinking of leaving option and got through right away to a lovely lady called Amber. Slight increase of £3 a month to what I currently pay but am happy with that. £88 plus O2 cost a month for the Ultimate Gig1 package.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That is good news, tried last week and was on web chat with India. Currently paying £75 (3 V6 boxes) + what was £25 to 02 for Ultimate Volt, best she could offer was £133 for the VM bit and 02 on top.

Ultimate Volt seems to be £85 quid still so will phone and hopefully get through to Scotland on Friday and get the deal done

Re: Price rises this year.
 

My prices are still unchanged, my contract expires in August.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

After a lot of kerfuffle with my original re-negotiation going wrong from back in Jan as seen here: https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...5#post36153395

I've finally got a deal with Retentions for £48 for anytime chatter and 350 BB (If I'd have done nothing in Jan, I'd be paying £100 and with only 250 BB)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thanks for sharing, good news on the deal.

I'm in exactly the same position, £85 + O2 with contract expiring next month.

I've already shaved £20 off my O2 bill by dropping down my data allowance so I'm hoping I'll be quids in when I negotiate VM over the next few days.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

New deal today for 18 months was Ultimate Volt @ £75pm now £79 pm with Netflix included
Rep seemed to think the 02 side was not automatic and I needed to contact them to negotiate a new deal - is that correct ?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

As far as I know, yes treat them both seperately. I've already renewed O2 (the deal at the time was too good to turn down) and due to ring VM to negotiate my Ultimate Volt deal soon

If I can get £79 inc Netflix too then I'll be very happy. Can I ask which tier of Netflix you get included please?

Re: Price rises this year.
 

It's the standard tier.... ,£10.99 one

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Biggest bundle 132 meg £87 per month 18 month contract. Month 19 On £114 don't forget it won't be that by then !!

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Phoned 02 and the whole thing was painful as they would not deviate from their script, anyway happy at £15 a month and will go down to £12 if I sms a code after the new sim is activated. 60gb data more than enough for me.

Re: Price rises this year.
 

Thanks for all your answers.

Just to share my experience...

I was paying £85 VM Ultimate volt inc a second V6 + £32 O2 unlimited data (Was £25, had 2 RPI increases during the contract).

Renegotiated O2 online a few weeks back, downgraded to 5GB, doubled to 10GB for £12/month + cost of a new phone but that was my choice so I'll ignore the cost.
Saved £20/month

Phoned VM yesterday, first offer for a like for like was £90.75/month including Netflix which I paid separately for... Typically Netflix started being offered a few weeks after my last contract started.
Managed to squeeze another £3/month out of them to get to £87.75/month and said yes

Net result, £2.75/month more to VM but saved £10.99/month to Netflix direct so £8.24/month better off + £20 better off on O2.

Yes this may be still a lot to pay for some but I'm happy with the deal, especially when the price rise notice was £21.50 a few months back, I've managed to save over £28/month

Regarding the O2 link to VM, all they asked was that this price was only being offered if you have an O2 contract, they just asked me to confirm the phone number and it went through ok.
Obviously there to make sure you haven't cancelled the O2 SIM, therefore it doesn't have to be unlimited to get a decent Ultimate Volt deal.

Hopefully I haven't bored you with my story :)

Re: Price rises this year.
 

That’s very useful I’m in a similar situation. Recently downgraded to an 80 GB O2 tariff and wondered what that would mean for my Ultimate Volt offer. Virgin contract up in November I think.