Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

For balance, Sky told me I could go when I rang to renegotiate with them once out of contract, whilst so far Virgin have worked hard to keep me. That said, Bananaman's example doesn't show them up well.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I think SKY might be feeling the effect of competition from BT.

Everyone I know with SKY, in terms of family, friends and work colleagues have recently re-contracted to SKY on 50% off deals. That's how I became aware of the tactics you need to use. You need to let your contract end and within a month you'll receive either an e-mail, call or mailshot offering 50% off to return.

As the TV provider market hots up, it should be good news for us the consumers. The battle for customers is definitely on.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

My mate works for Sky and last week she offered me a code for full Sky TV package which was normally £67 for a promotional price of £25 for 25 months.. crazy!
If I hadn't just recontracted to VM a couple of months ago I would have took it and kept VM BB.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

That's a great deal. SKY seem to make their money on these deals from up-selling. They don't offer any discount on your multiroom box, the HD package or line rental. They also don't offer any discount on the various telephone options they sell.

Actually when I review my package, it looks like I'm only paying £25.00 for my Entertainment+ TV package which includes both SKY Movies and SKY Sports. It's all the ad-dons that take me up to £55.40.

It just shows you how much profit TV providers are making from subscription costs. All TV for only £25.00. SKY must be making some kind of profit from that sum to make the offer worthwhile. Whilst they can up-sell, some people will sign up to this offer purely for TV and nothing else. Consumers are being ripped off in the pay TV market by all companies involved.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

It begs the question then why so many stay loyal to any provider ? It clearly doesn't pay.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Totally agree. The past 14 months have been a real eye opener for me. It's amazing what a few simple changes can achieve, if you can be bothered. My wife was made redundant last year, and was out of work for a few months. We made a few simple changes and realized we could get bye on one salary if need be. With my wife returning to work we have continued to be frugal. We've never had so much disposable income available. We're going out more often, going away on breaks more often, eating better, saving more each month and putting more than ever away for the future. In general our life is so much better thanks to a few painless changes. For example:

* Switching TV provider - Saving £62.00 per month
* Switching from mobile contract to SIM only contract - Saving £22.00 per month
* Switching car insurance provider - Saving £20.00 per month
* Switching electricity provider - Saving £18.00 per month
* Switching home insurance provider - Saving £8.00 per month
* Stopped buying a newspaper every day - Saving £13.00 per month
* Buying toiletries and cleaning products from shops like B&M and Poundland instead of my local Sainsburys - Saving £15.00 per month
* Fueling up at my local ASDA instead of BP - Saving £15.00 per month
* Cancelled my overdraft facility and changed bank account type - Saving £15.00 per month
* Cancelled Netflix. Now using my brothers account in exchange for him using my SKY Go account - Saving £6.00 per month

Those simple changes are saving me £194.00 per month, which is £2328.00 extra in my pocket per year. Okay I've went off topic however it's just to show that loyalty to a brand, product or the provider of a service isn't always in your best interest. Ironically my two largest savings, TV and mobile, have been as a result of moving my services away from Virgin Media.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Its very annoying as it would depend on who you are talking to and at what time of the month as to if you get a good deal. I rang and renegotiated my Virgin deal just a couple of months previous and managed to get my bill down by about 20% keeping all my services.

My friend at work was offered only 10% and she had been a customer 10 years longer than me she was paying just under £90 a month for 30mb broadband xl tv and sky movies and sports which i think is a lot compared to what i am getting.

The attitude of the person i spoke to on behalf of my friend was awful. Firstly stating the deal i had bartered for my parents as a new customer did not exist he also doubted the deal i was on. I gave him permission to access both accounts to prove what i was telling him and then the excuses came he could not have cared one jot and really just wanted to argue.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I've had similar experiences with both SKY and Virgin. What I don't like is if you call to cancel, and suggest you are moving to a rival, they then tell you all the "bad points" about your competitors services rather than focusing on their own plus points. Again SKY and Virgin guilty of this.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Once my contract is up i'm getting rid of pay tv completly and just sticking to my Smart DNS, Netflix and HBOnordic.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Exactly what I've just done, just keeping VM BB and Phone. Strangely, I got a cheaper price by keeping one Tivo with M TV on it.

I'm happy to pay for TV, but the things I want to watch, rather than fund BT Sport.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I've got to keep XLTV for another 4 months due to the offer i'm on then i'll downgrade to TVM. Although i could easily ring up anytime and just say "sorry finances won't allow for me to have XL i need to drop to M" but that'll mean a new contract lol.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

Why do you think that you will be able to downgrade to TV M at the end of your current contract period without a new contract period?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I've heard of people being offered this many times , to be honest it makes sense , keep the STB in the home in the hope the customer will upgrade to a pay TV package again in the future. Cant the customer still also order PPV movies which makes VM money so why wouldn't they offer this ? Don't all tiers including M count towards VM's total TV subscriber base if so surely its in their interest to keep this as high as they can. ?

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I will be dropping TV & Phone and keeping the BB when my contract ends in July.

I have just purchased a Now TV box with a 6 months entertainment pass. I also sub Lovefilm, so my families viewing is sorted.

Re: Coming soon to Virgin TV 2014
 

I started a new 12 month contract. The reason they said I needed to was because my bundle discounts had changed.

They said the reason that I could get a cheaper price for BB and Phone if I kept one Tivo on M TV, was that by having a triple service, I could get a larger bundle discount, than by just having 2 services. The new 12 month contract didn't bother me as I paid up front for line rental at the same time.

As I mentioned earlier, re the just released financial results, part of the reason, I'm sure, is that VM need to boost their TV users and also, as MM said, they're hoping I will be tempted by the missing channels and upgrade in the future.

When I rang to cancel, I did tell them that a good part of my reason for wanting to cancel TV was my 9% price rise and I objected to funding a Premium service (BT Sport) that costs £15 extra on Sky, yet VM still do not have Sky Atlantic. I told them a lot of other people feel the same way.