Whats in it for us?
 

I have been aTelewest customer for some years now, and recently got their TV Drive box installed. This was only done because we could not get a decent picture on our New H/D TV without it? We also get their Phone & 2Meg Interent pacakge.
My question is, is there is anything in this deal for people like us, who have been with them for so long using ALL of their services! Some kind of loyality deal would be good, like hooking up our mobile phones (after we have converted them to Virgin Mobile) to our land lines, at discounted calls! Or even a discount for using ALL of their services, anything like that would be a good way for them to hang on to All the customers that NTL & Telewest had before the take over.
Cheers.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Have you tried negotiating a deal with Retentions?

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

I have just checked through all the ISPs as listed on the "knowitfirst.co.uk" and it seems that I am paying Telewest £18.00 for 2 Meg when I could get up to 8Meg from Virgin for £14.99
So it looks like the take over will save me a few quid every month as well as a boost in D/Load speed!
When is the take over?.........soon I hope:)

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Virgin.net 8Mbps is ADSL and an Up To service, you may only revieve 512K from Virgin.net's 8Mbps service.
Its worth paying ntl or Telewest that little bit extra for a much more decent service, trust me ...

My friends who are not in cabled areas wish they could get ntl or Telewest.
I'd rather pay ntl £35 for their 10Mbps service then pay BT £27 for their Up to 8Mbps service.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Thanks for that Zee, you are right of course, I am lucky to live in a Telewest area, in fact my speed is never lower that 1.9Meg at any time!

Yet according to the brochure that Virgin sent us, they say they will guarantee every net user that they will receive 100% of the speed they are paying for, no matter how far from the exchange they live!

So I think I will stay with them, and hope that Virgin keep that promise:rolleyes:

(BTW, how to get an Avatar onto your page? I had a look on my Page and cant find a link)

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

I'm sure that was referring to cabled areas. I'd be interested to see a scan though.

There are two sites. www.knowfirst.co.uk for cabled areas, and www.know1st.co.uk for non-cabled (wierd, huh?)

The Virgin ADSL is most definitely "up to". I'm on the so-called "up to 8Mb". I get 2.5Mb at best and 200kb at worst. And that's only 1.5km from the exchange.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Ah! well it just goes to show that you can never believe what they put into their glossy brochures?
Mind you, I think there will be an all round improvement in the Internet service once the take over is complete, it could even spark off a "price war" which will be a good thing for all use users

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Damn, this is going to be confusing... they should just include the virgin.net services with ntl:telewests services. Maybe call it the S package.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Nickesh, I noticed on your logo that you are already a Virgin Media customer, so can you tell us what their service is like?
I was wondering if Virgin who also own a mobile phone network, would be offering a deal on call charges, for customers who use their TV, land line & Internet package?

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Gadgie - I'm not a Virgin Media customer yet... In February ntl:telewest are changing their name to Virgin Media. I think Virgin.net is also changing to Virgin Media. So I am an ntl customer but they will soon be changing...

ntl:telewest own Virgin Mobile. Here's a link to the deals you can get with telewest at the moment.

BTW My name is Nikesh :p: ;)

Hope it helps. You will soon become a Virgin Media Customer too. ;)

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Gadgie,

Nobody is yet a 'Virgin Media customer' until the re-brand actually takes place in Feb.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Ah! thanks for clearing that up for me, I only hope the quality of service will not suffer after the take over, as to be honest we are really happy with Telewest. Thanks for that link as well, very helpful.

OOPs! sorry about the name.

---------- Post added at 19:22 ---------- Previous post was at 18:45 ----------

No sooner than I asked the question a couple of days ago, about a deal for customers using all services for one company. When I get put on to a link that offers a good mobile phone deal from Virgin! They are offering 300 minutes (any mobile or land line) and 300 texts a month for only £10

I wonder if they saw my post? ;)

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

I reckon this takeover is worse on Telewest customers than ntl. BTW there is no takeover, ntl bought virgin mobile, the negotiated a deal to re-brand and use the name Virgin due to its reputation for good CS. Branson accepted the deal and became majority shareholder. But technically Virgin (Shops etc.) and Virgin Media are separate entities.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Well I read their bumf and it said that us Telewest customers will be offered BB in 3 different speeds? So I only hope that means that folk like me who are on 2Meg will get an increase? As 2-4Meg seems the be the "middle" area just now.
I started off with them on dial up then gradually worked up to 2Meg at £18 a month.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

2meg is their lowest service, for £17.99/month. Others are 4meg at £24.99 and 10meg at £34.99. Speed increases will happen in time, but nothing official yet.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Why is it the first the thing that people say on here when people mention getting a deal is to ring retentions.

Customer Relations is for if your wanting to cancel your account, not just for getting a deal. As you've just had the TVDrive installed you've agreed to another 12 month contract. So you can't leave without paying a EDF.

We are working flat out at the moment even staying behind after we finnish and the department is closed to clear the call q's and getting lots of abuse cause people are having to wait for ages to get through to us, yet only about 10% of the calls are legit Customer relations calls. I hope that with the rebrand that they change the rules and say that if people want cheap deals to go get em elsewhere and stop taking the ****.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Billing seem to put a lot of calls through to retentions for no other reason than they can sort it out and Billing dont seem to be able to.

Happened to me earlier this week, spoke to a really helful guy in retentions and hopefully my billing is sorted now. Not sure why the billing people in INdia couldnt sort it out

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Ah! well, they might just to keep to that then when they start the "Small, Medium & Large" packages. To tell he truth I am happy with my lot just now, as it is reliable and never lets me down that much, which is a far cry from what I have read on here about other ISPs;)

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

I
I agree the company should show long standing all service users some loyalty
by offering discounts, but it seems from what I've just read in the news bullitings we could be loosing sky programs or at least having charges increased, as sky do'nt seem to be to happy with this latest merger,and are starting to put the pressure on.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Well said that man.

NTL are fast getting a bad reputation for just giving people services for silly prices, otherwise if they dont, the customer will leave! (basically blackmail)
I can understand it if your service is absolutely awful, but some people are taking the p*ss.

All we hear now is ring rententions for this ring retentions for that, I wish some of these people getting their services for next to nothing would bugger off to ADSL!

I am paying full price for all my services 10MEG + Family Pack TV and im extremely happy, I could quite easily ring retentions and blackmail them and threaten to cancel if i didnt get my services for next to nothing, by i have morals.

I dont see why I should have to subsidise these people?

I would also like to add that I dont think peoples attitudes on this forum help, with their constant, ring retentions! ring retentions! get it cheap! get it cheap! (pay £10 per month for 10MB + Family Pack like my mate is, i mean is it worth actually having these people on the NTL books with stupid deals like that?)

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

U also have a service that works as it should. Not every1 does...

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

I do appreciate some people are well within their rights to ring retentions as their service is soo poor, but lately lots of people just take the p*ss and want to get their services for next to nothing.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

Well I tend to use a common sence when dealing with customers, yes if they have problems or spend a high amount I'll give them a discount. (when I say high amount I'm talking about £150 - £200 a month)

But If the've only got a phone line and only spend £2 to £3 on calls and expect a discount, I'll turn round and say 30days notice your disconnections booked, anything else I can help you with ( and you'd be amazed how oftern this happens.) Mind you saying that I was told that I can be a little too assertive with customers especially the ones that take the p*ss.

And you'd be amazed at how many customers ring and say they want to cancell because of this and that but when you turn round and say I an't offering you anything and I'll booked your disc, they soon change there mind.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

:gpoint:

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

You probably should have kept on complaining until you got a decent picture, and then ask for compensation - when you had the standard box.

Re: Whats in it for us?
 

In fact when the Telewest bloke first came, he did say to us that we would never get a good picture on our new TV as it was H/D and the box that we had then could simply not supply a decent picture, as the TV was so new in technology?
We are both chuffed with everything now, and I must admit that scrolling through the TV guide now, is a lot more user friendly than the old one was, especially when looking through your "favorites" channels :tu:
I like changes, but only when they are for the better;)