Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
My sis just phoned up today to downgrade her 20mb broadband package to 10MB.

She has been on 20MB XL broadband only package since last March (16 months).

So the guy tells her it will be £25 a month to which she agreed. Now i go on the site & its 15 per month for 3 months & £20 there after.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/webs...uct.do?id=3264

Im just wondering if this is common practice? Im also just wondering if she will have "agreed" to a new contract, even though nothing was mentioned & how long does she have to get out of the "new contract" if there is one. She only phoned today at 4pm.

PLEASE help, Between my Virgin ADSL saga & this, my patience is wearing thin very fast:mad:

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I reckon so, VM, offer cheap packages to new customers but existing customers pay more. Despite Bransons pledge to align the prices.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

Thanks for that m8. Do you think there is anything I can do? Do you think she is on a new contract?

---------- Post added 11-07-2009 at 00:35 ---------- Previous post was 10-07-2009 at 23:21 ----------

Not aim at you above m8. Instead of rating the thread poor, perhaps you could offer some advice or at least say why you rate it poor. By clicking on a star are you afraid to come out and say what you think, instead hiding behind a star icon?? Perhaps its been discussed so many times & you have nothing better to do but sit and stare at these forums all day everyday that youre fed up seeing it - is that it? Is it common knowledge Virgin rip customers off - is that it? Lots of readers but no answers. Some great members on here alright who love star clicking. lol

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

:D lol

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I believe that whenever you amend your contract, it stands for a length of time, eg 12 months. If your sis doesn't want the new amendment, she should phone back, immediately, again, I believe VM will not sign you up as a new customer until 6 months have passed, so canceling & taking out a new contract is not an option.

I don't understand your post regarding "Poor Rating".

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

My first instinct would be that there must be a cooling period?

Having sat down and thought about it, your sister realises that she cannot afford the £25 per month, and contacts VM cancellations to inform them, I am sure they will persuade her she can afford to stay with VM ;)

Nothing Ventured ?

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
No, You get charged for the service you contracted to take.
Your sister agreed to the service so how is she getting ripped off.
If you don't like the service or pricing why not leave?

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

Charging 2 different custmers 2 different (standard) prices for the SAME service IS ripping off the custmer paying the higher price.

Of cause if the standard price changes after you contracted thats fair enough (though imo standard price changes should affect ALL custmers).

Charging new custmers £20 for a service while existing custmers changing there services £25 is IMO not acceptable (im not talking about introductary offers such as the £15 for 6 months....)

"standard" prices should bee just that standard and applys to all.

Though that said i personally have no problem if people manage to negioate "special" deals because there particlary good at negiaoting or had problems in thepast with is being compensated for.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I have to totally agree with you Virgin are ripping off old customers my bill is £25 for broadband L and 11.50 TV L New customers after the offer period can have XL for £20 indefinately and TV L is only being charged at £10 indefinately. Why two different prices is beyond me but I will be keeping it in mind when my 12 months are up. They can go swivel if I don't get the same price. :td:

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

irrespective of a customers length of contract etc,.. VM are able to offer many,shall we say,'consolidation' deals.

e.g. a service tech calls round to a subs house,whilst dealing with the fault that the sub has reported he happens to ask the sub if they have a bill to hand or do they know what they pay and what they get for said payment.

now,lets say that sub is on an old deal and it amounts to say £62 for XL tv..
M b/b..L phone,the service tech can there and then amend this subs bill to XL TV..XL B/B and XL telephone for a new monthly bill of £67 with 1 phone call to the sales dept.
the deals are there for all..;)

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I don't think NTL:Telewest have an obligation to contact customers about new deals that *might* save them money. It's up to the customer to check the current prices and deals. NTL:Telewest don't exactly hide such information. They change their deals periodically as the markets dictate - why should they constantly inform all of their customers of it?

Everyone got a special "new customers only" deal when they first signed up. Why do these people forget that? Deals change...live with it. You got your "new customer" deal when you joined...why keep whining about what the latest deal new punters get? You've had yours...move on.

I have never felt "ripped off" by NTL:Telewest...they did pester me at one time to take a landline and they say it would save me money. My ignorance told me to ignore, their persistence taught me to actually count. So far, the £30 I spent on having landline installed has saved me approx £95 over what I'd have spent without it. So sometimes they do actually tell you of new deals, if only you aren't as ignorant as me to study them.

:D

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

On there own VM-BB, TV or phone are expensive in comparison to deals offered elsewhere, especially BB, but as solcuerda says add a phone line to the BB package and the price drops substantially, even more so if you add the TV as well.
As regards special offers for new customers, VM are not alone in doing this, it seems most companies now offer these introductory prices to "set the hook" like it or not this practice is widespread nowadays.
It may well be worth the OP's sister having a look at some of the BB and phone deals that VM offer, I'm sure she could save a few pounds.:)

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

Hi,
I have been with Virgin Media since it was Yorkshire Cable! All in all for around 25 years!
When discussing with other Virgin customers, I realised I was being ripped off! my monthly bill for Broadband, Phone and TV was usually around £70+ per month.
I phoned them to read the riot act and possible notice to leave but eventually took out a new contract which included my new V+ box (for £49) including fitting and a loyalty price for my services! So....I get a better digital service at almost half the price! But why oh why could they not just offer it to me as a good will gesture? I could have saved lots!:mad:

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

People are not complaining about new customer deals what they are complaining about is the standard prices after the initial offers. Old customers are on one standard price and new customers on another so we now have two standard prices one for old customers and one for new customers. That is what people are rightly imo complaining about.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I have to agree with Bywater. I have no objection to new customers getting low introductory deals but in the case of BB L for which pay £25 (£24.47 -can't get an explanation of why it's gone up a £1) the new customer enjoys the same service for £20 once their introductory offer ends. I just feel like I'm helping to susbsidise their price plan.Whilst I understand contract periods ala iPhone & the new iPhone debacle over at O2 I simply cannot name another service I use that runs quite such a contemptable apartheid-esque system for what customers actually pay for the same service.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

"Brand new customers only!" Springs to mind but yea they do this regularly, she could ring up (especially if she's not in contract) to retentions and get them to offer a better price. Only problem with that is you're back in contract again then :erm:
- kfk.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I gave that careful thought too! However, it is only a 12 month contract and I got a new box and remote and cheaper billing so I am at least better off in the short term! Let's see what is on offer in 12 months time!

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

They're quick enough to notify us when prices rise as the markets dictate.

Actually not everyone did.

When I signed up there was no new customer deals, I just payed the standard rate for my services, and have ever since.

The point isn't new customer deals though, they're a necessary evil, it's that after these deals new customers are paying lower standard charges, that isn't right. Everyone recieving the same services should pay the same rate (after any introductory period) and that really isn't a hard system to set up.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

As far as I know, size L broadband is 20/m WITHOUT A PHONELINE, or 25/m WITH a phoneline (but you then get bundle discounts)

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I'm currently out of contract trying to decide if it's worth me ringing to get a cheaper deal (retensions > haggle!) which'll put me back in 12 month contract or switching to Be* hmm..!!
- Kfk.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I joined Telewest in 2006 before the merger. Free connection, no deposit, bundle deal, 3 "m" sized services for £30. Back then they only applied to new customers. After 1 year, it went up to £35 as promised. Not sure if NTL did similar sweeteners.

Today with VM I can get that bundle for less, only with L broadband. New customers can get it cheaper - as I could back in 2006.

I think they'll only notify of discounts and the like when they want to hawk an extra service. Otherwise the onus is on the customer to check the prices. It's not right I know but that's business.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

aparently not any more they dont

http://pressoffice.virginmedia.com/p...198&highlight=

50Mb price drop will be passed on to new and exisiting customers!

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I was paying £18pm for 2mb broadband only - that is a rip off.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

If you were you should be paying £20 for 10Mbit.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I've recently had a similar conversation with CS about my bill being too high.

I had been paying £25 for 10Mb (L) broadband whereas new customers are offered it for £14 and to add insult to injury, 20MB (XL) broadband, is only £20. Even going into the "I'm an existing customer" part of the website said L was £20 - still less than I was paying.

Now, whilst I fully understand people get deals and introductory offers, the listed price on the website should be what you pay for the service. Any deductions / deals are personal to the customer and between them and VM to arrange.

It also shouldn't be down to me to ring CS and moan (I did actually use the phrase "rip off") to get a reduction. After all, when they put the prices up on the website, they don't wait for us to ring up and arrange to pay them do they?

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

You also have to consider +Line Rental and the prices quoted are including the bundle discounts, it appears as £25 on everyones bill, it's the bundle discount which brings it down to the advertised price. Can you post a full price breakdown from your bill?

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

I can indeed

Phone Line Rental £11.00
Talk International £1.50
TV Size XL £23.00
Broadband Size L £25.00
Sports 1 / 2 £19.00

There are no deductions / credits other than the VAT and eBilling one.

See what I mean?

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

It does sometimes happen

Obviously it means you could get XL for less than you pay for L and I'm sure they would happily do that for you

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if youre already a customer?
 

Thanks, I spoke to someone last week and negotiated an upgrade to XL for a £4 decrease in my bill. They also threw in an upgrade to L phone which might save me a few quid a month.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

You can only get this offer at the point of sale (if you look online you'll almost always see "When you take a Virgin phone like for £11 a month" next to an asterix)

Existing customers can get lots of other offers, they just never seem to look at the actual bill. They look at the break down, completely ignoring any discounts, and phone up screaming. All these offers on the internet for new customers are point of sale only. Even in shops, "Buy one get one free" you can't buy one on Tuesday then go back in on Thursday to get another one free, it doesn't work that way. Point of sale of all 3 of the services = you get a deal on all 3 services (same goes with purchasing 2 services or 1).

Their first 3 bills will say something like-

Broadband - £20
BBI SAVING - £5
Special one off Discount - £10

But they don't look at that. They just look at "Broadband - £20" and phone up complaining.

On the internet the deals are layed out differently to what is on your bill but come to the same price, plus hardly anyone takes into account that you have to add £11 line rental onto that! Broadband M ALWAYS says £20 unless it is a certain deal for at least 6 months (POS only again). Customers always look at the break down, call up furious then feel stupid when they see, if they look at the total (minus call usage) is the exact price they are arguing for.

Fair enough if you don't understand the bill, that's fine, that's one of the things customer care are there to help with. But we're not there to try and help you with something we deal with everyday for you to scream and tell us it's wrong even when we're helping.

If you looked at your sisters bill if she was on that deal that is for new customers or existing customers ADDING A PHONE LINE,

her bill still wouldn't say "Broadband - £15" it would say "Broadband-£25" then discounts.

If your sister has a phone line and broadband, and her monthly cost is now all together just £25 then they have probably added Tel + BB bundle saving -£11 on and this will be a new contract. She has 7 days to cancel it. I have virgin media in my house, but it's in my dad's name so I don't get any staff discounts, but he's been with Virgin since Telewest, and he's paying £36 a month without phone calls, and new customers are paying £20, I just have to accept that that's business. Phoning and screaming at someone who can't exactly change the rules of the company wont help. It might be ripping off morally but it's what companies do to make money. I've never heard of a company that treats new and existing customers the same, except for that advert that was always on for Natwest or something.

If your sister wants a better deal, call Relations: 0845 454 1111 option 2 and quote the internet price, they can make more changes than customer care, but they probably can't get you a new customer deal.

Good luck!

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

i pay £65.50 per month for xl tv...xl internet and anywhere 200.
to me thats expensive...i cant lower the internet (partners xbox has lagging) - i dont go online when hes playing a game.
anybodys thoughts??]
thanks rachel xx

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

Even if you were a new customer that would cost you £61.50

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

Hi

VM should be charging older customers better rates then to newer customers for loyalty for staying with them

like a mobile phone contract, i used to pay £35 pm but once my 12 months ran i got a call from my provider (orange) they said they have kept an eye on my account and would like me to stay with them on the same tariff and with a new phone for another year for a Loyalty price of £9.99

thats what i think it should be its all about the Loyalty

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

thanks ben....it just seems expensive.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

Rachel, it's your talk 200 that's putting your package up, some customers dont use 200 so you don't use 200 minutes, think about when you do make calls, or phone up customer care and ask them to tell you when you make your calls and who to

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?
 

I think the answer is yes. 3 months ago I went for the 50mb upgrade. £35 if taken in conjunction with the phone line which I already have as part of a bundle.
On my bills I spotted they're charging me £52 for the xxl. The bundle saving is at £9.50 as it always was. So I rang them and they agree it's a mistake and offer to take the price down to £73.50. Will they also refund me the 3 months overcharge? No.
That is outrageous when it's the wrong charge. It's not a huge amount but...

I refused the offer while I did some research. Online I discover that as an existing customer I can get XXl +XL +Xl for £57 when I take a new 'service'. I wonder if a bigger package is a new service. I ring and the man assures me that I am eligible. I'm dubious but he's adamant. He goes off to set it up and comes back to say there's a problem. He needs to put me through to customer relations or care or something.

The man I'm put through to is not nice or helpful. He says he knows all about me from my notes. I can't take the bundle because I'm not taking a new service.
Purely theoretically, I ask what if I drop one of the services and then take it again. He says I can't for six months. It's in the terms and conditions.
I've read the T&C online and didn't see that. He says they're not available to view online.

I'd love to know if anyone has ever come across another company with Terms and Conditions that are not available to the purchaser. Can they possibly be legal?

As for the 'customer relations' lady who blocked my access to a better offer...? Why? It wasn't personal that I went off to do some research and I actually do want the TV upgrade. I never got a chance to mention that in the first conversation. How am I supposed to get it?

and what's the deal with refunding overcharges? It's happened before when they were charging my mum for a second set top box she didn't have. It was 6 months before I noticed and they said Ofcom wouldn't allow refunds of more than 3 months.
Can that possibly be true?

and my daughter ....she moved from a flat on first floor to a flat on fourth floor. No surcharges for early termination if you take virgin in new flat but after 3 months with no connection the engineer said it wasn't possible. Virgin said she would have to pay £86 termination fee. The man in customer relations would not budge an inch on this.
I rang. The very helpful lady (not in customer relations) said 'how can they? She's signed a new contract and terminated the old one. They can't add charges to a contract that's closed and they can't charge for termination of a contract where no service has been supplied' She explained this to another customer relations guy and there were no charges. My daughter signed to Sky that afternoon.
Unbelievably, the next morning an engineer arrived and installed the cable for Virgin.
Luckily within the time limit for cancelling Sky.

My view is that yes they do overcharge existing customers but more importantly Customer Relations seem to have little training, and it's a matter of potluck.
From what I've learned about that particular dept, it's out of control. Dealing with a difficult customer is a spectator sport. It's for the benefit of the other operators.

If Virgin media wants to address customer satisfaction, they should start by listening to the taped conversations from this dept. I think they'd be horrified.

Customers rarely complain about the price if the service is good.

Re: Do Virgin rip you off if you're already a customer?