Services been restricted
 

Due to me having a few financial difficulties at present which I wont bore people with now I have had my tv,phone and broadband cut off (or suspended as virgin prefer to say). My question to the good folk out there is why are all the freeview channels apart from a few also cut off? No ITV2,3 or 4,Dave or Yesterday to name just a few. Oddly enough Pick tv and Sky News are still available! Now I`m able to receive tv through my Freeview box so it doesn`t matter to me really but it does puzzle me somewhat. Virgin perhaps don`t seem to realise that by `forcing` me to watch tv via Freeview I could so easily decide "hey what great channels are available for free! do you know what I think I will stick to just Freeview or downgrade my tv package on Virgin when I get re-connected"
One additional thing that as annoyed me somewhat is the letter i got from Virgin this morning telling me that my services could be restricted if I don`t make some payment soon! Anyway the outstanding bill will be payed this week but I am serriously considering cutting my package down or switching some or all to another provider.:mad:

Re: services been restricted
 

Sorry to be blunt here but Virgin Media is a pay TV platform. They are under no obligation to provide any TV services for free.

Re: services been restricted
 

No and I wasn`t really suggesting they should. All I was saying was channels that are free for all who have either a freeview box or a television with built in freeview (and they all do these days) shouldn`t be cut off. If it was a case of me flatly refusing to pay for my services from Virgin then I could understand and Virgin quite rightly so would demand their equipment back and payment owed. i have been in touch with Virgin and explained the situation and when the money owed will be paid. I don`t expect to get channels such as Sky 1 but I would like some explanation as to why SOME Freeview channels are available such as PICK TV whilst others such as ITV2,3 and 4 aren`t!
As I previously stated I have Freeview so I can watch all the channels plus some not even on the Virgin platform so it doesn`t effect my tv viewing much.it just puzzles the hell out of me! No wonder so many folk are ditching the likes of Virgin for other means of getting their tv channels!:mad:

Re: services been restricted
 

Freeview is TV via an aerial. Just because a channel is available via Freeview, or even free to view via satellite is no indication as to whether it would / is accessible via any other platform.

I had thought that Virgin Media now stopped access to all channels if the services are restricted due to non payment.

Re: services been restricted
 

What BenMcr said.

Just because it's available via a Freeview box doesn't oblige VM to provide it via a cable box.

In the same vein, just because BBC iPlayer is available over 3G doesn't oblige VM to provide it to you for free over your broadband connection if you haven't paid your bills.

Re: services been restricted
 

On the other hand, if you still got all the channels you wanted, what would be the incentive to pay your bill?

The channels are still visible, but TiVo now displays a message over the top of them.

Re: services been restricted
 

Telegramsam. Go to Sky mate. They supply Freesat, and don't give there customers crap like Virgin.

What VM could have done was be sympathetic to you. When l had problems with Sky some years ago. I wasn't paid enough money one month, l called Sky, and they gave me three months at a reduce rate.

And then increased the rate after three months. Sadly l didn't stay with Sky. But l still have Freesat from them

That's a big problem with companies now. They don't have that sympathetic view towards customers

Re: services been restricted
 

Would Sky have done the same had you just missed a payment without telling them? The OP makes it sound like he did that. In my experience, if you have trouble paying, most companies are willing to help, if you contact them rather than just miss payments.

Re: services been restricted
 

Yes that`s exactly what I am now going to do. I did contact Virgin and told them the payment was going to be late due to circumstances beyond my control - I was paid short at work,quite substantially as it happens,and couldn`t get the payment owed till next monthly pay day. I imformed Virgin of this and was told "no problem mate just pay when you get paid and they wouldn`t cut me off but they would have to `restrict` on demand as a `punishment`. But they still cut us off a couple of weeks later and when my partner phoned up they said it was because a new bill had been generated and I was now over my credit limit! They knew all this after the first phone call though.
So I have spoken to a guy from Sky and they are more than happy to accept me as a returning customer and to help me as I still have money to pay Virgin are gioving me the first 2 months free. I phoned Virgin this morning and guess what? They said " you should of contacted us as we could of BETTERED Sky`s offer!" After i stopped laughing I said it was to late I`d made my mind up now.

---------- Post added at 15:44 ---------- Previous post was at 15:40 ----------

No they haven`t stopped access to all channels which actually was my main question which nobody seems to be able to answer,why some channels still viewable but not other`free to air ones?

Re: services been restricted
 

My understanding is that all channels from your pack should be in the same state at a restriction of service. If they're not, that is an error in the restriction.

Re: services been restricted
 

The Vhd box doesn`t have any banner accross the screen only the Tivo box whic I never use anyway as it`s too slow. I leave that one for the Mrs to use in the bedroom.

---------- Post added at 15:59 ---------- Previous post was at 15:47 ----------

Well there`s a surprise someone from Virgin media admitting they`ve made an error! Maybe the BBC channels are there as part of the licence fee? Not sure about Pick,Challenge and all radio stations though. Incidentally don`t Virgin Media get paid to carry the free to air channels? Thought I read that on here somewhere? Anyway I`m off to Sky,never had one single problem with them in the 4 years I was with them. Only switched back to Virgin because I thought I could save money but I haven`t really saved anything.

Re: services been restricted
 

It's just a commercial decision that has been made.

There is no error. You've got the channels that you should have in this scenario.

Re: services been restricted
 

The problem is customers are not always honest, and could make this up to get some money off

Re: Services been restricted
 

I notice a common thread running through postings of this sort. We cant pay all our bills this month so lets not pay the TV supplier. Isn't the problem often caused by having your outgoings to near your incomings and a lack of savings?

Re: Services been restricted
 

It's clearly an error, I recently asked to downgrade to the 50p/month freeview virgin package as I don't really watch TV and it was costing me a lot, I just looked, my freeview includes pick & Challenge, the only downside was having a Tivo box forced on me, it really is slow crap and nasty, I quite liked the simple HD Box before.
I still get catch up too!