XL customer trying to upgrade to V+HD

eleyinc · 14-10-2009, 18:55

Hi all,
I left Sky and various other providers 18 months ago because virgin offered the best overall deal for TV, broadband etc. All were XL and we rented a second TV box for 9.95 a month. All has been great.
Recently I bought a HD TV and last week, (Thursday), phoned Virgin for a quote for a V+HD box and was told a Â£49 one off payment for the box and because of our 2nd box it would actually cost Â£4.95 LESS per month to have the HD box. Seemed like a good deal to me. Unfortunately, the virgin account is in my wifes name so I couldn't actually sort the deal out.
Long story short, my wife phoned to clinch the deal today to be told that the 49 quid deal finished on Oct 1st, (before I was given that quote), and that it would cost Â£99 for the box. This is particularly annoying as, (according to the virgin website), anyone upgrading to XL only has to pay Â£75 for the HD box. How is that equitable??

Sorry for the rant.

Andrewcrawford23 · 14-10-2009, 19:04

i am pretty sure it 49 for xl customers, benmcr can clarify for oyu

graeme2b · 14-10-2009, 19:05

its still Â£49 if you keep your existing box and put that in another room...

eleyinc · 14-10-2009, 19:50

Thanks for the replies fellas. I tried reinforcing the Â£49 point to the plebs who answered the phone today but despite the guy I spoke to last week who went through our account with a fine toothcomb to give us the price, they want to insigate a Â£99 fee for the box and not even the Â£75 to upgrade to XL. I'm already on XL and I've now sent and email to VM. We'll see how useful that is.

Cheers for the help.

---------- Post added at 19:50 ---------- Previous post was at 19:12 ----------

No, Virgin are still not having it. They insist that I have to pay Â£99 for the box despite the fact I already have the XL service. If I was upgrading to the XL service it would cost Â£75 for the box.
I'm lost among the logic here!?!?!

Andrewcrawford23 · 14-10-2009, 21:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleyinc

Thanks for the replies fellas. I tried reinforcing the Â£49 point to the plebs who answered the phone today but despite the guy I spoke to last week who went through our account with a fine toothcomb to give us the price, they want to insigate a Â£99 fee for the box and not even the Â£75 to upgrade to XL. I'm already on XL and I've now sent and email to VM. We'll see how useful that is.

Cheers for the help.

---------- Post added at 19:50 ---------- Previous post was at 19:12 ----------

No, Virgin are still not having it. They insist that I have to pay Â£99 for the box despite the fact I already have the XL service. If I was upgrading to the XL service it would cost Â£75 for the box.
I'm lost among the logic here!?!?!

wait for benmcr to reply he will know best, if he says it 49 just phone up again and say you been told it 49 and it on there website they will probally give in hten. you find most cs know nothing they quoted me Â£200 for 50mb install today i told them no thanks i know it Â£50 ill get it ugpraded other ways

frogstamper · 15-10-2009, 00:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrewcrawford23

wait for benmcr to reply he will know best, if he says it 49 just phone up again and say you been told it 49 and it on there website they will probally give in hten. you find most cs know nothing they quoted me Â£200 for 50mb install today i told them no thanks i know it Â£50 ill get it ugpraded other ways

Its a pity that Ben, Mags and Spider aren't doing the training of an awful lot of these VM-CS agents!! I've had the same problem with agents telling me false prices, three calls three different prices for the installation of a V+ on VIP

, until I finally got through to someone who knew the price was Â£30...not Â£50 or Â£75 or even Â£99.
It makes you wonder how many poor sods who didn't know any better have been overcharged, because of these incompetents.

If they don't do it already, VM should ring CS posing as a customer to see for themselves the differences they are quoted for services.

RobboEdin · 15-10-2009, 07:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleyinc

Hi all,
I left Sky and various other providers 18 months ago because virgin offered the best overall deal for TV, broadband etc. All were XL and we rented a second TV box for 9.95 a month. All has been great.
Recently I bought a HD TV and last week, (Thursday), phoned Virgin for a quote for a V+HD box and was told a Â£49 one off payment for the box and because of our 2nd box it would actually cost Â£4.95 LESS per month to have the HD box. Seemed like a good deal to me. Unfortunately, the virgin account is in my wifes name so I couldn't actually sort the deal out.
Long story short, my wife phoned to clinch the deal today to be told that the 49 quid deal finished on Oct 1st, (before I was given that quote), and that it would cost Â£99 for the box. This is particularly annoying as, (according to the virgin website), anyone upgrading to XL only has to pay Â£75 for the HD box. How is that equitable??

Sorry for the rant.

You need to re-read the website:

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html...us-hd-box.html

It clearly states that the Â£75 fee for existing customers is only if you keep the original box as a second (or in your case) a third box. I would take the Â£99 fee to replace one of your boxes as it will save you Â£4.95 per month and pay off the addition Â£24 fee in under 5 months.

eleyinc · 15-10-2009, 17:01

Once again, thanks for the replies.

However Robbo, I don't need to re-read the website as I've read it numerous times and I know it clearly states Â£75. This was never an issue in the first place.
After seeing that price on the site I phoned VM up to ensure that was indeed the price and to enquire what the overall cost would be for taking on the V+ HD service . This is when I was quoted Â£49 for the box and, (as I was keeping the box I now pay 9.95 for) the cost of keeping that box would actually reduce my overall monthly payment for all the services I have by 4.95 pm. the only reason I couldn't do the deal there and then is because the account is in my wifes name, (despite the fact I pay for it through a joint bank account).
Needless to say when she phoned yesterday to finalise the details the Â£49 shot up to Â£99 and when questioned even the Â£75 as quoted on the site was not an option.
Keeping the 2nd box was always the case but for some reason they've moved the goalposts.

RobboEdin · 15-10-2009, 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleyinc

Keeping the 2nd box was always the case but for some reason they've moved the goalposts.

...but you would have to keep BOTH your existing boxes to get the Â£75 price.

The Â£75 price is available to existing customers who have a single box and retain it. That way Virgin Media get additional revenue of Â£5 per month from those customers for their second box.

I get the impression that you only want to have two boxes which is what you have today and so, Virgin Media will have given you the 'discounted' V+ price and lost Â£4.95 monthly revenue, not gained revenue.

eleyinc · 15-10-2009, 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

...but you would have to keep BOTH your existing boxes to get the Â£75 price.

The Â£75 price is available to existing customers who have a single box and retain it. That way Virgin Media get additional revenue of Â£5 per month from those customers for their second box.

I get the impression that you only want to have two boxes which is what you have today and so, Virgin Media will have given you the 'discounted' V+ price and lost Â£4.95 monthly revenue, not gained revenue.

I'm not sure what gave you the impression that I only want to have 2 boxes in total,( 1 being the V+ HD box)I have no issue keeping 'BOTH' the normal boxes I already have and that was the deal that was discussed on the phone when given the 49 quid quote for the V+ box.
Being then quoted a price hike of Â£50 for the box made me think twice about this, hence I found this forum and came for some advice. Most of it has been useful. Some of it has been rather patronising.

I'm sure you can work out which is which.

RobboEdin · 16-10-2009, 08:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleyinc

I'm not sure what gave you the impression that I only want to have 2 boxes in total,( 1 being the V+ HD box)I have no issue keeping 'BOTH' the normal boxes I already have and that was the deal that was discussed on the phone when given the 49 quid quote for the V+ box.
Being then quoted a price hike of Â£50 for the box made me think twice about this, hence I found this forum and came for some advice. Most of it has been useful. Some of it has been rather patronising.

I'm sure you can work out which is which.

Sorry, now that you have clarified that you want to end up with three boxes, one a V+, I will give my opinion.

Unfortunately, you have missed the window when V+ had a Â£49 'installation' fee. The charge is now Â£75 and, as an existing TV customer you qualify for that as you wish to retain all existing boxes.

Your ongoing additional monthly rental charges will increase by Â£0.05 per month. Explained as follows:

You currently have 2 V boxes - the second of these should be charged at Â£9.50, although you state Â£9.95 and I have assumed that you have provided this price correctly. The 2nd (and subsequent) box charge is always quoted as a charge of Â£15 with a discount.

When you add the V+, your 2nd and subsequent box charge becomes Â£5 for each box.

So you should go from paying Â£9.95 (your quoted price) to Â£10 - the increase of Â£0.05 I suggested.

mattr71 · 13-11-2009, 15:25

I too first enquired about upgrading to V+ when it was advertised at Â£49 - then next day I rang to order and it had gone up to Â£75!! Nothing I said to them (even threatening to leave!) would get me the Â£49 fee. So I went with the Â£75 fee, but I was not keeping my existing box - so I don't see why you can't get the Â£75 fee