Am I paying too much?

Pia · 07-10-2009, 10:32

I'm confused! I'm led to believe i'm getting a good deal cos of an old rententions deal, but looking at the VM site i'm not so sure anymore

This is what my bills say:

Line Rental - Â£11.00
Talk Evening & Weekend - Â£3.45
Loyalty Bb/Phone/TV Discount - -Â£22.70
Call bar, Calldispl - Â£3.50
TV Size XL - Â£23.00
Broadband Size: L - Â£25.00
Paper bill - Â£1.25 << oops need to sort this

Total - Â£44.50

Doesn't seem right to me, because before extras it's about Â£38 according to VM site, and yet i'm meant to be getting a Â£22.70 discount?

Am i paying too much? I don't want to ring up and look like a goon so thought i'd ask here before i do

Not to mention i'm getting a grand total of 2meg download speed but i suppose that's another story altogether

BenMcr · 07-10-2009, 10:44

Simple answer - no you are not paying to much.

Those services should cost Â£52.95 (Â£54.20 with the paper bill fee)

Remember you have to add Â£11 line rental onto any price on the website that includes the phoneline (which it does say)

EBD3000 · 07-10-2009, 11:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Remember you have to add Â£11 line rental onto any price on the website that includes the phoneline (which it does say)

IMO the web site price should include that automatically.

But then I suppose if they did that they couldn't quote cheaper prices than sky.

Pia · 07-10-2009, 11:38

Oh i thought it did include the line rental....

So when i go here: http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html...e-builder.html and tick all the XL options and it says Â£47 pm. after 6 months, they really mean Â£58?

BenMcr · 07-10-2009, 14:06

Yes because once again, you have to add Â£11 line rental - just as it says!

Â£40 a month*
for 6 months, Â£47 after that

*When you take a Virgin phone line for Â£11 a month

Pia · 07-10-2009, 16:26

I see, thanks for the help!

p.s why am i paying Â£3.50 for the extras, i thought it was only that much when you had all of them in one bundle?

BenMcr · 07-10-2009, 18:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia

p.s why am i paying Â£3.50 for the extras, i thought it was only that much when you had all of them in one bundle?

Features now cost Â£2 each, but the feature bundle is Â£3.50 so it will always charge you the lower price.

If you want to pay Â£4 for them I'm sure they can add 50p to the account each month

Sephiroth · 10-10-2009, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Yes because once again, you have to add Â£11 line rental - just as it says!

Â£40 a month*
for 6 months, Â£47 after that

*When you take a Virgin phone line for Â£11 a month

This is one of the wholly disreputable things about the VM pricing display.

There is no TV option without the phone line. You can't remove the phone line from the basket.

Yet, the web site has a low TV price in bold bright colours and in poor contrast small print, the Â£11 for a phone line, which is compulsory. I find this shameful. (See the attached picture).

RobboEdin · 10-10-2009, 12:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

This is one of the wholly disreputable things about the VM pricing display.

There is no TV option without the phone line. You can't remove the phone line from the basket.

Yet, the web site has a low TV price in bold bright colours and in poor contrast small print, the Â£11 for a phone line, which is compulsory. I find this shameful. (See the attached picture).

True but isn't Â£16.50 per month cheaper than 1 mix from Sky and you get your telephone line rental thrown in?

There are bundles without the phone line for TV alone or TV plus BB but not at such low prices.

Sephiroth · 10-10-2009, 15:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

True but isn't Â£16.50 per month cheaper than 1 mix from Sky and you get your telephone line rental thrown in?

There are bundles without the phone line for TV alone or TV plus BB but not at such low prices.

What you say may be true. But that isn't the issue her.

Virgin do not display their prices in a straightforward manner. I can't say it's dishonest, but it is disreputable to my mind.

RobboEdin · 10-10-2009, 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

What you say may be true. But that isn't the issue her.

Virgin do not display their prices in a straightforward manner. I can't say it's dishonest, but it is disreputable to my mind.

I agree that things are not put straightforwardly but Virgin Media are competing with others and try to market their products as comparably as possible. Unfortunately, the competition ALWAYS have the phone line charge in the small print so Virgin Media have done the same.

What additional charge for TV would BT, Sky, ..... levy on top of their landline charge?

Sephiroth · 10-10-2009, 20:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

I agree that things are not put straightforwardly but Virgin Media are competing with others and try to market their products as comparably as possible. Unfortunately, the competition ALWAYS have the phone line charge in the small print so Virgin Media have done the same.

What additional charge for TV would BT, Sky, ..... levy on top of their landline charge?

I can't agree with you. Taking broadband as the case in point:

1/
BT: By definition, BT broadband prices must assume a phone line. No way round that and no deception.

2/
SKY: You can take move your telephone to SKY and then their 10 mbps service is Â£5; without their phone it's Â£10. Their web site panel is clear and unambiguous.

3/
Virgin: Unless I've missed something in their checkout basket, you are forced to take their telephone if you take either their cable broadband or TV. You are told there is no need to retain your BT line; but VM don't provide any services via the BT line like BT and SKY do.

So, unless there's some method I've not discovered for not taking a VM phone line with BB, there's no valid comparison with other broadband providers.

RobboEdin · 10-10-2009, 21:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I can't agree with you. Taking broadband as the case in point:

1/
BT: By definition, BT broadband prices must assume a phone line. No way round that and no deception.

2/
SKY: You can take move your telephone to SKY and then their 10 mbps service is Â£5; without their phone it's Â£10. Their web site panel is clear and unambiguous.

3/
Virgin: Unless I've missed something in their checkout basket, you are forced to take their telephone if you take either their cable broadband or TV. You are told there is no need to retain your BT line; but VM don't provide any services via the BT line like BT and SKY do.

So, unless there's some method I've not discovered for not taking a VM phone line with BB, there's no valid comparison with other broadband providers.

You do not have to have a Virgin Media phone line for any of their services!

I have their TV and BB but no phone.

They have plenty of options without phone line:

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/webs...ct.do?id=11025

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

Pia · 18-10-2009, 22:19

Well i'm confused, why is my supposed 'L' BB listed on my bill at being Â£25 when on the website it clearly says it's Â£14 pm?

My line rental is also listed so it's not that

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

And, TV 'XL' is on the site as Â£21.50 yet mine is Â£23

I feel like i'm being skanked lol.

BenMcr · 19-10-2009, 00:53

Both prices on the website are after discounts. So you get a Â£1.50 discount for having a phoneline and TV

Â£23 - Â£1.50 = Â£21.50

and you get a Â£11 discount for having Broadband L and Phoneline

Â£25 - Â£11 = Â£14

So the total discount you should be getting is Â£12.50, however you are getting a Â£22.70 discount.

Hardly getting skanked!