Prices on website incorrect? Or CS mistaken?

Dean Ashton · 17-11-2009, 18:34

Ahoy,

I'm trying to help a mate get his Virgin bill down to save a few quid, and I'm seeing a discrepancy between what we're seeing on the website (ignoring any of the new subscriber offers), and what CS are telling him.

He used to have XL broadband, XL phone, and XL TV, with a V+ as well. So I believe the cost was around Â£70 a month.

He wanted to drop to 'M' phone, 'M' TV, change to a normal V-box, but keep 20Mb/XL broadband. But was told that 20Mb broadband was Â£36 a month.

Seeing this page, http://allyours.virginmedia.com/webs...uct.do?id=3246, and ignoring the 3-month sweetener, the price there is Â£20 a month. So CS said if he dropped to 10Mb broadband, then the bundle of broadband, M phone, and M TV would be around Â£36.

This seems way higher than is advertised.

I was expecting him to be charged Â£11 per month for 'M' phone, Nothing at all for 'M' TV (as he's paying for the phone), and Â£20 for XL broadband.. so Â£31 (assuming DD and e-billing).

Is the website incorrect with pricing? Or is the CS mistaken?

I'd like to be sure he's not getting ripped off.. but it's hard to reconcile the two conflicting sets of prices. If anyone from VM can help clarify, then that would be fantastic.

Cheers,
Dean

RobboEdin · 17-11-2009, 18:59

There is a missing piece of information - is your friend still within a contract period? If he is then CS could be right in saying that he would have to pay FULL price for the minimum levels of all three services, without a discount. This would be Phone M Â£11, TV M Â£0, BB L Â£25, making the Â£36 total.

If he is out of contract, I see no issue with your pricing of Â£31 for BB XL, TV M and Phone M.

Dean Ashton · 17-11-2009, 19:11

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. He last updated his services around 18 months ago, I believe.. that was when he got a V+ in.

Dean

darren.b · 17-11-2009, 22:35

Even within contract I have been able to jump bundles. It does mean a new 12 month lock-in takes place but I have been able to downgrade from one bundle to another without penalty.

I'm ex TW though, who used to (and still do) respect their customers while wearing beardy's VM mask.

haydnwalker · 18-11-2009, 10:18

I currently have TV:M+ Phone:M and BB:M(10MB) and wanted to upgrade to BB:XL and was told it would be Â£47.50/month.

I tried noting that the website said Â£20 for BB:XL if taken with a phoneline (which I have) and an extra Â£5.50/month for the TV:M+ which makes Â£36.50 but was told this was only for new customers?

They said the only way I could make it work was to upgrade to TV:L and it would end up at Â£41.50 for TV:L, BB:XL and Phone:M.

I told them to leave it because I didn't want to pay more than I am already and thought that as I've been out of contract for 2 years they may be able to help me! I was wrong!

Dean Ashton · 18-11-2009, 11:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by haydnwalker

I tried noting that the website said Â£20 for BB:XL if taken with a phoneline (which I have) and an extra Â£5.50/month for the TV:M+ which makes Â£36.50 but was told this was only for new customers?

I think the take-home from this is that the website is rather poor, as there are no non-discounted prices listed that can be used by existing customers to assist in choosing a new set of packages. In addition to this, the "discounts" that get mentioned so many times here are variable, and undocumented (at least as far as the existing customer goes).

So essentially, using the information on the website there would appear to be no way an existing customer can work out an accurate price of a BB/TV/Phone/Line rental package.

It would seem the best my friend can do is to phone up, highlight that he's out of contract, and see if CS can do anything with respect to mysterious discounts and bundles. It's not exactly ideal though.

I've heard of transparency when it comes to pricing.. unfortunately it would appear VM haven't...

Cheers,
Dean

haydnwalker · 18-11-2009, 11:48

Indeed!

damian78 · 19-11-2009, 20:16

I asked about this today when arguing with them about an apparent outstanding balance they're chasing me for from 2005, apparently it all depends what discount you've been given.

For example, because I've got all three XL packages, I get a Â£21 discount, which actually (I've not tried calculating myself yet) takes my broadband down to Â£16 per month (for 20mb). The price on the website is for broadband and line rental only, not tv and telephone packages.

esdxc37 · 20-11-2009, 15:20

The price would be Â£37 for bb, Â£0 for tv and Â£11 for phone. Discount off Â£17 which would be Â£31 per month.
If you dont pay by direct debit that goes up to Â£36 per month.
If you dont subscribe to e-billing that is Â£37.25 per month.

That may be where the Â£36 per month is coming from.