V+ : Price change if I downgrade TV package?

[HappyChappie]

I am a long-term VM (ex-NTL) customer, ie 15+years. Have TV (XL), phone (Talk Unlimited) & BB (M) with V+ box, all for £73 per month. I need to cut back on costs & am looking at various options but current VM packages seem to be named differently so difficult for me to see what the price difference might be?

Option 1 is reduce TV from XL to M.
Option 2 is cancel TV and go to Freeview.

Can anyone give me an indication as to what I might expect my bill to reduce to with either of the above options or else point me in the direction where I might find out?

Many thanks,

[andy_m]

My advice, if you're out of contract, is to phone retentions (150, then option 5 and then option 3). I think there is an excellent chance you can keep your current services and substantially reduce your monthly subscription. Good luck...

[HappyChappie]

Thanks for that. Any suggestions as to useful words/phrases to drop into the conversation?

[andy_m]

Just be pleasant and honest. I saved myself £20 per month yesterday, despite making it clear from the start that I didn't really want to leave.

[RichardCoulter]

The problem is that the VM pricing structure is designed to encourage customers to take more services. This means that you save little by dropping services and can sometimes end up paying more!!!

For example, the £5 monthly fee for the V+ is waived for XL TV customers, so that then becomes chargeable on if you downgrade your TV package. I don't even think that you can now go onto TV M with a V+ anymore, I believe the minimum package for V+ customers is now M+. Anybody?

I have looked on the website for you and this is the situation as I understand it:

The website says that the minimum broadband that you could now have of of 30Mb with XL phone costs £37.49 per month. If you were allowed to keep the free M TV service, you would be charged an extra £5 per month, making the total £42.49.

http://store.virginmedia.com/add-to-...art=BBXL60_PHM

I would advise you to look at the new "Collections" that include TiVo at no extra cost on any package, including TV size M, or to do as Andy has suggested

The cheapest Collection package is £40.99, but you would only get Talk Unlimited at weekends, but you would get TV M+.

http://store.virginmedia.com/add-to-...MP_TiVo500_PHM

If you customised this to have XL phone, the price becomes £48.99

http://store.virginmedia.com/add-to-...TIVO_ESSENTIAL

[HappyChappie]

Thanks very much for all this info, I will follow the links and try to see what's what before I ring them. It's certainly not straightforward is it?

Cheers,

[Superblade7]

Happy, you could get a 500GB TiVo with XL TV, XL phone and 30Mb broadband for £68.99 a month. This is the Essential Collection with upgrades on TV and phone. As others have pointed out, if you are out of contract give retentions a call and they'll do you a deal on this package as that is what I am on.

Superblade7

[BenJSmyth]

What times are the "thinking of leaving us" people open?

[oxfordmark]

Originally Posted by HappyChappie

I am a long-term VM (ex-NTL) customer, ie 15+years. Have TV (XL), phone (Talk Unlimited) & BB (M) with V+ box, all for £73 per month. I need to cut back on costs & am looking at various options but current VM packages seem to be named differently so difficult for me to see what the price difference might be?

Option 1 is reduce TV from XL to M.
Option 2 is cancel TV and go to Freeview.

Can anyone give me an indication as to what I might expect my bill to reduce to with either of the above options or else point me in the direction where I might find out?

Many thanks,

I have been been in this situation recently. Myself and my gf are going to be looking at buying a house next year, so trying to make cuts. We had an extra box in our room so we can have some space from her mother.

I decided to reduce our TV from XL to M+ as i mainly watch channels available on M+ and have recently discovered TV Torrents. But also cancel our additional Tivo box. The only bad thing is E4 HD isn't available.

So, i purchased a Freeview HD box on ebay £70, it also acts as a media server so i can watch anything i have stored on my Media PC and purchased a loft aerial. Freeview PQ is dreadful, especially on ITV2! HD channels are great, just like they are on Virgin.

Earlier today i cancelled the Tivo box cancellation as i do not enjoy watching channels on Freeview.

For:

30mb BB
M+ TV
Phone (evening and weekends) + caller ID

I pay £55 a month.

[challenger7]

I am currently on TV XL with Sky Sports package, B/B M (20Mb), Phone L with V+ box at a a discounted price of £75.75. This will rise to £79.49 in Feb.

This is getting too expensive as I dont watch most of the channels. The only plus is that is includes ESPN.

Spoke to retentions a few days ago and a more appropriate package for me would be the Essential collection: TV M+ with Sky Sports package, 30 Mb Broadband, Phone L. This includes the 500Gb Tivo box and Broadband superhub. For this I will be paying £66.34 with no increase in Feb. A new 12 month contract will apply. My wireless router went down a couple of months ago, so I won't need to buy one of those (unless I experience some of the problems i read about others experiencing with the wireless part).

This represents to me a saving of £13.15 after Feb increases, although I wont have ESPN, which is no great problem. If I do want to watch something on ESPN then it will cost £6 per month extra, still saving me money on those months I wish to receive it.

A big bonus I find with moving to this package though is its flexibility if i wish to remove or reduce one of the services. On my existing package the loyalty discount is applicable as long as do not reduce anything (even removing evening calls). I could try to save a few pounds by knocking something down only to be told that my £19 discount would be invalidated.

So, I have an appointment for my new equipment to be insatalled next week.