Virgin Media to raise broadband and phone prices in Feb 2015

[johnathome]

Originally Posted by thedavid2007

20mb broadband and M phone up by £3.64 for me. I think I might ditch phone and broadband if I can find an alternative broadband cheaper and use my mobile.

BT phoned me and offered Infinity with a LL for £26.50 and free install.

Just had a new contract letter from VM with a price of BB for £26.50 :sigh:

Phoned them and said the letter doesn't match what i agreed on the phone.
The girl checked and apparently one of the codes was entered incorrectly, she said it's sorted this time and it's going to be £19.50 and no new contract.

I've also put my cancellation date back to the 8th January as the bargeboard where the aerial is going to be mounted is coming away and i need to get that fixed first.

Still, all these things are sent to try us

[montehampster]

I have yet to receive a note of my increase but my line rental saver has expired (Virgin didn't tell me but a charge is shown on my latest bill) so I will have to try to contact them tonight so I might as well start the negotiations now!

Do the current bundles shown on their web page include the new charges? I am assuming so as they show a line rental of £16.99. I am currently on the "Premiere Collection" plus Sky Sports and excluding the line rental am paying £81.25 (includes a Tivo and one V-HD box). The "Big Kahuna" bundle plus Sky Sports now shows (after new customer discount) £75 plus a V-HD box would be £81.50 - an increase of 25p!

This makes no sense (but whenever has Virgin pricing made sense) so what am I missing?

[Bircho]

My increase is 4.3% but I do have call saver. Will work out the increase effectively when CS finishes and how this compares against other packages on the market. I will post when I have done!

[richard s]

New punters get a deal for £40-£50+++??? Long-time loyal serving clients already paying £80+++??? for the same package, then one phones up and has to haggle for a better deal!!! which will still equal less then the new punters deal. So in essence the old punters are paying for the new punters deal.

When will the long-time loyal punters get rewarded I wonder.

Time to consider moving to another supplier me thinks.

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by richard s

New punters get a deal for £40-£50+++??? Long-time loyal serving clients already paying £80+++??? for the same package, then one phones up and has to haggle for a better deal!!! which will still equal less then the new punters deal. So in essence the old punters are paying for the new punters deal.

When will the long-time loyal punters get rewarded I wonder.

Time to consider moving to another supplier me thinks.

The argument is that you would have had a new customers only deal when you first signed up.

(And before you say it, no, I didn't either!)

[Bircho]

I think you need a maths degree to work this out (or fortunately know Excel pretty well) so here goes.

My current package is TV XL, 2 x Tivo, 2 x V-HD, 100mb BB, Landline with anytime on call saver to expire at end of July. Also have Sky Sports & Movies and have a loyalty discount meaning the current package is £113.25 pm. The increase will take it to initially £118.14 an immediate increase of 4.3%.

So the percentages.

If I take out a new call saver when the existing one runs out (and given the price does not increase again which knowing VM you can't tell) then then my effective monthly price for the next 12 months will become £130.83 as opposed to £125.25 at the current time, therefore my personal increase is 4.46%. That is I have my existing call saver for 7 more months and the new one for 5 months to give me annual cost.

However, if I did not have call saver then my bill would be going up from £129.24 to £135.13 an increase of 4.56%.

With me so far?

So how does this compare? I have looked at the current 50% discount on TV package from Sky for 12 months and then added this to compare phone and broadband packages with Sky and Plusnet.

On the TV, I have tried to compare the best I can across box types that is 2 HD+ boxes plus 2 HD boxes. The best offer from Sky is for one of the HD+ boxes to be a 2TB and the other 1TB (I currently have a 1TB and a 500mb Tivo Box).

For the Sky Package I have added BT Sports in HD purchased direct from BT. I have only put on one box as in reality this is how it is watched. I done the same with Plusnet as they offer a cheaper BT Sport package if you have their broadband. I did look at the BT packages but because of the 6 months free offer from Plusnet both the 12 month and 18 month of BT was higher, even taking into account BT Sport.

Because Sky do a max of 38mb for the broadband (although Openworld tests show my property would receive 40mb) I have matched this against the same Plusnet package. I accept this is less than the 100mb from Virgin (although I have just done a test and am getting 68mb at current time) but I think this is more than adequate for my needs. All are unlimited.

With both Sky and Plusnet there are upfront costs. I have taken these costs and divided by 12 to get a monthly average. If I was to swap I would lose around £84 from Virgin for Call saver. However, the Sky boxes would have a residual cost after 12 months so having had a quick check of the prices on ebay at moment I think £84 would not be far off the mark so I have not taken this into account.

There is no call saver available from Sky but there is from Plusnet at £155.88 per annum. I have not taken into account answer phone which is free on Virgin and Plusnet (although not if you have call saver) but not on Sky. Anytime is £5 on all three.

For Broadband, Plusnet are offering 6 months free. Sky are offer half price for 12 months. I have taken these offers into account when working out the monthly cost.

So the costs?

With Virgin the 12 month cost is £1570.01 or £130.83 per month.
With Sky only, including the upfront costs, it is £1526.80 or £127.83 per month
With Sky and Plusnet it is £1523.68 or £126.97 per month.

That is for the first 12 months.

After 12 months?

Well the Sky Package would increase by £33 but the upfront costs would have been paid for meaning an effective increase of £11 on the Plusnet comparable and £15.67 on the Sky comparable. But then there is a possibility of a return to Virgin (at least for TV as BB and phone are 18 month contracts) on a new customer package.

So, in conclusion, a transfer will save around £4 per month for me (or just about the price increase) so I think the decision would be what is the better system - or get Virgin to stop the increase?

[andy_m]

Or get Sky to drop the upfront costs.

[Bircho]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Or get Sky to drop the upfront costs.

Chances?

[richard s]

Originally Posted by andy_m

The argument is that you would have had a new customers only deal when you first signed up.

(And before you say it, no, I didn't either!)

Question to ask should the loyal long-term pay-on time customers get rewarded at some point for staying and being loyal!

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by Bircho

Chances?

Very high I'd say. The half price deal from Sky that I got Virgin to price match was free box and installation.

---------- Post added at 13:03 ---------- Previous post was at 13:02 ----------

Originally Posted by richard s

Question to ask should the loyal long-term pay-on time customers get rewarded at some point for staying and being loyal!

The answer is yes. And the rewards are there if you're prepared to ask. The actual question is whether or not you feel you should have to.

[heero_yuy]

Pity they can't have a tiered loyalty reward scheme that automatically kicks in. I get this with the AA and have a number of free complementary services for staying with them.

I hate having to phone companys up and try to wheeler dealer them. I'm just not good at it.

[andy_m]

Well you're in a strong position - they want you to stay and Sky and others are offering really good deals for you to leave. Price up a competitor and phone Virgin up. Say you want to stay but are prepared to go for a better price. You don't have to do any wheeler dealing, just be polite and make it clear that you have options and are aware of them - but you might need to be prepared to actually switch. Good luck.

[CDB]

If I use Virgins headline figure of £45 for my package, £4.50 is a 10% rise, but then when you look at the compulsory phone line of £16.99 as well (that to me should be included on top of that £45 so it says £61.99 and never £45 in the first place) then it's a 7.25%rise. That is extortionate given todays interest rates. How the hell do they justify it?

[Bircho]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Or get Sky to drop the upfront costs.

I have tried. If I just had two boxes, the upfront cost would be £10 but because we have four the upfront cost is £208 but they won't discount.

[Superblade7]

Not had any notification of price rise through yet, are you guys getting letters or emails?