TiVo : Leaving Virgin Media's TV and fixed line services

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I think what people are objecting to, Den, is the compulsory payment for a land line that some don't want to use at all.

People don't have to use the line or pay for it unless they want broadband or telephone services down it. But as VM's biggest selling points is its broadband I suspect they want at least one of these services. As they say, a dog's not just for Christmas and line rental is not just for phone calls.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

People don't have to use the line or pay for it unless they want broadband or telephone services down it. But as VM's biggest selling points is its broadband I suspect they want at least one of these services. As they say, a dog's not just for Christmas and line rental is not just for phone calls.

What do you mean exactly? I don't need a landline, like probably thousands of others like me, all I need is the BB and TV, but they force you to take the landline and tell you this will make your package cheaper, I just don't get that bit at all!

[RichardCoulter]

I've seen it where broadband can work out cheaper with a landline (even if you never use it).

Could be useful for the free weekend landline & Virgin Mobile calls though.

Now I've found out what VM are like these days, there will no longer be any loyalty from me and I will be repeatedly asking for cut price deals instead of just accepting things like I used to.

If they don't give me what I want, they'll be swiftly dumped for both personal and commercial services.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I've seen it where broadband can work out cheaper with a landline (even if you never use it).

Could be useful for the free weekend landline & Virgin Mobile calls though.

Now I've found out what VM are like these days, there will no longer be any loyalty from me and I will be repeatedly asking for cut price deals instead of just accepting things like I used to.

If they don't give me what I want, they'll be swiftly dumped for both personal and commercial services.

I think you should have moved to Sky so you could see that the grass is not greener on the other side, Richard.

Did you see the Watchdog report on Sky Q this week? Maybe not such a good idea, then. Still, there's always Talk Talk

[alexcopeland]

OK, so I made the call yesterday and managed to get the following offer after terminating just the TiVo service.

70MB broadband and kept the telephone line as VM say it's cheaper that way and agreed to pay £29 per month on a 12 month contract.

This was effective immediately.

Can't complain as Sky Fibre Max is £35 so I feel I'm getting good value for money and no interruptions in the house with our broadband connection.

[RobboEdin]

Originally Posted by alexcopeland

OK, so I made the call yesterday and managed to get the following offer after terminating just the TiVo service.

70MB broadband and kept the telephone line as VM say it's cheaper that way and agreed to pay £29 per month on a 12 month contract.

This was effective immediately.

Can't complain as Sky Fibre Max is £35 so I feel I'm getting good value for money and no interruptions in the house with our broadband connection.

BEWARE As you have re-contracted, you won't get 70Mb broadband. You need to clarify which speed you'll be getting, likely 50Mb.

[johnathome]

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

BEWARE As you have re-contracted, you won't get 70Mb broadband. You need to clarify which speed you'll be getting, likely 50Mb.

I'd be interested to know what speed he'll get.

I was on 70 but had 18 months of over utilisation and was paying about £13.

When they sorted the issue they wanted to charge me about £28, i said no and then got 50 for £23.25 a month.

This is without a phoneline although when i had an engineer visit recently he said the phone line is still working.

[alexcopeland]

I've done a few speed tests earlier this morning although I can't post the result on here at this time as I'm at work and have achieved 70MB down and 5MB up.

Just check the email from Virgin and it's says Bundle Charges

Talk Weekends
SuperFibre 70

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I think you should have moved to Sky so you could see that the grass is not greener on the other side, Richard.

Did you see the Watchdog report on Sky Q this week? Maybe not such a good idea, then. Still, there's always Talk Talk

Yes, I made a thread about it in the Sky forum to find out more.

You can't make out that the appalling VM CS is better than it is by comparing it to any services that are even worse. If it's crap, it's crap.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Yes, I made a thread about it in the Sky forum to find out more.

You can't make out that the appalling VM CS is better than it is by comparing it to any services that are even worse. If it's crap, it's crap.

Appalling? Well, that hasn't been my experience over all the years I have had cable tv.

I can only wonder why your experience has been so different but I will avoid the temptation to second guess!

[denphone]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Appalling? Well, that hasn't been my experience over all the years I have had cable tv.

I can only wonder why your experience has been so different but I will avoid the temptation to second guess!

Indeed we have been with cable for yonks now and the customer service has always been very good.

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Yes, I made a thread about it in the Sky forum to find out more.

You can't make out that the appalling VM CS is better than it is by comparing it to any services that are even worse. If it's crap, it's crap.

Do you think its possible that VM CS staff don't like speaking to obnoxious individuals and therefore come across different than they do to those people who are not obnoxious?

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Mr Banana

Do you think its possible that VM CS staff don't like speaking to obnoxious individuals and therefore come across different than they do to those people who are not obnoxious?

I don't know, but personally, if it was left to me and I wasn't bound otherwise to company policy, I wouldn't do any favours to such people who try to bully their way to getting what they want.

If it didn't pay, maybe they wouldn't be so rude or demanding.

[buckeye]

Originally Posted by Mr Banana

Do you think its possible that VM CS staff don't like speaking to obnoxious individuals and therefore come across different than they do to those people who are not obnoxious?

Up until three and a half years ago I used to get terrible service from VM despite always being polite with them (maybe I should have been obnoxious!).

One or more of my services was going down every 3 or 4 months and I was made to jump through several hoops to get them fixed.
Things came to a head for me when my mum was terminally ill in hospital, a time I needed to be in contact with family, friends and doctors and my broadband and landline went down.
I had explained my situation to VM and three times over the course of four weeks they cancelled my tech visit each time saying they had fixed a network fault and the visit was no longer required and each time my services hadn't been restored.
Not having the time, patience or inclination to deal with them anymore at that stressful period I just cancelled all my services with them on the third occasion it happened (still being polite while I did so)

I don't know what that action triggered or if my account has been marked for special attention since then but two weeks later I got a call asking what they could do to keep me as a customer, I said nothing and explained what happened, they then promised to fix everything inside 48 hours and offered me a great deal to stay.
Everything was fixed in that timescale, I had a tech call me several times over the next couple of months to make sure all was still ok and I have had nothing but exceptional service from them ever since.

I guess if there's a moral to my story its that there are some great CS staff working at VM and some very bad ones too and its pot luck who you get whatever your attitude is when dealing with them.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

We kept the BB on the phone. And l remember when we told a VM Rep in Hunslow that we went over to Sky.

He said did they offer you a deal. We told him what it was. His answer was 'we cant beat that' typical.