Virgin Media to raise broadband and phone prices in Feb 2015

[johnathome]

I still haven't had notification of any price rises yet although i've been meaning to phone and cancel so it gets switched off after christmas.

Phoned just now and cancelled TV and phone line, downgraded BB to 50Mb and it gets switched off 1st January.

I was looking around at the weekend for other BB providers. Checked BT's site and entered my postcode, it said for a more accurate speed enter my house number. I thought here we go so did it.
Got cold-called by BT yesterday offering me infinity It would be £26.50 for LL and Infinity 1 with a free install.

VM did what i was hoping they would and offered me the 50Mb BB for £19.50 even before i mentioned BT had phoned me. I'm happy with that, she also said if i wanted to move before the year was up i could cancel without penalty, i don't intend to though.

All in all a good phone call with a very pleasant lady who didn't try and convince me to stay with TV and LL.

Maybe they'll phone me later in the month, maybe they won't, not bothered either way TBH.

[kandinsky]

I paid for my telephone up front for 12 months in September and changed my package to big kahuna with evening and weekend calls and an extra vhd box. Already had a Tivo since day 1.
If I phone up to cancel because of the letter sent today saying the are raising my bill by £4-50 can I cancel the telephone too and get a refund on the outstanding 9 months left?

[RobboEdin]

Originally Posted by kandinsky

I paid for my telephone up front for 12 months in September and changed my package to big kahuna with evening and weekend calls and an extra vhd box. Already had a Tivo since day 1.
If I phone up to cancel because of the letter sent today saying the are raising my bill by £4-50 can I cancel the telephone too and get a refund on the outstanding 9 months left?

Line Rental Saver is non-refundable.

[spankysmagicpian]

All in all, it's just crazy pricing all round from both VM and Sky.

Last time I priced it up, moving to Sky and keeping VM BB and phone, it was about £7 cheaper which was wiped out by having 2 VM sims only in the house which of course were cheaper.

I'll have to price it up soon and see what I can be saving by mixing and matching. I doubt it will be much cheaper as I if went to Sky and kept VM BB, I'd have to pay for BT Sport anyway. I think with the increase (£4 -odd / not had confirmation yet) it's going to be nearer to £130 a month which isn't good.

Surely there's going to come a time when the people say enough is enough?

[johnathome]

Originally Posted by spankysmagicpian

Surely there's going to come a time when the people say enough is enough?

I've had enough now at £73 without the price rise, Freeview/Netflix/Prime and possibly NowTV beckons.

[Pea-Pod]

Called retentions and negotiated a reduction in my monthly bill from £90 to £61 (including Feb price rise) - I go down from 100MB to 50MB B/band but I'll hardly notice that, the only cyber revolution I felt was from dial-up to broadband all those years ago - everything ever since as been a numbers game to me - as I had to agree a 12 month contract I decided to stump up for Line Rental saver. Seems a lot to pay off £144 in one go but in the long run it saves £4 per month of your bill. The ladies I spoke to were very nice and I don't mean this bad but it was nice to talk to staff based in the UK. I'm good to go for another 12 months.

[paultrademark]

Got letter stating £4.50 price increase from Feb 1st.

Looked back at last 2 price increases which were £5.75 earlier this year and £6.34 the previous year, astonishing how much it has went up.

I usually phone them up and re-negotiate a deal to keep me, so called them up today.

What we have is

• XL TV
• M Phone
• 152MB Broadband
• 1TB TiVo
• 500GB TiVo

We were currently paying £72.49, due to go up £4.50 in Feb to £76.99

Got a £7 p/m discount so now it is £65.49, going up to £69.99 on 1st Feb.

Also got free 6 months Netflix code, so saving us in total around £135 over the next 12 months.

Happy enough to sign up for another 12 months based on that

[wrlfc]

Long time lurker seldom poster here.
I too have received a price rise letter. £6.14 increase from February, almost 10%. Decided to phone them up,first lady I spoke to wasn`t very helpful, as my package was a very old one her system would not allow any changes without increasing my bill.
She put me through to retentions where the operative was very helpful.My old package was:
xl tv
talk unlimited phone
talk mobile
2 v+ boxes
20 mb broadband
Total cost £73.24

After going through a few options I settled on:
xl tv
talk unlimited
TiVo [self install]
v+ box
152mb broadband
Total cost £61.99

A saving of £11.25 per month for an improved package.
However they do not want their v+ box back and said that I can keep it or recycle it.

[g0fyd]

Well rang retentions tonight


Long term customer and only previously had one minor reduction

I was bolshy as possible but the lady was very polite
Currently pay 122.44 and seeing others had some success, I was hopeful

Rise to come is 4.89

Was offered nothing

Reduction to 50mb from 100mb was best they could do


117.44


Very disappointed and considering my options

didn't even get offered 6 months Netflix which I have never had

Time to take the plunge and move to sky


Regards ian

[spankysmagicpian]

Originally Posted by g0fyd

Well rang retentions tonight


Long term customer and only previously had one minor reduction

I was bolshy as possible but the lady was very polite
Currently pay 122.44 and seeing others had some success, I was hopeful

Rise to come is 4.89

Was offered nothing

Reduction to 50mb from 100mb was best they could do


117.44


Very disappointed and considering my options

Time to take the plunge and move to sky


Regards ian

I think I'll be in that boat too as that's what I'm paying at the moment not including mobiles. It's basically the old VIP pack but with 152Mb and a Tivo.

[g0fyd]

I am a bit confused as on my virgin media it offers me upgrade to Big Daddy
which increases my broadband speed to 152mb and includes everything I already have for 115.99

Someone else paying 122.44 was offered it for 109.99 with no reductions

Plus 6 months Netflix

Feel i've been done

Regards Ian

[johnathome]

Just had a call from 0131 538 8024 which after googling appears to be VM routed through Edinburgh. Maybe from abroard as the person defo wasn't Scottish.

There was a lot of background music and was difficult to hear. The said they were from VM and were phoning to 'get the most' out of your package. They asked for me by my full name and asked for the first 2 letters of my password, which i gave.

She asked me how many people watched TV, i asked if she knew i'd cancelled, she asked me the same question and i gave the same answer.

She hung up which was a relief really and it was a terrible line and i presume coming from Pune or something.

Anyone know if this was a genuine call? If it was it was bloody shoddy VM!

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by g0fyd

Well rang retentions tonight


Long term customer and only previously had one minor reduction

I was bolshy as possible but the lady was very polite
Currently pay 122.44 and seeing others had some success, I was hopeful

Rise to come is 4.89

Was offered nothing

Reduction to 50mb from 100mb was best they could do


117.44


Very disappointed and considering my options

didn't even get offered 6 months Netflix which I have never had

Time to take the plunge and move to sky


Regards ian

I would draw a link between "I was as bolshy as possible" and " was offered nothing". Try again. Be nice. Good luck.

[paultrademark]

Yeah I was polite and the girl was very understanding and agreed with myself.

[RobboEdin]

Originally Posted by andy_m

I would draw a link between "I was as bolshy as possible" and " was offered nothing". Try again. Be nice. Good luck.

I believe the tool Retentions use has a tick box for 'is the customer being bolshy?'. If ticked, the best deals are immediately removed from offer and a note made on the account for future reference.