2018 price rises

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by warrenb

Yes the huge ripoff with VM is the line rental, as most people barely use the home phone but have to take it to get the bundle price

You can get VM broadband without a phone line but it will cost you more so where's the rip off?

[warrenb]

Because it shouldn't cost more, as I have no line rental overhead or calls included. Why is broadband by itself more money, does not make sense.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by warrenb

Because it shouldn't cost more, as I have no line rental overhead or calls included. Why is broadband by itself more money, does not make sense.

If you take one service only, then you pay one price. You then get deals when you take two services, and a further deals if you take all three cable services.

So Broadband isn't more by itself. It's less as part of bundle as Virgin Media want to encourage you to take multiple services, same as any other company would like their customers to buy more from them.

[Gavin78]

Well the line rental is around £19 a month but I don't think the increased BB/tv prices without are that high so you would probably save between the packages. I could be wrong though as never broke it down

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Gavin78

Well the line rental is around £19 a month but I don't think the increased BB/tv prices without are that high so you would probably save between the packages. I could be wrong though as never broke it down

With Line Rental Saver it works out at £16.33 a month line rental - assuming they haven't increased that too. Not as good deal as it used to be but worth doing if you've just signed up to a 12 month contract; wouldn't bother at any other time as it effectively ties you in.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by warrenb

Yes the huge ripoff with VM is the line rental, as most people barely use the home phone but have to take it to get the bundle price

It's the same with every other provider to be fair , I do agree though we never use the landline.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

It's the same with every other provider to be fair , I do agree though we never use the landline.

Its most definitely a rip off but l for one don't have a choice due to medical reasons.

[tvtimes]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

If you take one service only, then you pay one price. You then get deals when you take two services, and a further deals if you take all three cable services.

So Broadband isn't more by itself. It's less as part of bundle as Virgin Media want to encourage you to take multiple services, same as any other company would like their customers to buy more from them.

And it's purely for retentions purposes - the more services a customer has - the less likely they are to leave to go somewhere else.
Virgin know full well if a customer has broadband with them and Tv with Sky, every time that customer rings up for whatever reason that is a potential sale.
All the providers do it.

What I do think is a rip off is the fact companies charge an "activation fee" when taking out standalone services -this is usually ridiculously high.
My friend, for example, is leaving VM for Sky but wants their Broadband only - they want £35 a month and £90 upfront for activation! She already has the services from the last time she was with them.
I helped her shop around she ended up getting the broadband for £25 a month, £20 activation and £50 prepaid credit card.

[Onramp]

If it's a siamese cable, does the line rental only apply to the small part of the cable? (being facetious)

[MrB]

Originally Posted by Mr K

With Line Rental Saver it works out at £16.33 a month line rental - assuming they haven't increased that too. Not as good deal as it used to be but worth doing if you've just signed up to a 12 month contract; wouldn't bother at any other time as it effectively ties you in.

I know the Line Rental Saver says no refunds, but if they put up your prices and you have a right to cancel them they should be required to refund pro rata? This was clarified for BT customers and the regulator was involved, so it should apply to Virgin too as it is the same contractual principle?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...ving-regulator

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by MrB

I know the Line Rental Saver says no refunds, but if they put up your prices and you have a right to cancel them they should be required to refund pro rata? This was clarified for BT customers and the regulator was involved, so it should apply to Virgin too as it is the same contractual principle?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...ving-regulator

You'd think so, but they seem definite it's non refundable. Try it and let us know how you get on

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Chloé Palmas

Huh...I never knew.

If Sky wanted to be cruel I suppose that they could just refuse to sell the rights.

Sky did remove their channels from VM anout ten years ago. It would probably be viewed as anti competitive if they just removed them for no good reason, but asking for unreasonably high carriage costs to try to damage a competitor is another matter...

Originally Posted by pip08456

I must admit I was unaware of any change.

I remember posting a thread about it at the time to alert people to the fact that Sky Sports was no longer regulated and could, in theory, be removed from VM.

I've no idea about the situation with the premium Sky movie channels though.

Originally Posted by warrenb

Yes the huge ripoff with VM is the line rental, as most people barely use the home phone but have to take it to get the bundle price

It used to be the case that if was cheaper to get a phone line with BB (even if you never plugged it in!)

However, when a family member dropped the phone, he saved something like two of three pounds a month, so I think this must have changed.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

It used to be the case that if was cheaper to get a phone line with BB (even if you never plugged it in!)

However, when a family member dropped the phone, he saved something like two of three pounds a month, so I think this must have changed.

It hasn't.

2018-08-17 14_51_31-Broadband Deals _ Fibre Optic Broadband _ Virgin Media.png

[djmagnifique]

Tried phoning a couple of times today to talk about the charges as I am thinking of leaving. First time I asked how long was left on my contract to be told me I was out of contract so mentioned about leaving and the advisor said they systems were down but to phone back in 2 hours. Phoned back and before I could say anything to the advisor started stating that the systems were down and to phone back in 2 hours.


At least the wait time to speak to someone is quite short at the moment, up to 30 seconds the automated voice said.

[tvtimes]

That's because the systems are down so they're not dealing with customers and unable to answer the phones. It probably means when the systems return there will be an even higher backlog!