Virgin Media - Retention Deals?

[soupdragon1]

outnumbered said:

That seems pretty good, you've done well.

I've still not had a successful call from retentions, and given that the contract ends on Saturday, it seems I'm not going to. I'd still really like to know what all those multiple failed calls were about... Am I supposed to ring them back in desperation or something ?

I was happy with the original £106 cost, considering what I would be paying to Sky/TNT/Netflix plus fibre provider if I chose to leave, so getting it down to £73 was a bonus I wasn't expecting at all. I would contact the web chat bot to start off and see what happens. There are definitely good deals to be had. It just seems so random that sometimes its plain sailing like in my case, versus the next day when its like dancing flamingos to get anything reasonable.

[outnumbered]

soupdragon1 said:

I was happy with the original £106 cost, considering what I would be paying to Sky/TNT/Netflix plus fibre provider if I chose to leave, so getting it down to £73 was a bonus I wasn't expecting at all. I would contact the web chat bot to start off and see what happens. There are definitely good deals to be had. It just seems so random that sometimes its plain sailing like in my case, versus the next day when its like dancing flamingos to get anything reasonable.

It's a moot point because I'm already signed up with another ISP anyway, it would just have been interesting to know what they would have offered.

[jules_s]

HTP99 said:

So after moaning about them a couple of days ago, my all in bundle (don't know what it's called), I get 1000 Internet, O2 sim, all the TV, 2 boxes, sports, film and Netflix, is due for renewal at the beginning of March, I though I'd see what they can offer for me to renew early for 18m, also thinking try them on NYE for an end of year deal!

Went on the webchat, made my intentions, clear that the Mega Volt bundle is kind of where I'm looking, don't need it all but hey ho, it seems the best value, got an absolute joke of an offer of £165 pm, wouldn't budge, got the usual guff about the advertised offers, are new customer offers etc, they will pay that when their contract ends.......

Eventually put me though to someone else, given the first interaction was clearly scripted with clearly pre prepared answers and the guys name, I'm thinking probably located in India, the second interaction was personalised responses and given the name, most likely the UK.

Anyway, I eventually got the Mega Volt bundle, without the sim, which I don't need, for £60 a month, only other difference is 500 Internet, not 1000, which is more than fine for me and the wife.

Give notice to O2 in a month that I don't want to continue come the end of the contract on March 2nd, that saving plus the saving on the new bundle, I'll be about £40 pm better off.

Interesting the last re-newal they wouldn't budge on the sim, said I had to have it as it's all part of the package, this time they were straight in with an offer without it!

I just now need to find all the O2 sim details to cancel it, I've never used it, I don't even know where it is or the number.

Edited by HTP99 on Monday 1st January 17:34

Grrrrr - thanks for that

Same ste here - renewal £157 (inc o2 sim) pretty much the same package as you - up from £92

Let the 'dance' begin...

[jules_s]

jules_s said:

HTP99 said:

So after moaning about them a couple of days ago, my all in bundle (don't know what it's called), I get 1000 Internet, O2 sim, all the TV, 2 boxes, sports, film and Netflix, is due for renewal at the beginning of March, I though I'd see what they can offer for me to renew early for 18m, also thinking try them on NYE for an end of year deal!

Went on the webchat, made my intentions, clear that the Mega Volt bundle is kind of where I'm looking, don't need it all but hey ho, it seems the best value, got an absolute joke of an offer of £165 pm, wouldn't budge, got the usual guff about the advertised offers, are new customer offers etc, they will pay that when their contract ends.......

Eventually put me though to someone else, given the first interaction was clearly scripted with clearly pre prepared answers and the guys name, I'm thinking probably located in India, the second interaction was personalised responses and given the name, most likely the UK.

Anyway, I eventually got the Mega Volt bundle, without the sim, which I don't need, for £60 a month, only other difference is 500 Internet, not 1000, which is more than fine for me and the wife.

Give notice to O2 in a month that I don't want to continue come the end of the contract on March 2nd, that saving plus the saving on the new bundle, I'll be about £40 pm better off.

Interesting the last re-newal they wouldn't budge on the sim, said I had to have it as it's all part of the package, this time they were straight in with an offer without it!

I just now need to find all the O2 sim details to cancel it, I've never used it, I don't even know where it is or the number.

Edited by HTP99 on Monday 1st January 17:34

Grrrrr - thanks for that

Same ste here - renewal £157 (inc o2 sim) pretty much the same package as you - up from £92

Let the 'dance' begin...

And

A similar outcome. We slightly downgraded the internet speed and dropped the 02 sim. Now £71 - so about £40ish per month better off

[breamster]

outnumbered said:

soupdragon1 said:

Considering the introductory offer was £85 Inc O2, I'm now £73 plus £10 unlimited everything with Tesco mobile, my total is now down to £83 in comparison, albeit I'm 350mb now instead of 1000mb. A good trade off for sure.

That seems pretty good, you've done well.

I've still not had a successful call from retentions, and given that the contract ends on Saturday, it seems I'm not going to. I'd still really like to know what all those multiple failed calls were about... Am I supposed to ring them back in desperation or something ?

Did you get a reply?

[breamster]

It's my turn again.

I just checked and I started this thread back in 2017!!!

I've just spent 2hrs on the phone to Virgin and the outcome was as follows.

Current package m200, mix tx and phone (not used). I took the package out on £57 which they increased to £69!

Call 1 - offered £58 but cut off.
Call 2 - offered £70 and then £67 and then £58. I've given notice to cancel to see what happens.

Virgin Media have no integrity when the pricing is so fluid and dependent on haggling and hassle to the customer.

What sort of prices have people been getting? Was £58 any good?

Do they discount to remove the landline? The last time I renewed the price would have gone up!!

Edit: And they told me all prices are increasing on the 28th Feb!!

Edited by breamster on Friday 12th January 17:33

[Whistle]

breamster said:

It's my turn again.

I just checked and I started this thread back in 2017!!!

I've just spent 2hrs on the phone to Virgin and the outcome was as follows.

Current package m200, mix tx and phone (not used). I took the package out on £57 which they increased to £69!

Call 1 - offered £58 but cut off.
Call 2 - offered £70 and then £67 and then £58. I've given notice to cancel to see what happens.

Virgin Media have no integrity when the pricing is so fluid and dependent on haggling and hassle to the customer.

What sort of prices have people been getting? Was £58 any good?

Do they discount to remove the landline? The last time I renewed the price would have gone up!!

Edit: And they told me all prices are increasing on the 28th Feb!!

Edited by breamster on Friday 12th January 17:33

I get M250, Maxit TV and phone line for what should be £44.00 per month but for some bizarre reason they have only been billing me £29.00 since last June.

Checked my contact and it’s £29.00 to January 2025, happy days.

[Chris Type R]

breamster said:

Current package m200, mix tx and phone (not used). I took the package out on £57 which they increased to £69!

Call 1 - offered £58 but cut off.
Call 2 - offered £70 and then £67 and then £58. I've given notice to cancel to see what happens.

What sort of prices have people been getting? Was £58 any good?

My post is a couple of pages back in December - after instructing the cancellation and waiting for the call - I also mentioned on the call that FTTP connections were newly available in the area. At least that's how I remember it - it's been a few weeks I'd say £58 is rich if you have the same TV package.

> £36pcm(from £37) for M500 (from M350), Mixit, Phone with w/e chatter.

Looking at my bill - it looks like the package is £84pcm with me receiving 3 lots of discounts totalling £48.

[survivalist]

Not a retention deal, but I’ve just signed up for the Volt Bundle with Sky Sports/Cinema and 500Mbps Broadband. They threw in a £100 credit but wouldn’t budge on the winter sales price (£70 a month) or the inclusion of the O2 SIM.

Sales team seem clueless though. According to one of my neighbours their service is delivered via Coax, but they are insisting it’s fibre to the premises. Will see I guess.

Also includes full WiFi coverage apparently, which could be interesting as I currently have 3 wireless access points and still can’t get reliable WiFi in a couple of spots.

The only question they couldn’t answer is if I can cancel the whole package during the 14 day cooling off period - as the O2 Sim arrives this week, but the installation date isn’t until 8th Feb.

Should be cheaper than my current 80Mbps FTTC broadband plus the sky puck. And that’s without the cost of sky sports.

[jules_s]

They said the same to me (ad nauseam) - 'any Volt package needs to have an 02 sim'

5 minutes later with the retention team and we don't have an 02 sim

I probably didn't offer the respect to the poster who pointed this out earlier....I would have taken the virgin rep at face value otherwise

[bigandclever]

survivalist said:

Sales team seem clueless though. According to one of my neighbours their service is delivered via Coax, but they are insisting it’s fibre to the premises. Will see I guess.

You may find this thread of interest .. https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-se...

[survivalist]

bigandclever said:

survivalist said:

Sales team seem clueless though. According to one of my neighbours their service is delivered via Coax, but they are insisting it’s fibre to the premises. Will see I guess.

You may find this thread of interest .. https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-se...

Thanks, I did stumble across that so a fibre connection is a possibility I guess. Not sure what will happen at that point as the location where the fibre would enter the building doesn’t have any power. So they would either have to choose a different point of entry or cancel the installation.

Not cancelling my current service until VM is in just in case.

[rfn]

500Mb, Mega TV & weekend phone (not that there's a phone plugged in)... Was £50, up to £104.
Agreed £45 for 18 months, since I know it will go up to probably £50 in April and then again next April...

[James6112]

The inflation + nonsense is why i’ll be binning them asap
I see that ofcom are looking at this practise & BT are putting a stop to it (after the next one!)

Genuine competition has rolled up here via City Fibre.

Some good offers by companies who do not partake in that grubby little con & its part of their sales pitch (eg 900 mbps £25, free install, £50 Amazon voucher!, top reviews, no in contract hikes)

[cobra kid]

James6112 said:

The inflation + nonsense is why i’ll be binning them asap
I see that ofcom are looking at this practise & BT are putting a stop to it (after the next one!)

Genuine competition has rolled up here via City Fibre.

Some good offers by companies who do not partake in that grubby little con & its part of their sales pitch (eg 900 mbps £25, free install, £50 Amazon voucher!, top reviews, no in contract hikes)

Out of interest, if you ditched VM, would you lose live television or go with Freeview?

[Whoozit]

cobra kid said:

James6112 said:

The inflation + nonsense is why i’ll be binning them asap
I see that ofcom are looking at this practise & BT are putting a stop to it (after the next one!)

Genuine competition has rolled up here via City Fibre.

Some good offers by companies who do not partake in that grubby little con & its part of their sales pitch (eg 900 mbps £25, free install, £50 Amazon voucher!, top reviews, no in contract hikes)

Out of interest, if you ditched VM, would you lose live television or go with Freeview?

I ditched Sky and added a Now TV package. Given the vast majority of our watching was and is anyway through streaming services, we saved 70-ish pounds. Live TV is accessible through the BBC/ITV/4/5 apps on a smart TV.

[James6112]

cobra kid said:

James6112 said:

The inflation + nonsense is why i’ll be binning them asap
I see that ofcom are looking at this practise & BT are putting a stop to it (after the next one!)

Genuine competition has rolled up here via City Fibre.

Some good offers by companies who do not partake in that grubby little con & its part of their sales pitch (eg 900 mbps £25, free install, £50 Amazon voucher!, top reviews, no in contract hikes)

Out of interest, if you ditched VM, would you lose live television or go with Freeview?

Hi
Sorry I have BB only, went Freeview when I cancelled Sky about 5 years ago.

Freeview also streaming later this year I hear.

https://www.techradar.com/streaming/what-is-freely...

No regrets TBH, no interest in the Sports channels. Appreciate a lot want the premium stuff.

Have Prime anyway/Disney+ from family/ Discovery+ still from when I had Sky!

Maybe I miss a few things, but as a soon to be poor pensioner, reducing outgoings.

Quite satisfying too.

Edited by James6112 on Wednesday 17th January 16:06

[karma mechanic]

My M350 contract was ending in December, on their 'offers and upgrades' page there was an offer to renew for 18 months at £24 pm. I had been on £24 anyway, with various discounts.

The contract docs came through on the 6th, yep, £24 pm for 18 months.

Then I had an email saying my bill was going up to £63. I used the Webchat to query this, and after an inordinate amount of palaver I was assured that it would really be £24 going forward. I asked for confirmation, yep, I was assured that £24 would apply as per the contract. That was the 22nd.

Then they charged me £63, so I complained. Apparently my contract can't actually be activated because I'm not entitled to the discount (after 14 years). They offered £61 a month. The Webchat person has been sent for re-education. That's 5 weeks where nobody told me the contract wouldn't be honoured.

Getting thoroughly fed up with it now.

>> Edit <<
A couple of long calls later, and I think there's a resolution. My contract now says £52 pm, but there will be a rolling credit of £28 to make the actual bill £24. That lasts for 10 months, but will then be renewed when I contact them. Call is recorded of course.

I can't help thinking there's a lot to go wrong with that arrangement but it is a solution.

I've also got it on record that the increase in April will be against the £24, not the £52. A fairly satisfactory result which should get me to the timeframe where Toob or City Fibre have offerings in my area.

Edited by karma mechanic on Thursday 18th January 16:08

Edited by karma mechanic on Thursday 18th January 16:10

[breamster]

Chris Type R said:

breamster said:

Current package m200, mix tx and phone (not used). I took the package out on £57 which they increased to £69!

Call 1 - offered £58 but cut off.
Call 2 - offered £70 and then £67 and then £58. I've given notice to cancel to see what happens.

What sort of prices have people been getting? Was £58 any good?

My post is a couple of pages back in December - after instructing the cancellation and waiting for the call - I also mentioned on the call that FTTP connections were newly available in the area. At least that's how I remember it - it's been a few weeks I'd say £58 is rich if you have the same TV package.

> £36pcm(from £37) for M500 (from M350), Mixit, Phone with w/e chatter.

Looking at my bill - it looks like the package is £84pcm with me receiving 3 lots of discounts totalling £48.

Well, they called and I agreed to £39. I do find it frustrating that you have to play this game. Hopefully cityfibre will be in place before the next renewal.

[Tye Green]

karma mechanic said:

My M350 contract was ending in December, on their 'offers and upgrades' page there was an offer to renew for 18 months at £24 pm. I had been on £24 anyway, with various discounts.

The contract docs came through on the 6th, yep, £24 pm for 18 months.

Then I had an email saying my bill was going up to £63. I used the Webchat to query this, and after an inordinate amount of palaver I was assured that it would really be £24 going forward. I asked for confirmation, yep, I was assured that £24 would apply as per the contract. That was the 22nd.

Then they charged me £63, so I complained. Apparently my contract can't actually be activated because I'm not entitled to the discount (after 14 years). They offered £61 a month. The Webchat person has been sent for re-education. That's 5 weeks where nobody told me the contract wouldn't be honoured.

Getting thoroughly fed up with it now.

>> Edit <<
A couple of long calls later, and I think there's a resolution. My contract now says £52 pm, but there will be a rolling credit of £28 to make the actual bill £24. That lasts for 10 months, but will then be renewed when I contact them. Call is recorded of course.

this is typical for them - they're a complete fk-on to deal with and you will likely still be trying to get them to resolve it in 6 months time with no success.