Bloody Virgin Media, putting up my costs again!

[All that jazz]

SickAsAParrot said:

We ditched Virgin a couple of months ago

[...]

We're contracted in with Talk Talk now

If a definition was ever needed for jumping out of the pan into the fire, this is it!

I think once your honeymoon period is over with TalkTalk you'll regret your move.

[SickAsAParrot]

Hmm, not yet I'm not after 2 months with them. How long is this 'honeymoon' period?

[deckster]

SickAsAParrot said:

Hmm, not yet I'm not after 2 months with them. How long is this 'honeymoon' period?

Roughly defined as the period between signing up with them, and having to talk to their customer services.

[condor]

I've received a surprise email from Virgin Media this morning saying my payment couldn't be processed and my service is being cut off tomorrow! I think it must be a scam as there's a link provided to click on to, will ring customer services shortly and ask what's going on. My payment is'nt due till next week so I am up to date with payments. Has anyone else received something like this?

[All that jazz]

condor said:

I've received a surprise email from Virgin Media this morning saying my payment couldn't be processed and my service is being cut off tomorrow! I think it must be a scam as there's a link provided to click on to, will ring customer services shortly and ask what's going on. My payment is'nt due till next week so I am up to date with payments. Has anyone else received something like this?

Look at the email header details and it will show you the actual email address it's from. That will tell you whether it's legit or not.

[condor]

Have just spoken to Virgin Media and it is a scam - they've had similar reports from other people.

[Hoofy]

Another £3.50 a month. Just had the letter through my door. I have the basic telephone and broadband.

[Mr_Yogi]

Hoofy said:

Another £3.50 a month. Just had the letter through my door. I have the basic telephone and broadband.

Yup, Same here

I want to know how they justify it, the rises over the past 10 years have been way more than inflation.

[SystemParanoia]

Mr_Yogi said:

Hoofy said:

Another £3.50 a month. Just had the letter through my door. I have the basic telephone and broadband.

Yup, Same here

Same, BB only

that vodaphone BB package is looking tempting at the moment

[Hoofy]

SystemParanoia said:

Mr_Yogi said:

Hoofy said:

Another £3.50 a month. Just had the letter through my door. I have the basic telephone and broadband.

Yup, Same here

Same, BB only

that vodaphone BB package is looking tempting at the moment

I only have an NTL cable into my house. I don't have any other options.

[Jobbo]

Finally had the retentions call from Virgin - I've dispensed with my phone line and any TV package at all (won't miss the TiVo which has become so slow it's almost unusable) and increased broadband speed to 200Mbps for a substantial price reduction, guaranteed for (and tied in for) 12 months. I was going to be paying about £46.50 a month after the rise; will now be paying just over £30 a month.

[Zoon]

Hoofy said:

SystemParanoia said:

Mr_Yogi said:

Hoofy said:

Another £3.50 a month. Just had the letter through my door. I have the basic telephone and broadband.

Yup, Same here

Same, BB only

that vodaphone BB package is looking tempting at the moment

I only have an NTL cable into my house. I don't have any other options.

Vodafone will install you a line.

[Hoofy]

Zoon said:

Hoofy said:

SystemParanoia said:

Mr_Yogi said:

Hoofy said:

Another £3.50 a month. Just had the letter through my door. I have the basic telephone and broadband.

Yup, Same here

Same, BB only

that vodaphone BB package is looking tempting at the moment

I only have an NTL cable into my house. I don't have any other options.

Vodafone will install you a line.

That's good to know. I saw an advert last night and wondered if they could do it for me!

[deckster]

Zoon said:

Vodafone will install you a line.

No, they won't. They might ask Openreach to install one for you, but it will have nothing to do with Vodafone.

[megaphone]

Just got my letter from Virgin, package going up by £3.49 in November. My line rental is already paid, so this is just the BB/Phone/TV going up, they don't actually break the rise down.

So again, within a year, I'm going to be on the phone to them. I'll let you know how I get on. Tried to get through to retentions last night, but they where way too busy, bet I'm not the only one calling!

[Zoon]

deckster said:

No, they won't. They might ask Openreach to install one for you, but it will have nothing to do with Vodafone.

If they are asking openreach and charging you for it then I'd say it has something to do with them.

[Craikeybaby]

Jobbo said:

Finally had the retentions call from Virgin - I've dispensed with my phone line and any TV package at all (won't miss the TiVo which has become so slow it's almost unusable) and increased broadband speed to 200Mbps for a substantial price reduction, guaranteed for (and tied in for) 12 months. I was going to be paying about £46.50 a month after the rise; will now be paying just over £30 a month.

I've had a £2.99 increase, so I'm not paying just over £30 for 70Mbps - I think I'll need to call them too.

[Jobbo]

Craikeybaby said:

Jobbo said:

Finally had the retentions call from Virgin - I've dispensed with my phone line and any TV package at all (won't miss the TiVo which has become so slow it's almost unusable) and increased broadband speed to 200Mbps for a substantial price reduction, guaranteed for (and tied in for) 12 months. I was going to be paying about £46.50 a month after the rise; will now be paying just over £30 a month.

I've had a £2.99 increase, so I'm not paying just over £30 for 70Mbps - I think I'll need to call them too.

Just in case it helps negotiations, I didn't call them except to cancel. I rang mid-Sept and cancelled from 31 October (i.e. the day before the price increase) so I had plenty of time to sort out an alternative. Still had to wait 2-3 weeks for retentions to call me, but they seem to have a wide discretion to apply discounts.

The retentions people did actually call last week but I was in a meeting and couldn't take it. I called back because it was an 0800 number but got an automated message that they would call me again. Anyway, there was a bit of brinkmanship involved in actually cancelling and waiting!

[Roy the Boy]

Zoon said:

Vodafone will install you a line.

£60 line installation fee + £49 one off fibre connection fee.

[davek_964]

Mr_Yogi said:

Yup, Same here

I want to know how they justify it, the rises over the past 10 years have been way more than inflation.

I'm not really defending it - mine has gone up to and I'd prefer it didn't. But....

For luxury services like this, especially ones that need to keep up with changes / advances in technology - I'm not sure inflation is a reasonable measure. I can't remember what broadband speeds were 10 years ago - but let's say 2Mb/s. If that was still the best Virgin could offer, but prices had only gone up with inflation in the meantime - would people be happy?
R&D etc. costs money - and ultimately, it's the customers who pay for it.