Virgin Media - Retention Deals?
Discussion
I'm currently having to go through this process, yet again.
Current package is 200MB , Maxit TV + kids, talk weekends phone.
Costs went up from £55 to £60 in March (should have phoned to cancel then but forgot and it passed the cut off), now the deal is running out the next bill is showing as £68. After the 'offers' have run out it will be £90!
The same deal that I have is available on their site for £57.
Been on hold listening to the same 3 songs for just over 45 mins now......
Current package is 200MB , Maxit TV + kids, talk weekends phone.
Costs went up from £55 to £60 in March (should have phoned to cancel then but forgot and it passed the cut off), now the deal is running out the next bill is showing as £68. After the 'offers' have run out it will be £90!
The same deal that I have is available on their site for £57.
Been on hold listening to the same 3 songs for just over 45 mins now......
The Hofff said:
I'm currently having to go through this process, yet again.
Current package is 200MB , Maxit TV + kids, talk weekends phone.
Costs went up from 55 to 60 in March (should have phoned to cancel then but forgot and it passed the cut off), now the deal is running out the next bill is showing as 68. After the 'offers' have run out it will be 90!
The same deal that I have is available on their site for 57.
Been on hold listening to the same 3 songs for just over 45 mins now......
I have a sort of opposite problemCurrent package is 200MB , Maxit TV + kids, talk weekends phone.
Costs went up from 55 to 60 in March (should have phoned to cancel then but forgot and it passed the cut off), now the deal is running out the next bill is showing as 68. After the 'offers' have run out it will be 90!
The same deal that I have is available on their site for 57.
Been on hold listening to the same 3 songs for just over 45 mins now......
The morons won't STOP ringing me
I got an email from VM earlier today saying "time for an upgrade" - apparently my TV package is being "retired" so they are moving me to another package with "the same great stuff" and they appeared to be doing me a great favour by keeping the price the same.
What they failed to point out was the "upgrade" had less TV channels than my old package, so I challenged them to explain the "upgrade" element of the deal....
To be fair, I had no waiting on the retentions line and the chap I spoke to soon caved in and offered me a significant upgrade in TV package, PLUS a doubling of broadband speed AND a 10% reduction in cost for my trouble.
I'm happy now (at least until the next time they upgrade me...)
What they failed to point out was the "upgrade" had less TV channels than my old package, so I challenged them to explain the "upgrade" element of the deal....
To be fair, I had no waiting on the retentions line and the chap I spoke to soon caved in and offered me a significant upgrade in TV package, PLUS a doubling of broadband speed AND a 10% reduction in cost for my trouble.
I'm happy now (at least until the next time they upgrade me...)
Time for me to play the game.
Had a quick look what was available elsewhere and could get now tv fibres for £21 with £90 cash back on a 12 month contract making the monthly cost £13.50 a month.
I only have M200 fibre with virgin but have two mobile sims with them and I myself am on o2. All they could offer me was M100 for £15 a month so I cancelled. I said if I could stick on M200 for £15 I’d go for that but they said no.
Let’s give it a few days and see if they bother to call. If not, I’ll switch to now tv broadband
Had a quick look what was available elsewhere and could get now tv fibres for £21 with £90 cash back on a 12 month contract making the monthly cost £13.50 a month.
I only have M200 fibre with virgin but have two mobile sims with them and I myself am on o2. All they could offer me was M100 for £15 a month so I cancelled. I said if I could stick on M200 for £15 I’d go for that but they said no.
Let’s give it a few days and see if they bother to call. If not, I’ll switch to now tv broadband
This will likely be my last post about my own experiences
Sorry about it's length but it's been a bit of an eye opener
I became rather fed up of the yearly game and this time round fancied a change. I think that's sort of the important bit. I duly found a very good deal and signed up for it. I needed to check that a BT Line based broadband would work well for us.
I ended up effectively having the new one installed and then giving the disconnection notice to Virgin. That meant that I have been effectively paying twice but I have everything working as it should and it's all good
Anyway gave the notice was offered a semi insulting reduction of around £5 a month then passed over to the retentions team. Offered a further £3 or £4 off forget which and was told that I used x amount of TV (I didnt they assume if your V6 box is on you are watching it) was told the length of time we spent on the landline (accurate) was told all the benefits of being on VM (one stop contact if there are any issues - accurate)
Then I was told some information h about the BT based alternative.
I would only get around 37 Meg speed -inaccurate by a wild margin of over 50%.
Was told my upload speed would be less than with Virgin inaccurate as its actually double. Virgins Upload ratio is low
Told if I had issues I would have to liaise with 2 sets of people - BT and Open Reach - not strictly true as BT contact Open Reach for you
Told that the BT Router wasn't as good as VIrgin's SH3 - I disagree as a router it's better than the SH3 the only slight issue is that it doesnt't have a modem mode which the SH3 does and I utilised as I used my own router.
Now I use the BT Smarthub but have my own wifi access points as before the only difference is the gateway is a BT router with the wifi switched off
Was told that I would lose my phone number which I knew and cannot understand as it was originally a BT number ported into Virgin
Was told I would have to have new phones as BT use a VOIP system - semi true as I could have had a converter to go on using my own phone. We had several handsets and I am not sure if BT's converter works with a bunch of phones plugged into it or if you need a converter for each phone
Was told I would be able to go on using my own phones if I stayed on Virgin as nothing would change - True but they are making changes as they are making sure peoples phones plug in via the router so they are switching to some kind of VOIP
Whilst not blatant lies there was some element of misinformation and bigging up their product
Since then i have received many calls some have been reasonable ones some pure ignorance - hanging up when you explain the deal you have got
Being told the deal you have got isnt right even though I have a copy of the contarct on screen in front of me
IMO there are some really poor people working in the retentions team as well as some good ones. I ended up blocking their number though you can see on the phone that they have tried to contact you
The latest offer was sent by text as they "had been trying to reach me to discuss some tailor made offers"
The basic offer was 100meg Broadband at £16 a month which is actually quite good
Out of curiosity I rang in and was given various offers mainly based around faster speeds and a larger TV package.
I didnt make note of these but did ask bottom line how much to keep what I have
100 meg broadband
Retention of phone with 59 minute anytime free calls
Retention of V6 Box with a renamed basic freeview type TV offering
All in at £19 a month based on an 18 month resign
That is actually better than the BT one I have set up but I am still going because the BT set up works
Effectively they have reduced things down by a 70% decrease based on what it would have gone up at end of June as discounts came off
Or a 64% decrease based on what the actual thing costs now
As others have said the longer you hold out for the more you get off it's just a game
Sorry about it's length but it's been a bit of an eye opener
I became rather fed up of the yearly game and this time round fancied a change. I think that's sort of the important bit. I duly found a very good deal and signed up for it. I needed to check that a BT Line based broadband would work well for us.
I ended up effectively having the new one installed and then giving the disconnection notice to Virgin. That meant that I have been effectively paying twice but I have everything working as it should and it's all good
Anyway gave the notice was offered a semi insulting reduction of around £5 a month then passed over to the retentions team. Offered a further £3 or £4 off forget which and was told that I used x amount of TV (I didnt they assume if your V6 box is on you are watching it) was told the length of time we spent on the landline (accurate) was told all the benefits of being on VM (one stop contact if there are any issues - accurate)
Then I was told some information h about the BT based alternative.
I would only get around 37 Meg speed -inaccurate by a wild margin of over 50%.
Was told my upload speed would be less than with Virgin inaccurate as its actually double. Virgins Upload ratio is low
Told if I had issues I would have to liaise with 2 sets of people - BT and Open Reach - not strictly true as BT contact Open Reach for you
Told that the BT Router wasn't as good as VIrgin's SH3 - I disagree as a router it's better than the SH3 the only slight issue is that it doesnt't have a modem mode which the SH3 does and I utilised as I used my own router.
Now I use the BT Smarthub but have my own wifi access points as before the only difference is the gateway is a BT router with the wifi switched off
Was told that I would lose my phone number which I knew and cannot understand as it was originally a BT number ported into Virgin
Was told I would have to have new phones as BT use a VOIP system - semi true as I could have had a converter to go on using my own phone. We had several handsets and I am not sure if BT's converter works with a bunch of phones plugged into it or if you need a converter for each phone
Was told I would be able to go on using my own phones if I stayed on Virgin as nothing would change - True but they are making changes as they are making sure peoples phones plug in via the router so they are switching to some kind of VOIP
Whilst not blatant lies there was some element of misinformation and bigging up their product
Since then i have received many calls some have been reasonable ones some pure ignorance - hanging up when you explain the deal you have got
Being told the deal you have got isnt right even though I have a copy of the contarct on screen in front of me
IMO there are some really poor people working in the retentions team as well as some good ones. I ended up blocking their number though you can see on the phone that they have tried to contact you
The latest offer was sent by text as they "had been trying to reach me to discuss some tailor made offers"
The basic offer was 100meg Broadband at £16 a month which is actually quite good
Out of curiosity I rang in and was given various offers mainly based around faster speeds and a larger TV package.
I didnt make note of these but did ask bottom line how much to keep what I have
100 meg broadband
Retention of phone with 59 minute anytime free calls
Retention of V6 Box with a renamed basic freeview type TV offering
All in at £19 a month based on an 18 month resign
That is actually better than the BT one I have set up but I am still going because the BT set up works
Effectively they have reduced things down by a 70% decrease based on what it would have gone up at end of June as discounts came off
Or a 64% decrease based on what the actual thing costs now
As others have said the longer you hold out for the more you get off it's just a game
Retentions rang me this morning and offered me M200 broadband for £17. I accepted that as I didn’t think I could push it any further. They did offer me M350 for £20 but figured we didn’t really need the extra speed so settled on the M200 for £17. Better than relying on Quidco to pay out!
Contract emailed to me has an original price of £22 but I assume the discount will be applied on a monthly basis. Cost after the 18 month period? £49!!
Contract emailed to me has an original price of £22 but I assume the discount will be applied on a monthly basis. Cost after the 18 month period? £49!!
I've just left VM after 20 plus years. The final straw was the router wifi failed and they wouldn't replace it because they said it was working fine, they wouldn't move past the script and didn't care we were leaving. I phoned to cancel and got into the whole loop of "why are you leaving...the routers broke and you won't replace it... put through to service...won't replace it... phone up to cancel..."
I've gone BT broadband on a deal, TV via freeview as we mostly streamed stuff anyway...
I've gone BT broadband on a deal, TV via freeview as we mostly streamed stuff anyway...
r1ch said:
Shocking to read some of these accounts of VM.
Do retentions only ring you after you've given your notice of cancellation? I've put this off for a bit, but I'm now ready to tell them to stick it.
Kind of.Do retentions only ring you after you've given your notice of cancellation? I've put this off for a bit, but I'm now ready to tell them to stick it.
Likelihood is you ring to cancel an immediate crap offer is made you refuse they put you through to retentions.
Retentions will offer a slightly better deal
it is only after you have refused this that you will start to get call backs the longer you leave it the better the offer
anonymoususer said:
Kind of.
Likelihood is you ring to cancel an immediate crap offer is made you refuse they put you through to retentions.
Retentions will offer a slightly better deal
it is only after you have refused this that you will start to get call backs the longer you leave it the better the offer
That’s an accurate account of what happened to me! Hold out and wait for the best deals!Likelihood is you ring to cancel an immediate crap offer is made you refuse they put you through to retentions.
Retentions will offer a slightly better deal
it is only after you have refused this that you will start to get call backs the longer you leave it the better the offer
Oh joy, it's that time for me too.
Paying 53.49 for M350, Mixit TV (don't use), Talk Weekends (don't use).
The email states this will increase to £71 and the email then goes on to say that the same package for new customers is £41.99.
I also have a Plusnet connection as a backup/work link, so may well go ahead with cancelling & wait to hear from retentions.
Like many others, I'm so tired of having to do this every 18/24 months.
Paying 53.49 for M350, Mixit TV (don't use), Talk Weekends (don't use).
The email states this will increase to £71 and the email then goes on to say that the same package for new customers is £41.99.
I also have a Plusnet connection as a backup/work link, so may well go ahead with cancelling & wait to hear from retentions.
Like many others, I'm so tired of having to do this every 18/24 months.
Chris Type R said:
Oh joy, it's that time for me too.
Paying 53.49 for M350, Mixit TV (don't use), Talk Weekends (don't use).
The email states this will increase to £71 and the email then goes on to say that the same package for new customers is £41.99.
I also have a Plusnet connection as a backup/work link, so may well go ahead with cancelling & wait to hear from retentions.
Like many others, I'm so tired of having to do this every 18/24 months.
Do it Paying 53.49 for M350, Mixit TV (don't use), Talk Weekends (don't use).
The email states this will increase to £71 and the email then goes on to say that the same package for new customers is £41.99.
I also have a Plusnet connection as a backup/work link, so may well go ahead with cancelling & wait to hear from retentions.
Like many others, I'm so tired of having to do this every 18/24 months.
Your in a really strong position the longer you leave it the better
Well its that time of year again!
Currently paying £32 for 100mbs, which doesnt seem like a great deal anyway. But from next month it is going up to £55!
I called up today and the best they could offer was £31 for 18 months. I said I would still like to cancel. Now im getting the fear, should I have taken the deal.. Will they call back with a better offer?!
Currently paying £32 for 100mbs, which doesnt seem like a great deal anyway. But from next month it is going up to £55!
I called up today and the best they could offer was £31 for 18 months. I said I would still like to cancel. Now im getting the fear, should I have taken the deal.. Will they call back with a better offer?!
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