New customer!!!!

[Mikey52]

If you leave Virgin, how long do you have to wait in order to qualify as a 'new customer'. It is so frustrating when contract is coming to an end and you see new customers get prices much lower than renewal quotes. Makes you seriously think about switching.

[carl_pearce]

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/Am-I-considered-a-quot-new-quot-cus...

The whole point of new customer deals is to entice you to join. There is no loyalty, it's just business.

[newapollo · Accepted solution]

Hi Mikey52 

I see from your last forum post << here >> that your existing contracted discount isn't due to end until this December. You would receive better offers if you were to wait and negotiate a new deal in November (30 days before current contract ends)  You  probably won't receive a new customer pricing but you might receive something close to it, especially if you do put in a cancellation request. Doing that you might get a callback from outbound retentions who can generally offer higher discounts, but it's not guaranteed.

Have you turned off receiving marketing from VM? If so it's probably a good idea to turn it back on by signing into My Virgin Media and clicking on Account Settings > Marketing Preferences.  If that is turned off then you won't receive calls or emails offering reductions, and wouldn't be able to receive a call from outbound retentions should you place your cancellation request.

There are a number of recent forum posts where customers have received emails offering them discounts, some of them are still in contract.

Have you checked in My Virgin Media for any current offers?  I actually signed into my online MVM account and there was a tab saying, "Your contract has ended" This offered me a new deal that is £17 less than the current discounted rate I'm on, and is very close to a new customer pricing.( I'm actually still in contract until next April) so it's worth checking.

If you have another family member living with you then they could sign up as a new customer and get the new customer discounts, however you would lose any current email addresses you have with VM. That wouldn't affect Hotmail, google etc email addresses.

Also, you wouldn't be able to retain your current landline number (if you have a phone with VM) 

Any VM equipment that you currently have would be de-activated, some of which may need returning to VM, and the new account holder would be sent "new" equipment.  So, if you currently have either Tivo or V6 boxes and don't want to move to the 360 platform then you would be snookered as VM only issue 360 and Stream boxes to new  customers.

Stream boxes are limited to one per household and don't have recording facilities.  New multiroom customers would recive one main 360 box with a hard drive, any additional boxes would be mini boxes which don't have recording facilities.

There is also the possibility that VM may be over-subscribed in your area to consider which might mean they aren't taking on any new customers there, or that they wouldn't be offering the highest speeds. (It's unlikely but still a possibility)