Forum Discussion

ChrisRand's avatar
ChrisRand
On our wavelength
3 days ago

Bizarre and non-working Flex subscription offers

Is there anyone here who can shed some light on what is a very confusing Flex 'change my package' page? I'm wanting to make some changes but the offers seem all over the place, and customer support by chat just tells me "can't help with that, it's nothing to do with us".

Firstly, there's a big panel saying "Get stuck in with Sports and Save", offering Sky Sports HD and TNT Sports as a package for £39. But click "Take me to this deal" and nothing happens (I've tried in the app and in multiple browsers). How do we find out more and perhaps even get this deal?

Secondly, I currently have the "Sky Sports and Cinema HD" package selected. I pay £29.75 for this, which seems reasonable. However, if I click "details" it claims the package is £18.75! That would be amazing – how do I get that?

Thirdly, there's a panel alongside that, offering me Sky Sports HD for £38.75 a month. That seems insane compared to the "Sky Sports and Cinema HD" package offer above. And if I click on "details", it also claims the package is actually £18.75! So what is the reality?

Any help welcome.

 

11 Replies

  • Hi ChrisRand 

    Welcome to the Community Forums. 

    That does sound rather confusing. Are you able to provide some example screenshots of what you're seeing here? 

    Please edit/remove any private information captured in the screenshots, and we'll investigate this further on our side. 

  • ChrisRand's avatar
    ChrisRand
    On our wavelength

    The illustrated version!

    Is there anyone here who can shed some light on what is a very confusing Flex 'change my package' page? I'm wanting to make some changes but the offers seem all over the place, and customer support by chat just tells me "can't help with that, it's nothing to do with us".

    Here's the Change my Package page...

    Firstly, there's a big panel saying "Get stuck in with Sports and Save", offering Sky Sports HD and TNT Sports as a package for £39...

    But click "Take me to this deal" and nothing happens (I've tried in the app and in multiple browsers). How do we find out more and perhaps even get this deal?

    ---

    Secondly, I currently have the "Sky Sports and Cinema HD" package selected...

     

    • I pay £29.75 for this, which seems reasonable. However, if I click "details" it claims the package is £18.75!

     

    • £18.75 would be amazing – how do I get that?

    ---

    • Thirdly, there's a panel alongside that, offering me Sky Sports HD for £38.75 a month. That seems insane compared to the "Sky Sports and Cinema HD" package offer above, whether it's the £18.75 quoted or the £28.75 that I'm paying...
    • But wait – if I click on "details", it also claims the package is actually £18.75! So what is the reality?

     

    • newapollo's avatar
      newapollo
      Very Insightful Person

      I notice that the small print showing Sky Sports channels in two of the screenshots list Sky Sports Action.   That channel was replaced with Sky Sports + in August 2024 which would seem to indicate that VM need to update those advertising screen grabs.

      Regardless of pricing I wonder if the fact that you currently subscribe to the Sky Sports and Cinema HD add on is preventing you taking up these new offers since you already have Sky Sports. 

      It might be that you need to cancel the Sky Sports  and Cinema HD (by giving 30 days notice) before Sky Sports can be added again as part of a Sky Sports HD and TNT Sports package. If that's the case the offer will probably have ended before the 30 days is up.

      • cje85's avatar
        cje85
        Wise owl

        Sky Sports Arena was replaced by +. Action is still available, but is currently branded as Sky Sports Lions until 4th August.

    • Carley_S's avatar
      Carley_S
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team

      Thank you for providing this ChrisRand 

      Does the more details section advise you of the deal offered to you or the deal offered in the small print? 

      The deal that doesn't work -  is this offering a subscription deal which includes channels you already have? 

      Is it possible that the small print deal is advising of a new customer deal, so if you have the subscription already, that may not work for you. 

       

      • ChrisRand's avatar
        ChrisRand
        On our wavelength

        [1] Not sure what you mean here, but what I see is shown in the screen shots;

        [2] As you can see, the deal that doesn't work says it's for 24 months, and yes, it includes Sky Sports which I already have. But that doesn't explain a link not working.

        I'm glad others here also don't understand the contradictory and unobtainable pricing for different services. The reason I'm looking at changing my services is because my current Sports and Cinema contract is coming to an end this month. I assume it'll carry on if I don't change anything ...but I can't be sure. What should I do? Wait and see?

        The whole process simply doesn't seem to work. I note with interest @Richardr1's comment below, that offers on the website don't actually register even if you're finally able to order them.

        It would be lovely if someone from Virgin Media could clarify if and how we can get offers shown to us on the website when we're signed in and the system knows what we have.

         

    • Richardr1's avatar
      Richardr1
      Superfast

      You are doing well to have Sports and Cinema on Flex as £29.75.

      In my experience, offers on the website are not compatible with Flex. I tried to take up one that gave a cheap deal for TNT Sports. That was "accepted" but I ended up with a new contract at a higher additional price than the offer, and then the next day another contract with my existing channels and no TNT Sports but at the higher price. I eventually got a credit but only after going through the full complaints process having cancelled Virgin Media completely.

      The idea behind the various advertised deals is to lock a customer in for a new 18 [or in cases 24] month TV and broadband contract. Even though the actual premium channels can be cancelled within that period the non-premium channels can't, and that isn't consistent with Flex which is an add on to a broadband deal and not a long term TV contact.

      In the same way that Virgin Media don't show their cheap deals for new customers to existing customers, they shouldn't show offers that aren't applicable to certain customers to those customers, or they should explain how they apply and the consequences.

      I've subsequently ignored deals on the website, and given that have found adding and removing channels on Flex via the Stream Box works well, without issue, and as advertised, albeit at the full price [less 10%]. Anything more complicated than that requires manual intervention by customer services, is a disaster, won't be allowed anyway, and whether you like it or not, and are informed or not, will end up with a new contract and higher costs.

  • BOR's avatar
    BOR
    Joining in

    Yep, I'm having the exact same issue with the special offers for my account. It's all so confusing and it won't let me to add anything that I want to get the deal. 

    All the prices are different on the Flex box, on the app, and the customer service. They all are not matched up the same price at all. It's ridiculous I think.

    The more I see the issues, I would consider to leave Virgin Media and it's been shockingly poor from them. 

    Not impressed.

    • Akua_A's avatar
      Akua_A
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team

      Hi BOR 

      Welcome back to our forums, and sorry to hear you are having a similar experience with Flex upgrades. We would hate to see you go. We can understand the confusion caused, and we want to do our best to help. Depending on where you are looking to upgrade, there are certain discount codes that may be applicable and therefore affecting the price. Can you let us know if it's a specific error message you get when trying to process an upgrade? Does this occur on multiple devices and browsers?

      • BOR's avatar
        BOR
        Joining in

        Thank you for your message. It's exactly the same post as above. I tried to press to enter the button to get the deal, but nothing pops up. I've tried all on the app, tablet and the laptop. 

        When I pressed the "details" and it says £18.75 for 18 months. On the app, it says £38.75 and £34.88 on the Flex. 

        It's mixed up with the prices I think.