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torchomatic's avatar
torchomatic
Dialled in
2 years ago

Leaving does work - or the threat of it does

Been with Virgin for 11 years.  Had many discounted prices over the years.  Was paying £99 a month for three boxes, Mega TV, UHD, 500 meg, etc etc.  Went up to £165.  I tend to ring at contract end and they give me a good deal.  Not this time, the lowest they would offer was £136.  Looked into Sky Stream, all in for £70, although admittedly not as fast BB, but what the hell.  A change is as good as a rest, etc etc.

Didn't cancel straight away, had a word with the wife, decided we would finally leave.  Got back on chat, despite them trying to persuade me otherwise with "deals" that were still double the Sky price I finally did it.  Felt liberating in a way.

Got a call this morning from Virgin.  Said they didn't want me to leave, etc etc.  To cut a long story short, got everything for £70 for 18 months.  Very pleased with that.

Amazing really.  Shows what they can do, when you actually do press the button and cancel your contract.

3 Replies

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  • Cardiffman282's avatar
    Cardiffman282
    Wise owl
    2 years ago

    Good to hear that the cancellation itself (despite later being revoked) was apparently fairly straightforward for you. 

  • unisoft's avatar
    unisoft
    Knows their stuff
    2 years ago

    Well done. You are lucky though as call-backs are not guaranteed. I'll be in a similar situation, but prepared to walk this time as don't want 18 month lock-in with no escape clauses when potentially 2 inflation + 3.9% price hikes hit. The old days, the price was for contract or had penalty free exit clauses.

    • torchomatic's avatar
      torchomatic
      Dialled in
      2 years ago

      Well, I was prepared to walk.  It was no idle threat.  The new price they offered me was £70 more than Sky.  As I had never actually cancelled before I had no idea that I would get a call today.  I thought yesterday when I finally cancelled was it, the end.  30 days notice and I'd be off.

      They were lucky really.  Yesterday I was signing up for Sky Stream when I realised that I would be charged 14 days after receiving the Sky Stream box, so I was just going to wait a couple of weeks and order.  If I'd ordered yesterday, I probably would still have gone to Sky. Their loss.

      I do find it odd though that they were adamant that £136 was the lowest they could possibly go and were prepared to see me leave.  Then today, they can whack another £66 off.

      I'll have to keep a close eye on this though.  18 month contract at £70 a month.  From month 19 it will go up to £215!  I don't think so.  Maybe, that is the time I'll finally leave.