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munrobasher's avatar
munrobasher
Up to speed
3 days ago

Virgin Media pricing for existing customers

I've just received my monthly Virgin Media bill for 300Mbps broadband, TIVO TV and phone line. It's a whopping £89.47. Like the other recent post, I've been on cable since it was rolled out around 2000, so a customer for 25 years. Like many, I put very little value on the phone line esp. when it goes fully digital and the only advantage of it working during a power cut is lost. Plus our use of TIVO TV is far less than the other services like Amazon and Netflix. TBH, we could probably just use the aerial Freeview. 

I cannot complain about the service and stability as I've worked from home for myself for 10 years but I'm heading into retirement so my reliance on the broadband is getting less.

The final straw will be that OpenReach are starting to install fibre-to-the-premises in the area with a completion date of 2025. BT's fibre 300 services starts at £37 and rises to just £47 after two years. If I was a new customer to VM, it looks like a similar ballpark of £35/month inc. TV.

Like the other poster, I personally find paying TWICE as much as a new customer is quite offensive. It's doesn't make me feel like I have any worth to Virgin Media as a customer of 25 years! 

The purpose of this post? A bit of a rant about the massive disparity between new and existing customers plus if you don't reduce the price for the later, you'll start to see customers leaving in droves which would be sad, because generally I'm very satisfied with the technical service. But I'm sure that VM are more than aware of this risk. But my advise - act sooner before it's too late.

PS. To add insult to injury, I've just logged onto my account and was greeted with a "Upgrade to 350MBps". I'm currently on 250MBps. Hint: automatically upgrade your existing customers to keep them sweet.

3 Replies

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  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    When did you last renew your package with VM?

    • munrobasher's avatar
      munrobasher
      Up to speed
      21 hours ago

      Three years I think. They rely on customers not spotting the incremental increases. I suppose the point here is mainly the bad taste that it leaves when you realise they could reduce the price but don't offer it. I usually change car and house insurance every year because that's relatively easy to do. Changing ISP isn't as easy. The other annoyance is I think ISPs should make it very clear that the email service is often tied to them and you'll loose it if you move. These are all little blockers that all add up.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    21 hours ago

    VM is one of very few companies that still operates a policy of "loss leader" pricing for first contracts. It is still worth renegotiating discounts after your contract ends, but you are unlikely to get another deal like the first one you had.