Forum Discussion

Cardiffman282's avatar
Cardiffman282
Trouble shooter
2 years ago

VM locking customers into TWO YEAR contracts

With competition and cost pressures heating up it seems VM are quietly and gradually bumping up contract lengths from the more familiar 18 months to a marathon two years (BT, bless their soles, routinely use two year contracts now).

I will monitor this on a monthly basis but current examples include both M250 and Gig1 packages for new customers with just the first quarter of the contract discounted.

The two year contracts are, of course, now also fully locked in under the new and more onerous Ts and Cs so that (a) you can no longer just cancel without penalty if you don't like the mid contract price hike every February and (b) that mid contract price hike is the highest of all of the major providers as it uses the higher RPI measure of inflation and is RPI plus 3.9%.

It seems the Essentials, Student (and of course rolling) contracts will continue to be special cases in this respect.

I am also not aware, at time of posting, that renewing customers are being hit by this trend either but am very open to hearing about your experience upon negotiating a new deal re length of contract being demanded by VM please. 

This thread would benefit from observations from other VM forum users please who spot new two year contractual lock ins.

Let's see where VM choose to go with it and shine some more light on it together. 

  • Tudor's avatar
    Tudor
    Very Insightful Person

    Have you read a two year contract yet? Best wait until you have before making assumptions about the T&Cs, although you may be right.

    • Cardiffman282's avatar
      Cardiffman282
      Trouble shooter

      The new Ts and Cs (1 May 2023) in the preamble already embrace two year contract lengths.

      But, as indicated, I am open to contributions from everyone affected by two year contracts to share their experiences and circumstances so that we can all get a better sense of where VM are going with this. 

      • Cardiffman282's avatar
        Cardiffman282
        Trouble shooter

        Browsing through forum posts I have now found evidence of existing customers being presented with 24 month contracts here (as an option upon renewal negotiation) and here (after moving house). 

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person

    Cardiffman282 wrote:

    (a) you can no longer just cancel without penalty if you don't like the mid contract price hike every February and (b) that mid contract price hike is the highest of all of the major providers as it uses the higher RPI measure of inflation and is RPI plus 3.9%.


    Hi Cardiffman282 

    The annual price increase (3.9% plus RPI rate) is from April onwards, not February.  

    VM use the RPI rate announced in February.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    A two year contract is fine provided we can strike a price and stick to it for two years.

  • I have just reviewed this trend towards two year lock ins and the number has doubled since my first post on this thread.

    Currently the following are now offered to prospective new customers on two year terms:

    M125 with a 6 month discount

    M250 with a 6 month discount

    M350 with a 6 month discount

    Gig1 with a 6 month discount. 

    I will keep this thread under review but it seems increasingly clear that VM regards longer contracts combined with uncapped early disconnection fees as one answer to growing FTTP competition. 

     

     

  • And just to confound my theory I did my occasional sampling of new customer offers using the same test address and lo and behold not a single two year contract in sight. All deals at time of posting are 18 month ones. 

  • -tony-'s avatar
    -tony-
    Alessandro Volta

    i have just been more than happy to sign a 2 year contract with a new provider - had he offered 5 years i would have bitten his hand off

    £30 a month - 900 up/down and i get that day in day out no price rises of any sort in the 2 years - not all isp's are robbers - and cs is in this country handled by the isp - no call centres 

    happy days compared to this shower

     

     

      • -tony-'s avatar
        -tony-
        Alessandro Volta

        City Fibre via No One Internet - night and day on CS - they are only a passthrough to CF who do the install and look after the network  - so only a dozen work there if that - emails from the boss down is the order of the day - phone calls - yes phone calls if its urgent