Cancel and my partner join as new customer

[silentg1971]

my contract is coming to an end and since virgin have zero interest in giving me better deal after 20 years plus with them .

I am rarely at home anyway with work but if my partner wants virgin services and pays for it herself, can she get the new customer deals

[Serena_C]

Hi @levingsworth,

I'm sorry to hear that you aren't happy with the delas you have been offered so far for a renewal. We will always provide the best existing customer offer we can to our existing customers.

Just to clarify, your partner can get a new customer deal even if they are married with the same surname, but the existing account would to have a 30 days cancellation completed and then there would need to be no Virgin Media services at the property for 90 days to be able to get the new deal.

Best wishes,

Serena

[BFULLER1]

As I said…. Ignore the above post from VM. It’s inaccurate. 

it isn’t the case at all. There is no requirement anywhere of the property not having any services at the property for any length of time.

my partner and I have done this repeatedly, cancelling one account and having the installation of the new account the day after disconnection of the old one.

Also confirmed this is the case with a virgin Media’s internal Legal Counsel, who confirmed no such policy exists. 

Serena - please remove your post for supplying inaccurate information. 

[maverick1103]

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@BFULLER1 wrote:

As I said…. Ignore the above post from VM. It’s inaccurate. 

it isn’t the case at all. There is no requirement anywhere of the property not having any services at the property for any length of time.

my partner and I have done this repeatedly, cancelling one account and having the installation of the new account the day after disconnection of the old one.

Also confirmed this is the case with a virgin Media’s internal Legal Counsel, who confirmed no such policy exists. 

Serena - please remove your post for supplying inaccurate information. 

---

I can also confirm the info Serana has provided is inaccurate, I cancelled my partner's service in February and took out a new account in my name on the same day.

[Serena_C]

Hi @maverick1104 and @BFULLER1

Thanks for your comments.

As per our Terms and Conditions, that is the process and we can only advise of the process. If you call us to set up in your partners name as a new account with new starter deals, and the agent is in a position to arrange this immediately - then that is down to the agent with whom you speaks discretion.

Hope this clarifies,

Best wishes,

Serena

[Richard--]

Thanks very much Bfuller, will be looking into this after VM retentions could only offer £2.95 discount per month to £84 (for reduced services) compared to some quite tasty looking new customer deals.

[Alps]

I've had the same issue as you guys. My contract has gone up by £12 per month. I asked about cancelling my contract and getting it under my wife's name as a new customer, but was told I could do, but:

* Would need to give 30 days notice of cancellation.

* Return my equipment at my own cost. 

* Then wait another 30 days before my wife can request a new customer deal.

* Wait for an engineer to visit. 

* Pay for equipment and connection fees.

So, in total, well over 60 days before we can get connection again. And then the additional cost to get the new connection.

I'm not altogether too sure how legitimate this all is! Can those who are looking to do the same thing as me, please let me know how you get on? I'll do the same. 

I'm off now to do some research. 

[Alps]

BFULLER1 you're a star. Thank you for all the advice you've given all of us. 

If I were to cancel my contract and get a new one under my wife's name, would she be able to take / keep the same number we currently have? Or would this number be lost?

Please also see my post above about returning old equipment. Would this need to be done?

[Andrew-G]

@Alps I'm not altogether too sure how legitimate this all is! 

Well, VM response is legit.  There's no regulatory requirement in telecoms to offer existing customers new customer pricing.  But going through all that hassle of cancelling and having your partner rejoin suggests that you're not playing the Retentions Game properly.  Obviously if you want the highest speeds and broadband/phone only then it's a lot tougher, otherwise you need to get over to your favourite price comparison site, work out how much you'd be offered broadly comparable package by Sky or BT, then phone up VM to cancel, explaining that you love the speed, but the overall value is so far off the mark of competitors offers that you've got no option.  See what they say, usually best to politely reject the first offer, and ask if there's anything more they can do "because your offer is still £X a month more expensive than Sky and over 18 months that adds up to £YYY".   Make sure you confirm all details in the discussion about channels included, and don't be swayed by package offers that you might not value, eg a VM mobile sim, equally if there's value there, take it into account.

[Alps]

Thank you so much @Andrew-G for such a helpful reply. 

I have 100mb Broadband and weekends only phone. I done all the research and price comparisons, but Virgin are increasing my bill considerably and retentions have only given a £5.50 reduction. A year ago I was paying £32.50. It is now going up to £50ish! With the new discount it goes down to around £45. 

I've asked to cancel and they've told me that's fine and explained the process to me. I'm now hoping someone will call back to keep me with Virgin. And all this after Virgin accidentally cut off my line earlier this month and when I booked an engineers visit to fix the issue, he didn't turn up. This left me without a phone line for over a week. I was told I was credited for the time I was without a line, but having spoken with customer services, this credited isn't actually there and they have no record of the phone call about this ever happening! 

This is the first issue I've had with Virgin and otherwise they've been great in the 10 odd years I've been with them, But have seen a decline in customer service over the last year or so. 

[Andrew-G]

Sometimes VM do "outbound retention" calls to customers, and that can bring great value offers, especially if you base your discussions on knowledge of the best new customer offers available elsewhere, but you can't rely on that call happening.  If you have asked about cancelling, but not cancelled, then chances are VM won't do anything - they'll hope it's a bluff on your part, and that you'll simply accept being moved on to the standard pricing.  From memory, around two thirds of VM customers are on standard pricing, the other third are a mix of renewal hagglers like you and I, plus genuinely new or returning customers.

On thing you can do is actually place an order with BT or Sky (for a deal that you would be willing to accept), phone up VM to cancel, explain that you've just placed an order, you're phoning to cancel, but you will cancel that order if VM will match the package price - you could even be cheeky and say "match the price AND throw in 200 Mbps".  If VM won't price match, you follow through and cancel, if they will then you phone the bunch you've just spoken to and cancel that order (for all ISPs you've got until 14 days AFTER a new connection is installed to cancel without penalty).

And if you do cancel, there's always the chance that last ditch outbound retention call does come!