Dealing with retentions & getting a UK based call centre

[Dave606]

We are in the last week's of our contract for which our 350mb broadband only will go from £35 per month to £57, though the last month 1 of the discounts appear to be 17 months and not the full 18 months as the other discount as this months bill is £42.

So, I call retentions last night and unfortunately get the overseas call centre.  Trying to cut a deal has proved frustrating so far as quoting deals online for both new customers and with other providers along with black Friday offers that they can't see on their system to verify has limited what they are offering.

So far the best the overseas retentions has offered is 500mb for £36 pm or 1000mb for £42pm.  Yet this is still short of new customer & black Friday deals both with Virgin and other providers.  Current advertised Virgin offers are 500mb  for £38.50 with £100 bill credit right away which make that more £33 per month.  1000mb (well 1130mb) is £45 per month, free for the first 3 months making an effective £37.50 per month.

A BT based line, I can get 500mb for £30 per month or 910mb for £36.  So current retentions offer is well short of what I can get for a comparable speed elsewhere or as a new customer.  And that we now have a comparable speed option elsewhere on a BT based line would I assume make getting a deal more likely as they should know this.

Yes, I know some may well give the same old "but that's new customer only deals" etc.  But I'm pretty much out of contract and actively looking to either re contract or move.  So in that instance expecting to get at least as good as a new customer deal to stay & re contract is not unreasonable when I have options with other providers. 

So what sort of deals have others got recently and is there a different number for UK based retentions who have better access to deals and can verify offers from other providers when negotiating?.

[Adri_G]

Hi, Dave606.
Thank you for taking the time to post on our help forums and welcome back to the community.
We're sorry to hear you're not happy with any of your quoted deals to stay with us after your current deal has expired, we can advise that we do not support package changes and contract renewals over the forum page however we're eager to assist in case you're facing issues with this where we can.

About our new customer deals, we wish to advise the following:

As with all providers, we create introductory offers to new customers. At the start of all of our customer’s time with us they will have benefited from such a deal. Once this expires, we'll always do all we can to offer the best existing customer deal available.
We also send out an end of contact notification to all our customers before their contract comes to and end highlighting the new package price and any offers that may be of interest.
We're always happy to review your package and cost to help find one that best suits your needs and budget - this doesn't always mean a downgrade!

Did you get a quote for renewing with the same services at 350MB speed and if so, is this not something you'd like to go for in this case, just to understand more?

When your agreement with us comes to an end you may also get the option to move to another provider and cancel the VM services if this would be the only option to your benefit, in the last 30 days of your contract this can be done without any termination fees applying when leaving.
Once you've raised a disconnection request, this will take 30 days to action - any better deals that our Retentions may have for you during this time will be communicated to you before the disconnection date, in case you'd be happy with this you may choose to still stay with us by taking this offer.

As our new customer offers are not compatible with existing customer accounts we'd be unable to offer this - let us know of your thoughts and if you have more questions regarding the above and we'll do our best to support you.

[Mosman]

Hi Dave,

I had the same situation yesterday. I rang the team and they could not offer anything near what they are offering for new customers. I know it's crazy as new customer will require engineer visit, postage or new equipment and connection fees. Anyway since I did not get a better deal from them, I agreed to cancel my services and gave my 30 days notice. This morning, I had a call from their loyalty team to find out why I was leaving and if they could do anything to keep me. They managed to get me a really good deal. I was on the 350MB. I was upgraded to the 1gig for less then what I was paying for the 350mb ( ofcourse I have TV and phone ) overall my bill went down by around £9 a month with the new upgrade. I guess the loyalty team have much higher discount that they could apply. I'm glad they managed to sort me with a deal. Hopefully they can do the same for you. Sorry i don't have a number as they rang me.

Thanks

Mosman

[japitts]

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@Dave606 wrote:

when I have options with other providers. 

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Your post does have a tone of "I know I have alternates, but I don't really want to take them and want to stay with VM". That's fine as a personal preference, but if VM retentions get a sense of this, why should they offer you discounts when they suspect you won't leave and therefore that could be wasted budget better used on others who will otherwise disconnect?

[Dave606]

Of cause nobody would realistically ever want to leave or change providers as such, why would they unless there is an issue with the provision of service?, in my case there is a major difference in what VM want me to pay if I do nothing. But your post suggests your of the feeling I likely won't leave than will regardless and feel I'm calling VM's bluff to get a better deal?.  But I will 100% be leaving and no issue in the slightest giving my 30 days notice if I don't get an improved offer to at least match what I can quote.

As if I do nothing and stay out of contract on a 30 day rolling deal I'd be paying £57 per month for 350mb, why would anyone do that when they can get 500mb for half that cost and 910mb for £21 less per month elsewhere by entering into a new minimum term contract?.  As I'm asking to re contract then obviously comparing what other contracts for similar services new customers can get or I can get elsewhere is what is reasonable to look for deal wise.  

We have been with BT in the past for fibre broadband and the line is still connected so would unlikely even need an engineer callout.

[Dave606]

Thanks for the reply Adri, to be honest I'd not asked about a price for re contracting at the current 350mb connection speed as with higher connection speeds that have been made available since we last re contracted both with VM & with BT line based providers which now do 1000mb full fibre in our postcode we now have access to speeds we would have previously asked about that were not available until recently and coming to the end of the contract etc.

I kind of get the stance from VM's point that current customer deals out of contract are not comparable to new customer deals.  However, when a customer is about to come to the end of their minimum term contract all they really have to go on price wise for comparison is new customer offers either with VM or elsewhere as a new customer.  If there is a wide difference between what the customer can quote for new customer offers or get elsewhere why would anyone realistically re contract for another 18 months and pay considerably more than what they can get elsewhere for comparable speeds?.  We already have a BT based line connected & previously had to be broadband in the last & the line is still active & so unlikely to even require an engineer visit where we to switch.

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[japitts]

It makes no difference to me personally if you stay with VM or cancel.

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@Dave606 wrote:But I will 100% be leaving and no issue in the slightest giving my 30 days notice if I don't get an improved offer to at least match what I can quote

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This is the attitude you need to take with VM retentions. Your previous post didn't suggest you would, and a retentions agent would be likely to walk all over you if they smell "I don't want to leave". Anyone wiling to give cancellation notice will usually get the best results.

[Dave606]

I think this is a mainly industry created problem in that there has for to long been way to much focus on recruitment & enticing of new customers with offers & deals which is likely of the understanding massively undercuts what the average customer out of contract is expected to pay than give any real thought to existing customers.  Why there isn't a simple standard price structure for contracts for everyone, new customers or re contracting customers like mobile phone contracts for example is crazy.  

They don't exactly advertise out of contract prices, though I'm told the price for just our 350mb fibre broadband will be £57 per month on a 30 day rolling contract, this is pretty much double the new customer offer of £34.50 per month for the same speed with an instant £95 account credit making it £29.50 per month. 

VM don't even list any price structures or deals to re-contract or for customers wanting to re-contract, so they don't make it easy to do just leaving customers to go down the often time consuming and often uncomfortable process of negotiations with call centre staff who often admit they can't verify the deals and prices you can quote you can get elsewhere .

I also only partially get how it's said new customer deals are not comparable to current customer deals looking to  re-contract.  If not when what are we all supposed to use for comparison purposes?.  We are entering into a NEW contract so new customer contracts are obviously what we will use for comparison.

That we have all known for years, that re-contract deals are never advertised means we all have to negotiate on the roulette of which call centre you get and even then there can be a vast difference in deals that 1 customer can get to the next even if both on the exact same package.

[Zach_R]

Hi @Dave606,

Thank you for expanding. I appreciate your concerns.

We are unable to process cancellation or package change requests from here, so if you are unhappy with your current bundle for any reason then I'd recommend speaking with our retentions team on 0345 454 1111 (or 150 from a Virgin Media landline) and they'll be able to outline offers and options for you so you can make an informed decision.

Let us know if there's anything else that we can help you with.

Thanks,
 

[Dave606]

Thanks for the rep!y Zach, though I wasn't asking to cancel or renew online, but more really if there is a different number for UK based retentions?.

however, I do have a billing issue I've just noticed.  I mentioned before that my bills have been £35 per month yet goes up to £57 from later in the month.  The contract includes 2 separate discount offers for which I assumed 1 was for 17 months instead of 18, don't know a why I thought 1 of the discounts were not both for 18 months, but this months 17th month bill is £42.33 meaning the lesser of the discounts appears to have been removed by the looks of it, but the current bill looks confusing and a little unsure on where exactly the rise in bill has come from, as a £7.33 increase is 20% so surely not a simple price rise?.  Yet loading the original contract up It clearly states the discounts as both 18 months to match the contract.