Here we go again

[Sirog1967]

Hi, did not know where to post this so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

My contract is coming to an end and I received a text from Virgin Media saying to click on a link to view my extra special renewal price. 

I clicked on the link which did not work

And now the fun begins 

I phoned up and asked what the offer was and after being put through to 2 different people no offer could be found but offered ridiculously high prices for services I did not want. It was left that I would receive an email of the offer so I could read it. This never arrived so another call was made. Again no knowledge of the offer but I could have the same services at double the price.

I emailed the executive office as in the past they have been helpful but there response was an offer that was higher than the already high offers that have already been rejected. They said they had the highest discount but obviously this is not true.

I thought about things for a bit and thought I would try my luck on live chat.

They could not offer me anything decent to continue my existing services so they offered me a good deal.

The deal included upgrading the stream now to a recordable box and I could install it myself. The deal was processed so I asked how do I install it myself. I thought it must work on WiFi as well. Chat then said after I had received the pre contract details that they would send a technician to install it.

Now it's not that easy to install as the TV is in the back room and the broadband goes into the front room. It would mean going through the loft and drilling through the walls and that's why the stream box was ideal.

I decided I did not want to go through all of that and at 8 am the next morning phoned to cancel. It seemed quite painless and everything had gone back to how it was and even the pre contract emails had disappeared from my inbox and the box delivery and install had been cancelled 

Roll onto this morning and a text from Virgin and yodel saying equipment being delivered this morning. Another call to virgin and I am told don't worry it won't turn up there is no order on the system and if it does keep it and send it back when you no longer have virgin services. She then said if you get charged for it you should get credit.

I am now completely clueless to what's going on so I called again to check if an email could be sent. They said no but it won't come but if it does refuse it. I thought I would not waste the call and asked for a renewal price. Guess what the price was the dearest yet.

Knock on the door Yodel with the equipment which I refused. 

Can someone please let me know that I am not going to charged. And what's happened to my special renewal price 

Sorry about the rant

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @Sirog1967 👋

Welcome back to our Community Forums and thanks for your post. 

I am sorry for the poor experience.

Will pop you a PM 📩 now so we can take a closer look into this.

Speak soon!

[Sirog1967]

Hi account number is [MOD EDIT: PERSONAL INFORMATION REMOVED]

Simon Rogers 

Yes I am the account holder

Thanks

Simon

 [MOD EDIT: Personal and private information has been removed from this post. Please do not post personal or private information in your public posts. Please review the Forum Guidelines]

[NUFC1892]

I had exactly the same problem when my contract was ending and when I tried to the new package offered to me it just went to the oops something went wrong page so decided to ring customer service and got a ridiculous quote, much more than the online offer and after they kept trying and talking to different advisors they still couldn't or wouldn't give me the deal and eventually was told that it was because the package I was offered was for new customers only! So I eventually got it to go through by making it a new contract and using a different email address! Pathetic really, the amount of people that complain about virgin and the service I would of thought they would be trying everything to keep their customers. Any other broadband provider will make the price the same for new and old customers! The extra speed i get from virgin isn't worth the hassle and I should of just stuck with the previous provider with lower speed but brilliant customer service! 

[Sirog1967]

It's very frustrating I agree. There is no consistency in pricing for renewing at all.

When you go on chat they fail to want to understand your needs and requirements and over you services you do not want or need.

The broadband is really good and I have no trouble with but it gets you thinking about changing suppliers because of the customer service. I don't know if you can take your virgin number to an open reach supplier. If you could it might make me consider a change more. Does anyone know if taking your number is possible or not.

[goslow]

There is no consistency in renewal pricing because VM wants each individual customer to engage with a sales agent at renewal. The job of the sales agent is to try to upsell as many additional services as possible for the maximum price for VM. If the customer is good at negotiating it can work well for the customer. If the customer is not good at negotiating it works out very well for VM.

VM often struggles to process simple, routine tasks in the topics described on here due to its cumbersome administrative processes and the fact that lots of its core functions are outsourced. If you chop and change orders with VM, you do so at your own risk because the most likely outcome is that a lot of VM 'confusion' will follow (often to your disadvantage).

If you need to renew with VM (and leaving VM altogether is also among your options) do your research first of all and work out exactly what provider you could move to and for what price and with what services. Once you have all that info to hand, then start your renewal process with VM. If VM does not come up with a satisfactory offer (and you really do have an intention to leave) then put in your 30 days cancellation notice.

There seems to be an increasing number of topics on here where VM's best renewal offer comes in only once a cancellation has been made by the customer. You might get a retentions call back with a much-improved offer. Having marketing options turned on is advised to allow any such call to take place. There is, however, no guarantee at all that call will come through so if you do cancel, you should be willing to follow through and leave VM if necessary. Some helpful general renewal advice is given on the topic below in post #5 from Andrew-G

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/Why-oh-why-does-loyalty-get-punished/m-p/5226917#...

You can port a landline number to another provider but to do so the existing service must be in full working order and have no disconnection request pending on it.

[Sirog1967]

After making a phone call on Tuesday night spoke to a lovely agent called Colin. I explained the text about a renewal offer and how the link would not work. I also explained that I had been offered some ridiculous prices. He was very sympathetic and said could I wait on Hold while he got me the best possible price. After 10 mins he came back and said someone would call me in 24 hours.

Nobody has called after 90 hours.

[goslow]

What was the outcome of your PM with Ayisha_B two weeks ago?

Many would have formed the opinion by now that it might be time to move on from VM!

[sharrattm]

it seems this is a common problem, ive had a similar experience, my contract is ending soon and I received a few emails offering to renew it at the same price but 'oops something went wrong' every time.
Then i started getting offers to renew but now it is 'for just a little bit more' (without stating how much more!) but again 'oops something went wrong' every time.
If you Google 'virgin media renewal oops something went wrong' you'll see it a very common problem that's been ongoing for a long time.(and clearly it is not in Virgins interest to 'fix' it)
Im just going to wait for my contract t-30 to give them my notice to cancel, then i'll wait and see if anything better comes along (either with virgin retentions team, or otherwise with another provider) i dont mind if i have to change my landline phone # as i never use it, and neither have i ever used virgins email address so that's not an issue either)

[Sirog1967]

Well it's a strange situation to be in now. I had to chase at least 3 times to get a call from the care team. I got a call yesterday from the executive office. I do not think the care team exist. 

The person I spoke to could not have been more disinterested,, she pretended to listen and kept me on hold and eventually came back with my offer to renew.

The price was 3 times what I was paying now. The thing that really bothers me is that they seem not to care if you stay or not. The prices for the packages to be put on when your discount ends are completely fabricated and do not exist. It is a complete joke. It was Virgin that text me to say they had a special price to renew, what then followed would not look out of place in a Circus.

Loyalty counts for nothing with Virgin Media .