Virgin Media Community

[laura-jane]

Hi. My latest bill for m250 broadband (standalone with no landline or other bundle) is £53.50. The advertised rate for this service is £32.50!! Do I have to do the pleading down the phone to re-negotiate a competitive deal? Seems crazy high, just for broadband. 

[carl_pearce · Accepted solution]

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@laura-jane wrote:

Hi. My latest bill for m250 broadband (standalone with no landline or other bundle) is £53.50. The advertised rate for this service is £32.50!! Do I have to do the pleading down the phone to re-negotiate a competitive deal? Seems crazy high, just for broadband. 

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£32.50 is for new customers.

If you aren't in contract you could try to re-negotiate, however you are no longer a 'new customer'.

£1.76 a day for unlimited access to the internet doesn't seem too bad when you think about it!

[unisoft]

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@carl_pearce wrote:

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@laura-jane wrote:

Hi. My latest bill for m250 broadband (standalone with no landline or other bundle) is £53.50. The advertised rate for this service is £32.50!! Do I have to do the pleading down the phone to re-negotiate a competitive deal? Seems crazy high, just for broadband. 

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£32.50 is for new customers.

If you aren't in contract you could try to re-negotiate, however you are no longer a 'new customer'.

£1.76 a day for unlimited access to the internet doesn't seem too bad when you think about it!

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Renegotiate by using the "leaving Virgin" option on the telephone not standard customer services. You should get new customer pricing or near or sometimes even better. Be polite to VM retentions and explain what you are not happy about and the changes you want to make (you may decide your current BB speed isn't being utilised for example or want to reduce TV channels or reduce one service and add to another).

• Existing customers are cheaper than new as no free gifts (TV's Xbox Cashback as examples depending on the marketing for any given month), no need for VM to pay return postage for kit, no need to refurbish kit, no need to pay cashback to referral sites like quidco/topcashback.
• There has to be a benefit to a customer like a discount because they are being locked into an 18 month contract again
• Know your market prices for other providers Broadband, for example FTTC on NOWTV is 12 month or monthly only contact at £22. If you just want broadband only its going to easier than someone who wants landline and TV
• Consider whether you need a lock in contract for TV services. Does VM's STREAM box offer the channels you want (its Freeview part is free) and can you go without recording facility and just use catch up players or have another device that does recording off Freeview (aerial) for example? Stream's Sky subscriptions channels is only £8 per month and a 30 day notice contract. You also get 10% back on many subscriptions like Netflix, Disney etc.
• Ofcom rules mean you can currently exit your contract without penalty, as long as you do this within 30 days of being notified by VM; wait 3 months and be classed as a new customer and get new customer offers. Alternatively, many people on here sign up the next day in their partner's name.
• Be prepared to give 30 days notice if the result isn't what you want, this gives you time to arrange BB installation by someone else and you can ring back in to cancel the cancel if you change your mind. During this time you **may** get a call from 2nd level retentions with a better offer. It's not guaranteed and they won't if you have marketing disabled in My Virgin Media under My Profile.
• Despite annual price rises at ridiculous rates, new customer offers have been static for years (like Ultimate package hovers around £79-£85 often and sometimes with cashback or free gifts like a TV as just one example)

[Steven_L]

Hey laura-jane,

Welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post here on the forums.

We wouldn't be able to help from here as we aren't able to look into package changes or negotiate new deals from the forum team. To look into the price of your current contract, please give the team a call on 150 from a Virgin Media landline or 0345 454 1111 option 1, option 4 then option 4 this will get you through to the contracts team who will be able to look into this further for you and put you onto the best deal that they possibly can.

Kind Regards,

Steven_L