More on those "Renew today and get your current package for 20/25% less" emails

[ABrowne]

There have been a number of threads on here in the last couple of weeks from people who are out of contract and have received an email from Virgin Media with an offer of a discount of 20% or 25% on their current package if they renew their contract via a link in the email. Some (like myself) have found that, when they click on the link to accept the offer, the link does not work and they get the "Oops! Looks like something's gone wrong" page. Others have found that if they click the link they are given a price that is higher than they are currently paying, rather than the expected 20% or 25% discount on their current price. 

The forum team have confirmed that these emails are genuine and have acknowledged that there are problems with them. They say this is being investigated. I received my email two weeks ago. Today I received a second email referring to the same offer (see attached picture.) The wording has changed slightly. It now explicitly says "Renew today and get your current package for 20% less than you’re paying now." It also says "Please allow up to 7 days for your offer to be processed." Unfortunately when I click the link I still get the "Oops! Looks like something's gone wrong" page, so it looks like there is still at least one problem with this promotion. Is there any way I can take up this offer? From the experience of others it is not possible to do this via 150, Whatsapp or Web chat. Thanks.

[Omadawn]

OK so the link is still broken and VM’s marketing department are still putting out offers that the tech team can’t make happen, but still.

The point though is that this is effectively the same as before, the wording, in your example, specifically says ‘Your contract ended on....’ legally incorrect, so no doubt they’ll have another go at it, but ‘ended’; past tense. The implication being that you are outside of the 18 month minimum term and hence are NOW paying the full price.

So yes, renew now, get a 20% discount on the current (full price) - well if only the website wasn’t broken, but still - but you would now be tied into a new 18 month minimum term contract and because of the changes in the Ts&Cs, which you would have to agree to to take up the offer, when, not if, VM up the price by 3.9% over and above the inflation rate in April of next you, you can no longer leave because of it - well, yes, you can leave, but not without paying them an early disconnection fee, which, I understand, is no longer capped at £240 + VAT. 

[ABrowne]

Yes, I am well aware of the new T&Cs regarding price increases each April. As far as I can see these emails are only being sent to people who are out of contract (and the prices they are currently paying will likely depend on all sorts of factors, including how long they have been out of contract for, which in some cases is years.) For at least some of us this offer is attractive. The new wording is explicit that this is 20% off the price I am currently paying, so there seems to be no room for ambiguity, and for me that is worth taking up despite the new T&Cs. 

[Bob0001]

I've just received one of these messages in a text, but my contract hasn't ended. I note the other messages in this thread are dated in July and we're now in November (2023). 

So what is going on, please?