Price rise - confusing offer

[Melchett01]

Had my letter - £3.25 rise from March for the duration of my contract which ends in July.  This despite me taking out a contract in Jan 21 which I was promised by the operative, Mohammed, that would be a fixed price contract (£35/100Mb) with no increases for the duration.  On request, Virgin sent me the call transcripts which confirm this. 

So I rang up to say I wasn't particularly happy, what was going on.  Whilst on hold I was given an offer of a £3.25 discount there and then - press one and we'll make it happen.  But I'm already getting a discount that Mohammed set up for me.  Does this £3.25 discount replace the original discount? Or is it in addition to the original discount and starting from March, effectively cancelling the price rise? 

None of this was explained, so I held for an operator to ask that only to be told that was a one time offer when you rang. You should have accepted it.  I did explain it wasn't clear and I wanted to know what I would be paying before signing up to anything and I didn't want a new contract as I would probably leave this summer anyway, I just wanted Virgin to honour it's original contract.  

She suggested trying again in a week, which I will.  On the off chance the offer comes up again - what exactly is it for?  Does it basically cancel out the price rise or does it replace an existing offers you have?

[Kath_F]

Hi Melchett01, 

Thanks for your post and apologies to hear there has been some confusion around the package you took and the discount offered. 

Any discount that you've been offered for the 12/18 months will still be honoured, so if you accepted a fixed price then you'll receive that until the end of the discount period. If you accepted a £ or % amount off, this will also continue to be honoured but you will see your price increase from March 1st. We will advise you in your communication how the price change will affect your deal.

It's worth noting that where you have accepted a £ or % amount off, the contract itself may still increase in price if there is an overall price increase, but the discount will remain on the account for the time agreed. You can read more about this in the terms and conditions of your contract here Section K4. 

We and/or Virgin Media Payments may change our charges at any time.  Any changes to our monthly charges will be published by us on the Virgin Media website and we will also give you notice of the change(s) at least 30 days before the changes take effect and you may cancel the services affected in accordance with paragraph N.6 without paying an early disconnection fee.

If your letter has confirmed that the price rise will affect you from 1st March then this is when you can expect to see the increase in your bill. If you've been offered a further discount, then should you accept this, the price quoted will be what you pay going forward from the date you accept it. 

Hope that clears up any questions you may have. If not, pop back and let us know. 

Thanks, 

[Melchett01]

Hi Kath,

Thanks for clarifying, and sorry for slow reply, had a busy week.  So to confirm, my existing discount remains and if I ring up again and am offered the £3.25 discount that will be in addition to the existing discount.  Will that also mean a new contract or will my contract stay the same?  I'm likely to be moving house this year so don't want to enter into a new contract when this one ends.

[Kath_F]

Hi Melchett01, 

Thanks for coming back to us on this. No problem on the delay - it's a benefit of using the Forum as we'll be here as and when you do reply 🙂 

Without hearing the terms of the discount I can't be sure I'm afraid as some may mean a new contract, others may remove any other discounts you currently have. When the discount is offered though, the agent will advise if there is a new minimum term and how much your total price will be going forward. 

As well as this you should receive an email with the details. Should anything be different than discussed, you have 14 days then to revert back to the original agreement. 

With moving home, we are able to transfer your services to your new home however you do need to be aware that we do not cover all the UK. Therefore if you were to enter in to a new contract, and the new address isn't serviceable by Virgin Media then you would likely be charged an early termination fee. 

Keep us posted with how you get on. 

Thanks, 

[Melchett01]

---

@Kath_F wrote:

Without hearing the terms of the discount I can't be sure I'm afraid as some may mean a new contract, others may remove any other discounts you currently have. When the discount is offered though, the agent will advise if there is a new minimum term and how much your total price will be going forward. 

As well as this you should receive an email with the details. Should anything be different than discussed, you have 14 days then to revert back to the original agreement. 

---

Hi Kath,

This is the problem I've been trying to explain.  The offer was an automated offer made whilst I was on hold to speak to an agent.  It simply said to accept the offered £3.25 discount press 1.  There was no explanation what this might do to my existing discount and whether this would mean a new contract.  When I finally got through to someone and asked about it they said they couldn't do anything about it as it was an automated offer and I should have accepted it there and then. 

I really just want to understand what the offer means for my existing contract - not an unreasonable request to a contract amendment!  But by waiting to speak to someone about the offer, I'm no longer eligible for the offer.  Utterly bizarre and only with Virgin!

And I have to say, given how little time I have left on the contract I certainly don't want to renew it or extend it after a pretty miserable experience - your own Virgin store in my home town said I was being 'ripped off' and should leave- Virgin staffs' words, not mine, but I have to agree with their sentiment.

[newapollo]

---

@Melchett01 wrote:

---

your own Virgin store in my home town said I was being 'ripped off' and should leave- Virgin staffs' words, not mine, but I have to agree with their sentiment.

---

VM stores closed at the start  of the covid pandemic and on 28th May 2020 announced that they would not reopen their remaining stores.

virgin-media-uk-bids-farewell-to-the-high-street-shuts-stores.html 

I'm sorry to read about the experience you are having.

The best solution would seem to be to cancel any new contract and revert you back to your original contract which ends in July and offer you the "telephone discount" of £3.25 a month until either you call up to give notice at the end of that contract period, or switch you back to the original contract and then allow you to leave as per the price increase email with no early termination fees.

[Melchett01]

---

@newapollo wrote:

---

The best solution would seem to be to cancel any new contract and revert you back to your original contract which ends in July and offer you the "telephone discount" of £3.25 a month until either you call up to give notice at the end of that contract period, or switch you back to the original contract and then allow you to leave as per the price increase email with no early termination fee

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply.  There's the rub. Not only can I not find out what an automated offer means for the contract, the agents  - or certainly the one I spoke to - wasn't able to add the 'telephone discount' to my account.  It was take it or leave it offer and she couldn't do anything about it and I was apparently on the best deal.  See my frustration?  Accept the contract amendment and take a risk it isn't a new contract or talk to someone to find out what this all means and lose the discount.  It's farcical - it's like quantum physics and Schroedinger's cat!  Is the cat dead or alive? Best check - only by opening the box and checking you kill the cat. 

And given my really poor customer service experiences over the years, I'd rather not gamble, find out I've got a new contract and then be stuck with it or have a nightmare reverting to the old one.  For the sake of a £3.25 price rise for less than 6 months - that's less than £20.  I've already spent more than that in time on here trying to bottom it out.  Not that I should have to be doing any of this - I was promised a fixed price contract for 18 months.  It doesn't say fixed price on the contract - but it certainly does on the call transcript I asked Virgin to send me when I took my last contract out because I thought this would happen.

I'l chalk it up to bad experience and move on.  City Fibre have rolled out FTTP on my street - 100Mb for less than £25.  Thanks for taking time to reply though.

[domidi]

---

@Melchett01 wrote:

None of this was explained, so I held for an operator to ask that only to be told that was a one time offer when you rang. You should have accepted it.

---

For what its worth, I've heard this so called "one time offer" every day, several times a day, for the last 4 days when I called up. So just hang up and try again. You should hear it when you go through to 1-4-4 (disconnections).

Also, to your other question; the discount should be in addition to, and not in place of, any discounts on your account. 

[Zach_R]

Hi @Melchett01,
 

We're unable to process any package changes from here on the forums, including upgrades and cancellations. As such, if you wish to discuss a potential change of your package then I'd recommend reaching out and speaking with a member of our retentions team on 0345 454 1111 (or 150 from a Virgin Media landline).

Alternatively, should you prefer not to call, you can find all of our other contact options here.

Thanks,
 

[Melchett01]

Hi Zach

I think you might have replied to the wrong thread - I don't want to change my package.  I'm trying to understand the implications of the latest round of price rises, and getting absolutely nowhere fast.