Problems when trying to upgrade package on brand new account

[NB1234]

A long story but I'll try and keep it brief. I ended up with 2 virgin accounts as i was renting a house to live in while renovating another house. I kept my old contract on a 30 day rolling contract at my rental house but wanted to to get a new account up and running on our renovation and the 2 accounts would overlap. I was told 6 months ago that this was the only way to do it as a normal house move would simply cancel the account at our rental house and start it at our new house so I agreed to take a 'basic' new broadband package on the new house just to get me up and running.

It's taken 6 months of back and forth with you (!) to get a new cable run in from the street cabinet to my new house and get the connection up and running internally but with building delays this actually suited me ok as we are only moving into our new house next week. The new account was up and running on 16/1/23 with 125Mb broadband only and I've now cancelled my old account and am serving the 30 day notice period.

Now the main problem - I called up yesterday to add TV and phoneline to the new account and was told that it would cost me over £80 per month ! I said that I've seen the £39 'bigger bundle' package (winter sale) on the virgin website but was told that this is for new customers only and I'm not a new customer as I am now 16 days into a new basic broadband contract. Of course I'm now just outside the 14 day cooling off period.

I've now spent hours on the phone and whatsapp over the last 2 days trying to sort this out as nobody at the time told me that if I sign up to a 'temporary' package, I then couldn't avail of any offers when I finally moved into my new house.

If I'd known this at the time, I would've singed up for a 'proper' deal including TV and phoneline instead of just a basic broadband only package. The overlap between old and new houses was originally going to be 3-4 months but with delays at your end with the new installation it's ended up only being 1 month overlap.

Just to add salt to the wound, I've been on a standard 30 day rolling contract at my old house for a year now (and paying for it!) as I knew that I'd need to move into our new house and now I'm in my new house I can't get any good deals either apparently.

Can somebody please help me out with this or tell me who is best to talk to ? The call centre people don't seem to understand and I'm rapidly losing patience with retelling this whole story every time I make contact.

[Anonymous]

Hmm can't see an easy answer here. Have you tried your online upgrade options https://www.virginmedia.com/support/help/change-my-package/my-current-package/offers?intcmpid=myvm

[NB1234]

Thanks for replying Cardiffman. I should've said that due to this screw up by Virgin and compounded by me trying to get them to see sense on the phone, I now have no options when clicking through the upgrade links on my account or the link you've provided. I'm helpfully directed to call them to discuss my options on the phone or via whatsapp (!).

I'm hoping that someone here can either talk to them internally or see if I can get the current package offered on the website to new customers...

[Anonymous]

Yeah forum staff might step in (although they don't generally get involved in package changes).

Clutching at straws the only other suggestion I have is to maximise any Volt benefits available to you https://www.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-o2

[NB1234]

Hmm - forum staff are my last hope as the call centre people are clueless in this and I can't take explaining myself again to them. Not sure if it's a package change I'm really looking for here - I just want to see if I can get the 'proper' deal that a new customer should be getting and to help anybody else out who ends up in the same situation as me getting really poor advice.

Nobody told me at the time that i signed up for a 'basic' temporary broadband package that it would remove any rights to getting a good deal on TV and phone further down the line. If I'd had that info up front I would've made totally different decisions. In other words, I feel like I've been totally mis-sold. I'm also technically due compensation for the massive delay in them installing my new broadband

Not really interested in a SIM as well but thanks for trying.

[Alex_RM]

Hi NB1234,

Thanks for posting and welcome to our community 🙂

We're sorry to hear you're not entirely happy with your current package at the new property.

What you've been advised would be correct. As you already have an account up and running you would be classed as an existing customer and not eligible for a new customer deal. 

Package changes aren't something we deal with here but you can speak to us on 150/ 0345 454 1111 and we'll be happy to go through offers with you.

Alex_Rm

[Anonymous]

Just occurred to me that you could make the most of the forthcoming annual price hike to haggle or else threaten to terminate (which you can penalty free upon notification of the price hike) and get a deal from Retentions. 

[NB1234]

Thanks cardiffman. I'm not sure I can face trying to go through retentions (again!) but an update is that yesterday they offered me 350Mb broadband and the mixit tv package at a half decent price. I really want the maxit package though so might try them again to see what price they can offer it to me at. It looks like I'm not going to get the deal for new customers though sadly. What a pain in the backside...