Reducing Package, contract ends July

[jotei66]

Hi,

Presently on the M600, Maxit TV with additional 360 mini tv box & a virgin unlimited data sim. I Think its called the Ultimate Oomph bundle - Paying £79 pm

My contract ends at end of July & my subscription will jump to £146 when my promotion discount ends.

Due to the present climate financially I'm looking to reduce costs to no more than £55 - I'm not bothered about the bundled mobile sim (I realise now the mobile sim part works different now anyway via 02) as I have my own unlimited mobile plan, I no longer need the sky movies / sport part of the TV package. At a push I can do without the additional mini box in our bedroom as I realise that adds an extra £10 charge pm & maybe even a reduction in speed down to 350mb.

Overall I'm very happy with Virgin Media as tbh in my case I've never had any issues & besides its the only provider which offers much higher speeds. All other providers are 78mb max in my area. 

Do you have to wait till literally my contract ends or can you approach customer services/ upgrades to negotiate a new contract package early? Any advice appreciated.

[newapollo]

Hi @jotei66 

You can negotiate a new deal at any time, however you tend to get the best prices if you do that towards the end of your current contract, ideally within the 30 days before the discount ends.

Don't go via customer service/regrades, ask for cancellations (option 4 thinking of leaving us)

They are generally based in the UK, and have a greater degree of knowledge and flexibility, along with a larger range of discounts than the front line agents. Hopefully you can negotiate a deal with them that's suitable to your pocket and needs in exchange for a new contract.

The actual prices can vary on a day to day basis, if you are happy with the price quoted then accept it as it may not be available again. You do have a 14 day window should you change your mind and decide not to take the offer.

However if you aren't happy with the price offered then phone again.

[japitts]

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@jotei66 wrote:

Do you have to wait till literally my contract ends or can you approach customer services/ upgrades to negotiate a new contract package early? Any advice appreciated.

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In theory, as newapollo has said, you can renegotiate at any time. But in any negotiation, and VM re-contracts are no exception, the quality of the outcome can be dictated by the strength of each party's hand.

If you're not in a position to give 30days cancellation notice, then your hand is somewhat weakened. I'd like to think that VM will still "do the best" for you, but you can't expect to get the same deal as someone who is giving cancellation notice and the retentions agent is at real risk of losing "now".

[jotei66]

Thanks for your advice.

I was just talking to my partner earlier & just remembered when we last renewed our contract we went through cancellations as what we were offered by 1st line customer service was very poor. We placed a disconnection request & I believe we received a call from retention's who offered us a much better deal which we agreed upon.

I'll wait till I'm within 30 days of the end of contract - ends on 18th July & see what they can offer. Tbh after thinking about options we are just thinking of taking out the broadband only as my partner only watches streaming services anyway, particularly Netflix, Prime & Disney+ & YouTube premium and all of these can be accessed via our Nvidia Shield anyway.  (so no need for live TV service) Also we never use the landline (infact we don't have a landline phone plugged in!) we just use our mobiles. But we were told it was a requirement to get the deal we got last time.

But I have heard rumours (not sure if there is any truth in them tho) Virgin are not keen on downgrading you to broadband only. And discounts are usually poor unless you take all the other bells n whistles. I'll just have to wait & see what they offer, if all else fails I will just cancel my service, give it 30 days and then my partner can take out a brand new contract (we have different surnames & not financially linked in any way) 

Thanks for advice anyway, it's appreciated. 😉 

[jotei66]

So I was curious & called Virgin Media anyway.

Staying at my £79.00 they have offered me: keeping my 2 boxes, keeping all my TV packages as is ( Maxit TV - entertainment, sport & movies), upgrade to 1 gig broadband & new router, free HD netflix (the guy in retention's said he could probably offer free upgrade to UHD netflix) & O2 unlimited sim.

This seems a fair enough deal, considering I already pay kinda £15.99 pm for netflix UHD. We also pay for Disney+ separately & the retention's guy mentioned on the O2 we could claim 6 months free (another saving)

I didn't immediately take up the offer as I want to discuss it with my partner, but I believe it seems a fair enough deal & we may take this offer up. We realise however if we wait till we are out of contract we may (or may not) get a better discounted deal.

[japitts]

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@jotei66 wrote:

I didn't immediately take up the offer as I want to discuss it with my partner, but I believe it seems a fair enough deal & we may take this offer up.

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Many offers made by VM Retentions are "of the moment" and not necessarily repeatable at a later stage.

Martin Lewis' otherwise excellent advice to do as you have, doesn't work with Virgin. You are often better off accepting any offer and then using 14day cooling-off if required.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @jotei66 thanks for your post although I'm sorry to hear of your concerns raised surrounding your discount coming to an end.

As @newapollo and @japitts have mentioned, you can discuss your package with us at any time and we'll certainly do our best to provide the best offers available at the time of the discussion.

It is not always the case that we offer the cheapest prices when you speak to us about cancelling your services, it is literally a case of whatever promotions are available at the time you speak to us.

However either way, it is always best to speak to our Customer Services Team on the phone by dialling 150 / 0345 454 1111 or by messaging us on Whatsapp on +44730 532 7112 - I hope this helps!
Many thanks

[tafrock]

Jotei66 I'd have bitten their hand off at that price. I'm currently paying 110 ultimate oomph and contract just ending . I MUST reduce my costs so would happily pay 79. 

[jotei66]

@tafrock I know it's an excellent deal, I would say I was surprised to get such a great deal but tbh I have always been offered good deals when renewing my last 3 virgin contract renewals. (I realise from reading posts within the community forum that isn't always the case for everyone depending but guess depends on circumstances etc)
Mind you we have been with Virgin for a very long time, whether that has any relevance I dont know.   Keeping my present package as it is now but with the added bonus of speed increase, inclusive Netflix & a Volt O2 unlimited sim for same price i pay now is brilliant. However I had to speak to my partner before I could proceed (he was at work & I couldn't get to speak to him)

@japitts  Really appreciate your advice but I was aware of this (I read it somewhere, cant remember where tho) - I asked the CSR in retention's to notepad the deal in notes & he confirmed it is valid for 48hrs, after that he said he couldn't guarantee the deal. I'll be calling back in the morning subject to what my partner thinks

@Tom_W1 Yes I get that, thanks for your advice, as stated above I will be no doubt calling back to take the offer up tomorrow morning as it's a very good deal