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Switching suppliers - timing?

moggyman
Up to speed

My VM contract expires within the month. A discount ended in December and I've been paying over the odds since then. With the recent price increase my package** price is due to rise to nearly £90 pm.

**Mix TV, 125Mbps broadband plus Sky Movies.

Sky are offering two packages today with the same TV bundle and either 145 or 500Mbps broadband AND Netflix (I have my own private subscription at the mo so another £8 pm would be saved) for £48 or £52 pm.

I spoke to a very pleasant lady at Retentions and the best she could offer was £74 pm for my existing package. £34 pm extra (inc Netflix saving) for an inferior package isn't good economics so I've had no option but to book a disconnection.

I've been with VM since they bought out my local provider so I've been with them for 25 years and not had to change before so my question is this...

In order to keep a continuity of service (I work from home so broadband is very important) when should I book a Sky installation? I know I might get another offer but I'm planning for the worst case scenario and I still have no option but to switch.

Thanks.

5 REPLIES 5

unisoft
Well-informed

@moggyman wrote:

My VM contract expires within the month. A discount ended in December and I've been paying over the odds since then. With the recent price increase my package** price is due to rise to nearly £90 pm.

**Mix TV, 125Mbps broadband plus Sky Movies.

Sky are offering two packages today with the same TV bundle and either 145 or 500Mbps broadband AND Netflix (I have my own private subscription at the mo so another £8 pm would be saved) for £48 or £52 pm.

I spoke to a very pleasant lady at Retentions and the best she could offer was £74 pm for my existing package. £34 pm extra (inc Netflix saving) for an inferior package isn't good economics so I've had no option but to book a disconnection.

I've been with VM since they bought out my local provider so I've been with them for 25 years and not had to change before so my question is this...

In order to keep a continuity of service (I work from home so broadband is very important) when should I book a Sky installation? I know I might get another offer but I'm planning for the worst case scenario and I still have no option but to switch.

Thanks.


Having disconnected a couple of weeks ago after many years, I would advise taking up a new offer install within the 30 days of notice in case of any issues. If you have marketing enabled in My Virgin media Portal, then anywhere from 24 hours after cancelling, you'll get calls. M125 Only BB can be got for around £17-£22 via retentions when you've actually put notice to cancel in of 30 days.

If you decide the VM offers aren't keeping you OR you don't get call backs within 1 week, I'd advise then booking your Sky service installation as early as possible after waiting a week. This allows if there are problems you won't be without broadband. I had issues on mine that took Openreach 5 days to sort. In the meantime I had to fall back to 4G dongle in my own router for Broadband which still worked for web browsing and calls on Teams for work. Just not great for file downloads, streaming or multiple people as 4G speeds not great in my area or great signal. If it's just you, you may also be able to tether a laptop via an iPhone/Android phone for the 4G/5G though you'll need to keep it mains powered and it may get warm with a lot of data transferring continuously all day long.

VM didn't start bothering sending me offers till 2 days before disconnection when I was away from home, but I suspect that was down to the offshore agent marking my account as he thought I was bluffing to walk. Too late for them though, and O2 SIM is following in 2 weeks and friends and family when their contracts expire soon....

Ilyas_Y
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hey there @moggyman Thanks for reaching out to us on the Virgin Media forums. 👋🏼

I'm sorry to hear you're leaving us. 😢
If you're going to another provider - it would be best advised to have your services end a day or two after the installation of the new services.

Now with any telecommunications provider - sometimes the install doesn't go as planned and you may need to contact your old provider (in this case us) to extend the services.
I would advise to give a 2 or 3 day lead time. 🧾

Kind regards,
Ilyas.

Ilyas_Y
Forum Team

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moggyman
Up to speed

Cancellation now booked. Sky installation arranged but the only available install date is the same day my VM contract ends, so no wriggle room if something is amiss. Not much I can do to avoid that.

Not a word from VM. Being loyal for 25 years doesn't seem to count for much.

Thank you @moggyman 

We are very sorry to hear that you are leaving but we do wish you the best of luck with your new provider. If you do need any help with the cancellation date, such as moving it backwards at all please do not hesitate to reach out and we will do all we can to help. 

Thanks.