TNT Sports!

[auroraflo]

Like many others on this forum, I’m fuming with VM regarding our contract renewal! We received an email inviting us to renew (contract ends on 17 October) with the same package but at a higher price. We’re pensioners & need to budget, so we went to the website & saw an invite to ‘Grab this deal’ at a much lower price, so that we could ‘enjoy everything you have now’ - and that currently includes TNT Sport.

After a lot of thought, on Monday (30/9) we decided to renew at the lower offer & printed off the email confirmation of our order, ‘thanking us for the changes made’ and the new contract etc., which does not mention any changes to the agreed package. From this, we believed we’d have the same package as now & were happy to go ahead.

Today, (2/10), we’ve received another email, ‘thanking us for the changes made’ and with a new contract stating that we’ve now got Broadband - Triple with Sports but that TNT has been removed!!! We did not ask for this & certainly not the removal of TNT! And what the hell is Triple with Sports??

I see from other threads that VM is supposed to have sent us an email regarding TNT, with the option keep it or not .. we did NOT receive this email.

So, how can we get TNT back as part of our original package at a price we can afford? I would add that we’ve been with VM for 20+ years but are pretty disgusted with them now! Seems a bit like mis-selling to us & maybe a case for the Ombudsman?

Any help would be appreciated …

[HavencroftKev]

The email that was sent was to those customs mid contract who rarely watched TNT sports, it said that TNT will be removed unless you complete a form requesting it to remain.

Virgin were hoping some customers weren't too bothered about losing TNT sports and would be happy to lose this service.

Sadly, TNT sports is not included in any contract renewals and will cost you an extra £18 to enjoy these channels again.

I agree Virgin have been underhand regarding this, especially when customers received those emails saying "the same package". 

[nodrogd]

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@auroraflo wrote:

Today, (2/10), we’ve received another email, ‘thanking us for the changes made’ and with a new contract stating that we’ve now got Broadband - Triple with Sports but that TNT has been removed!!! We did not ask for this & certainly not the removal of TNT! And what the hell is Triple with Sports??

I see from other threads that VM is supposed to have sent us an email regarding TNT, with the option keep it or not .. we did NOT receive this email.

So, how can we get TNT back as part of our original package at a price we can afford? I would add that we’ve been with VM for 20+ years but are pretty disgusted with them now! Seems a bit like mis-selling to us & maybe a case for the Ombudsman?

Any help would be appreciated …

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Triple with Sports basically means you have a triple service bundle (Broadband, TV & Phone) with Sky Sports added. Warner, the new owners of TNT, will not allow Virgin to bundle the TNT channels with any other package now. Hence if you make any change to your contract (including renewing it) they have to be removed or VM is in breach of it's agreement with the channel owner.

VM wanted to reduce the price of the TNT channels when the agreement was renewed, but Warner were not having it (see link below), so we are stuck with paying an additional £18 a month (which is still cheaper than getting it through Sky).

https://www.choose.co.uk/news/2024/is-virgin-media-going-to-lose-tnt-sports/ 

[auroraflo]

Yep, exactly the same has happened to us this week - so angry with these people!! 

[Matthew_ML]

Hey auroraflo, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am sorry to hear this.

TNT sports is no longer included with the package it is not an add on.

The email you speak of is for people who wore mid way though and didn't make any changes to the account.

As mentioned TNT sports is £18 per month.

[japitts]

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@Rosebush18 wrote:

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It does strike me that why would Warner object to be being bundled? As long as they get paid, why would they worry?

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Wholesale supply contracts can often include clauses that dictate the pricing & marketing of the supplied product.

You only need look at Apple & Lego and how they control retail prices, for evidence that this does happen.

[auroraflo]

Hi Matt, I know NOW that TNT isn’t included any more, but wasn’t informed of that when I chose the deal offered by your company on renewal .. it specifically said that we’d get the same package as we had already, twice, & for us, that included TNT! My annoyance is that we were misled into renewing & agreeing to a new contract that would stay the same & were only told afterwards that TNT was removed! That is mis-selling & surely wrong?! And I see from the forum posts that a lot of people feel the same … 

As for the email we never received, we were using TNT all the time & had no need to make changes, but surely everyone in that position should be given the chance to continue or not? I really don’t understand the logic of what you’re saying …. 

[HavencroftKev]

Basically all the customers which had TNT included in their package started costing Virgin more money, so VM needed to lose customers with TNT sport included hence the email. 

I never received the email about removing TNT either, but like you I watch it very regularly. 

[Ashleigh_C]

I am so sorry to hear that this has happened @auroraflo and I can understand your frustrations. I would be happy to take a closer look into this with you via a private message. 

I will pop you a PM across now, please keep an eye out for the envelope at the top of your screen alerting you to a new message.
 

[HavencroftKev]

@auroraflo let us know the outcome of this.