Hard to keep this brief, as it's been a saga, so apologies, but for those going through something similar (there seems to be a lot based on this forum), I wanted to share how I've nearly got to a successful conclusion.
So my 18 month deal was ending at end of October. From the end of August I was receiving the occasional renewal offer via email. In all fairness, offers weren't terrible; a slight increase on my existing price, but losing TNTSports, which was made clear. However, what wasn't clear was whether I got to keep my 2nd box and Netflix, so I wanted to contact Virgin to confirm before I agreed. Long story short, after getting no help whatsoever from Online Chat, WhatsApp and phone, and being frustratingly given much more expensive offers(!), I finally posted my issue on here, and an agent very helpfully confirmed that they were not included.... but also sadly that the offer had expired, as it had taken me so long to get an answer!
However, going back to the email renewal link, I had a new offer... much cheaper (actually, pretty ridiculously cheap), so I grabbed it with both hands and immediately clicked through and accepted. Then as per the many stories on here, nothing happened! Reached out again to the agent from these forums, and they helped progress slightly, but then got an email to phone as there was "some information that they needed" to complete the order. Made the phonecall only to be repeatedly told that the offer was a "mismatch" (assume they meant mis-price), and they wouldn't honour it! Strangely they were very insistant that renewals can't be done online, only on the phone, and then made me another stupidly expensive offer. I politely reminded them over and over that it was VM themselves sending me renewal offers, so how could they claim that renewals can only be done on the phone! Also kept reminding them that I had accepted an offer and had order confirmation etc to prove it. They wouldn't listen, so I told them I was considering cancelling, and was immediate put through to retentions.
This is were it got better; when I explained what had happened to the retentions agent, they immediately agreed that I had accepted an order, they could see it on the system, and even if it was a mis-price, that was their fault, not mine, and the deal would be honoured. It took about 35/40mins on the phone as they figured out how, and in the end I had to take a contract at a higher price, and then get monthly bill credit applied to bring the cost down to what I'd accepted online. Tbh it's taken another week or 2 of uncertainty since that call to actually see it coming through the system, but the forum agents have helped ensure it's gone smoothly, and I got a call back from the retention agent today to confirm it was all good, and how my next couple of bills would look, so happy days!
It really shouldn't be so difficult, and the whole online renewal thing seemed to be an absolute shambles, so VM really need to sort it out, but a huge thanks to the agents on here, they've been super, as was the lady I got in retentions. Slightly harsh, but every single other agent I dealt with on phone, WhatsApp and chat... utterly useless, sorry!
