Unhappy with price hike

[Artmuzz]

I have been a Virgin Media customer for over 20 years and a few months ago I renewed my contract because I was happy with the price plan we agreed that I could afford. I was told that this price plan would be the same for the entire contract.

However, a few months into the contract I received a letter informing me that my bill will increase by £7 per month which I am very unhappy with. This wasn’t mentioned in the terms and conditions and comes as a shock.

Please could someone reply so I can sort this out?

[unisoft]

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@Artmuzz wrote:

I have been a Virgin Media customer for over 20 years and a few months ago I renewed my contract because I was happy with the price plan we agreed that I could afford. I was told that this price plan would be the same for the entire contract.

However, a few months into the contract I received a letter informing me that my bill will increase by £7 per month which I am very unhappy with. This wasn’t mentioned in the terms and conditions and comes as a shock.

Please could someone reply so I can sort this out?

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You'll need to ring in on 150 from cable phone or 0345 454 1111 on other type of phone (local rates).

Select the option for Leaving Virgin and speak to retentions staff. Depending on time of day you ring in, you may have a wait. Early after 8am is usually best.

The forum staff can't do contractual agreements and package changes. If your contract says "Discount" it means it was never fixed price just a certain discount for the term specified. You can see your contract by logging into My Virgin Media.

You have to contact them by the date in your price rise notification email if you wish to exit your contract early with no financial penalty. The 2024 price increases and every yearly increase after, will be RPI + 3.9% and no ability to exit any minimum term contract penalty free.

Renegotiate by using the "leaving Virgin" option on the telephone not standard customer services. You should get new customer pricing or near or sometimes even better. Be polite to VM retentions and explain what you are not happy about and the changes you want to make (you may decide your current BB speed isn't being utilised for example or want to reduce TV channels or reduce one service and add to another).

• Existing customers are cheaper than new as no free gifts (TV's Xbox Cashback as examples depending on the marketing for any given month), no need for VM to pay return postage for kit, no need to refurbish kit, no need to pay cashback to referral sites like quidco/topcashback.
• There has to be a benefit to a customer like a discount because they are being locked into an 18 month contract again
• Know your market prices for other providers Broadband, for example FTTC on NOWTV is 12 month or monthly only contact at £22. If you just want broadband only its going to easier than someone who wants landline and TV
• Consider whether you need a lock in contract for TV services. Does VM's STREAM box offer the channels you want (its Freeview part is free) and can you go without recording facility and just use catch up players or have another device that does recording off Freeview (aerial) for example? Stream's Sky subscriptions channels is only £8 per month and a 30 day notice contract. You also get 10% back on many subscriptions like Netflix, Disney etc.
• Ofcom rules mean you can currently exit your contract without penalty, as long as you do this within 30 days of being notified by VM; wait 3 months and be classed as a new customer and get new customer offers. Alternatively, many people on here sign up the next day in their partner's name.
• Be prepared to give 30 days notice if the result isn't what you want, this gives you time to arrange BB installation by someone else and you can ring back in to cancel the cancel if you change your mind. During this time you **may** get a call from 2nd level retentions with a better offer. It's not guaranteed and they won't if you have marketing disabled in My Virgin Media under My Profile.
• Despite annual price rises at ridiculous rates, new customer offers have been static for years (like Ultimate package hovers around £79-£85 often and sometimes with cashback or free gifts like a TV as just one example)

[Akua_A]

Hi @Artmuzz 

We always balance our prices with the need to continue investing in our network, products and services.

1. Like many businesses, we’re experiencing rising costs due to inflation. We are not immune to rising costs, primarily due to wider economic changes from rising inflation.

We’re seeing growing demand for data – with usage growing by more than 10% each year. Last year, we invested more than £2bn in our networks, which contributed to average broadband speeds increasing more than 40%, while helping to make sure our customers stayed connected and were able to keep using our services more and more.

Many of our customers who join us take promotional offers for a period of time which will be fully honoured. These customers will all receive a price rise communication, but the 2023 price rise won’t be applied until after their offer price promotion ends. Their communication from us will explain this.

If you wish to discuss your increase further, you can reach us online (virg.in/contactvm), by calling 150 from your Virgin Media landline, or 0345 454 1111 from any other phone.

Thanks,

[Keenzo]

Dial 150 from your home phone line, options 1,1,1,4,4 for thinking of leaving.

call between 8-9 am and you should get straight through to the uk call center and they should help

Good Luck

[ntlcableuser]

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/803483

"Many of our customers who join us take promotional offers for a period of time which will be fully honoured."

You need to qualify this, as as it stands it appears to be untrue

We were on a fixed price for the fixed term agreement - quite clear on this when renewed - and we have been informed of your organisations intent to increase our BB charges by 28% WELL within that fixed term fixed price period

Not the first time for our immediate family households either.

[Akua_A]

Hi @ntlcableuser 

Welcome back to our community forums.

Promotional offers relate to the content of the contract you agreed to. In this case, please get in contact with our team on 

0345 454 1111 to discuss your package and any changes related to the price increase. They will do their best to bring clarity to this issue.

Thanks,

[Artmuzz]

The loyalty discount and other discounts I was given when I renewed my contract end in January 2024. However, according to the letter I received from Virgin Media I will still be charged the price increase of £7 a month. Why is the letter mentioning this if my loyalty discount doesn’t end until 2024. Please advise.

[John_GS]

This means you'll still get any pre-price increase discount applied, that doesn't change.

To discuss your price and account further, please do call us on the above number and we can go through your options.

Best wishes.

[Artmuzz]

I have just received an email from Virgin Media telling me that I have made changes to my contract with another discount until September 2023 but I haven’t made any changes so I don’t know what going on.

[Robert_P]

Have you been able to call the team on 150 from a Virgin Media landline or 0345 454 1111 option 1, option 4 then option 4 this will get you through to the contracts team who will be able to look into this further for you Artmuzz?

Rob