Today I am left confused and quite frankly astounded by Virgin Media's total madness...
For some context I want to provide some history regarding my Virgin Media account;
- We used to have Virgin Media at our previous property (18+ months ago) and had the "Ultimate Bundle" as it was back then which was essentially the current Ultimate Volt bundle with a lower speed broadband and and a Virgin Media Sim Card rather than O2. This was billed at £79 per month.
- When we moved house Virgin Media was not available at our new street. However I noticed the street behind me had Virgin Media and theoretically a cable could be slung over my back fence providing me with access. Luckily I managed to get in contact with a local field sales representative via the house move team who was able to assess the feasibility and Virgin Media agreed to perform the installation. We still had a few months remaining on our old contract at the time of the move, and the field sales rep waived those months and suggested it would be easier just to sign me up on a new contract. We then moved on to the Ultimate Volt bundle with 1gbit broadband and an O2 sim card at £79. The install was delayed several times as Virgin Media's subcontracted road digging team applied for permits for the wrong road, and then when the permit was successfully obtained installed the tap on the cable the wrong way around which needed to be rectified. As a result the automatic compensation stuff kicked in and I saw approx. £300 credited to my account (it was a looong delay, about 4 months total) and I am sure the fees for digging the road and providing service were not negligible either.
- We are now 18 months later and we have experienced a CPI + X% price rise on the sim card bringing our total monthly fee to £86 a month, however our contract expires 8th December. On my last bill it indicated the new Virgin Media price would be £132 + £28 a month to O2 (£160 a month). We all know Virgin like these end of contract price hikes and normally you can call them up and get some reasonable negotiation in place. However today was an absolute train wreck of a conversation with retentions...
- The current new customer price for the Mega Volt Bundle is £45 per month to VM and £25 per month to O2 and an additional £18 for TNT Sports as it's no longer included (total £88). Admittedly this includes 1 less TV box, but the second TV box with our current bundle is currently in a box in the loft as we only have 1 TV in the house so we'd happily let that go. After discussing with the VM retentions team the best price VM could offer was £98 + £26 a month for the O2 simcard (total £124). This seems outrageously more expensive compared to the new customer price, 40% more infact. In previous negotiations I have found that normally my existing customer renewal is a few quid more expensive than a new customer but not too much, normally around the £10 area at most, so I was expecting to settle with a £95 ish new price all in including the sim card and 1 less TV box than currently.
- After not being able to agree a new price that is reasonable I provided my 30 days notice to cancel. I do not understand how this is a good deal for either myself or VM, from what it seems in the last 18 months VM have invested heavily to retain me as a customer during my house move and they ought to want me as a customer for a good few years to ensure that investment is recuperated. I do not believe that the new customer pricing are loss leaders and that they do have some margin, so coming in slightly over the new customer price I suspect VM are still in profit. Instead they probably spent out a good chunk on installs and compensation to provide me with18 months of service and have me walk out the door. I did ask how long I would need to leave for to be considered a new customer again, they responded 6 months, of course any other provider has a 18 or 24 month contract length so at the very least I'll be gone for this period of time. I also enquired what qualified as a "new customer", and indicated that although I had a contract with Virgin my wife has never held a contract with Virgin, the retentions team member told me they didn't know how this worked. I suspect that my wife would be considered a new customer having no previous dealings with VM. However I guess we won't find this out until she calls them on 23rd December to enquire about signing up as by all accounts a new connection cannot be ordered until the previous is disconnected. No fixed line internet and freeview only for TV over Christmas it seems.
- A side note, its annoying I also have to call O2 to cancel the attached sim card despite VM selling it to me as part of a bundle. It seems that for any purposes other than the original sale it is a totally separate entity.
Not sure what everyones opinion is on this, I don't mind a few quid price rise here and there roughly inline with inflation, but this just seems to be extortion now. Also curious if anyone had more information where the retentions team member didn't about what qualified as a new customer regarding my wife signing up once my service has been disconnected.
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Accepted Solutions
Evening,
To provide a quick update, today Virgin Media retentions called to see if they could rescue me. Turns out we settled on me paying almost the same as the new customer price listed on the website for a further 18 months. (£45 (base package price) + £18 for TNT sports + £10 for extra TV box) - £73 including 1gig broadband. The chap then took off a random £5 discount making it £68 a month. They also agreed a free engineer appointment to terminate the coax up to my teenagers room so she can make use of the 2nd TV box. Shame VM couldn't offer this up on the first interaction, but I guess it is what it is, all is well that ends well.
My top tip, if they hike your price just cancel, give it a day or two and seemingly you'll get a very reasonable counter offer.
Peace out.
