You can call up to renegotiate a contract at any time, there is no need to wait until 30 days or be within the last month. The 30 days is the minimum notice period you need to give VM if you wish to leave.
Now will you get a price as good as a new customer? Absolutely not! In fact the first time you call, almost certainly you will be offered a deal more expensive than you are paying now! The logic here is that if you accept it, then you are tied in for another 18 months paying the new price, but with the proviso that next April, VM will be putting their prices up by whatever the current inflation rate then is plus about 4% - and you now no longer have the right to reject the increase and leave without penalty. On the other hand, if you simply do nothing, then you revert to a monthly rolling contract, which you are free to leave at any time, but don’t forget the 30 days notice period, but, presumably your discounts will all end and you will the paying the full wack!
Either way - Win/Win for VM!
So here’s what you have to do, investigate alternatives that are available from other suppliers. Then have a figure in mind that you are prepared to pay for whatever service you want. Call VM in a week’s time, and ask them what they can offer - no doubt it will absolutely be far, far more than you want to spend and the agent will insist that this is their very, very best offer for such a valued customer!
And at this point it becomes a bit of a poker game, so what you have to do is reject this offer, say you can’t afford it and you can get xyz of only £xyz from another supplier - don’t be tempted to lie or exaggerate, they will know exactly what is available to you address and the costs. Do that and they’ll call your bluff, accept your cancellation and ring off - safe in the knowledge that you’ll probably come crawling back, only the price you were offered before is no longer available, they know you don’t want to or can’t leave and will charge more! Supply and demand!
If you cancel, then chances are, you will get calls from the outbound retentions people (and no, there is no means of getting through to them beforehand) offering better, well, offers. Depending on how much of a gambler you are, you either accept their offer or hold out on the hope that they call back later with a better deal.
However, this is by no means guaranteed, there is a chance that they won’t call back, or indeed even call at all - if you call them, it will flag up on your records the history and they will know you are ‘desperate to stay with VM’ and they will price it accordingly.
Bottom line - if you want the cheapest deal, then you absolutely have to be prepared to play a game of ‘call my bluff’ and ultimately be prepared to leave and find another supplier.
