Not so much a question as a warning and a venting of frustration.
Today I decided to swap one of my two Tivo boxes to a more up to date V6 box and decided to call VM rather than do it online as I wanted to be sure there were no hidden charges. Well what an experience that was, I came away from the conversation genuinely feeling physically drained and as though I had just gone through a battle of wills and a test of endurance rather than making a simple change.
I started with a customer services rep who when asked how much it would cost with everything included to swap the box, confirmed that adding extra broadband, sky sports and Sky cinema with two V6 boxes would change my package cost to just £110 a month. I pointed out that I hadn't asked for anything extra I just wanted to swap the box on my existing package.
I wont bore you with how often we continued to argue (and I really mean argue) about this as she tried to persuade me that she was making me a fantastic offer, but suffice to say she couldn't (or wouldn't) accept that I didn't want any extra channels or faster broadband.
I asked to speak to someone else but she refused (at first) to transfer my call, just as I was about to hang up the line went dead and someone else came on I think said she was a manager or supervisor (cant remember which). I thought this would solve the issue but sadly she seemed just as keen to try and get me to up my package. However this time I was faced with an additional problem that she was someone whose maths was either below Junior school level or (and I hate to suggest this) was trying to trick me as to how much extra I was going to pay.
The supervisor told me that to just swap the box would cost £99.00, My current package is £92.75 per month, she was (like the first woman) offering me a new package of £110.00 per month which she said she was doing all for my benefit as it was just £10.00 more a month which meant that on a 12 month contract I would be paying the same for the box whilst getting all the benefits of the better package which I could then cancel if I wanted to at the end of the 12 month contract.
Now I don't know about anyone else on here but when I did maths at school £110.00 minus £92.75 was £17.25 not £10.00 so over 12 months I would be paying £207.00 for a box costing £99.00. Even using her incorrect figure of £10.00 per month that would still be £120.00 which makes it a mistake (cough cough) on her part to suggest the price would be the same. I pointed this out at which point thankfully the hard sell stopped and she accepted that I would just swap the box. However there was one final attempt to get me to part with more money she wanted to now charge me £134.00 for the box with a technician installing it. I pointed out it can be user installed so she put me on hold for a moment and then came back with a final offer.
Now to end on a positive I think she realised just how fed up and frustrated I was and then surprised me with a final price that was less than I had expected of just £40.00 for the box which will be delivered in the next 5 days.
So a good ending but I am now sitting quietly with a strong cup of tea recovering from a lengthy and painful experience that I hope I (and any of you) should never have to go through again.
Rant over, I just hope the V6 box is worth all the effort
