Switch existing VM sims to 5GB for £5.95?

[DetMerc]

So given that the RPI+3.9% price has applied today, the 3 Virgin Mobile SIMs my family has are now more expensive. They are all on rolling 30-day SIM only contracts.

I've searched around on comparison web-sites such as USwitch.com and MoneySupermarket.com and there are some good alternatives, but they also come up with Virgin Mobile offering 5GB (+unlimited minutes and texts) for £5.95 per month, which is better than my family's (new) current prices.

Last year in a similar situation I was able to take advantage of one of these comparison deals to switch an existing VM SIM to a better deal. As long as I was logged into the Virgin Mobile account before clicking through from the comparison site, then during the checkout process I had the option to apply the new deal to an existing phone number on the account.

But this year, when I get to a similar stage, only the option "Give me a new number" is offered.

Earlier in the process there is an option to provide a PAC or STAC code, but I don't think the PAC route would work for going from Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile?

Does anyone, VM staff or other customers, know if I can switch existing VM SIMs to this deal?
Otherwise we may have to change provider.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Koda]

No. Just as you suspect you cannot use a PAC to move your number from Virgin to Virgin. However you COULD consider taking the affiliate deals from Uswitch you found with o2, and port your number from Virgin to o2. Virgin Mobile is going soon and people are being migrated to o2 anyways. Remember if you have Virgin Media services at home you get 'Volt' benefits from o2 which both doubles your mobile data allowance, and upgrades your home broadband to the next package for free too. 

If you really want to take a Virgin Mobile offer, I suspect the best you could do is port the numbers out to pay as you go SIMs on some other network, and then back in to the new Virgin Mobile account straight afterwards. Note that unlike the upgrade method you previously utilised, you will likely be subject to a credit check for taking an additional line this way.

Of course the other thing to do is call them up and see if they can do you an upgrade deal as an existing customer after mentioning some other deals you have found while shopping around. 

[DetMerc]

Hi Koda,

Thanks for the quick reply, and for confirming my suspicion that the PAC route wasn't a good idea.
In fact I did give VM a call, and it was one of their CS reps who suggested getting my PAC code to take advantage of this deal, but I suspected it wouldn't work for staying with VM.

It's a pity that the system that worked last year, keeping the existing VM SIM, but getting the new price deal, doesn't seem to work now.

I agree that switching to O2 using a PAC code could work, though I have seen that if when the SIMs are switched by VM to O2 they are offering "either double the data or unlimited data for the same price" ( from https://www.o2.co.uk/help/virgin-mobile-to-o2#:~:text=What's%20happening%20and%20when%3F,by%20end%20.... under the heading "What are the benefits for me?" ) so I would prefer to remain a Virgin Mobile customer until switched by VM to O2.

And the other benefit of the way it worked last year was no fiddling about with SIMs and having half a day of no coverage.

Maybe I will try phoning again on Monday, and see if there is some way to get a deal like this for the existing VM SIMs.

Otherwise I see Lebara are offering 6 months of 5GB for £1.49/month

[Zoie_P]

Hi @DetMerc, 

Thank you for your post and thank you @Koda for your assistance here.

I am sorry you have not had any luck and as advised we cannot port virgin to virgin. I am sorry you are looking to leave us. Please if you need any assistance let us know.

Zoie

[Koda]

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@DetMerc wrote:

Otherwise I see Lebara are offering 6 months of 5GB for £1.49/month

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Lyca may be the better shout than Lebara if you're looking at other providers as they are 85p for 6 months of 6GB Data instead - They use the same o2 Signal as Virgin Mobile currently use so you're not worrying about potentially not getting the same coverage as you're used to. 

Hopefully when you try calling Virgin again in the next couple of days you have a little more luck and can get a better deal for staying if it saves the hassle of moving elsewhere. 

[DetMerc]

Hi Zoie,

Thanks for confirming that. It's a pity that the CS rep was incorrect on that point.

To be fair, looking at the small print on USwitch.com, it does say "Deals and vouchers offered are subject to availability and may not be available to existing customers", so I guess I got lucky last year that the deal I took then was available to existing customers.
I suppose I could port out to another provider and then port back, to get the 5GB for £5.95 deal.

Looking in the Virgin Mobile account, under the 'Change plan' tab, the existing customer price there for 5GB seems to be £15.71, which is a lot more!
But alternatively, if I got to 'Upgrade', then choose 12GB for £7/month, again it seems to only allow this for a new phone number.

If we call Virgin Mobile on 789, are they able to offer any deals better than the prices shown under the 'Change plan' tab?

Thanks.

[Paulina_Z · Accepted solution]

Hi @DetMerc,

Thanks for coming back to us and for your interest in amending your tariff. If you give our Mobile team a call on 789/ 0345 600 0789, the team will be able to find the best available package for you and see if you're happy with the price before making any changes. We want to make sure that you're on the best package available to you. 😊

Give the team a call and let us know how you get on.

Thanks! 

[Jess71]

I am with virgin mobile and saw this offer on another website yesterday but as I was going through the order I did get the option to upgrade my current pay monthly contract on the same number. After buying this it now shows as a pending change from my next refresh date. When asked if I was switching my mobile to virgin media I chose the "no thanks I'm not switching right now" option. I was also previously on a 30 day rolling contract

 

[DetMerc]

Hi @Jess71, that's really useful - would you mind saying which website you found this on?

Also, from your screen-shot, I guess you were doing this on your phone? I've been trying on a laptop, but logged in to the Virgin Mobile account.
I just tried from USwitch.com again, but still just get "Give me a new number" at the stage where you are getting two options.

Thanks for any information you can share.

[Jess71]

Hi I got this deal on the money saving expert site. Made sure I was logged into virgin mobile and then when I clicked "get deal" on mse it took me straight to the virgin mobile site and then I chose "buy now" then "not switching right now" and then I got the option to get new number or upgrade. Yes this was all done on my phone. Hope this helps