TV 360 as part of new package. Unsure about it. Recontracting difficult 2 x price. Outbound passback

[slimcraigy]

Hello. I wanted to get some opinions about the TV 360. I was trying to recontract with Virgin and paying £37.50 for my base package which had Ultimate Volt, Gig 1, two V6, sky sports, cinema uhd, Maxit TV Netflix, the full shebang really.

I can't remember how long I spent on the phone and how many times I rang over a few weeks, and the first deal seemed the best now, £72 same price but no TV 360 and double what I was paying.

 I am unsure of TV 360 and wonder if users preferred the V6 boxes before a software update. If I were to go 360 I should have asked about a third box really but it wasn't part of my plan, now was accepting an offer double what I was paying.

Now they have the money/ contract I notice a shift in how they speak to you. I'm sick of being lied to tbh, duped (like in to dropping hub 5 complaint that they said they'd send it it resolved my complaint) then did t send the hub, so I had to ring back about that again, and I know there are better packages out there, I can see what people post out on certain sites.

I wanted to ask for a referral and  outbound pass back form to be filled out so the team with largest discounts phoned me but they seem to pretend to not know what I'm talking about now. 

It's poor treatment tbh as soon as they have the money/ contract and I'm only trying to get the best deal available at lowest price. In this cost of living era too.  Even now I'm wondering if the only reason the hub 5 got sent was me being out of contract soon and ombudsman mentioned.

I'm really not sure about TV 360 or Virgin anymore. There's only so much someone can take before they get fed up. It is probably in my interests to cancel tbh as it is other people who use them (one box was moved into a family members room when I wanted it in mine and I pay for it and told them my intention to move it into my room. Can just imagine the agro that would cause though if I took that away.

So is TV 360 worth it? I don't know exactly what different and although think you only get one useable hard drive now. Really wondering if I should just cancel completely tbh. I know there's better deals available if one knows where to look.

[slimcraigy]

Hello. I wanted to get some opinions about the TV 360. I was trying to recontract with Virgin and paying £37.50 for my base package which had Ultimate Volt, Gig 1, two V6, sky sports, cinema uhd, Maxit TV Netflix, the full shebang really.

I can't remember how long I spent on the phone and how many times I rang over a few weeks, and the first deal seemed the best now, £72 same price but no TV 360 and double what I was paying.

 I am unsure of TV 360 and wonder if users preferred the V6 boxes before a software update. If I were to go 360 I should have asked about a third box really but it wasn't part of my plan, now was accepting an offer double what I was paying.

Now they have the money/ contract I notice a shift in how they speak to you. I'm sick of being lied to tbh, duped (like in to dropping hub 5 complaint that they said they'd send it it resolved my complaint) then did t send the hub, so I had to ring back about that again, and I know there are better packages out there, I can see what people post out on certain sites.

I wanted to ask for a referral and  outbound pass back form to be filled out so the team with largest discounts phoned me but they seem to pretend to not know what I'm talking about now. 

It's poor treatment tbh as soon as they have the money/ contract and I'm only trying to get the best deal available at lowest price. In this cost of living era too.  Even now I'm wondering if the only reason the hub 5 got sent was me being out of contract soon and ombudsman mentioned.

I'm really not sure about TV 360 or Virgin anymore. There's only so much someone can take before they get fed up. It is probably in my interests to cancel tbh as it is other people who use them (one box was moved into a family members room when I wanted it in mine and I pay for it and told them my intention to move it into my room. Can just imagine the agro that would cause though if I took that away.

So is TV 360 worth it? I don't know exactly what different and although think you only get one useable hard drive now. Really wondering if I should just cancel completely tbh. Still better deals if one knows where to look.

[japitts]

Regardless of what a sales agent may have hinted at, a conversion to TV360 is always voluntary and is never a compulsory part of any contract renegotiation. The only exception is when that package includes an element that is exclusive to TV360, namely Paramount+ or Disney+

If that exception doesn't apply, and you don't want TV360, then you should simply make that crystal clear to the agent and it should not be a problem. If they insist it is, then there's a training issue and you're probably best off terminating the call and redialling.

You mention additional boxes, this is one shortcoming of TV360 where the system is designed around one TV360-master (with the recording facility), all additional boxes are TV360-minis that slave from the master. Converting multiple V6 into TV360-masters mitigates for this, but any subsequent replacements or installs won't have HDD.

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@slimcraigy wrote:

I wanted to ask for a referral and  outbound pass back form to be filled out so the team with largest discounts phoned me but they seem to pretend to not know what I'm talking about now. 

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You're misunderstanding how outbound retentions work. Outbound calls are sometimes made to customers who have given their 30days notice and are in that period between a cancellation request & actual disconnection. By asking for an outbound call, the agent could well be thinking "this person doesn't really want to cancel so why should I give any extra discounts, they'll probably stay anyway".

[newapollo]

@slimcraigy 

A third box, either V6 or 360 is an additional £5 per month.

As japitts usually points out a switch to 360 from V6 is like comparing switching between android and ios.   I would say it's like marmite, you either love it or hate it.  I prefer my 360 to the older V6 but it's down to personal choice.  A lot of the bells and whistles from the tivo/V6 boxes are missing on the 360 as they are copyright to tivo.  I never made use of all the bells and whistle extras so don't notice the differences.  See < this thread > 

[Tavis75]

I wasn't quite sure from the message, is the issue that the new deal doesn't include the 360 or that it does? Price wise, I would say the deal you've been offered at £72 is a pretty good deal (the deal you had before was amazingly good assuming it was for basically the same package).

In regards to the box, I wouldn't worry about not getting 360, it is IMO a big step down from the V6 and is missing a lot of nice features, while not offering much benefit in return, also, you're likely to be switched to it at some point in the not too distant future anyway.

I recently cancelled myself, mostly because the reason I'd moved to VM in the first place was due to the TiVo software on the V6 box (and also the fact that I was forced to have an expensive O2 sim if I wanted a decent price and couldn't drop Netflix from the bundle, so felt like I was paying for lots of things I didn't need). Outgoing retentions offered me a similar deal to yours, £60 but without the second box and only 500Mb internet, which was tempting, but turned it down.

[japitts]

By means of a headline comparison, TiVo-software is heavily designed around recording with all the functionality to boot. Horizon-software that drives a TV360 is the opposite, it's heavily designed around streaming, apps, cloud-based recording and one central recording pool.

Quite a lot of retentions offers will include additional "free" elements if they attract generous multi-bundle discounts, mine is a case in point. If the end price meets your budget, and there's elements that you have no use for, then just say "thankyou very much" and do with them as you see fit. If and when they later attract charges, then cancel them when the moment arises.

[slimcraigy]

Hello thanks for your reply. I did ask about keeping V6 and he said it would be £77 instead of £72 (well at first he managed £66 which I thought wasn't too bad but when it came down to it it was less internet speed and something else missing iirc).

I honestly have had so much frustration with Virgin I genuinely would like to leave and try someone else. I mean I get honest agents sometimes on the phone and even they said not sending me the hub 5 was "unacceptable".

It would honestly benefit me if I did leave tbh as at the moment I don't even watch any of the TV I pay for except netflix as my brother "stole" the box for his room that I'd mentioned I was putting in my room. Took me massively by surprise brought coax back from his ex/ kids mum (who had just changed from sky to Virgin and took coax out) and ran that from downstairs to upstairs in his bedroom. I didn't want to argue about it but was secretly fuming especially after I said I was getting it out in my room.

I am not downstairs a lot any more. I have anxiety disorders and other Mental health issues and I can't concentrate with all the noise, I hate that I have to do this, but I really struggle to be downstairs with my autistic nephew who is up and down on volume of a tablet all the time, even on my brother's version of "low volume" it's very loud and distracting same thing on loop. Brother, mum and TV on at same time is just too much for me. That is in the main living room where one box is I would feel guilty about moving.

I probably sound an awful person  and feel bad about it, but I just can't be down there with that noise and now I'm the one without the TV I pay for.

Back to the 360. So I should have been allowed to have V6 boxes still for the same price? 

Another thing they have sneakily done here is not bundled a SIM now.  That was part of it before too so have to get rid of that or recontract as it's due up too (plus price increase).

Afaik I have no Disney + or Paramount +.

I didn't know I had to do that with outbound retentions as I had a direct  phone number for them and literally rang them. They said to me I needed to ask for a referral form.

There was also an instance of an agent typing one up on one phone call. I just get a bit frustrated they can't offer similar deals I see online and know are possible. People are living in a time where cost of living is high so of course people will try and get best prices for things when it's left right and centre expensive for food, electric, gas etc.

I am unsure about 360 due to the master slave thing and losing space. Not able to go back to V6 once it's done either isn't great.

I've seen others get similar deals more recently to what I was paying before and have the uncertainty of 360, even if some may think £72 is not too bad, it's still double basically when/ if I add a SIM for Volt benefits.

Wish I had a solution with least agro caused in my family as I know what my brother would say if I took "his" box away and put it in my room.

I guess I'll have to either take the package or cancel but does that mean I'll be paying monster prices if I hand a notice in? Would they call with a better offer if I did so?

Thanks for your reply btw.

Edit - What do you mean by 360 V6 conversion masters mitigates for this? Is it not still a master and slave (one master box)? Or does that slave have a HDD that's accessible?

[slimcraigy]

Hello newapollo, so they could give me 3 V6's? 

They seem to have told me differently and it's only possible with TV 360. Could be another lie to get people to switch to their preferred choice.

That's the thing if it is marmite though, then basically I'm stuffed if I don't like it as they said I can't switch back either so how do they expect people to "upgrade"?

I usually like to know what I'm buying and if I don't like it I can cancel within a certain period and take the other product out usually. Not here though, as seems like it's all one way once done.

Yeh I'm really not sure about it. As said to Lapitts above this doesn't even benefit me much anyway. Internet does really and rest is used by the family (one box I don't mind being in living room) but the other being moved I'm not happy about, but i know the agro I'll get if if I bring it up. 

Thank for your reply.

[japitts]

V6 are all fully functional boxes with hard drives & multiroom streaming capability. TV360 is based around one master box with an HDD, and additional multiroom mini-boxes that don't have hard drives.

If you have a new install with 3 boxes, you will have one TV360 master and 2 TV360 minis - so 6 recording tuners feeding one hard drive that's shared between all 3 boxes.

A V6 multiroom install will have 3 boxes, with 18 recording tuners & 3 hard drives. Any V6 that's converted becomes a TV360-master with retained hard drive. But if you subsequently have a fault on a multiroom box, it will be replaced with a TV360-mini and lose its hard drive.

The only time a package is dependent on TV360 is when it contains Paramount+ and/or Disney+ - if that isn't the case, then a conversion is not compulsory and you can decline it. Changes in package price during the same call will otherwise just be standard retentions discounts that can change and are very much "of the moment".

[slimcraigy]

Hello Tavis75. No the issue is it IS the 360 and knowing that it's double what I'm paying now (as SIM not included now). £80 with uswitch SIM that is more complicated than needed too/ have to jump through hoops for as well.

If they fear losing custom they offer decent deals so why don't they offer it cheap(er) in the first place, or at least make it easier or give their retentions departments better powers.

I have got through like that sometimes when saying id cancel (and meaning it too) and if they're decent they straight away offer better deal, I declined the first one that time, and took the second offer (this was a while ago and not this recontracting period).

Ideally I'd have 3 V6 boxes but get told that isn't possible.

I mean I only really needed two, one for living room and one that was in conservatory that I told my brother I was moving to my bedroom. He came back from his ex / kids mum's with coax and put it in his room and I was secretly fuming but didn't say much due to the agro it's cause. Hate arguing and maybe should have said more at the time but didn't.

I had that deal or similar to you (you could have changed the £25 SIM to a cheaper one via uSwitch). It was a good package for £60 and Volt would double your speed but I felt the exact same as you at first until I learned I could do that.

I know what you mean about things you don't need but added extras/ bundles are usually cheaper than dropping things.

Tbh I usually get so frustrated and wound up by being told different things by different staff and prices and why they didn't do this or that, I usually end up phoning up and saying get rid of it, I'm sick of them and it's not worth it. 

I have plenty of reason to walk this time round too. I mean false advertising a hub 5 with a package and not sending it for 18 months is one, internet issues, service m, being lied to, duped into dropping complaints and then not sending it meaning I had to phone back about it etc. 

There's some good customer service people but some... I'll leave open to interpretation.

What did you end up doing if I may ask? Did you go with another company? It's tempting to just get internet now speeds can be matched or almost matched by other companies and true FTTP low latency service. Basically it's internet and netflix for me ATM mostly anyway so leaving is looking more attractive but have to deal with the family fallout I suppose.