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

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.

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".

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 > 

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.

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.

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".

An interesting side-debate, potentially worth a new thread.

A close relative re-contracted last May with inclusive Netflix, and at no point had to provide billing details to NF directly. VM provided the sign-up link for NF, and on the screen where you choose the pricing tier, there was an option for "inclusive with VM package" or words to the effect.

Thus all the billing is done with VM, the registration with NF - meaning the contract is with Virgin, even if service is provided by the third party. The "look and feel" was of a voucher-code setup, where VM provided payment details to NF directly.

Hello. Up for recontracting recently and rang a couple times with offers varying from £72-74-96-116 depending who I spoke to, when (bearing in mind 37.50 for everything Gig1 netflix sports hd, cinema uhd, 02 VOLT and supposedly hub 5).

Every time I phoned offers changed. Was told to look on website but can't as every time an "oops something went wrong back to home page" message appeared or similar so impossible to look at packages online.

Ended up offered 360, tnt, sports cinema netflix same deal except not V6 boxes as for some reason they're more expensive and also mentioned a credit due meaning I wouldn't have to pay anything for a few months (which did influence my decision), so I said ok then was worried about this TV 360 and made a thread about it.

I have rang back and kept eye on bill recently and now instead of credit there's £235 to pay next bill (after going up to 75 from 37.50) before that. 

I'm concerned and still a bit confused what I'm getting whether I don't have to have 360 any more, as I was / am worried about it. I was informed I could get 3 V6'S (by a user on here) so did try to ask for them (maybe if I could cancel 360).

The best I could get eventually (after many calls) was these 360 boxes and a third box would double the price or something after being said to be £5 or £10 earlier. Told me to wait/ activate  360... and similar messages which was exactly what I'd was trying not to do.

I'm so confused. 1. why there was a credit "error" (if it even was an error) as that really influenced my decision to take a package for £72 in the first place (considering it was from 37.50 is still double but at least a credit softened the blow). Worried that now it's showing £235 outstanding and why as even at full price for a month it shouldn't be that much. Surely after just laying 74.50?

I was thinking of cancelling altogether but told if I did it'd be £500 odd quid to do so what about / when I am supposed to have a cooling off period am I not? 

So I can't have 3 V6's (or could if I didn't have 360 (software upgrade I'm unsure if it "upgraded") n therefore if I even have 360). Either way a third box seems to make a package way more expensive apparently (doubling).

I wanted the third box tbh as it isn't me that even gets to watch the TV I pay for as one my brother took, and one in living room so it's been a massive headache.

I mean if I cancelled in cooling off period I shouldn't need to pay £500 surely. Yeh I know it's 30 days but doesn't have to be at highest price.

Something doesn't feel right and I didn't know if I have 360 or they'll stay V6'S now and this £235 that came out of nowhere I want to know how much that should be. No way is it supposed to be that much. No way.

It really is hard on phone to Virgin, some agents are good others there's a lack of understanding/ barrier at times (sorry for saying and no offense but honestly feel it doesn't help).

My bill now shows £235 and £135 Credit (not what it was originally it was a lot more credit supposedly in error). 

My services though it says Gig 1 and TV unknown, Phone unknown or something so I don't know if I even need to activate TV 360 with remotes now, if they are V6 (I'm assuming) still and I really would have liked a third box added for me in my room.

Really don't want to phone up again as it's getting to a point I should just cancel everything (apparently that means no discounts afterwards if I don't leave fully unless that's another lie I was told). In which case if I do and give a 30 day notice in what should I do about the package (in cooling off period)? Get it as low as I can manage or have a new contract until a 30 day period is up?

It's just so confusing and it's been a nightmare recontracting again. Every time it is.

I have screenshots to prove contract (I also have them of credits that were showing allegedly now in error) and now the contract is suddenly £67 not £72 (which showed £77 initially albeit I think £5 was for activation of 360 £5). I'm wondering if that is just V6 now and rest sports, cinema netflix etc. as haven't seen "unknown" before and the rest is my previous contract I think showing.

Once you've accepted an invitation to, or asked to, convert to TV360, the process is usually irreversible.

If migrating from V6, you'll receive new remotes within a few days. You then have a short time to initiate the "upgrade now" option on your V6 home-page before the process is done for you. Any TiVo boxes are hardware swapped to TV360-minis.

The staff will need to comment on your billing issues.

Just wanted to say as well. I think the lady let slip at the end of the phonecall those on 360 now don't get packages for less than 90-100 and it's just a one off deal so basically I think next time (if there is one) it'll be more expensive than if I'd stayed with V6. Too late now it's updated even though I was told it may stop. 

No wonder there's a big push for 360 if they can charge more when it's recontracting time.