Contract renewal - severe loyalty penalty
After almost 15 years with different Virgin Media contracts, my existing Virgin Media package contract comes to an end in August. I tried to look at options via my online account a couple of weeks ago but there was nothing available - just a message saying oops there is a problem and to call up or use chat. So I tried to login to my online account last week, this time I was forced into re-linking my Virgin Media and O2 accounts (which were already linked!). All seemed well until I tried to login today and was unable to getting in instead receiving an IDF-12B error message and advising to call in to get help. Aarghhhh. Looking on posts here, it seems I am not alone with this issue and it is taking multiple calls and days/weeks for people to resolve with the help desk. So what does this mean: I cannot access my account online; It makes it very difficult to cancel the agreement; It means I cannot see any potential new contract offers. After my last round of contract renewals where I was bombarded with multiple calls a day, all offering the same package but at wildly different prices even in the same day (some were 50-75% higher for the same deal!) I am loathe to try chat or calling up the call centre. So I tried to contact someone via this forum who was very helpful in resolving issues in the past. After no response and a chaser I got a note from someone else telling me not to contact the team directly and instead to post via the forum. So much for customer service! I then got an e-mail advising me that my contract was coming up on 23 August and that my existing package will go from £77 per month to >£219 per month if I do nothing - this is not going to happen.... The e-mail helpfully told me that a new customer could get a similar package for £79 per month but as an existing customer I would pay £190 for the same package...hmmm... does this sound like a fair and equitable way to treat loyal customers? Weren't OfCom looking into this issue specifically after a similar problem with the insurance industry penalising existing customers? This makes no business sense either as if the prices are so uncompetitive that I leave, then there is a cost and the waste of returning VM equipment, sending an engineer out to the local box etc.... So the long and the short of this post is please can someone from the team contact me directly to discuss a sensible price for a new contract with the same package I have now, otherwise I will be leaving and issuing notice tomorrow.Contract Renewal Farce
So been with Virgin for around 15 years, I've been out of contract for quite a while and have been asssessing my options. I finally got a renewal deal show up online that I was content with, so I accepted it, £99 down to £79... Now here is the issue, I had the Ultimate Oomph Package, Gig1, Talk More Anytime, Maxit TV I got an email to get intouch due to missing information, turns out that for my renewal to go ahead, I need to pay an additional £10 a month because I have an extra box which they say is an add-on. At no time on my original contract was this an add-on, I've looked at my bills and contract and it is not an add-on, my latest bill even clearly shows it as 'Main Services' in fact the only thing that is an add-on is TNT sports of which this has been clearly communicated as being removed fromed renewals/upgrades, I'm fine with that. Speaking to the guy on the phone, despite saying this doesn't show as an add on anywhere on my bills or contract, he was pretty persistent that I need to pay this extra amount. Why should I have to pay extra for something that is part of my core services? So now I'm back assessing my options, after this fiasco, I'm now really tempted to go elsewhere.Renewal pricing incompetent
Looking to find a new deal that is able to be cheaper than the auto renewal pricing on my contract.. However the sales team offer me a price for almost £90 a month, “reducing” by offers to being almost £20 a month. really displeased at how useless the sales team are! Is there anyone that can have a sensible discussion over a renewal package? first time I’ve truely lost faith in remaining with the services following such poor customer serviceComplaints
I today spent 2 hours on chat asking for my legal right to cancel my renewal within 14 day cooling off period. I was told I could not go back to my old contract and I either took the new contract or they cancelled completely. i asked to be put through to complaints who literally told me to speak to the team I had just spoken to. When I asked to raise a complaint they said they would and would close immediately as they had gave me advice. They did this and I now have an email saying you are happy you resolved my complaint!!!!! To make matters worse they suggested I call in next time.Complaints, Renewals and Contract price increases
Raised a complaint on 22 January 2024 and got confirmation response on website but no reference code - just xxxx. Subsequent follow up raised today, this time received a case number by e-mail, but again when I try to track it, the website shows no active complaints. Either the complaint was closed immediately with no response or like others on the forum has not even registered. Background: Loyal customer of ~12 years, coming to the end of an 18 month fixed rate contract. Contract prices offered to me so far are significantly above those available to new customers (2-4 time more expensive). I received 9 calls in 3 days from the sales team trying to persuade me to change contract early (losing existing discounts!) offering wildly different prices for seemingly the same package to my existing contract but at 50-100% more. Advised to contact CS who via web chat offered a price of £176 pm (almost 3 x current price!) Subsequent phone discussion with retentions team offered a different price again but with a forced BB speed downgrade. All prior contracts have been fixed price for the contract term - Advised that any new deal would be subject to an almost immediate unknown price increase (RPI +3.9%) despite a likely upcoming Ofcom ruling on unclear and unfair contract practices. How can I escalate this to (a) a human (b) a senior level as I have regularly been fobbed off by the customer service team in the past and cannot keep raising complaint about complaint about complaint....?
