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Are virgin serious,a price rise of £21:50 per month. No way on earth I will stay with them, they have lost the plot.
As soon as you phone to cancel they'll start talking discounts, albeit generally modest discounts and with a new 18 month lock in starting. Or if you do cancel then during your 30 days notice they'll start calling you with the potential for serious discounts (the sort of deals they offer new customers).
If you decide to stay, then check you're happy with the change to terms and conditions that set next year's price rise at RPI + 4%, and because those terms will then be written in the conditions then come next April you won't be able to leave or renegotiate until your fixed term ends. Moreover that is applied to the undiscounted price, so customers on good deals see much higher prices than the headline level announced. As a guide, if you negotiate a deal around new customer discount level now, then next April it'll likely go up by 20% or so, that'll you'll have to take.
Or maybe consider Sky. Price increase this year is significantly lower than VM, and I believe that (unlike VM) they haven't baked a mongo price rise into their broadband package contracts, so if they do increase prices next year you'd have the option to leave or negotiate.
O2 can go as well while im at it.il make do with freeview and Prime video,as for football i can watch the game i want in full 24 hours after it ends.I never watch sky movies .I dont want a landline because i never use it.I could end up saving a fortune.
- Matthew_ML
Forum Team
Hey brads, your individual price rise will be specific to the service you have. Overall, the average price rise is 13.8%. Some price changes will be lower and some customers will be excluded completely.
You can make changes to your account anytime you want such as removing services such as this.
Have you tried this here Thanks
- Ashleigh_C
Hi there brads
We always balance our prices with the need to continue investing in our network, products and services.
- Like many businesses, we’re experiencing rising costs due to inflation. We are not immune to rising costs, primarily due to wider economic changes from rising inflation.
- We’re seeing growing demand for data – with usage growing by more than 10% each year. Last year, we invested more than £2bn in our networks, which contributed to average broadband speeds increasing more than 40%, while helping to make sure our customers stayed connected and were able to keep using our services more and more.
- Like many businesses, we’re experiencing rising costs due to inflation. We are not immune to rising costs, primarily due to wider economic changes from rising inflation.
PRICE RISES.
The price rise is based on current inflation, but what happens if inflation then reduces, will there then be a price reduction, I doubt it.
It would be better if all prices were fixed, some get better deals by negotiating or threatening to leave while other still pay the full package price, that is unfair and new customers get a better deal, so that encourage switching supplier, but in my area the choice is VM or the slower 10mb ADLS.
My bill will go up to an estimated annual £1117 which is a big chunk out of my state pension when, also expecting energy and council tax increases as well as the food price and petrol rises.
The VM service is good and these days everyone needs a broadband connection, but not sure if mobile broadband is any good or hybrid systems that use cable and mobile.
I think many will review their option depending on the actual rise and I have stayed on a monthly rolling contract to avoid exit costs if moving house, and the exit costs can be hundreds of pounds which is also unfair to have to pay for a period after termination when you are no longer using the service.
The cheapest option will be the popular one.
ALF28 wrote:I think many will review their option depending on the actual rise and I have stayed on a monthly rolling contract to avoid exit costs if moving house, and the exit costs can be hundreds of pounds which is also unfair to have to pay for a period after termination when you are no longer using the service.
Hi ALF28
There has been no need to stay on a "monthly rolling contract to avoid exit costs if moving house" since February 2022.
https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/virgin-media-o2-ends-charges-for-off-net-home-movers/
"Virgin Media customers moving to a home not connected to the operator’s broadband network will no longer have to pay early disconnection fees" - This only applies to home moves within the UK though.
ALF28 wrote:PRICE RISES.
The price rise is based on current inflation, but what happens if inflation then reduces, will there then be a price reduction, I doubt it.
Don't forget inflation falling simply means prices rising less fast, not decreasing. It's only if measured inflation is negative that prices reduce. Taking BT's terms as an example, they've chosen CPI+3.9%, but there's no caveat about price reductions. I'd expect VM won't caveat the increase clause either. In a theoretical scenario where the relevant inflation measure was minus 5.9%, BT or VM would have no choice, they'd have to reduce prices by 2%.
But that's academic, because RPI has only ever been negative for two very short periods in the past seventy years, with a lower bound of about minus 0.5% in March 1960, and minus 1.9% in July 2009. In the last 100 years, we only ever say higher negative inflation during the stagnation of the 1920s and 30s.
In the longer term view inflation did routinely go bounce between positive and negative values, but that was essentially because government hadn't realised that they could print money at a whim. Since the first world war, the thieves of parliament (like most governments) realised they could do just that, and have stolen people's money by stealth, in the form of ever increasing government borrowing. People still vote for political parties who spend more than they raise in taxes and thus create inflation, but that's because none of the parties are honest enough, or competent enough to balance the books.
I suspect that's more economic history than you wanted, but now you know.
I have not had my price rise email yet which probably going to be 14%.
Other providers can give me similar packages for less than half I am paying now but at much slower speeds.
The trustpilot reviews are poor for most providers.
As phones are now linked to broadband, It is not easy to split services any more as they come as a package.
Mobile 4g or 5g with router or using own router with sim is cheaper for me and some allow rolling contracts, but then you have no landline which is a disadvantage.
The price differential between new and existing customers means it is beneficial to switch providers, which I may do in the future but it is annoying that you have to lock in for such a long period of 12 or 18 months.
I have not decided yet , but it would be easy to do a trial alongside existing services, or if you move house try a new service.
Also it seems even if you have a fixed contract, a price rise can still occur during that contract!?
