Virgin media

Huskaris

I know they will be completely unrelated to Virgin Media, but Virgin Experience Days are shit. 

A lot of what they offer is great, but their customer service is so bad I am threatening to take them to small claims court. 

guinnessaddick

Huskaris said:

I know they will be completely unrelated to Virgin Media, but Virgin Experience Days are shit. 

A lot of what they offer is great, but their customer service is so bad I am threatening to take them to small claims court. 

Virgin & Experience?

carly burn

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

Super_Eddie_Youds

Can see this has been covered before, but hoping for some bang up to date advice. 

I get very unreliable Wi-Fi from my hub, drops all the time. When I can check the speed I’m getting vast speeds of 300-350mbs but Wi-Fi is patchy. 

I used to get good enough Wi-Fi coverage throughout the house on a sky router, so do we think I’m as well getting a good router as opposed to a mesh network? I’m happy to do either, just don’t want to do the wrong one. 

shuffles67

carly burn said:

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

Sort of defeats the government's efforts to reduce inflation
Sadly I'm locked into a contract so stuck  with them for a while

Northupper

carly burn said:

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

The RPI is not the measure of inflation used by the Government, and is much higher than the CPI which most other broadband companies are basing their increases on. How can Virgin justify using the RPI and then increasing it by 3.9%?  At the same time we see  nurses, paramedics and doctors struggling to get a wage increase anywhere near CPI.

carly burn

shuffles67 said:

carly burn said:

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

Sort of defeats the government's efforts to reduce inflation
Sadly I'm locked into a contract so stuck  with them for a while

Due to the nature of the increase I think You can come out of that contract if you wish and act before 15th March I believe.

carly burn

Northupper said:

carly burn said:

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

The RPI is not the measure of inflation used by the Government, and is much higher than the CPI which most other broadband companies are basing their increases on. How can Virgin justify using the RPI and then increasing it by 3.9%?  At the same time we see  nurses, paramedics and doctors struggling to get a wage increase anywhere near CPI.

And this will be a yearly thing not just a one off.

Northupper

carly burn said:

shuffles67 said:

carly burn said:

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

Sort of defeats the government's efforts to reduce inflation
Sadly I'm locked into a contract so stuck  with them for a while

Due to the nature of the increase I think You can come out of that contract if you wish and act before 15th March I believe.

That's correct it is also worth ringing VM to see what they offer if you ask to leave your contract.  Note CPI is 10.1% and RPI 13.4%

clive

carly burn said:

shuffles67 said:

carly burn said:

Just got the letter that they are hiking their prices by RPI + 3.9% !!
I think our relationship may well be nearing its end!

Sort of defeats the government's efforts to reduce inflation
Sadly I'm locked into a contract so stuck  with them for a while

Due to the nature of the increase I think You can come out of that contract if you wish and act before 15th March I believe.

Inflation-busting increase means millions of customers can switch without penalty, if they act quickly
https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/virgin-media-broadband-price-increase-b1061073.html

leftbehind

So glad i left them last Dec, customer for 18 years the offers on a new contract were shocking, let alone getting this huge price increase.

Community Fibre on hand with a superb deal and super fast broadband.

PopIcon

I thought that I'd share this little hack with fellow lifers.

Hyperoptic are one of my clients. If you're lucky enough to live within their coverage area they have a decent deal on at the moment, as covered in this Evening Standard piece.

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/virgin-media-broadband-price-increase-b1061073.html

MuttleyCAFC

I haven't got a letter yet but it sounds like the tedious point where I have to ring them and try to get a half decent deal or leave.

Rob7Lee

I had an email from both Sky & EE today about price increases (not as much as VM though).

PopIcon

Rob7Lee said:

I had an email from both Sky & EE today about price increases (not as much as VM though).

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/virgin-media-broadband-price-increase-b1061073.html

MuttleyCAFC

I think there should be a law that when you lock yourself into a contract, prices have to remain at the contracted amount. 

blackpool72

MuttleyCAFC said:

I think there should be a law that when you lock yourself into a contract, prices have to remain at the contracted amount. 

This happens in a  lot of other cases. 
Tesco mobile for instance. 
I've got three phones on contract with them ( 2 grandkids  ) and myself. 
They guarantee any price increases during the duration of the contract will not be passed on.
 Virgin are taking the piss imo.

Crusty54

The government came up with the formula to pay for improvements to the national network by all the providers. Wasn't too bad when inflation was low. Different now.

BalladMan

I am currently with Virgin and yesterday received notification that my monthly broadband will go up from £27 - £34 per month (£7 increase) due to RPI + 3.9% increase. This is for 200mbps line (100mbps x 2 as I am an o2 customer).  The increase has annoyed me so much I am going to move my mobile to Vodafone and take Vodafone internet (500mbps) for £27 a month. If they were not so greedy and made a modest rise, then I would not bother with the hassle of moving. I have until April 4th to move without penalty.

Also recieved the same notification from o2 (part of the same company now). 

carly burn

BalladMan said:

I am currently with Virgin and yesterday received notification that my monthly broadband will go up from £27 - £34 per month (£7 increase) due to RPI + 3.9% increase. This is for 200mbps line (100mbps x 2 as I am an o2 customer).  The increase has annoyed me so much I am going to move my mobile to Vodafone and take Vodafone internet (500mbps) for £27 a month. If they were not so greedy and made a modest rise, then I would not bother with the hassle of moving. I have until April 4th to move without penalty.

Also recieved the same notification from o2 (part of the same company now). 

 I'm with you.
My worry is that no other providers can match the speed of Virgin. And to be honest I've never had a problem with it.
I've heard some horror stories about sky's broadband.
What would people recommend to something that matches near Virgins reliability?

charlton4ever

carly burn said:

BalladMan said:

I am currently with Virgin and yesterday received notification that my monthly broadband will go up from £27 - £34 per month (£7 increase) due to RPI + 3.9% increase. This is for 200mbps line (100mbps x 2 as I am an o2 customer).  The increase has annoyed me so much I am going to move my mobile to Vodafone and take Vodafone internet (500mbps) for £27 a month. If they were not so greedy and made a modest rise, then I would not bother with the hassle of moving. I have until April 4th to move without penalty.

Also recieved the same notification from o2 (part of the same company now). 

 I'm with you.
My worry is that no other providers can match the speed of Virgin. And to be honest I've never had a problem with it.
I've heard some horror stories about sky's broadband.
What would people recommend to something that matches near Virgins reliability?

I have been with Sky 18 months and have their internet via BT and its fast, never gone down, and I love it! 150 Mbps. Full Fibre.

Big William

I was with Virgin internet  for 20+ years, have to say it was reliable from the dial up days right through to fibre. I only moved on because first of all the webmail packed up, then they told me they were getting rid of my email address, as it was in their original (old) format.  I moved onto BT who were offering a better deal, the punchline to all this is that I looked at an old ipad recently, and I'm still getting mail on the old virgin address three years after it was supposed to disappear. 

BalladMan

carly burn said:

BalladMan said:

I am currently with Virgin and yesterday received notification that my monthly broadband will go up from £27 - £34 per month (£7 increase) due to RPI + 3.9% increase. This is for 200mbps line (100mbps x 2 as I am an o2 customer).  The increase has annoyed me so much I am going to move my mobile to Vodafone and take Vodafone internet (500mbps) for £27 a month. If they were not so greedy and made a modest rise, then I would not bother with the hassle of moving. I have until April 4th to move without penalty.

Also recieved the same notification from o2 (part of the same company now). 

 I'm with you.
My worry is that no other providers can match the speed of Virgin. And to be honest I've never had a problem with it.
I've heard some horror stories about sky's broadband.
What would people recommend to something that matches near Virgins reliability?

Vodafone offer up to 1GB connection in New Eltham (£45) but the 500mb connection is £30. Better deal than Virgin but can’t comment on service.  

carly burn

So I cancelled over the weekend. Got a deal with BT. Pretty much the same TV package,phone line and broadband. Broadband is double the speed as what I was getting from Virgin. Whole package half the price of what I'll pay for virgin if I stay.
Initial phonecall to virgin was pretty hassle free. The fella did get me a bit off but it was nothing like half price.
I see I've had 3 missed calls from them today though so we'll see. Doubt they'll be able to match BT.

bexleyaddick

I recently received an email about this price rise and actually thought it was a scam. It's especially galling as I had recently negotiated a decent discount in return for not leaving. One of the holds they have over me is that my email address, which stretches back to the old NTL days, is the one I use for virtually everything I do and to change it would be a logistical nightmare.. a tactic they've used in the past is the fact that I would lose this if I left. Does anyone with more knowledge know if this is correct, or can I transfer my email address to other companies as you can with a mobile number? 

carly burn

Didn't think they'd have any sort of a hold over your email address??
I might be wrong though.

bexleyaddick

carly burn said:

Didn't think they'd have any sort of a hold over your email address??
I might be wrong though.

To access my emails I have to log in to my virginmedia account.... I'm not sure if it can be done another way?

SE9toDA2

bexleyaddick said:

I recently received an email about this price rise and actually thought it was a scam. It's especially galling as I had recently negotiated a decent discount in return for not leaving. One of the holds they have over me is that my email address, which stretches back to the old NTL days, is the one I use for virtually everything I do and to change it would be a logistical nightmare.. a tactic they've used in the past is the fact that I would lose this if I left. Does anyone with more knowledge know if this is correct, or can I transfer my email address to other companies as you can with a mobile number? 

Virgin do stop your email if you move account. So do BT and a lot of other providers. You will need a hotmail,outlook or gmail email address to be independent of broadband providers.

Best to  set up new email address, forward all existing emails to the new address and then start to contact everyone that has the origin email address to change to the new one before cancelling broadband.

bexleyaddick

SE9toDA2 said:

bexleyaddick said:

I recently received an email about this price rise and actually thought it was a scam. It's especially galling as I had recently negotiated a decent discount in return for not leaving. One of the holds they have over me is that my email address, which stretches back to the old NTL days, is the one I use for virtually everything I do and to change it would be a logistical nightmare.. a tactic they've used in the past is the fact that I would lose this if I left. Does anyone with more knowledge know if this is correct, or can I transfer my email address to other companies as you can with a mobile number? 

Virgin do stop your email if you move account. So do BT and a lot of other providers. You will need a hotmail,outlook or gmail email address to be independent of broadband providers.

Best to  set up new email address, forward all existing emails to the new address and then start to contact everyone that has the origin email address to change to the new one before cancelling broadband.

Thanks for confirming that, sounds like they've got us by the short and curlies.... not only mine but the wife and kids have their main email addresses with them. I guess either do as you say or cancel the TV package and just have the Broadband with them.. thanks again.

carly burn

Ball ache that.