VM reneging on ex-NTL competitive discounts

[foreverwar]

I think, maybe, you guys might have to agree to disagree.............

[Dunderhead]

Interesting to see the VM results of the Broadband choices awards 2008 announced this morning, their survey asked customers to rate ten broadband providers...

Three of the six categories were technically-focused, three were customer-focused:

Category: Clarity of pricing and billing (VM 9th out of 10)

Category: After sales support (VM 9th out of 10)

Category: Good value for money (VM 9th out of 10)

I'll be looking out to take part in next year's survey.

[lostandconfused]

do you have a link for that?
all i could find was the finalists announced
http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/20...ed-220108.html

[BenMcr]

The Sunday Times gave Virgin 4 out of 5 stars for the cable broadband and Sky 3 out of 5

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...cle3458568.ece

[Dunderhead]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

do you have a link for that?
all i could find was the finalists announced
http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/20...ed-220108.html

Sure, the announcement was a press release to technology journalists this morning so it hasn't been published/ written up by anyone yet but the survey results are at:

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/cu...ards-2008.html

To be fair to VM, I misinterpreted the scores in my previous post, VM were actually 8th out of 10 in each category, rather than 9th out of 10. Apologies for the slight mistinterpretation. No dishonesty intended.

---------- Post added at 14:30 ---------- Previous post was at 14:29 ----------

Originally Posted by BenMcr

The Sunday Times gave Virgin 4 out of 5 stars for the cable broadband and Sky 3 out of 5

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...cle3458568.ece

Very pleased to hear that but my own experience of VM corroborates the broadbandchoices survey.

5th overall, Thats not actually too bad. Middle of the road. And if you look where they scored poorly Its thing like after care. Which is mainly due to the 0906 number for tech supprt. I reakon if they scrap that next year they will score a lot higher.

Have you called Customer Relations yet?

[Dunderhead]

Originally Posted by Akia

5th overall, Thats not actually too bad. Middle of the road. And if you look where they scored poorly Its thing like after care. Which is mainly due to the 0906 number for tech supprt. I reakon if they scrap that next year they will score a lot higher.

A freephone number for tech support would be a good start. But the VM customer satisfaction is not just after care, they were also very poor performers in:

clarity of pricing and billing (which is where I came in)
value for money

The middle of the road satisfaction survey result (5th overall) is because the very poor customer service category scores are offset by the technical category scores (2 third places and a fourth place).

It reminds me of the old joke: "apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show?"

Originally Posted by Dunderhead

A freephone number for tech support would be a good start. But the VM customer satisfaction is not just after care, they were also very poor performers in:

clarity of pricing and billing (which is where I came in)
value for money

The middle of the road satisfaction survey result (5th overall) is because the very poor customer service category scores are offset by the technical category scores (2 third places and a fourth place).

It reminds me of the old joke: "apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show?"

but bringing in clarity of pricing and billing into the discussion dosn't do anything but help explain the reason why they are correcting all the billing discrepencys. At one bit no two customers were paying the same. Now whetere these discrepencys were errors or cause by staff they shouldn't have been given in the first place. What about the other side of the argument where they have corrected other mistakes like Customers being charged £15 instead of £10 for the old V+ priceing. Now due to staff error at the time this is what will have been agreed with the customer. Are you staying that they shouldn't have the price corrected because they'd be reneging on the agreement. Or if this is the case don't the same things apply because its in the customers favor.

Originally Posted by Akia

but bringing in clarity of pricing and billing into the discussion dosn't do anything but help explain the reason why they are correcting all the billing discrepencys. At one bit no two customers were paying the same. Now whetere these discrepencys were errors or cause by staff they shouldn't have been given in the first place. What about the other side of the argument where they have corrected other mistakes like Customers being charged £15 instead of £10 for the old V+ priceing when the had the XL TV. Now due to staff error at the time this is what will have been agreed with the customer. Are you staying that they shouldn't have the price corrected because they'd be reneging on the agreement. Or if this is the case don't the same things apply because its in the customers favor.

[MrB]

I have read this thread and it has proved very interesting with the did they didn't they discussions - fortunately I am not in the position of having my loyalty discount revoked (touch wood - though my loyalty has been severly tested over the past few months!). However, if the discounts were not legitimate, then this was not an isolated incident but long term practice with deals given to many people. There are threads on this and various other forums where many people reported what discounts they received to stay, particularly when the Sky issue blew up (for example, L was upgraded to XL for free on the website and as a retention deal for anyone who asked, other inducements were offered for people to stay, people were not asked to sign a new 12 months contract and many deals were offered to many people as lifetime deals).

It is only more recently that VM have started tightening up their internal processes. To say that all these deals were (potentially) all applied by mistake is nonsense - however, I am not saying some rogue CS didn't go too far and therefore cleaning account is bound to happen to some!

When I look at any discount I have received, invariably the resulting price is very close to what may be achieved with BT and Sky (and since BT and Sky offer free evening and weekend calls, Sky offer free broadband or £5 for 8MB, the market is very competitive - particularly with the current £150 Quidco cashback inducement for Sky!).

MrB

[Dunderhead]

Originally Posted by MrB

I have read this thread and it has proved very interesting with the did they didn't they discussions - fortunately I am not in the position of having my loyalty discount revoked (touch wood - though my loyalty has been severly tested over the past few months!). However, if the discounts were not legitimate, then this was not an isolated incident but long term practice with deals given to many people. There are threads on this and various other forums where many people reported what discounts they received to stay, particularly when the Sky issue blew up (for example, L was upgraded to XL for free on the website and as a retention deal for anyone who asked, other inducements were offered for people to stay, people were not asked to sign a new 12 months contract and many deals were offered to many people as lifetime deals).

Thank you MrB, you have described my own experience of being offered a loyalty package very nicely.

This was clearly shown on my NTL bills as LOYALTY PACK BB/ PHONE

The deal was offered to me unconditionally, i.e. without time-limit and I was not asked to sign a new 12 month agreement, or to agree to such a conditional agreement orally. However, as a consequence of my accepting an offer, we legally entered into a contract.

It is only more recently that VM have started tightening up their internal processes. To say that all these deals were (potentially) all applied by mistake is nonsense - however, I am not saying some rogue CS didn't go too far and therefore cleaning account is bound to happen to some!

When I look at any discount I have received, invariably the resulting price is very close to what may be achieved with BT and Sky (and since BT and Sky offer free evening and weekend calls, Sky offer free broadband or £5 for 8MB, the market is very competitive - particularly with the current £150 Quidco cashback inducement for Sky!).

MrB

Again, my loyalty discount put my revised NTL deal about 50p per month lower than the Sky deal at the time.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Dunderhead

Thank you MrB, you have described my own experience of being offered a loyalty package very nicely.

This was clearly shown on my NTL bills as LOYALTY PACK BB/ PHONE

The deal was offered to me unconditionally, i.e. without time-limit and I was not asked to sign a new 12 month agreement, or to agree to such a conditional agreement orally. However, as a consequence of my accepting an offer, we legally entered into a contract.



Again, my loyalty discount put my revised NTL deal about 50p per month lower than the Sky deal at the time.

So lets cut to the chase.

Have they offered you a deal to stay

OR

Have you given your 30 days notice.

I know which one i would have done and will be doing shortly ????

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by Dunderhead

Thank you MrB, you have described my own experience of being offered a loyalty package very nicely.
This was clearly shown on my NTL bills as LOYALTY PACK BB/ PHONE
The deal was offered to me unconditionally, i.e. without time-limit and I was not asked to sign a new 12 month agreement, or to agree to such a conditional agreement orally. However, as a consequence of my accepting an offer, we legally entered into a contract.
Again, my loyalty discount put my revised NTL deal about 50p per month lower than the Sky deal at the time.

Yes and now they have removed that offer, given you 30 days notice as you have agreed they are allowed to do.
Also the loyalty pack discounts have only come in since virgin media formed, or maybe a few months before, under ntl they were shown on the bill as BB2TWFAM etc

[Dunderhead]

Originally Posted by Sirius

So lets cut to the chase.

Have they offered you a deal to stay

OR

Have you given your 30 days notice.

I know which one i would have done and will be doing shortly ????

No, I have not been offered a deal to stay. I spent half an hour on the phone and the Customer Relations person would only extend my current contract for another 30 days, which was pointless because the next day I received my BB bill for a new rate.

They haven't told me either what their proposed increase will be, the letter was silent on that matter. I know what the new BB rate is because I have received a bill but I haven't received a phone bill so I don't know what changes they have made.

I have written to Trevor Elliott and asked for an explanation. I have also told him politely that his letter is dishonest because it doesn't reflect the true situation, i.e. they have reviewed historical agreements and decided to cancel them, blaming billing mistakes.

I haven't given my notice yet because that would make it even harder to get their attention.

I am giving VM a chance to respond formally before I move to the next stage (which isn't me walking away muttering).

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by Dunderhead

snip

I am giving VM a chance to respond formally before I move to the next stage (which isn't me walking away muttering).

Im not sure what you mean by the next step, but there can be no legal recourse as they have offered you 30 days notice at the old price which is all they are bound to do. If writing to mr elliot doesnt proove succesfull, theres not much higher you can go.