Price increases and retention deals

[Sleeper919]

As most of you probably know, Virginmedia will be increasing some of their prices in April.

I have recently come out of a contract and was thinking of ringing up Virgin to see if they could offer me a new deal. However, I am unsure whether it would be best to wait until after the price increase or to do it before. If I ring them before the price increase then the price is just going to go up anyway. Conversely, If I ring up after the price increase, I imagine many other customers will have the same idea. Virgin probably have some kind of "action plan" ready for retentions dept. to deal with this.

I currently pay about £52 for XL TV, 10Mb Broadband and XL phone. I was hoping to either get a discount for the same package or get 20Mb BB included in the package. What do you think?

I am on same xl tv 10 meg broadband and xl phone and i'm paying £39 a month before price increases so it'll be £1.50 more i think from april.

[Kymmy]

If they offer you a retention deal then it's a discount they're offering, that discount will be the same whether it be pre or post price increase

[Sleeper919]

I think it's £2.50 more - don't forget the line rental increase.

[shnookumshnum]

Same here, I have L Bband, XLTV and XL phone and paying £44pm. I dont even need the TV and phone, but when I called Virgin, they told me that if I downgrade the services, the the £22 discount on the accound will come off . They say that I should stay the way I am, but when I look at the offers new customers get, I feel I am just a number. I hate Sky so no chance of that, but for £20pm I can get Talk Talk BB and phone, so I may as well do that.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by shnookumshnum

They say that I should stay the way I am, but when I look at the offers new customers get, I feel I am just a number.

A 'number' that is getting the services for £8.45 less than a new customer would

[Sleeper919]

A £22 discount is pretty good. I would love to have my current package at that price. Does that include line rental?

[ferritt]

I just got a retentions deal and got XL tv, 20 meg BB, & standard phone line. Cost me £53 p/month. Thats the best I could get. Th CS rep wasnt budging at all

Was paying £26 for 20 meg and phone line but that deal ran out last september so it went up to £36. I thought by at least adding a service a may get a decent retentions deal?

cheers

[*sloman*]

How much are the price increases? if they are more than the rate off inflation we maybe able to get out of our contracts?

This is how i got out of my O2 contract and more recently my Orange contract last summer.

[BenMcr]

The term in the VM contract allows you to cancel the affected services only. Any services you have under contract that aren't changing in price would be held to the rest of the term

[nigelmclelland]

Cant verginmedia scrap the conection charges for fixed line phone calls and bring thier prices in to line with BT ?

[haydnwalker]

Originally Posted by nigelmclelland

Cant verginmedia scrap the conection charges for fixed line phone calls and bring thier prices in to line with BT ?

They can...but chances are that they won't

[nigelmclelland]

Originally Posted by haydnwalker

They can...but chances are that they won't

Well cant we EITHER pay line rental OR a connection charge? No connection charge with BT, We are in a reccession?

[*sloman*]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

The term in the VM contract allows you to cancel the affected services only. Any services you have under contract that aren't changing in price would be held to the rest of the term

Thanks Ben

So if i understand correctly if the TV is going up by £1.50 i can cancel the TV part but if the BB is the same i cant?

EDIT:-----
See snip from T&C’s below

Virgin Media Ltd, Virgin Media Entertainment and/or Virgin Media Payments increase their respective charges under these agreements ;
Virgin Media Ltd and/or Virgin Media Entertainment make significant changes to the services so the services you are entitled to receive in return for the charges you pay are significantly altered or reduced; or
Virgin Media Ltd, Virgin Media Entertainment and/or Virgin Media Payments make significant changes to the terms and conditions of these agreements (including the other legal stuff ),
you may cancel those services affected without penalty by giving Virgin Media Ltd and/or Virgin Media Entertainment (as applicable) at least 30 days' notice in writing. If you cancel any services in these circumstances, the increased charges will not apply to those services during the 30-day notice period and paragraph J3 will not apply if you cancel before the end of the minimum period . If you do not give such notice of cancellation within 30 days of any increase in charges or changes to the services or this agreement being notified to you or, if later, receipt of your first bill following such increase in charges, Virgin Media, Virgin Media Entertainment (if applicable) and Virgin Media Payments will assume that you have accepted the increase in charges and the changes to the services and these agreements and you will no longer be able to cancel your services under this paragraph.

Taken from Virgin Media's T&C's ( http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html...ble/terms.html )

So reading that...you have 30 days from 1st April to tell them you are not happy and want to cancel.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by *sloman*

Thanks Ben

So if i understand correctly if the TV is going up by £1.50 i can cancel the TV part but if the BB is the same i cant?

Yes - unless you have the Triple XL/XL Plus or VIP (I think) where the price of the whole bundle is staying the same even though the parts of the bundle are changing. For those bundles there is no price change so the clause does not activate.

So reading that...you have 30 days from 1st April to tell them you are not happy and want to cancel.

The maximum you have 30 days from the day you get your bill covering the April charges - which for most people will be sometime in March