20mb/50mb Pricing Discrepencies?

[MSKelly]

Hi all,

I recently read about the price drops for the 50mb service and phoned Virgin up to see about getting my current service upgraded (XL 20mb at £37). I also have XL phone and digital tv so I get a discount of a little £20 on the package.

Before I called them though I logged into ebilling to check my last bill and see what I had paid for the last months service...Well, that had me a little confused as there has been no drop in the cost of the 20mb service (still at £37 before discount), so when I phoned I thought I'd ask about that too.

Anyway, the fellow I spoke to told me upgrading would cost me an extra £17 a month. I pointed out the press release quoting the new prices but they wouldn't have any of that, so I asked what the cost of the 50mb broadband is without anything else (and without any discounts). £52 was the answer in spite of being told it should be no more than £38.

When I told them what he was telling me doesn't add up he told me I'd have to call their sales department if I "was after a better deal" so I will have to see what they say tomorrow: It's not so much about a 'better 'deal, it's about getting the correct deal.

Since then though I have gone through the online process of upgrading and again I see differing prices: XL should cost from £20 (with a free router!!) and XXL should cost from £28 as I do have the XL TV and phoneline services already!!.

So by my math if I upgrade then the 50mb service should cost only £1 more a month than I am paying now, and my current 20mb service should also have dropped in price by a good few pounds last month too!!.

Anyway, in case I have any of this wrong here is my bill summary for September (these are the combined service charges only):

Advance charges £86.75

Main services (Provided by Virgin Media Ltd or Virgin Media Payments Ltd) £60.75
Description Date/period Amount
Telephone Line Rental 22 September - 21 October £11.00
Talk Unlimited 22 September - 21 October £7.95
Talk Mobile 22 September - 21 October £1.50
X L Triple Saving 22 September - 21 October £-20.95
T V Size: X L 22 September - 21 October £23.00
Broadband Size: X L 22 September - 21 October £37.00
Paper Bill Charge 17 September £1.25

Premium TV channels (Provided by Virgin Media Entertainment) £26.00
Description Date/period Amount Skymovie 2,SkyMovie 1,Sports 1, 22 September - 21 October £26.00 Sports 2 £0.00


My thanks in advance to anyone who can offer some clarification on the situation, and if I am paying more than I should be for my current services as well. Would also appreciate any advice on what I should say to the sales rep tomorrow, or if I should just complete the online upgrade as that seems to be offering the correct adjustments.

[RobboEdin]

You are making the mistake of looking at the pricing on one bundle than using it as a starting point for your bundle. By doing so, you are comparing the discounted price for a service with the 'list' price for, in your case, BB XL of £37.

Let's take the example you quote of BB XL - the service you currently have in a bundle of all services.

For a start, you need to understand and accept that BB XL ALWAYS shows on the bill as £37 BEFORE discounts are applied.

BB XL STANDALONE with no other service is £30. This is billed as BB XL £37 with a discount of £7, making a total of £30.

BB XL with Phone M at £11 is quoted as £20, making a total of £31. This is billed as BB XL £37 plus Phone M £11 with a discount of £17, making a total of £31.

Here is the web page which states these prices:

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=3246


Now what you need to know is the figure which is on the bill for BB XXL. It is £45, down from the previous billed price of £52. This is the ONLY BB price that has changed recently.

So in your case, you should get the upgrade from BB XL to BB XXL for an extra £8 per month plus the one-off installation and activation charges of £30 and £20 respectively. You will be supplied with a new N router and an N dongle included in these installation charges.

[MSKelly]

Thanks for the reply,
I asked the same question at another forum and was given the info there as well that I needed to work it out.

What was throwing me was no clear mention of any pre-applied discount to the prices. Now I know that a £7 discount is already applied for all the BB package prices they have online I can see how that works out on my bill, and how it's applied within the discount present there.