Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I put in my 30 days notice to Virgin as we were thinking of moving.

I received a text saving

"We want you to stay. If you re no longer moving, you can keep your services, discounted to half price for 2017. To take up your unique offer text SAVE17 along with my name Xxxxx to 0786xxxxx"

I am assuming this is genuine? If so, what happens if I text back, do I get a callback or is some form of credit automatically applied?

And is the half price half of what I am now paying or half of list price?

I know I could text to find out, but understand from reading around that the best deal seems to be achieved from Outbound Retentions. As it would be nice to upgrade my TiVo to V6 and look at my package too then I didn't want to text and find I was then tied in to a new contract without knowing what the offer is and no room for negotiation.

There have been some fantastic deals reported if you get the right person:

virgin media tvxl v6 box plus 200mbs fibre including line rental. customer retention deal £20.50
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/virg...ention-2601625

Virgin Media retention - Full House Bundle - 200 - got it for £35pm 12 mnth contract [works out £420 for year]
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/virg...ks-out-2599076

One user recently reported getting the Full House Movies bundle with 2xV6 for £30 (others £39 for that deal), which would be great.

Does ordering a new service from another provider with phone number transfer get a better deal/response from Virgin to stay?

Many thanks

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I called yesterday as i am out of contract, and before i got put thought to retentions, i had a record message offering me a deal to stay, no further contract, but an extension of a discount(quite a big one)!.

I accepted it, then went through to speak to someone, they could not explain this offer, had no record of it, and had never heard of it happening before.

The offer explained in the message will be confirmed by email, which hasn't come yet.

I called again this morning, and before it puts me though it advises me that they are aware i have accepted an offer and it is being processed.

So not sure what's happening yet! I tweeted VM and they explained this is what they call a special offer for me!

---------- Post added at 10:30 ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 ----------

prior to all of this happening the CS team couldn't offer me anything, said the best they could do was £2.50 reduction for signing a new contract! so basically £52.00 a month for TV M, 50meg BB, and all inclusive landline, which i don;t think is that great.

---------- Post added at 10:30 ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 ----------

so i await the email, with the offer!

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

£52 for that deal isn't great if you consider new customers get offered £55 for Full House Movies package (200MB/XL TV with Movies/Phone including weekend calls) and existing customers have been offered that package regularly for £39 or in some cases less according to the threads I linked above. The package you mentioned with 50MB/M has been reported at less than £30 and in some cases less than £20.

It does seem there are some great deals to be had - it is just a challenge to get the right person offering the right deal, and knowing what is possible ... before getting your disconnection!

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

yes, i'm just waiting for a response by email from VM, if it's not what i like, I'm going to give notice to leave. Thanks for your input.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

You are welcome.

388 views and unfortunately no one has managed to answer my initial queries.

I phoned inbound Customer Relations to find out what the half price deal entailed and they had never heard of the mobile number or the deal, and said that there was no deal or communications from Virgin to me showing on my account. I suppose that is the point made by various people about Outbound though, as they must have offers available not showing for inbound staff to offer.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

Update - I sent the text and got a call back - it was genuine.

I was offered half price for 12 months on my original package - Big Kahuna, 100mb, phone line and weekend calls, 2x old Tivo, £28 (retained a legacy Mates Rates discount in that price). It didn't seem possible to get the kit upgraded with that deal unfortunately, or the free Movies offer (yes I may be expecting a lot, but only going on what others have reported as linked to above - a common feature in the really best deals seems to he putting in your cancellation and ordering a new service from a competitor to transfer your phone number which seems to open up even better outbound offers - I didn't do this last stage, which may be my downfall :().

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I'm glad you got sorted. I was quite happy with the deal I got. They paid my line rental for the whole year, and upgraded my phone package from talk unlimited to all inclusive with mobiles, etc. So gained something, held the price and no need to re contract.

I did ask about the V6, which the chap said, best thing is to hold off until the novelty wears off, and they will be more readily available, and cheaper!.

I would say that although my deal was an automated one, it did take three different people in retentions, until I got confirmation. The first one I spoke to was perhaps the least helpful, although friendly wouldn't accept that the offer was legit. I got there in the end.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

Line rental free for a year would be the icing on the cake.

I am not entirely sorted/happy yet - I went back to see if I could get the Full House Movies deal with V6 as the deals discussed on HUkD look fantastic for a similar or lower price. The best I have got offered is £42 which is not bad but it is still more than the £30 that someone achieved with 2 xV6 (or £20.50 deal that someone else got with 2 xV6 and no movies). I am wondering whether I try again or whether I have lost my ability to negotiate by accepting.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

If you can't get the deal you want then leave! Otherwise be thankful of what you can get.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I know I could leave, but why would I if I can get a better deal to stay :)?


To be on the safe side I cancelled the upgrade before install - the Customer Relations man I spoke to suggested that I am now back to being out of contract and my account credit will remain to put me on the previously agreed deal (I hope that remains true, but will probably have to wait a billing cycle to find out if the credit is added again!).

I have a BT order including number transfer in, which I haven't cancelled yet in case it helped with negotiations - will Virgin have been informed and will they likely contact me even though I have not put in cancellation with Virgin (nor do I have a new contract holding me), or will the transfer just go though and my bluff be called?

Am I paying too much?
 

I would be grateful for some advice. I'm currently paying £77 a month for my package. I've just retired and cannot justify paying this much. My additional V box is hopeless.

There seem to be much better deals on offer. Should I change to another provider or request a good retention deal? This is my package:

Loyalty Pack B B/ Phone/TV B
Talk Weekends
Fully Itemised Billing
Full House TV (XL)
1 Additional V Box
V+ HD Monthly Fee
TiVo Monthly Fee
SuperFibre 70
Bundle Charges total £58.51
Phone line rental tota £19.00
Package total £77.51

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I would advise calling the thinking of leaving us team, explain things to them they will then go through your package with you and work out where savings can be made, etc.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

This is the deal I got from retention's last week also swapped both Tivo Boxes for V6 boxes and the package below for £70 Per Month.

TiVo Monthly Fee
VIVID 200 Optical Fibre
Virgin Tv V6 Box x 2, Powered By Tivo
Full House TV (XL)
Loyalty Customer
Sky Sports and Cinema Collection
Sky Sports and Cinema HD
Talk More Anytime

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I've been with VM for 7 years, my latest deal was:

Broadband 50meg, All inclusive Landline calls, Tivo box with Player TV(Lowest) including Line rental, £33.45 a month, no new contract.


Give them a call, you might be surprised what they will do.

---------- Post added at 10:46 ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 ----------

I've heard of even better deals from VM, at the moment I'm fine with this as I've not had to re contract, so if something else better comes along, I can leave.

Re: Am I paying too much?
 

You do see. To be paying more than others. As mentioned above, phone up and speak to the cancellations/customer retentions team. From reading various forums it appears to get the very best deal you have to put in your 30 days notice (rather than just the deal on offer when you phone up) and it appears putting in an order with another supplier, including phone number transfer, prompts the very best deal from the Putbound Retentions team.

Re: Am I paying too much?
 

Should I just cancel or try negotiating with retentions first? I don't know how to tackle it, either firmly stating what I want, just asking what reductions they can make or quoting examples of what others get. I did try some years ago and all they offered was downgrading features/removing the second box. I felt the operator was rather patronising with a take it or leave it attitude.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I would always try the friendly route, but that's me!.

I would call and explain that you feel it is too expensive and that you need to try and cut costs and see if they can offer you anything.

if you've been with them a long time they really won't want you to leave, give them a call and ask, select the option 'your thinking of leaving us'.

Hope you get on okay.

Re: Am I paying too much?
 

Always friendly but giving notice seems to get the best deals as so have said above - as it moves you through to a different team who have access to the best deals (Putboubd - you cannot phone these people up, they phone you). Those you speak to through "thinking of leaving - option 1,1, 4, 5 on the menu system) can offer some deals but not the best, as their incentive is to offer you a little/package change to stay, while the next line team aim is to try to offer you enough to stop you leaving. Most people probably get something better than what they have now and accept the offer from the first team, this missing the best deals.

There are a lot of really good Sky deals at the moment through CarphineDixons to help negotiations - look on HotUKDeals under Audiovisual.

You are currently paying double what others seem to achieve for this mix.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

Thanks everyone. I got an amazing result. Contacted VM. I cancelled as not happy with small discount offered. Got a good quote from Sky. Cancelled VM. VM retentions phoned several days later with a great discount of £30 including upgrading my second box. Sky offered even better deal but decided to stay with VM for an easy life.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

Great! Please can you let us know what your package is now per month and what price you have achieved (including phone line).

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I would think it's £30 less than posted in his OP.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

:shocked: it could very well be ... but depending on how they have processed it, he could have the opportunity to pay the line rental in advance and save even more per month overall.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I called today, I was paying £39.48 for:
100Mb broadband
Mix TV
TIVO
24/7 Phone calls with Caller display (line rental saver paid)

Called retentions today and got the same deal for £36

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I called up as I was interested in the V6, managed to get Mix Tv, 100m BB and all inclusive calls for £36 a month, £50 for the V6 and £14.99 activation.
I've since had the activation charge credited back as the box didn't arrive on time, so quite pleased with the deal, one year contract.

V6 due tomorrow on self install. 😀

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

Always try to align your Line Saver Rental with the end of your contract if you can.

This is because it's not refundable and you end up either foregoing the money or effectively tying yourself into a longer contract.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

Good advice - I am letting my deal roll month by month at the moment as I am not locked in, so am forgoing the additional £2 odd saving per month in case a better deal comes along.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

New customers are being offered a 2 year price protection on their discounts for ~£5/month higher joining price so I'd imagine retention offers are going to go this way too.

Sky changed to lower discounts and longer minimum terms for retention a few months ago.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

I got 75% off and a £100 account credit from Sky last month, so there are deals still to be had if you get the right person on chat :).

I have both VM and Sky as with the combination of retention offers this was cheaper than paying for a third box.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

That's Winback which is a "different kettle of fish", Retention offers are cut first then Winback follows. Usually.

Retention (cancellations) and Downgrades have changed to 18m contracts recently with all discounts and I'd expect Winback to go the same way soon.

Where Sky goes the competition usually follows eventually so if Sky reduces the discounts then the competitors usually cut their's too.
Sky are the only one out of the big three (BT and Virgin, too) who regularly advertise at full price.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

So long as they do decent deals then I don't suppose anyone mibds being tied in (particularly as we know they will put their prices up at least once, possibly twice, per year on current form which presents the right to cancel anyway).

The offer was 60% off from the moment I put in my Sky cancellation (it appeared on the Sky box and online). As for me it is an extra box I let the cancellation go through and a day or so later went online - so it appears to pay to wait :). My deal is also with no contract so I can leave (or at least cancel again to renegotiate!) when the credit runs out.

Re: Retentions Deals - Text from Customer Relations?
 

They can put TV up ONCE in a minimum term TV contract without any right to cancel. If there is a second increase they will normally not apply it until after the end of the minimum term.

Seriously, they should stop doing these stupid offers for people.
In a time gone by, the best offer you got was when you called to cancel then the winback offer wasn't as good afterwards, then after 12m you would be a new customer.

Most people think new customer offers are best but they are a PITA to change details every year.
Winback is far easier and nearly as cheap.