Can they change our package price like this?

[karenm76]

Hi All,

To try and cut a long story short we have been with VM since Nov 2010 and in March 2013 had to move house. Contacted them to check we could get service in the new place which we could. Told we would be on the same package at the same price. Great, all good so far.

1st bill comes and surprise surprise it was more expensive than it should be. After 4 months of emails, calls and complaints we finally got through to someone who agreed they were in the wrong and from then on we would have a monthly credit on our bill to bring it back in line with what it should be.

We received our bill on Tuesday and the credit wasn't on there. Called customer service and they told us the discount only applied for 12 months. This was not what we were told last year. We wouldn't have agreed to that. The guy we spoke to on Tuesday said he didn't know why that had happened but would call us back the following evening once he had spoken with retentions. He never called.

We spoke to someone last night who said that basically the deal we are on is very good and they have looked at it and can no longer sustain that price but out of goodwill for not telling us the discount was ending will credit the account this month. Not good enough.

Have emailed a complaint to CEO office today and they called again and said the same thing. The deal is very good and they can't sustain it any more.

How can they do this? We signed up, they gave us a price, we pay it. They didn't say we'll review your package after a year and if we think we want more off you then we'll simply charge it. I just don't see how it can be right. I'm sure they wouldn't allow me to say I can't sustain these costs so I'm paying you less.

Can anyone advise who to get some answers and a resolution from for this? I'm not happy and like I say I just don't see how they can be allowed to up our monthly price because they feel like it.

Sorry to ramble on, hope it makes sense!

[MalteseFalcon]

Erm, they do have the right to increase package prices. You took it to the CEO office who have backed up the CS staff and told you that the price you pay now is the final price, they cannot cut it any more.

You now have 2 choices, as far as I can see.

1. Swallow it, pay the fee every month and wait a while to see if you can get a better price.

2. If you really aren't happy with them, then leave and go to SKY. But every company puts their prices up every year, so I doubt very much you will ever get a monthly price like the one you would be happy paying.

Of course there is a third option, and that is cut any service you don't use and reduce the bill like that.

[karenm76]

Yes I know what my options are and I understand that they can put price increases in place which we all incur. It's not those that I have a problem with. My issue is that I don't think it's fair they have decided to up our bill by £11.85 a month because they have decided they should have charged more to start with.
Thanks

You don't understand it because you assume you know their reasoning. But you don't. They haven't retrospectively charged you because they suddenly decided they didn't like the offer they gave you (although had they undercharged you in genuine error they would have the right to recoup that, for a time). They put you on a limited time discount in order to reduce your payments for 12 months. They didn't properly explain that this was limited and in recognition of that they gave you an extra month's discount. Now the discounts have expired and you're paying the prevailing rate for your services.

You may not like the outcome but, based on your description, they haven't done what you're accusing them of.