SD : TV price rises

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by howardmicks

If get a reply-will post email,I urge other people to do the same

I would respectfully suggest that this is not a good idea as I am sure that any public statements that VM wants to make would come via the Press Office and that this would constitute private communication.

If I had intended to make any reply public I would at least have had the courtesy to ask if he minded.

And this applies to any company, not just VM.

[andy_m]

I think if Virgin put something in an email to a customer then it would only be what they'd already be prepared to allow the public at large to know. I understand what you're saying, Carl, but I don't think we need to be too concerned - Virgin won't say anything that they won't want to get out, and besides, the contents of their email is already entirely predictable.

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I would respectfully suggest that this is not a good idea .

It was a great idea. We know that the reply will probably be a next to useless regarding real information, but it informs head office about what people are disgruntled about, and points out to them that there is serious competition on the horizon, waiting to take their customers.

[carlwaring]

And people say I quote them out of context sometimes

The "not a good idea" comment, as Andy seemed to easily work out, was referring to the publishing of a private email on a public forum without express permission of the author.

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

And people say I quote them out of context sometimes

The "not a good idea" comment, as Andy seemed to easily work out, was referring to the publishing of a private email on a public forum without express permission of the author.

Well, anything VM say to one particular customer, re the questions in that particular email, should be information that VM have no problem being made available to all customers. Which is why the reply will probably be generic and devoid of substance. But the email was good, because it will have made valid points that head office really need to hear.

[howardmicks]

Originally Posted by passingbat

Well, anything VM say to one particular customer, re the questions in that particular email, should be information that VM have no problem being made available to all customers. Which is why the reply will probably be generic and devoid of substance. But the email was good, because it will have made valid points that head office really need to hear.

cheers mate,not expect much of a reply.but felt they needed to know how some customers feel,prob nothing will come of it but worth a try

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by howardmicks

cheers mate,not expect much of a reply.but felt they needed to know how some customers feel,prob nothing will come of it but worth a try

be interesting to see if they reply

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by howardmicks

cheers mate,not expect much of a reply.but felt they needed to know how some customers feel,prob nothing will come of it but worth a try

Howard its always good to express how you feel to VM . You never know someone who really matters may take notice and it gets it off your chest

[Pubmaster]

Good luck Howard, doubt you will get much of a response, but at least you tried.

[MaverickJesus]

Originally Posted by denphone

Sky Broadband - My experiences have been very poor with Sky's broadband
Sky's STB - Clunky and quite ancient compared to the TiVo STB
Sky's VOD - Not bad but second rate still compared to VM's huge libriary
Sky TV - More channels but their only advantage is SA in my opinion

Overall Virgin beats Sky both on price and the better all round quality of its package but with Sky dangling those offers for some l suspect it will be very tempting.

Sorry to jump back to this, but I have had the 'honour' of having both full packages for a short period while I transition to Sky, and I don't necessarily agree with most of these points.

Sky Broadband - The ADSL offering isn't really a match for cable broadband unless you live in a horrifically over utilised area, but the Sky Fibre/Fibre Pro offerings are far superior.
Skys STB - I thought I would hate it, but in all honesty its not that different to TiVO. Its a bit annoying having one less tuner, and the layout of the TV guide/EPG in particular isn't as comfortable as the Tivo for me, but the rest of it is fantastic, especially since the upgrade to replace the horrible looking sky blue/white EPG with the swish looking new one. Very nice to navigate, and more responsive than the Tivo, which is still sluggish even after the UI performance improvements. Haven't had chance to compare the tablet/smartphone integration yet so I can't comment on that.
Skys VOD - Anytime stuff is decent, although not quite as good as available on VM.
Skys TV - This was the swinger for me - I get SS3 HD, SS4 HD, SSF1 HD, Sky Atlantic, the whole suite of A&E channels in HD (sans Bio?), BT Sports already inked and a couple of other extra decent channels I haven't had before.

Between the sports channels I desperately wanted and my cable broadband being so dire, and a 50% deal/12 months for the lot, its a no brainer.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by MaverickJesus

Sorry to jump back to this, but I have had the 'honour' of having both full packages for a short period while I transition to Sky, and I don't necessarily agree with most of these points.

Sky Broadband - The ADSL offering isn't really a match for cable broadband unless you live in a horrifically over utilised area, but the Sky Fibre/Fibre Pro offerings are far superior.
Skys STB - I thought I would hate it, but in all honesty its not that different to TiVO. Its a bit annoying having one less tuner, and the layout of the TV guide/EPG in particular isn't as comfortable as the Tivo for me, but the rest of it is fantastic, especially since the upgrade to replace the horrible looking sky blue/white EPG with the swish looking new one. Very nice to navigate, and more responsive than the Tivo, which is still sluggish even after the UI performance improvements. Haven't had chance to compare the tablet/smartphone integration yet so I can't comment on that.
Skys VOD - Anytime stuff is decent, although not quite as good as available on VM.
Skys TV - This was the swinger for me - I get SS3 HD, SS4 HD, SSF1 HD, Sky Atlantic, the whole suite of A&E channels in HD (sans Bio?), BT Sports already inked and a couple of other extra decent channels I haven't had before.

Between the sports channels I desperately wanted and my cable broadband being so dire, and a 50% deal/12 months for the lot, its a no brainer.

While respecting your opinions l think our minds differ on this but then again if we all shared the same sheep like views then life would indeed be very boring.

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by MaverickJesus

Skys STB - I thought I would hate it, but in all honesty its not that different to TiVO. .

So, the Sky box has 3 recordable tuners, Whishlists and automatic recording clash resolution?

[carlwaring]

I was also going to question that statement but then I haven't had Sky+ and figured someone would make a big thing about it!

Not only does Sky+ not have those features but I suspect that the UI is also very different.

[kop32]

Originally Posted by passingbat

So, the Sky box has 3 recordable tuners, Whishlists and automatic recording clash resolution?

Sorry mate but he did say it was "a bit annoying having one less tuner",and as for "wishlists",well,I would not exactly say they were a deal breaker,as for the automatic recording clash, well you are reminded when you set a program to record on Sky to see if it clashes with any other recordings,which, even for us poor unfortunate Sky viewers isn't that difficult to do even with our vastly inferior Sky HD box's......

[howardmicks]

Had a email back ---

Thank you for your comments we received regarding the issues you have
had with your account.

First of all I?d just like to say how sorry I am to hear you?re not
happy with our impending price increase. I understand your concern, and
I'd just like to take this opportunity to explain a bit about our
prices.

We regularly review all the services we offer and we'll sometimes make
changes to make sure you're always getting the best service and the best
value we can offer. As always we're totally committed to bringing you
the very best in broadband, TV and home phone, in fact, Ofcom has
announced that Virgin Media delivers the fastest broadband speeds in the
UK, for the fourth year in a row. And we're working hard to keep it that
way.

Our price increase is a part of the terms & conditions of using the
services as it is with many service providers. Customers who are unhappy
with the change have 30 days from the date of being notified to
disconnect their Virgin Media account without any disconnection fees. To
do so just call our disconnections team free on the numbers below.

We have launched Virgin Media TV Anywhere. This facility allows the live
streaming of channels to the iPhone, iPad, PC or Mac alongside several
thousand hours of on demand content. The iPad and online versions will
also allow Virgin Media TiVo customers to tap into their TiVo boxes to
record shows, manage their recordings and change their series links.

If you have any general queries please speak to our Customer Care Team
for free on 150 from a Virgin Media line or 0845 454 1111 from any other
line.

Thank you for your patience whilst we were looking into this matter.


Yours sincerely


Scott Harrison
Virgin Media Complaints Team

Firstly if we aint happy with the increase we can allways leave,Cheers vm
and your patience whilst we were looking into this matter.maybe they have gone looking for there bleedin new channels lol.
Got to say that is the worse email every recieved back from vm and it looks that its been passed on to somebody on there complaints team,maybe the ceo`s office team are on there xmas party at the moment with are price increases they can certainly have a good one.
Will await next email and post on here once/if recieve