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VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M
service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Clive George" wrote in message et... "Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. An electronic bill is OK, until you get some debt collecting agency asking you two years down the line for payment for a service you know that you have already paid for, as has been happening to several viewers of Watchdog recently. If you have an original paper receipt, it would be easy to produce that in court as evidence of payment, but a computer printout is not the same, and could be easily doctored, or lost due to a computer crash, and yes, I do keep these type of receipts for at least 2 years. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Harry Stottle" wrote in message
... "Clive George" wrote in message et... "Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. An electronic bill is OK, until you get some debt collecting agency asking you two years down the line for payment for a service you know that you have already paid for, as has been happening to several viewers of Watchdog recently. If you have an original paper receipt, it would be easy to produce that in court as evidence of payment, but a computer printout is not the same, and could be easily doctored, or lost due to a computer crash, and yes, I do keep these type of receipts for at least 2 years. The bill isn't the original paper receipt. So it wouldn't help. If you're worried about that sort of thing, yes, you get to pay a premium for it. Your problem. But you don't actually need to if you take appropriate care with the electronic equivalents. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Harry Stottle wrote:
"Clive George" wrote in message et... "Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. An electronic bill is OK, until you get some debt collecting agency asking you two years down the line for payment for a service you know that you have already paid for, as has been happening to several viewers of Watchdog recently. Bloody hell, do they send you a bill for viewing Watchdog now? |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:13:38 -0000, Harry Stottle wrote:
and yes, I do keep these type of receipts for at least 2 years. Only two years? IIRC if HMR&C decided to have a good look at your accounts (even as a employee on PAYE) they would expect to find records going back 6 years... -- Cheers Dave. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Phil the Farmer" wrote in
message | Harry Stottle wrote: | | "Clive George" wrote in message | et... | | "Harry Stottle" wrote in message | ... | I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia | broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per | month from May, which equates | to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a | £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending | me a monthly bill!. | | They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. | So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. | Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service | charge. | | An electronic bill is OK, until you get some debt collecting | agency asking you two years down the line for payment for a | service you know that you have already paid for, as has been | happening to several viewers of Watchdog recently. | | | Bloody hell, do they send you a bill for viewing Watchdog now? How else could old mother BBC afford it?? |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:38:52 -0000, Clive George wrote:
The bill isn't the original paper receipt. So it wouldn't help. This is true but the next bill normally shows any payments made between the two billing dates. I'm on electronic billing for a few untlities, they are stored away on the server that is automagically incrementally backed up every night and a full backup every week with those (and the associated incrementals) kept for a rolling 3 week period. -- Cheers Dave. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Harry Stottle" wrote in message
... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. The best strategy in this sort of situation is to ask to speak to the cancellations department. Tyically staff in that department have more authority to offer you a better deal. -- Michael Chare |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Harry Stottle wrote:
I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. Hmm. I've just been advised that the TV component (we have the XL package) is going up by a quid; but none of the other components of my deal are affected. Except they are reducing by 2.75 GBP my 'loyalty discount', which I negotiated a few months ago with the retentions department. That seems a totally bizarre method of increasing the overall amount they are charging me; you'd think almost designed to make me see red and pull my account? And I might just do that... David |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Clive George wrote:
"Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. They've been giving a 1 GBP discount for customers with electronic billing for some time now, so in reality nothing much has actually changed; they've tried the carrot and now it's time for the stick! David |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Michael Chare wrote:
"Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. The best strategy in this sort of situation is to ask to speak to the cancellations department. Tyically staff in that department have more authority to offer you a better deal. I think they're disbanding the 2Mb option. They actually rang me to say that the speed was going up but the price was coming down (£27 a month phone and bb). I really can't be arsed to shop around. On balance they've been pretty good, the devil I know etc |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message ll.net... On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:13:38 -0000, Harry Stottle wrote: and yes, I do keep these type of receipts for at least 2 years. Only two years? IIRC if HMR&C decided to have a good look at your accounts (even as a employee on PAYE) they would expect to find records going back 6 years... Some hope. Most employees on PAYE who have very straightforward tax affairs, will never have been told about the record keeping requirement for individuals, indeed they'll be lucky to even get a notice of coding if nothing changes year on year. OTOH any number of people will have taken all those identity theft warnings to heart and will be busy shredding everything they get, and then the banks are also encouraging their customers not to bother with hard copy statements... Paul |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Harry Stottle wrote:
"Clive George" wrote in message et... "Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. An electronic bill is OK, until you get some debt collecting agency asking you two years down the line for payment for a service you know that you have already paid for, as has been happening to several viewers of Watchdog recently. If you have an original paper receipt, it would be easy to produce that in court as evidence of payment, but a computer printout is not the same, and could be easily doctored, or lost due to a computer crash, and yes, I do keep these type of receipts for at least 2 years. But you would have the bank statements providing proof of payment? -- Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message . .. Harry Stottle wrote: "Clive George" wrote in message et... "Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. They want to send you a bill electronically - costs them less. So they charge you for paper, same as for many other places. Sign up for the electronic one and you don't get that service charge. An electronic bill is OK, until you get some debt collecting agency asking you two years down the line for payment for a service you know that you have already paid for, as has been happening to several viewers of Watchdog recently. If you have an original paper receipt, it would be easy to produce that in court as evidence of payment, but a computer printout is not the same, and could be easily doctored, or lost due to a computer crash, and yes, I do keep these type of receipts for at least 2 years. But you would have the bank statements providing proof of payment? The more proof the better if a debt collecting agency comes calling :-) |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Lobster" wrote in message ... Harry Stottle wrote: I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. Hmm. I've just been advised that the TV component (we have the XL package) is going up by a quid; but none of the other components of my deal are affected. Except they are reducing by 2.75 GBP my 'loyalty discount', which I negotiated a few months ago with the retentions department. That seems a totally bizarre method of increasing the overall amount they are charging me; you'd think almost designed to make me see red and pull my account? And I might just do that... From their pov, if the loyalty discount you negotiated is unprofitable for them, allowing you to "pull the account" may be preferable to keeping your custom. Letting a customer escape is not something that businesses would normally do but the present financial climate is not normal and their survival might be more important. I hear that ITV, for that very same reason, are considering moving some, or all, of their channels to Sky. A couple of questions spring to mind: was a time period specified and did you get the agreement in writing - on paper and not just email - or was it just word of mouth? -- altheim |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"altheim" wrote in message ... "Lobster" wrote in message ... Harry Stottle wrote: I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. Hmm. I've just been advised that the TV component (we have the XL package) is going up by a quid; but none of the other components of my deal are affected. Except they are reducing by 2.75 GBP my 'loyalty discount', which I negotiated a few months ago with the retentions department. That seems a totally bizarre method of increasing the overall amount they are charging me; you'd think almost designed to make me see red and pull my account? And I might just do that... From their pov, if the loyalty discount you negotiated is unprofitable for them, allowing you to "pull the account" may be preferable to keeping your custom. Letting a customer escape is not something that businesses would normally do but the present financial climate is not normal and their survival might be more important. I have a broadband-only service from Virgin. It was originally taken out with NTL. When they first started their broadband, it was not available as a separate option. After a while, they got the idea that it would be better to sell just broadband to people that wanted it that way, rather than not have them as any kind of customer. Over the years, I have been pretty happy with the level of service and automatic speed upgrades - which are *way* beyond anything that competing technologies can offer - and have stuck with them. When Virgin took over, it all changed. The prices for a broadband-only service have crept up, and it is now possible to get a deal including TV and phone, for less than I am paying for my fast broadband service. They are forever writing to me and calling me to try to get me to convert. Thing is, I don't want their TV or phone. If I had, I would have taken them, or upgraded to a package with them, on my own. I like the broadband service that I have with them, and don't want to downgrade to a BT-level one. I suppose that I could convert to a package, and just not use the additional services, but it is annoying that to get a decent price, without having to get on the phone to their cancellations department and have a rant and 'negotiate' a deal of dubious long-term validity, I would have to change the simple service that I have, and have always had ... Arfa |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message ... "altheim" wrote in message ... "Lobster" wrote in message ... Harry Stottle wrote: I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. Hmm. I've just been advised that the TV component (we have the XL package) is going up by a quid; but none of the other components of my deal are affected. Except they are reducing by 2.75 GBP my 'loyalty discount', which I negotiated a few months ago with the retentions department. That seems a totally bizarre method of increasing the overall amount they are charging me; you'd think almost designed to make me see red and pull my account? And I might just do that... From their pov, if the loyalty discount you negotiated is unprofitable for them, allowing you to "pull the account" may be preferable to keeping your custom. Letting a customer escape is not something that businesses would normally do but the present financial climate is not normal and their survival might be more important. I have a broadband-only service from Virgin. It was originally taken out with NTL. When they first started their broadband, it was not available as a separate option. After a while, they got the idea that it would be better to sell just broadband to people that wanted it that way, rather than not have them as any kind of customer. Over the years, I have been pretty happy with the level of service and automatic speed upgrades - which are *way* beyond anything that competing technologies can offer - and have stuck with them. When Virgin took over, it all changed. The prices for a broadband-only service have crept up, and it is now possible to get a deal including TV and phone, for less than I am paying for my fast broadband service. They are forever writing to me and calling me to try to get me to convert. Thing is, I don't want their TV or phone. If I had, I would have taken them, or upgraded to a package with them, on my own. I like the broadband service that I have with them, and don't want to downgrade to a BT-level one. I suppose that I could convert to a package, and just not use the additional services, but it is annoying that to get a decent price, without having to get on the phone to their cancellations department and have a rant and 'negotiate' a deal of dubious long-term validity, I would have to change the simple service that I have, and have always had ... Arfa Fortunately it coincided with a house move and sh*te Freeview for me so changing from broadband only to broadband +TV (and then, on a subsequect move) to B/band +TV + phone made sense - as you say, a competitive package! I too have had excellent service from them. You could revisit whether you want their phone or whatever, I guess - there's no point paying and *not* using them, after all! -- Bob Mannix (anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not) |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
On 22 Mar, 16:16, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote: Only two years? IIRC if HMR&C decided to have a good look at your accounts (even as a employee on PAYE) they would expect to find records going back 6 years... If you're an employee on PAYE not working from home, your home telephone/television bill will have precious little to do with your tax affairs. Neil |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
On 22 Mar, 18:57, Lobster wrote:
*And I might just do that... For those wanting an unlimited but lower speed broadband package for not too much, Tesco offer one for about 18 quid (plus BT line rental, obviously) for 512K. And I find Freeview more than adequate for television. Neil |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
In article , Stuart Noble
scribeth thus Michael Chare wrote: "Harry Stottle" wrote in message ... I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. The best strategy in this sort of situation is to ask to speak to the cancellations department. Tyically staff in that department have more authority to offer you a better deal. I think they're disbanding the 2Mb option. They actually rang me to say that the speed was going up but the price was coming down (£27 a month phone and bb). I really can't be arsed to shop around. On balance they've been pretty good, the devil I know etc Friend of mine had a go at them last week about the 45 quid he was being charged for broadband and phone. Was put through to cancellations and they didn't offer him anything in the way of a reduction.. So the mobile is now the home phone and the 3G dongle is the new broadband;!.. Goodbye Virgin after 12 years of being a customer;!.. -- Tony Sayer |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Bob Mannix wrote:
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message ... "altheim" wrote in message ... "Lobster" wrote in message ... Harry Stottle wrote: I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. Hmm. I've just been advised that the TV component (we have the XL package) is going up by a quid; but none of the other components of my deal are affected. Except they are reducing by 2.75 GBP my 'loyalty discount', which I negotiated a few months ago with the retentions department. That seems a totally bizarre method of increasing the overall amount they are charging me; you'd think almost designed to make me see red and pull my account? And I might just do that... From their pov, if the loyalty discount you negotiated is unprofitable for them, allowing you to "pull the account" may be preferable to keeping your custom. Letting a customer escape is not something that businesses would normally do but the present financial climate is not normal and their survival might be more important. I have a broadband-only service from Virgin. It was originally taken out with NTL. When they first started their broadband, it was not available as a separate option. After a while, they got the idea that it would be better to sell just broadband to people that wanted it that way, rather than not have them as any kind of customer. Over the years, I have been pretty happy with the level of service and automatic speed upgrades - which are *way* beyond anything that competing technologies can offer - and have stuck with them. When Virgin took over, it all changed. The prices for a broadband-only service have crept up, and it is now possible to get a deal including TV and phone, for less than I am paying for my fast broadband service. They are forever writing to me and calling me to try to get me to convert. Thing is, I don't want their TV or phone. If I had, I would have taken them, or upgraded to a package with them, on my own. I like the broadband service that I have with them, and don't want to downgrade to a BT-level one. I suppose that I could convert to a package, and just not use the additional services, but it is annoying that to get a decent price, without having to get on the phone to their cancellations department and have a rant and 'negotiate' a deal of dubious long-term validity, I would have to change the simple service that I have, and have always had ... Arfa Fortunately it coincided with a house move and sh*te Freeview for me so changing from broadband only to broadband +TV (and then, on a subsequect move) to B/band +TV + phone made sense - as you say, a competitive package! I too have had excellent service from them. You could revisit whether you want their phone or whatever, I guess - there's no point paying and *not* using them, after all! Same here. The only fly/ointment has been certain telephone calls - probably to mobiles (I haven't paid that much attention). They bump up the bill, but I seem to pay less for the entire package (10Mb, phone, TV) than I paid just for a BT phone. Rob |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Neil Williams wrote:
Only two years? IIRC if HMR&C decided to have a good look at your accounts (even as a employee on PAYE) they would expect to find records going back 6 years... If you're an employee on PAYE not working from home, your home telephone/television bill will have precious little to do with your tax affairs. I said a "good look" maybe I should have said a "good look with a microscope". If HMR&C decide to have an in deepth look at you they'll be looking to account for virtually every last penny. -- Cheers Dave. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
In article ,
altheim wrote: I hear that ITV, for that very same reason, are considering moving some, or all, of their channels to Sky. They'd cease to be ITV, then, as the franchise has an obligation as regards how it is transmitted. -- *Plagiarism saves time * Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Friend of mine had a go at them last week about the 45 quid he was being charged for broadband and phone. Was put through to cancellations and they didn't offer him anything in the way of a reduction.. Ditto here, but with BT in my case. Recently, BT suddenly, without warning, decided to add £45 to our last quarterly bill. This was, apparently, for 3 months advanced rental !!! When I tackled them they said that they had a new computer system and it couldn't handle the anomaly. I asked why this suddenly came about after being with BT/Post Office for more than 45+ years !!! I was refered to previous answer !. (these drones just trot out the same script every time). I asked what the hell we would get for the £45?, they said the telephone and B/Band rental, I replied that we were already paying for that and had been for 45+years. The lastest bill came to £183. They were adament they wanted the money. We stopped the service. I went through cancellations who appeared totally indifferent. The amended bill will now only go upto the end of March, instead of end of May. So, in the end, they will NOT be getting their 'pound of flesh' after all. So, for much less than the price BT were charging just for a landline and the smallest Broadband service, we are now having Virgin Media's package of ; 1) Telephone pack Talk Anywhere200 including calls to mobiles, at anytime of day/night, 2) 10Mb Broadband (minimum) AND 3) The XL TV package including the HD pack ..... Goodbye to BT after 45+ years. In the end, the consumer WILL have the choice, and the last SAY in what they buy. Wavey Dave |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Neil Williams wrote:
On 22 Mar, 18:57, Lobster wrote: *And I might just do that... For those wanting an unlimited but lower speed broadband package for not too much, Tesco offer one for about 18 quid (plus BT line rental, obviously) for 512K. And I find Freeview more than adequate for television. Neil Virgin do 2/10M broadband, phone _and_ digital tv for less than 18+12. NT |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
I have a broadband-only service from Virgin. It was originally taken out with NTL. When they first started their broadband, it was not available as a separate option. After a while, they got the idea that it would be better to sell just broadband to people that wanted it that way, rather than not have them as any kind of customer. Over the years, I have been pretty happy with the level of service and automatic speed upgrades - which are *way* beyond anything that competing technologies can offer - and have stuck with them. When Virgin took over, it all changed. The prices for a broadband-only service have crept up, and it is now possible to get a deal including TV and phone, for less than I am paying for my fast broadband service. They are forever writing to me and calling me to try to get me to convert. Thing is, I don't want their TV or phone. If I had, I would have taken them, or upgraded to a package with them, on my own. I like the broadband service that I have with them, and don't want to downgrade to a BT-level one. I suppose that I could convert to a package, and just not use the additional services, but it is annoying that to get a decent price, without having to get on the phone to their cancellations department and have a rant and 'negotiate' a deal of dubious long-term validity, I would have to change the simple service that I have, and have always had ... Arfa We also had broadband only, then one day I had a call from Virgin offering a phone line, "no thanks - got one from BT". Well he insisted if I had a phone line I would save money each month, fair enough, chap turned up, installed socket where i asked, next bill came and indeed had a discount of IIRC £7 now well over a year later I am still saving money, and I have never even plugged a phone into the socket! |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Dave" wrote in message
... Friend of mine had a go at them last week about the 45 quid he was being charged for broadband and phone. Was put through to cancellations and they didn't offer him anything in the way of a reduction.. Ditto here, but with BT in my case. Recently, BT suddenly, without warning, decided to add £45 to our last quarterly bill. This was, apparently, for 3 months advanced rental !!! When I tackled them they said that they had a new computer system and it couldn't handle the anomaly. I asked why this suddenly came about after being with BT/Post Office for more than 45+ years !!! I was refered to previous answer !. (these drones just trot out the same script every time). If you have managed to have a BT line for 45 years without paying the line rental in advance I think that is quite an achievement! 1) Telephone pack Talk Anywhere200 including calls to mobiles, at anytime of day/night, 2) 10Mb Broadband (minimum) AND 3) The XL TV package including the HD pack ..... I assume that is some sort of cable service. In the end, the consumer WILL have the choice, and the last SAY in what they buy. Yes, but you can only (sensibly) buy what a seller is prepared to make available. Where I live, mobile phone networks are a good example of suppliers who are prepared to take your money but not provide a viable service. LLU Broadband ISPs just tell you that they can not provide a service. -- Michael Chare |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
In article , Dave
scribeth thus Friend of mine had a go at them last week about the 45 quid he was being charged for broadband and phone. Was put through to cancellations and they didn't offer him anything in the way of a reduction.. Ditto here, but with BT in my case. Recently, BT suddenly, without warning, decided to add £45 to our last quarterly bill. This was, apparently, for 3 months advanced rental !!! When I tackled them they said that they had a new computer system and it couldn't handle the anomaly. I asked why this suddenly came about after being with BT/Post Office for more than 45+ years !!! I was refered to previous answer !. (these drones just trot out the same script every time). I asked what the hell we would get for the £45?, they said the telephone and B/Band rental, I replied that we were already paying for that and had been for 45+years. The lastest bill came to £183. They were adament they wanted the money. We stopped the service. I went through cancellations who appeared totally indifferent. The amended bill will now only go upto the end of March, instead of end of May. So, in the end, they will NOT be getting their 'pound of flesh' after all. So, for much less than the price BT were charging just for a landline and the smallest Broadband service, we are now having Virgin Media's package of ; 1) Telephone pack Talk Anywhere200 including calls to mobiles, at anytime of day/night, 2) 10Mb Broadband (minimum) AND 3) The XL TV package including the HD pack ..... Goodbye to BT after 45+ years. In the end, the consumer WILL have the choice, and the last SAY in what they buy. Wavey Dave Not that the consumer has -that- much choice .. but as least there is some;).. Remember the good old days of the GPO ;!.... -- Tony Sayer |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message ll.net... On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Neil Williams wrote: Only two years? IIRC if HMR&C decided to have a good look at your accounts (even as a employee on PAYE) they would expect to find records going back 6 years... If you're an employee on PAYE not working from home, your home telephone/television bill will have precious little to do with your tax affairs. I said a "good look" maybe I should have said a "good look with a microscope". If HMR&C decide to have an in deepth look at you they'll be looking to account for virtually every last penny. -- Cheers Dave. Friend of mine in the building trade recently got 'looked at' by The Revenue, and they even asked him how many haircuts he had per year, and how much he had spent on his kids' Christmas presents ... Arfa |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Vernon wrote:
I have a broadband-only service from Virgin. It was originally taken out with NTL. When they first started their broadband, it was not available as a separate option. After a while, they got the idea that it would be better to sell just broadband to people that wanted it that way, rather than not have them as any kind of customer. Over the years, I have been pretty happy with the level of service and automatic speed upgrades - which are *way* beyond anything that competing technologies can offer - and have stuck with them. When Virgin took over, it all changed. The prices for a broadband-only service have crept up, and it is now possible to get a deal including TV and phone, for less than I am paying for my fast broadband service. They are forever writing to me and calling me to try to get me to convert. Thing is, I don't want their TV or phone. If I had, I would have taken them, or upgraded to a package with them, on my own. I like the broadband service that I have with them, and don't want to downgrade to a BT-level one. I suppose that I could convert to a package, and just not use the additional services, but it is annoying that to get a decent price, without having to get on the phone to their cancellations department and have a rant and 'negotiate' a deal of dubious long-term validity, I would have to change the simple service that I have, and have always had ... Arfa We also had broadband only, then one day I had a call from Virgin offering a phone line, "no thanks - got one from BT". Well he insisted if I had a phone line I would save money each month, fair enough, chap turned up, installed socket where i asked, next bill came and indeed had a discount of IIRC £7 now well over a year later I am still saving money, and I have never even plugged a phone into the socket! What, you mean you're still paying BT for their line?? David |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Bob Mannix" wrote in message ... "Arfa Daily" wrote in message ... "altheim" wrote in message ... "Lobster" wrote in message ... Harry Stottle wrote: I have just had an email informing me that my VirginMedia broadband M service is going to cost me an extra £3.25 per month from May, which equates to approximately a 20% price increase. This is made up of a £2.00 price increase, plus a £1.25 service charge for sending me a monthly bill!. It also says that I am to receive an upgrade to the 10Mb service, which I have not requested, and do not require. By enforcing this price increase on the majority of their customers, who probably like me do not want or require an upgrade, they are effectively penalising us for wanting a basic service for emails and web browsing, and this is not on. I shall be contacting customer services to strongly complain about this extortion, and I hope others will do the same. Hmm. I've just been advised that the TV component (we have the XL package) is going up by a quid; but none of the other components of my deal are affected. Except they are reducing by 2.75 GBP my 'loyalty discount', which I negotiated a few months ago with the retentions department. That seems a totally bizarre method of increasing the overall amount they are charging me; you'd think almost designed to make me see red and pull my account? And I might just do that... From their pov, if the loyalty discount you negotiated is unprofitable for them, allowing you to "pull the account" may be preferable to keeping your custom. Letting a customer escape is not something that businesses would normally do but the present financial climate is not normal and their survival might be more important. I have a broadband-only service from Virgin. It was originally taken out with NTL. When they first started their broadband, it was not available as a separate option. After a while, they got the idea that it would be better to sell just broadband to people that wanted it that way, rather than not have them as any kind of customer. Over the years, I have been pretty happy with the level of service and automatic speed upgrades - which are *way* beyond anything that competing technologies can offer - and have stuck with them. When Virgin took over, it all changed. The prices for a broadband-only service have crept up, and it is now possible to get a deal including TV and phone, for less than I am paying for my fast broadband service. They are forever writing to me and calling me to try to get me to convert. Thing is, I don't want their TV or phone. If I had, I would have taken them, or upgraded to a package with them, on my own. I like the broadband service that I have with them, and don't want to downgrade to a BT-level one. I suppose that I could convert to a package, and just not use the additional services, but it is annoying that to get a decent price, without having to get on the phone to their cancellations department and have a rant and 'negotiate' a deal of dubious long-term validity, I would have to change the simple service that I have, and have always had ... Arfa Fortunately it coincided with a house move and sh*te Freeview for me so changing from broadband only to broadband +TV (and then, on a subsequect move) to B/band +TV + phone made sense - as you say, a competitive package! I too have had excellent service from them. You could revisit whether you want their phone or whatever, I guess - there's no point paying and *not* using them, after all! -- Bob Mannix (anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not) Thing is Bob, I get a good deal right now on my BT. A long time ago, when they were trying to sell package deals, they rang me and said that for the amount I was using the phone (a lot) they could do me a much better deal on one of their 'include it all' packages, where you pay a fixed amount per month, and then all calls are free any time of the day - mobiles excepted of course. It was originally called Option 3 I think, and I'm not sure that they even do it as a new product any more, but they continue to service my account, on that basis. On top of the base cost, I then pay a few quid (literally) for the extra services such as caller ID and alternate number / different ring. I am very happy with my service, and have had the same number forever, so I really have no need of Virgin's telephone service. For my TV requirements, I use a mix of analogue off-air (until that's gone of course), digital off-air, and satellite, with some internet on occasion as well. It's a big house, and I've got all of this little lot tricked up into a fairly elaborate trunk distribution system that allows anything to be watched anywhere. This system would not lend itself to being fed by a Virgin STB. So that's the thing. I *really* don't need their other services. Arfa |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
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VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
"Lobster" wrote in message ... wrote: On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:00:12 +0000, Lobster wrote: What, you mean you're still paying BT for their line?? I am in a similar situation I have a Virgin line which is never used it came part of a package. Virgin charge a connection fee for every call made ,I have the all calls option from BT which cost me 14.00 a month including line rental and no connection charges . So why not dump the BT line altogether and just take Virgin's Talk Unlimited package (which AFAICS is equivalent your BT offering) at 8.00 per month? David Do you happen to know if Virgin do BT number porting ? I get the feeling that they don't, as all of the people I know who have a Virgin phone, seem to have a completely different number from the series of BT numbers which serve my village. Having had my BT number for 35 years - so everyone, including all my business contacts, know it - I would not like to have to change, so if I were to take a 'package' to save money on my (wanted) broadband, by taking an unwanted phone, I think that my socket would probably just sit there unused, as well ... Arfa |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Arfa Daily wrote:
"Lobster" wrote in message ... wrote: On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:00:12 +0000, Lobster wrote: What, you mean you're still paying BT for their line?? I am in a similar situation I have a Virgin line which is never used it came part of a package. Virgin charge a connection fee for every call made ,I have the all calls option from BT which cost me 14.00 a month including line rental and no connection charges . So why not dump the BT line altogether and just take Virgin's Talk Unlimited package (which AFAICS is equivalent your BT offering) at 8.00 per month? Do you happen to know if Virgin do BT number porting ? Yes, they do for sure. David |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:52:33 -0000, "Arfa Daily"
wrote: Friend of mine in the building trade recently got 'looked at' by The Revenue, and they even asked him how many haircuts he had per year, and how much he had spent on his kids' Christmas presents ... I think this is standard, as a few years ago a freelancer I know received the same treatment (aimed at finding out how much he was actually spending, so that could be compared to his declared income). He said it was fairly terrifying, and the process ended with his writing a large cheque. HMRC and its predecessors have had a lo-ong time to hone these techniques. On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:19:34 GMT, Rob wrote: The only fly/ointment has been certain telephone calls - probably to mobiles (I haven't paid that much attention). Perhaps you don't know about the Money Saving Expert? A page on that site lists all the ways to get lower-price phone calls, and is updated daily. For calls to mobiles, it lists several 0870 numbers you can call, and then enter the mobile number you want. The best current deal there for calls to mobiles is 7p/minute. It's been as low as 3p. http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert...cker/index.php A very useful site all round. On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:24:20 -0000, "Dave" wrote: I asked why this suddenly came about after being with BT/Post Office for more than 45+ years !!! I was refered to previous answer !. (these drones just trot out the same script every time). A technique I have found helpful in such situations is to tell the drone you want to speak to his supervisor. They all have one, and will usually transfer you pronto. The supervisor usually has more discretion with respect to problem solving. Adrian .. Adrian Stott |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
In article , Arfa Daily
scribeth thus "Lobster" wrote in message ... wrote: On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:00:12 +0000, Lobster wrote: What, you mean you're still paying BT for their line?? I am in a similar situation I have a Virgin line which is never used it came part of a package. Virgin charge a connection fee for every call made ,I have the all calls option from BT which cost me 14.00 a month including line rental and no connection charges . So why not dump the BT line altogether and just take Virgin's Talk Unlimited package (which AFAICS is equivalent your BT offering) at 8.00 per month? David Do you happen to know if Virgin do BT number porting ? I get the feeling that they don't, as all of the people I know who have a Virgin phone, seem to have a completely different number from the series of BT numbers which serve my village. Having had my BT number for 35 years - so everyone, including all my business contacts, know it - I would not like to have to change, so if I were to take a 'package' to save money on my (wanted) broadband, by taking an unwanted phone, I think that my socket would probably just sit there unused, as well ... Arfa We did that sometime ago from ntl to BT so I presume it still can be done.. -- Tony Sayer |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
Do you happen to know if Virgin do BT number porting ? I get the feeling that they don't, as all of the people I know who have a Virgin phone, seem to have a completely different number from the series of BT numbers which serve my village. Yes, you can transfer your BT number to Virgin, just tell Virgin that you want to do that and they will do all the leg work. One word of warning though, DON'T cancel yout BT account before arranging the new account with Virgin. If you do, you will loose your BT number. Just contact Virgin and they will transfer the number for you AND they will cancel your BT account at the same time. I'm going through exactly that situation right now, and we've been with BT for more than 45 years. Wavey Dave |
VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
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VirginMedia Broadband Price Increase
wrote in message ... Is there another kat lurking on here? meow? |
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