Originally Posted by pskip
Made the phone call and as a result my monthly bill has now halved. admittedly I've gone from TVxl to M+, but all the channels I normally watch are included. BB has dropped from 60 to 30 mob but will increase to 50mb and reverted to M phone but never use it anyway, so overall I'm happy and Virgin have lost £40+ a month. Makes me wonder how many have done what I have to save. Someone at virgin must have done the sums but makes me wonder of the sense of it all
I see it in a completely different way.
What a load of money you have been wasting by having services that you didn't need - TV channels that you've never watched and a landline you don't use.
What you say Ernie is basically correct but as I said earlier many customers would have just stayed on the package they were on if the increases had not been so frequent. This latest one is in fact quite excessive for many at more than £5.
Don't forget than when we were encouraged to take Tivo it was free and included the V+ being moved, again free, to another room. We now pay £5 for Tivo and have had price increases. This has drawn customers attention to what they are getting for their money and many have decided to downgrade to cut costs.
What a load of money you have been wasting by having services that you didn't need - TV channels that you've never watched and a landline you don't use.
What you say Ernie is basically correct but as I said earlier many customers would have just stayed on the package they were on if the increases had not been so frequent. This latest one is in fact quite excessive for many at more than £5.
Don't forget than when we were encouraged to take Tivo it was free and included the V+ being moved, again free, to another room. We now pay £5 for Tivo and have had price increases. This has drawn customers attention to what they are getting for their money and many have decided to downgrade to cut costs.
I agree when I first got my Tivo it included moving my V+ box foc? I've only found out recently however that my package included a V+ hd monthly fee! Until we get some clarity and transparency into charges, ie why should a line rental be shown as a seperate charge. We will continue to have this farce every time a price rise comes around.
Well done Dicky Ticker if only more people would follow your example. The XL Tv package probably has around 200+ channels, so how many channels do most folks actually watch on a regular basis, could you do without a few TV channels if so folks downgrade to M+ and save yourself a few quid.
Most folks have free calls on their mobiles, do you really need an all singing all dancing calls package. Downgrade if you can save yourself a few quid.
I would have thought that for most 30mb would be fast enough especially as it is going up to 50mb for folks in the next few months. Dongrade to 30mb save a few quid
If this happened it would give Virgin a bloody nose and they may think twice about such large increases
In the past 3 years I reckon packages have gone up by around 30%.
What is the rate of inflation how much of a pay rise have you had
Originally Posted by pskip
Made the phone call and as a result my monthly bill has now halved. admittedly I've gone from TVxl to M+, but all the channels I normally watch are included. BB has dropped from 60 to 30 mob but will increase to 50mb and reverted to M phone but never use it anyway, so overall I'm happy and Virgin have lost £40+ a month. Makes me wonder how many have done what I have to save. Someone at virgin must have done the sums but makes me wonder of the sense of it all
I see it in a completely different way.
What a load of money you have been wasting by having services that you didn't need - TV channels that you've never watched and a landline you don't use.
What you say Ernie is basically correct but as I said earlier many customers would have just stayed on the package they were on if the increases had not been so frequent. This latest one is in fact quite excessive for many at more than £5.
Don't forget than when we were encouraged to take Tivo it was free and included the V+ being moved, again free, to another room. We now pay £5 for Tivo and have had price increases. This has drawn customers attention to what they are getting for their money and many have decided to downgrade to cut costs.
Another one here going to be downgrading to save money,phone and bb speed going to be reduced.I think virgin have really shot themselves in the foot this time, there's only so far you can push it.
Another one here going to be downgrading to save money,phone and bb speed going to be reduced.I think virgin have really shot themselves in the foot this time, there's only so far you can push it.
I've gone from paying £80 to £36 for agreeing to another 12 months with a promise that the February increase won't effect me. I shall prob go for line rental saver as well and save another 60+ quid. Can't say I've noticed any difference in the reduction of BB speed that's happened and still watch all channels as before, yeah I ve lost BT sports but I can live with that, I can use my parents SkyGo account for the rest of the football.Funny thing is though for some reason the've kept my free spotify premium active.
What you say Ernie is basically correct but as I said earlier many customers would have just stayed on the package they were on if the increases had not been so frequent. This latest one is in fact quite excessive for many at more than £5.
An increase of £2 to £3 is change behind the sofa, it's the tip you leave behind after going to Pizza Hut. However £5 is real money ... that is money in note form. It's a threshold which is hard for most people to stomach. Virgin may have actually lost more revenue during this round of price increase compared to previous years when the increase was less. Unfortunately this means from now on we can all expect every annual price increase to be around £5 or more. And there's not much left to decrease in our package before customers just leave Virgin altogether.
Also is reducing your package actually a deal? You're paying for a reduced service so it's not like Virgin has offered a discount to your package. Surely a successful negotiation with retentions is when you keep your existing package but reduced or eliminated the latest monthly price increase?
An increase of £2 to £3 is change behind the sofa, it's the tip you leave
Also is reducing your package actually a deal? You're paying for a reduced service so it's not like Virgin has offered a discount to your package. Surely a successful negotiation with retentions is when you keep your existing package but reduced or eliminated the latest monthly price increase?
i suppose it depends if you are using that package to its full potential, I certainly wasn't. The increase served as a wake up call to me to rationalise what I really needed at a price I was prepared to live with, this is what I have done and I suspect many others. Looking at the breakdown in pricing I was given it include a £7 a month "loyalty discount" so in a way I suppose its a deal.
An 11% rise, more than 4x inflation is crazy. Way above even my energy bill rises. Have they justified this anywhere? Seems like pure price gouging.
I know in theory there is the vague promise of a broadband speed rise which looks to be a year away.
Are they using this to pay for the "free" Netflix offer? The VM rise for is not far off covering what Netflix would cost me!
Did they vastly overpay for the "free" BT Sport? If so, it is well past time to drop that into a package of its own.
It will cost me less per month than the VM rise to cover the monthly price of Now TV to get Game of Thrones. Admittedly the Now TV is an introductory price, but it is amazing that I can get Sky Atlantic direct from Sky for less than the price of this years VM price rise.
There is the lovely kicker that if I wanted to drop the overpriced landline I never use, it will not save me any money!
An 11% year on year price rise cannot be sustainable in the current economic environment over the long term, can it?
it's the tip you leave behind after going to Pizza Hut.
... must be a London thing ;-)
Seriously though, I think lots of people on DS are just waking up to the fact that most don't need all those channels, nor the superfast broadband or the unlimited call plans. It's the same with mobile phones - most people probably use less than half their talktime and mobile data allowances, but don't monitor it. The good thing, though, is that for every DS user, there's hundreds unaware that they're paying over the odds, which at least keeps prices a bit cheaper for the savvy users here.
I guess in previous years, retentions were more willing to negotiate down or even eliminate the annual price increase. However I've noticed they were less flexible and actively pushing for customers to reduce their existing package (and getting rid of Sky Movies or Sky Sports altogether). In other words they were rigid with the price increase and in order to reduce your monthly bill their solution is to reduce your service package. Granted you probably didn't need that particular level of service in the first place but what's going to happen next year when you've already reduced your package to the bare minimum?
I guess in previous years, retentions were more willing to negotiate down or even eliminate the annual price increase. However I've noticed they were less flexible and actively pushing for customers to reduce their existing package (and getting rid of Sky Movies or Sky Sports altogether). In other words they were rigid with the price increase and in order to reduce your monthly bill their solution is to reduce your service package. Granted you probably didn't need that particular level of service in the first place but what's going to happen next year when you've already reduced your package to the bare minimum?
I guess in previous years, retentions were more willing to negotiate down or even eliminate the annual price increase. However I've noticed they were less flexible and actively pushing for customers to reduce their existing package (and getting rid of Sky Movies or Sky Sports altogether). In other words they were rigid with the price increase and in order to reduce your monthly bill their solution is to reduce your service package. Granted you probably didn't need that particular level of service in the first place but what's going to happen next year when you've already reduced your package to the bare minimum?
You probably know that they don't make much money from Sky channels, so this is no loss to them. In fact it will make their overall percentage profit higher (which is what the accountants care about) because subscribers will be left with services that they DO make money on. Plus with BT squeezing Sky from the other side, it's more pressure on Sky which I'm sure VM won't lose sleep over. One reason VM needed to offer Sky channels in the first place was that if they didn't, subscribers had to go to Sky. With NowTV available, subscribers have the ability to choose day passes for the occasional event and less likely to migrate in full, and there's plenty of ways to watch movies. I think others on here have pointed out that statistics showed the serious sports fans usually chose Sky over VM anyway.
The traditional pay-TV market is more fragmented now, and there's lots of competition from streaming services so prices are pretty much rock-bottom. If you consider the TV package costs and the fact that VM have to pass on some of the revenue to the channels, then compare that with the broadband and landline costs where all the money is theirs, TV is probably the lowest priority of the three.
I guess in previous years, retentions were more willing to negotiate down or even eliminate the annual price increase. However I've noticed they were less flexible and actively pushing for customers to reduce their existing package (and getting rid of Sky Movies or Sky Sports altogether). In other words they were rigid with the price increase and in order to reduce your monthly bill their solution is to reduce your service package. Granted you probably didn't need that particular level of service in the first place but what's going to happen next year when you've already reduced your package to the bare minimum?
They reduced my bill and I kept the existing package.(Granted no TV, just phone and BB) The reduction included the Feb increase. If you take in what the package was going to be with the price rise, my saving is around 25%.
I don't think retentions is an exact science, I have a feeling that they have different parameters on different days which determine their maximum discount for each customer....Some days you win more than others.
I have a feeling that they have different parameters on different days which determine their maximum discount for each customer....Some days you win more than others.
Of course the (probably vast majority!) of customers who NEVER ever phone retentions (including friends of mine!) would probably prefer that they never offered anything - to keep overall bills down!
If the rates published by VM are fair and represent value to both them and most customers it SHOULD, in some ways, be a simple "take it or leave it" option!
Of course the (probably vast majority!) of customers who NEVER ever phone retentions (including friends of mine!) would probably prefer that they never offered anything - to keep overall bills down!
If the rates published by VM are fair and represent value to both them and most customers it SHOULD, in some ways, be a simple "take it or leave it" option!
I agree to a certain extent that Virgin should have and advertised price and that should be it. Having said that though, the UK is becoming more savvy in the bargaining stakes than they ever used to be.
I've even haggled over prices in the Major department stores and managed reductions over the marked price. So it's not surprising that those who are bold/knowledgeable enough to phone and talk with Virgin are the ones that usually get the best deals.
I guess it's not going to change any time soon, so the yearly calls will keep going in for the foreseeable future..
I agree to a certain extent that Virgin should have and advertised price and that should be it. Having said that though, the UK is becoming more savvy in the bargaining stakes than they ever used to be.
I've even haggled over prices in the Major department stores and managed reductions over the marked price. So it's not surprising that those who are bold/knowledgeable enough to phone and talk with Virgin are the ones that usually get the best deals.
I guess it's not going to change any time soon, so the yearly calls will keep going in for the foreseeable future..
I would be interested to know what percentage of customers NEVER phone about any price rise! I rather suspect "quite a lot" - until it reaches a point when they need to stop taking some component!
I agree to a certain extent that Virgin should have and advertised price and that should be it. Having said that though, the UK is becoming more savvy in the bargaining stakes than they ever used to be.
I've even haggled over prices in the Major department stores and managed reductions over the marked price. So it's not surprising that those who are bold/knowledgeable enough to phone and talk with Virgin are the ones that usually get the best deals.
I guess it's not going to change any time soon, so the yearly calls will keep going in for the foreseeable future..
I haggled over the price off four new tires for my car. From the price the originally asked I manged to knock 50% off. Shows how much profit some companies make if they are willing to be knocked down in price.
I left Virgin after 15+ years with cable. My monthly bill was going up to £93 a month, now with sky virtually same package for £51 for 6 months and then £71 a month
I left Virgin after 15+ years with cable. My monthly bill was going up to £93 a month, now with sky virtually same package for £51 for 6 months and then £71 a month
Looks like people are leaving Virgin in droves
You have absolutely no proof of churn in Virgin Media's customers.
As a 'valued customer' I was offered a 'reward'. Our avergae bill for phone calls was £4 per month. They offered Unlimited free calls to landlines, mobiles, 08 numbers as a reward....for £15 per month!!! I asked them how that was a reward.....told them to 'go away!':cool:
It's all very well people saying "threaten to leave to get a good deal" but, all appearances to the contrary, VM aren't stupid. If I were to threaten to leave VM will be very aware that my local exchange is still a "Future Exchange" for fibre so if I left I'd be accepting a much worse BB service cos my local exchange is barely capable of 15mbps download speeds. Costwise, to get everything I get now but split between VM and Sky, would be more than I currently pay.
It just gets me wound up that since they first said "we're doubling your broadband for no extra cost" there's been half a dozen price rises, usually 2 or more a year.
Also, because I'm a previous Sky customer I'd probably have to pay for my boxes so there'd be a hefty upfront cost to fork out too.
my parents are with them, been with them (birmingham cable) from 1989
there bill is now over £70 a month...they are retired and this is just stupid cost for them.
they use the BB for just email and facebook...they don't need speed.
so i will be moving the to a new provider in the new year..
they was worried they would lose there number but called BT and the number can so no reason to stay with them now.
was told by telewest that the broadband was £4.99 for life but that went out the window when VM took over.
Comments
Made the phone call and as a result my monthly bill has now halved. admittedly I've gone from TVxl to M+, but all the channels I normally watch are included. BB has dropped from 60 to 30 mob but will increase to 50mb and reverted to M phone but never use it anyway, so overall I'm happy and Virgin have lost £40+ a month. Makes me wonder how many have done what I have to save. Someone at virgin must have done the sums but makes me wonder of the sense of it all
I see it in a completely different way.
What a load of money you have been wasting by having services that you didn't need - TV channels that you've never watched and a landline you don't use.
What you say Ernie is basically correct but as I said earlier many customers would have just stayed on the package they were on if the increases had not been so frequent. This latest one is in fact quite excessive for many at more than £5.
Don't forget than when we were encouraged to take Tivo it was free and included the V+ being moved, again free, to another room. We now pay £5 for Tivo and have had price increases. This has drawn customers attention to what they are getting for their money and many have decided to downgrade to cut costs.
I agree when I first got my Tivo it included moving my V+ box foc? I've only found out recently however that my package included a V+ hd monthly fee! Until we get some clarity and transparency into charges, ie why should a line rental be shown as a seperate charge. We will continue to have this farce every time a price rise comes around.
Most folks have free calls on their mobiles, do you really need an all singing all dancing calls package. Downgrade if you can save yourself a few quid.
I would have thought that for most 30mb would be fast enough especially as it is going up to 50mb for folks in the next few months. Dongrade to 30mb save a few quid
If this happened it would give Virgin a bloody nose and they may think twice about such large increases
In the past 3 years I reckon packages have gone up by around 30%.
What is the rate of inflation how much of a pay rise have you had
I've gone from paying £80 to £36 for agreeing to another 12 months with a promise that the February increase won't effect me. I shall prob go for line rental saver as well and save another 60+ quid. Can't say I've noticed any difference in the reduction of BB speed that's happened and still watch all channels as before, yeah I ve lost BT sports but I can live with that, I can use my parents SkyGo account for the rest of the football.Funny thing is though for some reason the've kept my free spotify premium active.
An increase of £2 to £3 is change behind the sofa, it's the tip you leave behind after going to Pizza Hut. However £5 is real money ... that is money in note form. It's a threshold which is hard for most people to stomach. Virgin may have actually lost more revenue during this round of price increase compared to previous years when the increase was less. Unfortunately this means from now on we can all expect every annual price increase to be around £5 or more. And there's not much left to decrease in our package before customers just leave Virgin altogether.
Also is reducing your package actually a deal? You're paying for a reduced service so it's not like Virgin has offered a discount to your package. Surely a successful negotiation with retentions is when you keep your existing package but reduced or eliminated the latest monthly price increase?
i suppose it depends if you are using that package to its full potential, I certainly wasn't. The increase served as a wake up call to me to rationalise what I really needed at a price I was prepared to live with, this is what I have done and I suspect many others. Looking at the breakdown in pricing I was given it include a £7 a month "loyalty discount" so in a way I suppose its a deal.
I know in theory there is the vague promise of a broadband speed rise which looks to be a year away.
Are they using this to pay for the "free" Netflix offer? The VM rise for is not far off covering what Netflix would cost me!
Did they vastly overpay for the "free" BT Sport? If so, it is well past time to drop that into a package of its own.
It will cost me less per month than the VM rise to cover the monthly price of Now TV to get Game of Thrones. Admittedly the Now TV is an introductory price, but it is amazing that I can get Sky Atlantic direct from Sky for less than the price of this years VM price rise.
There is the lovely kicker that if I wanted to drop the overpriced landline I never use, it will not save me any money!
An 11% year on year price rise cannot be sustainable in the current economic environment over the long term, can it?
... must be a London thing ;-)
Seriously though, I think lots of people on DS are just waking up to the fact that most don't need all those channels, nor the superfast broadband or the unlimited call plans. It's the same with mobile phones - most people probably use less than half their talktime and mobile data allowances, but don't monitor it. The good thing, though, is that for every DS user, there's hundreds unaware that they're paying over the odds, which at least keeps prices a bit cheaper for the savvy users here.
Go to sky
You probably know that they don't make much money from Sky channels, so this is no loss to them. In fact it will make their overall percentage profit higher (which is what the accountants care about) because subscribers will be left with services that they DO make money on. Plus with BT squeezing Sky from the other side, it's more pressure on Sky which I'm sure VM won't lose sleep over. One reason VM needed to offer Sky channels in the first place was that if they didn't, subscribers had to go to Sky. With NowTV available, subscribers have the ability to choose day passes for the occasional event and less likely to migrate in full, and there's plenty of ways to watch movies. I think others on here have pointed out that statistics showed the serious sports fans usually chose Sky over VM anyway.
The traditional pay-TV market is more fragmented now, and there's lots of competition from streaming services so prices are pretty much rock-bottom. If you consider the TV package costs and the fact that VM have to pass on some of the revenue to the channels, then compare that with the broadband and landline costs where all the money is theirs, TV is probably the lowest priority of the three.
I don't think retentions is an exact science, I have a feeling that they have different parameters on different days which determine their maximum discount for each customer....Some days you win more than others.
If the rates published by VM are fair and represent value to both them and most customers it SHOULD, in some ways, be a simple "take it or leave it" option!
I agree to a certain extent that Virgin should have and advertised price and that should be it. Having said that though, the UK is becoming more savvy in the bargaining stakes than they ever used to be.
I've even haggled over prices in the Major department stores and managed reductions over the marked price. So it's not surprising that those who are bold/knowledgeable enough to phone and talk with Virgin are the ones that usually get the best deals.
I guess it's not going to change any time soon, so the yearly calls will keep going in for the foreseeable future..
I haggled over the price off four new tires for my car. From the price the originally asked I manged to knock 50% off. Shows how much profit some companies make if they are willing to be knocked down in price.
Looks like people are leaving Virgin in droves
You have absolutely no proof of churn in Virgin Media's customers.
Published figures will show the reality in time.
It just gets me wound up that since they first said "we're doubling your broadband for no extra cost" there's been half a dozen price rises, usually 2 or more a year.
Also, because I'm a previous Sky customer I'd probably have to pay for my boxes so there'd be a hefty upfront cost to fork out too.
Yes, got a very nice temporary promotion following the price rise. Only renewed my contract in August with various other promotions.
there bill is now over £70 a month...they are retired and this is just stupid cost for them.
they use the BB for just email and facebook...they don't need speed.
so i will be moving the to a new provider in the new year..
they was worried they would lose there number but called BT and the number can so no reason to stay with them now.
was told by telewest that the broadband was £4.99 for life but that went out the window when VM took over.
Ain't you treated as a new customer if you return after nine months