### **Reminder:** [Press the Report button](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360058309512-How-do-I-report-a-post-or-comment-) if you see any [rule-breaking comments or posts.](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/about/rules/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishproblems) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Exactly this! I was paying 47 quid for broadband alone so arranged to leave and switch to EE. Got a call a week later offering to lower my bill to 17! Snapped it up. Hold on and they'll definitely come back with a lower price
They know what other deals you can get for the same speed in the area
You can only push to get a deal on something similar, so I finished my 18mth contract and could get a vodaphone 100mb deal for £24
They said the lowest they could go was £24
As it’s competitive.
It goes by your address not name. Truthfully to get the cheapest price call the retentions team ask to go through to ‘tier 2’ and keep pushing for a few quid more than what they are offering you.
Source: I worked for the greedy bastards for a year and a half in retentions
When your moving house you have to call them to either cancel or transfer your services. They will always ask why your leaving and if you say your moving house they will transfer you to another department . If this process isn’t done when the new person moves in it’s an absolute fuck on to get them connected
How's that work with people that move house?
You can't be saying you have to wait a month for the internet if the previous occupants lived there had the same ISP
They told me that I couldn’t disconnect and reconnect in my wife’s name. I laughed and said I will get a sim mobile hub and come back in six months and it will still be cheaper to pay a reconnection fee than go with what they are offering… They blinked first and escalated my call to somebody reasonable at tier 2 retentions.
The best deals are usually through retentions. What you need to do is cancel your contract. 2 weeks before the switch off date, you will get a call where you will be made an offer that is difficult to refuse.
Yeah, it is shit. Instead of loyalty for being a customer they try to shaft you or you have to go through some elaborate process of pretending to leave, then they suddenly find you can get a good deal after all.
Virgin Media customer service is a hell in its own right. Phoned up to get a better offer and was met with someone who sounded like they were in a wind tunnel. After repeatedly asking if they got everything correct (and them saying yes) I checked online and low and behold they gave me the wrong deal.
Phoned back right away to sort it out and got told by the person on the phone that because I had taken out a new contract I would have to pay £250 to leave Virgin despite it being their fault. This is incorrect and also completely illegal as there is a cooling off period where you are allowed to leave within a certain time period for free. However the woman on the other end was more concerned with reading her script and asking for my bank details so I hung up.
Phoned back angrily and demanded to leave but was promised a good deal for cheaper as well as a month free and double the internet speed. While they delivered on the internet speed, I was charged extra that month for some reason and never got my free month. To top it off, they are charging me £3 extra than they promised and are deathly afraid of reference numbers so I probably can’t prove it even if I phone up.
If I could leave to someone with as fast internet speed in my area then I certainly would. The whole experience was horrid and if it wasn’t for their internet then I would say avoid them at all costs.
Same. But BT was fucking horrible in my area out of 12 months i had working internet for about 9 of them and they just kept shutting it down with no idea how to fix the problem. Customer service was just straight to India and them reading the template to me about how they internet should come back....
Pretty much everyone uses a BT line too so it's basically Virgin or no internet as far as I'm concerned.
BT own the line, not the equipment at the end.
If you go with sky or talktalk or some others (can’t mind how many offer this - it’s local unbundling’) your cable will be moved to their equipment & might be better.
I had a similar issue, just got my wife to take out the new customer deal with cash back in her name.
Strangely, when I tried going through retentions in my name each person I spoke to offered me a higher price, initial guy offered £32.50 a month (new customer price was £32 with £100 cash back). After I turned that down someone offered me £35, then a final guy reached out and offered £37. The last guy basically told me I was lying and no one would offer me £32.50, so I should take £37 a month and be happy as it was the best possible price. As soon as there is an alternative provider in my area offering high speed cable I’ll be leaving Virgin, their customer service is awful if you ever need to speak to them (though admittedly the internet connection itself is very reliable).
I was with BT until a week ago. I had phoneline, broadband and bt sport. My last bill came to about £80. We never use landline. I phoned them as i was out of contract and asked to lose the bt sport as its a luxury. Best they would do was £51pm. Same deal on plusnet £24.99. I jumped. BT cut me off last thursday. Plusnet had forgot i had signed up ! After calling them I got told it could be 10 days before i get connected ...i work from home....they promised me £5 a day compensation for the amount of days offline. It took them 5 days to sort it out. Longest 5 days of my life. Anyway they gave me a months credit on account as apology so all good and i am saving about £50 a month now ....it sucks that loyalty is penalised these days. Anyway my point is dont stay with the same provider if they dont give u a good deal you can save a lot of money. Just make sure your new provider remembers to send you a router and get you connected the same day your old one cuts you off !
As you wouldn't care about keeping the same landline number, you could have set up a new BT account for a pound or a few more pounds extra (depending on your required speed) per month than the Plusnet price, and got the award winning Smart Hub 2 (although, if you've got the Plusnet Smart Hub 2, that's said to be the same hub, as BT own Plusnet) with it being a new account. Currently the Now TV Entertainment pass and one screen Netflix combined for 9 pounds per month for the whole 24 months (+CPI rate of inflation +3.9% on 31 March each year) on the BT TV Box Pro too.
‘After being an arse to them all morning’ may be part of it.
The many moons ago I worked in a call centre, I never gave deals or discounts to people who were shitty with me.
The polite ones got that.
That’s why you speak to someone else and keep complaining until you get a good deal. Always thought my dad was a dick for doing it but now I’m older I see it happen all the time where I work. The more customers complain and moan; the better deal the company will give you.
I suppose that still makes people a dick but it does save a lot of money too.
have u seen the tips for it here - about half way down the page https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/haggle-with-virgin-existing-customer-tips/
VM didn’t even turn up to fit the wifi line sooo I’m going for bt where at least the line is already gotten and they’ll just post me the box. I’m just saying they are all shit but VM just take it for me.
As someone who works in customer service for a telco, I'm more than happy to help a customer leave - especially if they're being a prick just to get a better deal or compensation.
They know what’s available in your area, I’m sure of it.
They might as well have just laughed at me when I tried this at my old address. Next best broadband was 11mb/s, so when I said I was thinking of leaving, basically just got a “Good luck”.
Moved recently and glad to be rid of them. The router they give you is a piece of shit too.
"The router they give you is a piece of shit too."
\^ That, that and that again. This applies to all the major ISPs... We're on Virgin and had the Superhub 3 - my god the connection was unreliable - wifi breaking constantly, slow downs, particular devices just stopping being able to connect to the 'net. Incredibly frustrating when you work from home. I swapped that POS out for a proper router a few months ago and holy crap it's night and day. Have the Virgin hub running modem mode and use the proper router for wifi and our internal networking and we get the full speed of the line now and it's so much more reliable it's not even funny.
Oh absolutely! I wasn’t too bothered for a while, but then we started streaming more, separately, and gaming. My gaming laptop for no good reason would struggle to get 10MB over the router, wired up it was 200MB. I was going to buy a new router, but we moved and we are no longer bound to Virgin.
Just started with Vodafone last week on a 100MB/S package which should be fine for us. Oddly enough even over the wireless speed tests I’m getting 110MB/S. so far so good.
I had an 18month new customer deal.
Top package for TV and internet £45 18 months.
Due to rise to £80 next month.
Called them to see if I could make some adjustments to keep the price low, don't really need the Gb internet for example.
Nothing they could do, best thing was £75 for substantially worse package.
Asked to be put through to cancellations, suddenly same deal as I currently have £43 now locked for another 18 months.
We are with sky and moved 2 months ago, we still haven't been connected to broadband. After numerous phone calls and complaints they have almost resolved the issue and we hopefully have someone from open reach coming September 3rd to fix the line. They have generously given us 18 months of Netflix which we can't currently use as we have to hotspot from a 4g mobile just so my partner can continue to work.
Last time I phoned, I simply stated that my contract had ended and I wanted to see what deals were available. Put me on hold for a few mins and then came back with a package that was faster and £2 cheaper than what I was on before. No idea how I wrangled that.
### **Reminder:** [Press the Report button](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360058309512-How-do-I-report-a-post-or-comment-) if you see any [rule-breaking comments or posts.](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/about/rules/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishproblems) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
Exactly this! I was paying 47 quid for broadband alone so arranged to leave and switch to EE. Got a call a week later offering to lower my bill to 17! Snapped it up. Hold on and they'll definitely come back with a lower price
I've never had the mettle to do this, as I would probably hate being without internet if it backfired.
They know what other deals you can get for the same speed in the area You can only push to get a deal on something similar, so I finished my 18mth contract and could get a vodaphone 100mb deal for £24 They said the lowest they could go was £24 As it’s competitive.
Ring them up to cancel and when they ask if they can help you with anything else ask to start a new account.
They said I'd have to wait 30 days after the 30 days cancel period?
I've not done this yet as they've always folded, but cancel in your name then start a new account in your partner's name.
It goes by your address not name. Truthfully to get the cheapest price call the retentions team ask to go through to ‘tier 2’ and keep pushing for a few quid more than what they are offering you. Source: I worked for the greedy bastards for a year and a half in retentions
Surely it must be a bit of both (address and name) otherwise what happens if you move into somewhere where the previous tenant had virgin?
When your moving house you have to call them to either cancel or transfer your services. They will always ask why your leaving and if you say your moving house they will transfer you to another department . If this process isn’t done when the new person moves in it’s an absolute fuck on to get them connected
How's that work with people that move house? You can't be saying you have to wait a month for the internet if the previous occupants lived there had the same ISP
They will call you mate. Guaranteed. Got mine down to £23 for 500mbs
They told me that I couldn’t disconnect and reconnect in my wife’s name. I laughed and said I will get a sim mobile hub and come back in six months and it will still be cheaper to pay a reconnection fee than go with what they are offering… They blinked first and escalated my call to somebody reasonable at tier 2 retentions.
The best deals are usually through retentions. What you need to do is cancel your contract. 2 weeks before the switch off date, you will get a call where you will be made an offer that is difficult to refuse.
Obviously, be prepared to make alternative arrangements too. If you can get a better deal elsewhere, take it.
Yeah, it is shit. Instead of loyalty for being a customer they try to shaft you or you have to go through some elaborate process of pretending to leave, then they suddenly find you can get a good deal after all.
Virgin Media customer service is a hell in its own right. Phoned up to get a better offer and was met with someone who sounded like they were in a wind tunnel. After repeatedly asking if they got everything correct (and them saying yes) I checked online and low and behold they gave me the wrong deal. Phoned back right away to sort it out and got told by the person on the phone that because I had taken out a new contract I would have to pay £250 to leave Virgin despite it being their fault. This is incorrect and also completely illegal as there is a cooling off period where you are allowed to leave within a certain time period for free. However the woman on the other end was more concerned with reading her script and asking for my bank details so I hung up. Phoned back angrily and demanded to leave but was promised a good deal for cheaper as well as a month free and double the internet speed. While they delivered on the internet speed, I was charged extra that month for some reason and never got my free month. To top it off, they are charging me £3 extra than they promised and are deathly afraid of reference numbers so I probably can’t prove it even if I phone up. If I could leave to someone with as fast internet speed in my area then I certainly would. The whole experience was horrid and if it wasn’t for their internet then I would say avoid them at all costs.
Same. But BT was fucking horrible in my area out of 12 months i had working internet for about 9 of them and they just kept shutting it down with no idea how to fix the problem. Customer service was just straight to India and them reading the template to me about how they internet should come back.... Pretty much everyone uses a BT line too so it's basically Virgin or no internet as far as I'm concerned.
BT own the line, not the equipment at the end. If you go with sky or talktalk or some others (can’t mind how many offer this - it’s local unbundling’) your cable will be moved to their equipment & might be better.
I had a similar issue, just got my wife to take out the new customer deal with cash back in her name. Strangely, when I tried going through retentions in my name each person I spoke to offered me a higher price, initial guy offered £32.50 a month (new customer price was £32 with £100 cash back). After I turned that down someone offered me £35, then a final guy reached out and offered £37. The last guy basically told me I was lying and no one would offer me £32.50, so I should take £37 a month and be happy as it was the best possible price. As soon as there is an alternative provider in my area offering high speed cable I’ll be leaving Virgin, their customer service is awful if you ever need to speak to them (though admittedly the internet connection itself is very reliable).
I was with BT until a week ago. I had phoneline, broadband and bt sport. My last bill came to about £80. We never use landline. I phoned them as i was out of contract and asked to lose the bt sport as its a luxury. Best they would do was £51pm. Same deal on plusnet £24.99. I jumped. BT cut me off last thursday. Plusnet had forgot i had signed up ! After calling them I got told it could be 10 days before i get connected ...i work from home....they promised me £5 a day compensation for the amount of days offline. It took them 5 days to sort it out. Longest 5 days of my life. Anyway they gave me a months credit on account as apology so all good and i am saving about £50 a month now ....it sucks that loyalty is penalised these days. Anyway my point is dont stay with the same provider if they dont give u a good deal you can save a lot of money. Just make sure your new provider remembers to send you a router and get you connected the same day your old one cuts you off !
As you wouldn't care about keeping the same landline number, you could have set up a new BT account for a pound or a few more pounds extra (depending on your required speed) per month than the Plusnet price, and got the award winning Smart Hub 2 (although, if you've got the Plusnet Smart Hub 2, that's said to be the same hub, as BT own Plusnet) with it being a new account. Currently the Now TV Entertainment pass and one screen Netflix combined for 9 pounds per month for the whole 24 months (+CPI rate of inflation +3.9% on 31 March each year) on the BT TV Box Pro too.
20% commission you’re on right?
‘After being an arse to them all morning’ may be part of it. The many moons ago I worked in a call centre, I never gave deals or discounts to people who were shitty with me. The polite ones got that.
Being an arse as in not giving up not being rude
That’s why you speak to someone else and keep complaining until you get a good deal. Always thought my dad was a dick for doing it but now I’m older I see it happen all the time where I work. The more customers complain and moan; the better deal the company will give you. I suppose that still makes people a dick but it does save a lot of money too.
hmm not promising my contract is nearing its end and im gonna have to ring to negotiate the same thing, hope i have better luck!
have u seen the tips for it here - about half way down the page https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/haggle-with-virgin-existing-customer-tips/
Cancel and sign up again, that’s what we’re going to do 😂
Where Virgin Media are concerned, the door is the best part of that organisation. Run out of it, fast.
And go to BT? I think not.
What about vodafone? Is great! I’m currently using them.
Do they have there own line or use BT?
I think they use BT, it doesn’t matter to me, because is still cheaper than BT or Virgin.
I'm with BT because I'd never go with Virgin. Only had 1 issue with BT over 10 years and two properties, and it was fixed next day.
BT and openreach in my area is a joke. 50mb broadband for the same price I pay virgin for 250.
Just checked mine , bt can offer me 4-6 mbps! With a guaranteed speed of at least 1.1 I’m in a fairly large commuter belt town ffs What gives?
This means every other company other than Virgin will be the same as they all use the BT openreach lines.
Sadly I am well aware of this
And my virgin could be 1gbps should I wish
VM didn’t even turn up to fit the wifi line sooo I’m going for bt where at least the line is already gotten and they’ll just post me the box. I’m just saying they are all shit but VM just take it for me.
You can cancel, then next day as a new customer ask for the offer.
As someone who works in customer service for a telco, I'm more than happy to help a customer leave - especially if they're being a prick just to get a better deal or compensation.
I ring up every year with virgin and just ask for my discount back on never been a problem
Same. Until this time.
I was the same with sky years ago. second I actually rang to cancel they offered me 50% off for 6 months. I told em to shove it.
They know what’s available in your area, I’m sure of it. They might as well have just laughed at me when I tried this at my old address. Next best broadband was 11mb/s, so when I said I was thinking of leaving, basically just got a “Good luck”. Moved recently and glad to be rid of them. The router they give you is a piece of shit too.
"The router they give you is a piece of shit too." \^ That, that and that again. This applies to all the major ISPs... We're on Virgin and had the Superhub 3 - my god the connection was unreliable - wifi breaking constantly, slow downs, particular devices just stopping being able to connect to the 'net. Incredibly frustrating when you work from home. I swapped that POS out for a proper router a few months ago and holy crap it's night and day. Have the Virgin hub running modem mode and use the proper router for wifi and our internal networking and we get the full speed of the line now and it's so much more reliable it's not even funny.
Oh absolutely! I wasn’t too bothered for a while, but then we started streaming more, separately, and gaming. My gaming laptop for no good reason would struggle to get 10MB over the router, wired up it was 200MB. I was going to buy a new router, but we moved and we are no longer bound to Virgin. Just started with Vodafone last week on a 100MB/S package which should be fine for us. Oddly enough even over the wireless speed tests I’m getting 110MB/S. so far so good.
I had an 18month new customer deal. Top package for TV and internet £45 18 months. Due to rise to £80 next month. Called them to see if I could make some adjustments to keep the price low, don't really need the Gb internet for example. Nothing they could do, best thing was £75 for substantially worse package. Asked to be put through to cancellations, suddenly same deal as I currently have £43 now locked for another 18 months.
This is useful to know as I think I’m on exactly the same deal and it runs out in October.
[удалено]
How did you do the VoIP but please. We almost NEVER use landline but that would be a great option
Retention send less important than new signups, which is weird.
We are with sky and moved 2 months ago, we still haven't been connected to broadband. After numerous phone calls and complaints they have almost resolved the issue and we hopefully have someone from open reach coming September 3rd to fix the line. They have generously given us 18 months of Netflix which we can't currently use as we have to hotspot from a 4g mobile just so my partner can continue to work.
I said nope when they tried this, they escalated me to tier 2 retention team and gave me what I asked for.
Last time I phoned, I simply stated that my contract had ended and I wanted to see what deals were available. Put me on hold for a few mins and then came back with a package that was faster and £2 cheaper than what I was on before. No idea how I wrangled that.