Virgin told me that dropping TV and Phone, having only broadband would initiate a 12 month contract?

Gimpymoo · 24 Jan 2017 at 23:54

The internet is great nowadays.

If you luck out in the broadband lottery and live in the right area, EVERYTHING can be delivered over IP now.

So, being out of contract, I ring Virgin and say "Please cancel my TV and phone", they reply "Yes, I can do that but it would start a 12 month contract".

I was short on time so just said thanks, but no thanks.

Will try again tomorrow when I have more time but surely that is not right?

Rroff · 24 Jan 2017 at 23:58

If your current deal is a package then firstline support probably don't have the option of dropping parts of it, they'd have to cancel the lot then setup a new contract with the bits you wanted - probably have to escalate to someone higher to do anything different.

bremen1874 · 24 Jan 2017 at 23:59

It's up to them.

You have a contract (expired or not) for phone, TV and broadband. You want to replace that contract with one for broadband only.

Gimpymoo · 25 Jan 2017 at 00:00

Rroff said:
If your current deal is a package then firstline support probably don't have the option of dropping parts of it, they'd have to cancel the lot then setup a new contract with the bits you wanted - probably have to escalate to someone higher to do anything different.

Thank you, that does make sense.

Was going to ring tomorrow and just say "cancel the lot but stuff any additional contract at standard rates".

May as well get by on 4G for a month or two then sign up as a new customer.

Such a shame but all part of the game I guess.

In a weird way, it might actually work out cheaper to maybe drop TV and phone to "BASIC" packages and just unplug them.

bremen1874 · 25 Jan 2017 at 00:03

While you can you almost everything over IP nowadays it'll cost you a fortune if you try to do it all over 4G.

Why the objection to committing to a 12 month contract?

Rroff · 25 Jan 2017 at 00:06

Best bet for stuff like that is usually online forum advisor or twitter, etc. not upto date on which is most effective for Virgin - they usually have better resources for getting stuff like that sorted.

Gimpymoo · 25 Jan 2017 at 00:16

bremen1874 said:
While you can you almost everything over IP nowadays it'll cost you a fortune if you try to do it all over 4G.

Why the objection to committing to a 12 month contract?

The 4G would be temporary till I could sign up as a "new customer" under a better deal.

12 Month contract on "standard" rate is not appealing.

I can sign up as a "new customer" and get a better deal, would rather do that than get the usual "loyal customer" treatment

bremen1874 · 25 Jan 2017 at 00:28

It depends what you're after.

They've never offered their best deals on broadband only, they'd much rather sell you a bundle of services. The more services you take the better the deal.

Raggs · 25 Jan 2017 at 01:21

there tv is **** just binned mine and the phone, but 12 month contract required to keep the BB ridiculous really mine was installed 15 years ago :rolleyes:

Gimpymoo · 25 Jan 2017 at 12:30

Their legal department said "Thats right".

So have given 30 days cancellation notice.

1mm3 · 28 Jan 2017 at 15:45

I normally find if I say- Your offering X deal for new customers on broadband only can you price match?

They normally match it rather than lose you as a customer. Depends who you get in the retentions deartment- if at first they don't give you the deal your after- say you'll think about it and get back to them. Ring again and speak to different advisor- if still don't get deal your after then cancel

mejinks · 29 Jan 2017 at 00:26

When you cancel these contracts, to be eligable for the new customer deals, you normally have to wait 12 months. If you sign up and include a middle initial however, I've found you get what you want. That or get wife/husband/SO to sign up.

thenewoc · 29 Jan 2017 at 10:25

Not sure how their phone line / broadband only works but if you cancel it all to go mobile for a month or so won't you find you get stung on a large connection charge when signing back up?

old gamer · 30 Jan 2017 at 12:34

looking at mine, im paying £50 a month for tv i dont use, the tivo box has never seen the light of day, phone which is unplugged due to unwanted calls and broadband that im quite happy with, going to give them a call today and see what i can get it reduced to, might as well go broadband only

Psypher5 · 30 Jan 2017 at 12:38

I was out of contract, was cheaper for me to sign up as a new customer, bag a £100 credit to the account (new cust offer) and get like £70quid quidco. That was for a 200mb / phone / tv m+ bundle) rather than the offers they gave me for just 200mb.

Psycho Sonny · 1 Feb 2017 at 16:36

Broadband on it's own is stupidly expensive the reason for this is with broadband it's one set fee and it never changes.

when they bundle in tv and phone, they are hoping you will make use of them to make calls, rent movies, box office, upgrade packages or channels, etc. meaning you end up paying a lot more.

i have broadband only but it's like £39.99 a month for 200MB. Had i got a phone line too it would have been £36 a month including line rental which is around £15 a month.

so realistically i should only be paying £20 a month for BB but I'm paying double because that's all i want.

i always cancel when my contract is due then sign up in the other halfs name then back to mine when that contract is up. retentions cannot macth new customer offers due to new customer offers having quidco cashback and other HUGE savings.

mad_allan · 2 Feb 2017 at 10:03

Gimpymoo said:
Their legal department said "Thats right".

So have given 30 days cancellation notice.

You might get lucky but normally it is 12 months, the billing system will flag up your address as being disconnected within that time frame.

Gimpymoo · 3 Feb 2017 at 10:29

mad_allan said:
You might get lucky but normally it is 12 months, the billing system will flag up your address as being disconnected within that time frame.

I think you are right with that.

So I am pretty much stuck.

If in a Cable broadband area, you have no alternatives. Although I disagree with Cable companies being "Forced" to open up their networks, I see why some agree with it but they have made the investments and they alone should get the rewards for that investment.

The telcos can only offer is it 70-80Mb on fibre DSL?

I wanted this to stay:
http://www.virginmedia.com/shop/bundles/vip.html

They said they could only do it with a single V6 box and I keep my TIVO.

I initially said yes but not signed contract and install not till march so can still change my mind.

Stuck between rock and hard place I think.

At the moment, I think I will stick to my guns and stick with Broadband only, yes, it is a 12 month contract BUT if I want TV again at a later time, I can always "add" it.

I am intrigued as to what Sky's "dishless" TV offering will be but that is not till 2018.