Virgin Media Discussion Thread

Glanza said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Virgin Media most-complained about broadband provider

The company says the latest data from regulator Ofcom "falls far short of our expectations".
www.bbc.co.uk

To the surprise of no one.
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It really doesn't surprise me. Ever since Branson put his stamp on the company, it's been downhill all the way. Exactly the same as when they took over O2 - signal issues aren't fixed and customers are appeased for long as possible by customer services without anybody actually attempting to fix anything, obviously in some sort of false hope that the problem will fix itself.
 
My parents virgin contract was coming to an end and their 125Mb line was going to cost them over £45/m.

I called to cancel and they guy got it down to £22 for 18m.

No other alternative providers available as I would have jumped ship. Community Fibre cabled up the poles almost a year a go and it's still not live.
 
I just cancelled my order after seeing the news. Was this a knee-jerk reaction? I currently have BT and the fastest it goes is 20Mbps. Never had an issue but want at least 100mbps or even 1gbps.
 
My take with Virgin is

1. If you are a new customer then you'll get a good deal, initial deals are good and they are responsive
2. Forget support, if it goes down don't even call them just wait for it to come back up, you'll save yourself so much angst
3. If you have some kind of ongoing fault or contention issue then you're in for a world of pain
4. When it comes to end of contract expect it to be a nightmare

I'll add one

5. For the money I was paying £34.99 the 1Gbps was exceptional, downloads speeds were fantastic, I wasn't bothered by latency (I can't remember the last time I had a fault beyond national ones)
 
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been with them since it was called blueyonder and doing the merry dance everytime contract ends always dread it :(, currently paying £22 for 135mb ends on april and will jump to around £45 I want min 100mb and no one else can give that here so stuck but even with that I've always managed to get them to give better price last few weeks I've seen cables being rolled up on the poles hoping FTTP isnt far away and before April :rolleyes:
 
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I finished my retentions dance. The starting offer was £90, came down to £70. I typed in £60 they said OK. I should have tried lower but Id had a couple of drinks by the time it got close to completion. It's a jump from £28 but everyone I told about the £28 can't get their heads around how I got that package so cheap (Ultimate oomph £136)
 
Had a planned outage in the early hours for “network improvements”. Seem to of gained another Docsis 3.0 channel. Sure it was showing 31 rather than 32 before.

Channel OverviewDownstreamUpstream
Cable Modem Status
ItemStatusType
Cable Modem StatusOnlineDOCSIS 3.0
Primary downstream channelLockedSC-QAM
DOCSIS 3.0 channels325
DOCSIS 3.1 channels11
 
Lots of redditors complaining that VM are adapting to the Renewal dance now and finding it much harder to get better deals.

Maybe its better to just let the existing contract expire and if the haggling has not worked, resign up the following day as a new customer and get new customer pricing?
 
HighlandeR said:
Lots of redditors complaining that VM are adapting to the Renewal dance now and finding it much harder to get better deals.

Maybe its better to just let the existing contract expire and if the haggling has not worked, resign up the following day as a new customer and get new customer pricing?
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I did mention that once when I said new customers are getting better deals over someone thats been with them for years , think I was told couldnt re signup right away not sure if have to wait 30 days I cant remember was few years ago , I just said I'll get someone else in the household to signup and they gave me better deal
 
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HighlandeR said:
Lots of redditors complaining that VM are adapting to the Renewal dance now and finding it much harder to get better deals.

Maybe its better to just let the existing contract expire and if the haggling has not worked, resign up the following day as a new customer and get new customer pricing?
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They always gave me crappy deals, like I already stated first was £48 for M125 and weekend phonecalls (at the time had no choice for high speed, only Virgin was available in my area back then), this time they offered me ten quid discount so down to £38 a month for M125 with weekend free calls on landline, anyway got fed up and made my mind up to leave well before the crappy deals (my contract ends on Feb 14th), went with Communtiy Fibre for 1GB and £25 a month, I was up and running within fours day of me applying online to them, very fast installation, my average speeds are 945Mb both upload and download. I did not really need the landline but you can get one for £10 a month with free UK phonecalls.

The main issue with Virgin is leaving ,you have better chance online with their autobot messenger once you get through to a real person to chat with, they do all the usual why you should not leave and try to give you a crappy deal even when you tell them not to, "just end my contract please", anyway stick to your guns you will get there in the end.

I've been with Virgin for three years and now I can pick and choose on my street which ISP I can go with.

I must say Communtiy Fibre have been excellent they phoned me a few days after the install to see if everything was ok and how they can improve things with customer feedback.
Very happy I left Virgin and went with CF, internet has been great, never any down time even for seconds and always the speeds you pay for.

Virgin sent me a my reminder yesterday for the final bill of £48.80 on 14th Feb, I'll be glad when that is done and dusted.

:)
 
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I've cancelled my contract with VM as their renewal/cancellation tactics are just so scummy. I phoned them up as my contract ended (accidentally left it too long, so paying a higher price for this month :(), and I was just phoning up to try and get a better price. After a long wait in queue (granted it was 'prime' time, I don't blame them for that) I get through, and we go through the song and and dance 'this is the best price', no too expensive, 'this is the best price actually', no still to expensive. In the end the best he could offer me was like £38 for 100mb broadband only, so I asked to just cancel. Then he was asking what other companies I'm looking at and how I should read the reviews of them and that they aren't as good (I mean.. has he looked at his own company's trust pilot reviews? xD). Then he suggested I should go away and research the companies and call back in a few days after I've had time to think. I told him no because it's still 30 days cancellation period from when I cancel so if I cancel later you'll be charging me a few days extra.. which he didn't really know how to reply. Finally he said I should text disconnect and account number to one of their numbers to start the disconnection procedure. I do so.. and it appears they don't even use that service/number anymore... I couldn't call back because it was too late.

So, I call back the next day, get through to someone, told them someone gave me a number that they don't even use anymore, he couldn't care less. Go through the same thing £42 best price, £39 best price, going to add my personal discount to make it £34. I said no, I'll just cancel please... And then he hung up on me.... This was after being on the phone for 1 hour (including in queue) :mad: so now I just decided on principle to cancel. I quickly googled it and apparently it happens to a lot of people..
Phone back, another agent, I would just like to cancel (and I explain why), but I can do this best price, no thanks, this best price, no thanks, this best price, no thanks, ok I'll start the cancellation procedure, please hold.... and he puts me back in the queue.............
So now I'm thinking if the next person does the same, I'm just going to send a recorded letter to cancel, but THANKFULLY, the next person seems to be one of the good ones, and she kept apologising for what happened and done my cancellation for me, even offered me straight off the bat £28 a month if I did want to change my mind.

It's a disgusting practice and looking into it more, Ofcom have opened their own investigation into VM because of these complaints, but still it seems nothing has been done..

Anyone know if any ISP in particular is good for South West (Thornbury, South Gloucestershire)?
I was thinking maybe trying Sky (£28 for 80mb), or Plusnet (£26 for similar), or Vodaphone (£24)?
 
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ED209 said:
I keep checking this every time its posted and I am get the same thing.

Only VM in my area and no other providers that can supply speeds anywhere near VM.
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Then do the cancellation cancel every 18 months or get your wife, housemate, or dog to sign up as a new customer.
 
Razor-BladE said:
I'm on their 50Mb atm anyway and only do basic browsing/light gaming, so might try PlusNet then. They are asking for £50 as they need to send an openreach engineer to setup? Do they not use the same line as VM?
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No they don't, it'll be a copper line from your local FTTC cabinet to your house, but I also didn't think Openreach ISPs charged anything for installs.
 
Razor-BladE said:
Thanks. It only says VM (1000Mb).
I'm on their 50Mb atm anyway and only do basic browsing/light gaming, so might try PlusNet then. They are asking for £50 as they need to send an openreach engineer to setup? Do they not use the same line as VM?
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try going through compare sites if you havent already
 
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