Worth checking

ToejaM · 10 Jul 2012 at 18:12

A little bored so thought I'd share a little story on getting things for free.

I have Virgin TV with a HD+ box, 50mb internet and what ever the basic phone line is as I never use the landline other than for freephone numbers.

I've been with Virgin for about three years now, at the time when I signed up I was ecstatic to get 50mb as I was with BT before then I think on 8mb but only getting around 4.5! Didnt have a problem with them other than slow downloads, pings were great just noticed I could get a lot more for cheaper so went to Virgin.

Last week I was checking out when I get upgraded to 100mb and thought I'd check out what they're offering to new customers and what deals would be availble to me and I noticed they have these "Collections" available. Right now they have what I'm getting, plus a tivo box for £45 and £13 for line rental so £58 - I'm paying £70.

I rang up and asked about it and asked to be switched to the "Premiere Collection" and the out come of a 10 minute call and granted, not a huge saving per month of £12 I'm being given a free Tivo 500gb box and installation (free, they did try give me the 1gb but that would cost £50 to install and I noticed they were doing the lesser with free installation), keeping my current V+ HD box and having it moved (again for free) and some super hub with wireless. They give you a free HD box but as I've got one I dont get another and it wouldnt be a V+ box anyway.

Was more than prepared to goto the cancellations and say Sky were cheaper though they werent exactly offereing the best of speeds but I'd have just played the cost card and said Id be happy to go there, did it before and got free upgraded TV for 6months.. even though I had no intention of leaving them

Can't complain at getting something for free, give it a try the worst they could say is no

I've only done this a few times, another time with my mobile - was paying £45 and called up saying I'd like to cancel and ent up with a similar contract and a new phone for £26 a month.

Do many of you do this and if so, what are your tricks that you use?

spoffle · 10 Jul 2012 at 18:16

I did something similar, mentioned it in another thread the other day.

I'm paying £36 a month for 100mb internet and land line with Virgin. Rang up retentions and asked for a better deal and they gave me one, I'd only been with them a few months as well.

If you don't ask you'll never get!

ToejaM · 10 Jul 2012 at 21:44

You just asked for a better deal? Didnt do my trick of wanting to go through to cancellations?

thewanted · 10 Jul 2012 at 21:49

I wanted a Logitech Performance MX mouse, so I emailed their support team and asked for a discount code. They sent me a 30% code, I already had a 20% voucher from registering another Logitech mouse online, and because it was Christmas they were giving an additional 5% off at the checkout.

Score!

Ahleckz · 10 Jul 2012 at 21:53

I'm paying around half the advertised price for Be*'s best broadband service. Purely for loyalty, and threatening to leave.

Sudden · 10 Jul 2012 at 22:10

Ahleckz said:
I'm paying around half the advertised price for Be*'s best broadband service. Purely for loyalty, and threatening to leave.

My worry with this always is that generally, the people i'm with offer me what I want for the best price. What happens if I threaten to leave and they accept?

Tikkabhuna · 10 Jul 2012 at 22:13

Sudden said:
My worry with this always is that generally, the people i'm with offer me what I want for the best price. What happens if I threaten to leave and they accept?

Hang up?

BoonMonkey · 10 Jul 2012 at 22:15

Sudden said:
My worry with this always is that generally, the people i'm with offer me what I want for the best price. What happens if I threaten to leave and they accept?

Tikkabhuna said:
Hang up?

^ My mum did that. They put her through to cancellations and we're about to go ahead with it... she hung up and pretended she knew nothing when they rang back.

ToejaM · 10 Jul 2012 at 22:22

I'd just say I'm going to think about it, then call back and get another agent.. try it a few times and if its the same each time then Im not getting a deal this week..

Thats a pretty good idea thewanted I never thought about doing that, will remember for the future its certainly worth asking as all they can do is say no

Might be worth asking in future about loyalty discounts, how long have you been with them Ahleckz?

wez130 · 10 Jul 2012 at 22:47

I was paying £78 / month for xl tv, 50mb and xl phone (tivo and V+ box), i'm now paying £83 / month for Xl tv + movies / sports, 60mg net and M phone (i never use phone unless to ring virgin). £5 / month for movies and sports, why not!

Zogger · 11 Jul 2012 at 09:38

you get a better deal with virgin if you actually cancel rather than pretend you want to cancel. They'll call you up after a few days to discuss what they can do for you and it will be better than anything you can get out of the initial call.
And even if they don't do this, you still have 30 days to back out of the cancellation.

I got a free upgrade to XL TV + £60 credit.. I also got my double broadband speed early and an extra 5 months free spotify because they misinformed me about spotify at the time
My package is XL TV / XL Broadband / M Phone for ~ £50 /mo

You will end up in a new fixed period after doing this though..

Goodie · 11 Jul 2012 at 09:48

I'm contemplating doing this with sky as they have just increased their costs again. Is it possible to just cancel and then sign up again to take advantage of the signing up deals? I'm guessing it wouldn't be however a quick google didn't really find me a definitive answer

Morgoth · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:00

Goodie said:
I'm contemplating doing this with sky as they have just increased their costs again. Is it possible to just cancel and then sign up again to take advantage of the signing up deals? I'm guessing it wouldn't be however a quick google didn't really find me a definitive answer

It's possible if you register under a different name.

IRLeetly · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:14

My contract is due up in 6 weeks with VM, will be pulling the "new customers get so much for the £50 p/m than I do" card. Well it's true really I am on M calls, XL TV and 60Mb web, for about £48.

Last I read you could get the same deal with an extra HD box for another room for £3 less.

Marky · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:17

I love hearing stories like this

I do hate going through to "Cancellations" though - They practically beg you to stay, it's embarressing

When I was moving our BB, Phone & TV from Sky to Virgin, he asked me to stay with Sky a thousand times :eek:

In the end I had to say "Listen, I've made up my mind, this is happening, I'm sorry". It's like a "It's not you, it's me" type conversation

HaloUK · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:19

I have just been upgraded.

I had basic phone line, top TV package with V+ Box and 30mb internet.

I went for the 1tb Tivo (free installation) and they upped my speed to 60mb all for an additional £4.99 a month. Im very happy with my Tivo box and faster internet.

dottty27 · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:19

Goodie said:
I'm contemplating doing this with sky as they have just increased their costs again. Is it possible to just cancel and then sign up again to take advantage of the signing up deals? I'm guessing it wouldn't be however a quick google didn't really find me a definitive answer

Just did this my self for a F&F code and used it in my name , canceld my wifes account no hickups or anything

Zogger · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:22

IRLeetly said:
My contract is due up in 6 weeks with VM, will be pulling the "new customers get so much for the £50 p/m than I do" card. Well it's true really I am on M calls, XL TV and 60Mb web, for about £48.

Last I read you could get the same deal with an extra HD box for another room for £3 less.

you're missing the fact that line rental isn't included in that price - it's £45 + £13.90 line rental

(but currently it's £36 total for the first 6 months.. haven't bothered to do the maths on whether that's less or more over the contract term)

flibbage0 · 11 Jul 2012 at 10:30

Goodie said:
I'm contemplating doing this with sky as they have just increased their costs again. Is it possible to just cancel and then sign up again to take advantage of the signing up deals? I'm guessing it wouldn't be however a quick google didn't really find me a definitive answer

Good luck, sky do bugger all.

Parents were with them for 10 years and tried to lower their bill and get a sky+ box (which was free to new customers), that will be £199, errmm no!

Parents then said they will cancel their contract and they didn't care.

Now they're with Virgin Media, spoke to them a couple of months ago about bill cost, they cut down the TV package(parents wanted this) got a new box that is much quicker for free and increased our internet speed and also upgraded us to the top phone package with 10p a minute calls to mobiles also added.

spoffle · 11 Jul 2012 at 11:17

ToejaMz0r said:
You just asked for a better deal? Didnt do my trick of wanting to go through to cancellations?

Yeah, I just asked for a better deal. I did call straight through to retentions but I didn't threat or even suggest that I wanted to leave.

I actually started on 50Mb, I rang them up asking to be upgraded to 100Mb early, and to see if I could get a discount, and I got both. They even upgraded me to 100Mb while I was on the phone mid call, and by the time the call had finished my modem was syncing at closer to 110Mb than 100.

Roll on 120Mb!

Edit: Oh yeah, when I signed up it was a 2 year contract, but for some reason they also dropped it down to 12 months, weird (they actually told me this on the phone).