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ToejaM

ToejaM

ToejaM

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12 Jul 2011
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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?
 
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?
 
Marky said:
I love hearing stories like this :p

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

When I was moving our BB, Phone & TV from Sky to Virgin, he asked me to stay with Sky a thousand times :eek: :p 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 :p
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Yeah that is embarrassing lol I know they're on sales targets and such but I want free or very cheap stuff. Theyre a big company at the end of the day so I never feel bad about it :)

spoffle said:
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! :p

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).
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Dont think I can see what my router is sync'd at, Linksys E4200 but doing a speedtest gives me this now:

2061177050.png


Appears I've lost 2mb up speed but gained 13mb downspeed. Steam downloading at 7.5mb for some reason, I think steam is slightly wrong though.

The tivo menu will take some getting used to, can already tell theres input lag as if the box cant keep up with commands.. especially when you're searching for a film but the search feature is awesome.. such a basic thing but very appreciated :)

I've got a 7 day cooling off period, I'm tempted to ring them up on the 6th day and say... I dunno if this is for me, gief me half price for 6months to convince me ;)

Edit: Herp - Ofc I cant see what my connection speed is using my router, need to check the hub.. just noticed the tiny "advanced settings" link. Max Traffic Rate: 66000000 bps
 
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