Virgin

[Audio Al]

Hi people

I have been a Virgin media user for many years

Recently my bill went up £8 per month

Its now £45 + :eek:

All I have is Unlimited calls and 20meg Broadband , No TV package

Today I phoned Virgin and asked why my bill is this high for so little

Virgin " You were getting a £8 per month loyalty discount , This has now ended "

Me " Am I no longer loyal ? "

Virgin " Let me see if it can be reinstated " " I will put you through to another department "

Me " OK thanks "

Virgin " Hello how can I help "

Me " I just explained everthing to the last lady I spoke too ! "

Virgin " I need to verify your identity , Pass word etc "

Me " I have just done all that ! "

Virgin " Can I have your password , DOB , Name "

ME :steam::steam::steam::steam: Give it to them again

Virgin " How can I help you "

Me " Why is my bill so high ? "

Virgin " You were getting a loyalty discount that has now expired "

Me " Yes I know , And I was put through to you re getting it reinstated "

Virgin " Let me check what packages you have "

Me " I have phone and BB "

Virgin " I will check anyway "

Virgin " You have phone and BB "

Me " Yes I know , how do I get a reduced rate , Like the rates you advertise ? "

Virgin " Thats for new customers only "

Me " OK , so Virgin charge me more for being a loyal customer for many 15+ years "

Virgin " Lets see if we can do anything , I will check you equipment . Oh you have a old modem , I will arrange to send out a new HUB "

Me " Ooo Thanks "

Virgin " when you get it replace you old modem with the new HUB then ring this number , You will then be on 50 meg BB speed and you monthly bill will be £29 "

Me now happy again , Only because I phoned and complained otherwise they would keep billing me £45 and say nothing

If you are a Virgin customer ring them NOW ;)

[Effem]

They are all at it these days, especially insurance companies.

I'm afraid you can wipe your arse errrrm, blow your nose as far as "loyalty" is concerned because they are ALL stupidly focussed on the acquisition of new sales and they don't really care what leaks out the back door in cancellations. What the numptys don't realise is that all the while customers are going elsewhere for better deals, there is no nett gain in market share or customer numbers no matter how many new customers they happen to sign up.

Next time you ring up pretend your have been deeply upset by their actions and start blubbering down the phone at them, it could earn you a few quid off in compo :lol:

[Kember]

They are all at it these days, especially insurance companies.

I'm afraid you can wipe your arse errrrm, blow your nose as far as "loyalty" is concerned because they are ALL stupidly focussed on the acquisition of new sales and they don't really care what leaks out the back door in cancellations. What the numptys don't realise is that all the while customers are going elsewhere for better deals, there is no nett gain in market share or customer numbers no matter how many new customers they happen to sign up.

Next time you ring up pretend your have been deeply upset by their actions and start blubbering down the phone at them, it could earn you a few quid off in compo :lol:

If you get no joy, just ask to be put through to cancellations - these companies (including mobile phone operators) usually have a specialist team which is populated by more intelligent than usual staff who have a mandate to offer inducements to remain. The only firm I am aware of that does not is Sky who will just let you go and then spend silly amounts of time trying to woo you back.

It is worth doing some back of the fag packet calculations. Bear in mind that the inducements for signing up are often quite valuable - my current flat was Virgin (but I swore never again after my last experience with the beardy git) and had no BT line so my wife subscribed as a new member to Sky and got a free BT line out of Sky. We are only committed to a year of subscription and are then free to move...if we had gone straight to BT we'd have had to pay a connection charge...:)

P

[Macca]

Sometimes it is because one part of the organiation has the target of increasing revenue and another, completely seperate part has the target of customer retention and recruitment. Each need to hit their targets to get their bonuses so you end up with the situation where the older customers pay more to subsidise the new customers until they threaten to leave at which point they are classed as a new customer and get the reductions again. Although this sounds crazy it is actually the best way to maximise revenue since the bulk of the long standing customers have better things to worry about and just pay up each month.

This is all except, as someone pointed out above, for Sky, who seem to have no coherent strategy at all.

[Audio Al]

Just had this email

Bundle charges
Talk Unlimited
Broadband Size: L (Up to 50Mb)
Bundle charges total £23.50
Promotional offer(s)
Loyalty Discount £10 per month for 18 months
Promotional offer(s) total £10.00CR
Phone line rental
Telephone Line Rental
Phone line rental total £15.99
New monthly package total* £29.49


Hopefully sorted :)

[Kember]

Sweet!

[Tarzan]

Hi people

I have been a Virgin media user for many years

Recently my bill went up £8 per month

Its now £45 + :eek:

All I have is Unlimited calls and 20meg Broadband , No TV package

Today I phoned Virgin and asked why my bill is this high for so little

Virgin " You were getting a £8 per month loyalty discount , This has now ended "

Me " Am I no longer loyal ? "

Virgin " Let me see if it can be reinstated " " I will put you through to another department "

Me " OK thanks "

Virgin " Hello how can I help "

Me " I just explained everthing to the last lady I spoke too ! "

Virgin " I need to verify your identity , Pass word etc "

Me " I have just done all that ! "

Virgin " Can I have your password , DOB , Name "

ME :steam::steam::steam::steam: Give it to them again

Virgin " How can I help you "

Me " Why is my bill so high ? "

Virgin " You were getting a loyalty discount that has now expired "

Me " Yes I know , And I was put through to you re getting it reinstated "

Virgin " Let me check what packages you have "

Me " I have phone and BB "

Virgin " I will check anyway "

Virgin " You have phone and BB "

Me " Yes I know , how do I get a reduced rate , Like the rates you advertise ? "

Virgin " Thats for new customers only "

Me " OK , so Virgin charge me more for being a loyal customer for many 15+ years "

Virgin " Lets see if we can do anything , I will check you equipment . Oh you have a old modem , I will arrange to send out a new HUB "

Me " Ooo Thanks "

Virgin " when you get it replace you old modem with the new HUB then ring this number , You will then be on 50 meg BB speed and you monthly bill will be £29 "

Me now happy again , Only because I phoned and complained otherwise they would keep billing me £45 and say nothing

If you are a Virgin customer ring them NOW ;)


If you stopped calling me, your bills would half.:ner:

[MikeMusic]

Jimmy who works with me has Virgin

He gets away with murder by complaining

They keep upgrading him for not a lot.
He currently has 150Mb and all else for, I'm guessing, £30 a month

[Audio Al]

If you stopped calling me, your bills would half.:ner:

Thought you would show up at the mention of Virgin

NOT that type of Virgin :lol:

[Tarzan]

Thought you would show up at the mention of Virgin

NOT that type of Virgin :lol:

Not bad Mr Allen.:eek:

[Ninanina]

Every year I do the same thing with Sky.... I kind of threaten that I'm leaving them to go to Virgin and they always give me the discounts as if I am a new customer with all the introductory discounts etc ;)

I am sure that if you call Virgin and do the reverse ie. say you are going over to Sky then you will almost certainly be given discounts

I also do it with all my insurances; I just call them around renewal time and say I've had a better quote (even though I never have!!) and you'd be amazed how much you can save just by being a bit smart.. :)

I know someone who does exactly the same thing with AA Breakdown cover... I never thought that AA would discount their breakdown cover but you'd be amazed how much they are prepared to discount

You have nothing to loose by trying

[MikeMusic]

I ring the AA every year and save about a third.

I speak to Plusnet to try to improve the price but rarely succeed as we seem to be in an "expensive area"

Gas and elec are up next year. Some phone calls there