Blagging contract services by threatening to leave

[The Mollusk]

Anyone got any positive experience with this cheekiest of try-ons?

I had a crack at it earlier this year when my Three phone contract was coming to an end. I found a better deal with Vodafone so got in touch with Three, told them I have been paying them out the arse for iPhones for the last 8 years and have never missed a payment, and now I'm thinking of leaving, so would they consider beating the rate offered to me by another network as a reward for my loyalty? They all but told me to fuck off. Given that I've only ever heard good stuff about this method of blagging, and considering my years of dedicated patronage, I will admit I was quite shocked they didn't even say they'd match the offer I found elsewhere. Just a straight motherfuckin NO.

Cut to present day. We've been on the introductory half price Virgin Media broadband for 18 months, previously £24 a month and due to go up next month to £47.25, which I don't want to pay. We had some lad from BT at our door a few weeks back saying we could have 100-150mbps broadband for £30 a month for 24 months if we wanted to switch. Have I got a pot to piss in if I try and blag Virgin to match their offer?

I'm not so naive that I think huge businesses are shitting their pants about losing a couple of customers but I honestly assumed this sort of practice - and corporations vaguely feigning a love for their precious customers by giving in to this one small whim - was commonly successful. Am I a stupid fucking clown for thinking this or should I persevere?

[Huxleys Babkins]

Some recent chattings on this here;

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=93705.0

As per that thread, you'll get the absolute best deals if you actually go through with a cancellation. Just give your notice, turn your marketing preferences on and they'll be back on the phone or emailing you, begging you to stay.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah Virgin are renowned for you being able to get a better deal (something I've been meaning to do, but haven't for over a year).

AFAIK you might as well chance your arm with their retentions department because automatic switching doesn't work with Virgin, it's only providers that rely on Openreach that allow switching without talking to your current supplier. Certainly used to be the case.

[non capisco]

Cut to present day. We've been on the introductory half price Virgin Media broadband for 18 months, previously £24 a month and due to go up next month to £47.25, which I don't want to pay. We had some lad from BT at our door a few weeks back saying we could have 100-150mbps broadband for £30 a month for 24 months if we wanted to switch. Have I got a pot to piss in if I try and blag Virgin to match their offer?

Virgin halved my bill for renewing the fixed term contract when I rang them up to moan about their last price rise so definitely worth a try.  I suspect it might be a bit like customs officials and there's a luck of the draw element as to who you get on the phone though as I advised another mate who was with Virgin to do this and they more or less told him to do one.

[The Mollusk]

Would quite like to do this through a live chat function if possible as I'm terrified of most phone conversations, let alone ones where I have to stand my ground against any adverse response. The end result would be the same though right?

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

In my experiance, sometimes you just need to say you're leaving rather then threatern to leave.  I actually went all the way through with "leaving" sky once, knowing that they would call me back, and evetually they did with an offer that was about 70% cheaper then the orginal price hike.  I think it comes down to brinksmanship, but it's worth it.

[Old Thrashbarg]

Would quite like to do this through a live chat function if possible as I'm terrified of most phone conversations, let alone ones where I have to stand my ground against any adverse response. The end result would be the same though right?

Unlikely. Firstly, actually being able to get into a web chat with Virgin Media is near enough impossible. Secondly, they won't offer the same (if any) discount because they know that it's too easy for customers to go with that approach. And they probably won't let you cancel your contract through that method without a fair bit of fucking about. They want people to have to go to the effort of ringing up and sitting on hold for an hour, because they know many either won't or will give up, and just let their contract renew instead.

When ringing, don't say "I can get X from Y for £Z, can you offer me a reduction?", because they instantly know you actually want to stay with them and avoid the hassle of going through with transferring your service. So if you do actually get offered a reduction it won't be as much as it could've been. As someone mentioned above, it's much better to just be blunt and say you want to cancel your contract (or stop it renewing if it's coming to the end) and be prepared for the call to end with your contract "cancelled". Then let them try to persuade you to stay. They'll ask if you've looked elsewhere and what price you can get it for. Be honest(ish), they'll know what competitors are offering and be willing to match or slightly beat it, even if it's an introductory offer from a competitor.

[Barry Admin]

I did webchat for retentions, and we could do great deals. A lot of cunts also did dodgy deals tbh, this was Convergys for Vodafone, who made us work in a room with human piss and shit flowing into it through the broken bathroom pipe next door. We literally had to wade through human waste and then to compound matters they stopped letting us open the door as it waa a security issue or some bollocks.

Anyway yeah, I always threaten to leave now. Last time I couldn't get anywhere so said to Vrigin "just cancel it", accurately guessing that someone on outbound would call me back a few days before I actually got disconnected.

Just keep saying no, ignore any pressure such as "I can't guarantee you'll get this deal again if you turn it down now", and be firm.

[The Mollusk]

I did webchat for retentions, and we could do great deals. A lot of cunts also did dodgy deals tbh, this was Convergys for Vodafone, who made us work in a room with human piss and shit flowing into it through the broken bathroom pipe next door. We literally had to wade through human waste and then to compound matters they stopped letting us open the door as it waa a security issue or some bollocks. 

Fuckinell!

Thanks all for the advice so far.

[Malcy]

As someone who does retentions, don't come on all pissed off and shitty about it. Just be straight up and say you have to cancel because you just can't afford that price and are happy to go elsewhere even if it means a lesser service/speed etc.

Usually do you a good deal then. The ones that come on moaning about having a higher priced bill and how it's against the law and they will take you to court for £7 etc I don't give them the time of day. Just cancel them if the attitude is shitty.

Don't get paid enough.

[olliebean]

Unlikely. Firstly, actually being able to get into a web chat with Virgin Media is near enough impossible. Secondly, they won't offer the same (if any) discount because they know that it's too easy for customers to go with that approach. And they probably won't let you cancel your contract through that method without a fair bit of fucking about. They want people to have to go to the effort of ringing up and sitting on hold for an hour, because they know many either won't or will give up, and just let their contract renew instead.

I did it via WhatsApp, which was easy enough though they don't make the number easy to find (it's +44 7305 327112). Be prepared to wait a while, but at least you're not hanging on a phone call and can get on with other stuff in the meantime. They will ask you for your password - "the one you quote whenever you call to speak to our team and not the password you use to access and view your bills or online account" - which was the first I'd heard of such a password, let alone knowing what it is. Just tell them you don't have that password, and can they ask you a security question instead. They asked me for my bank's sort code.

My monthly payment was going up from £24 to £47.25, just like The Mollusk's. I told them that was way too much, and I'd have to cancel if they couldn't do significantly better, and they offered me £28 for a new 18 month contract. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing I realised they weren't going to offer me anything better than that, so that's what I'm on now. I don't know if I could have got a better price on the phone, but I doubt it would have been worth the stress for me. Another point is that I have no access to fttc or fttp here, so I was unable to cite any deals from competitors for comparable speeds. That may have made a difference.

Be aware that they will begin the new contract immediately, and your first bill will include an extra pro-rata charge for any time remaining on your old contract to cover the difference in price.

[Malcy]

Be aware that they will begin the new contract immediately, and your first bill will include an extra pro-rata charge for any time remaining on your old contract to cover the difference in price.

Twice this week I have had people screaming down the phone at me due to pro-rata billing. Claiming they are being overcharged and totally unable to grasp the concept of it.

[madhair60]

i don't understand it please explain it to me

[Goldentony]

"we are cunts" basically

[olliebean]

I eventually got them to refund the extra pro-rata charge on the grounds that they were contracted to provide a full 18 months of service for £24/month. Or rather on the grounds that I made myself a bloody nuisance until they refunded it "as a good will gesture." Not sure it was worth the hassle, though.

[The Mollusk]

My monthly payment was going up from £24 to £47.25, just like The Mollusk's. I told them that was way too much, and I'd have to cancel if they couldn't do significantly better, and they offered me £28 for a new 18 month contract. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing I realised they weren't going to offer me anything better than that, so that's what I'm on now.

Damn, you must have been chatting to someone a lot softer than me. I finished my WhatsApp chat today but only managed to grind them down to £34 despite a lot of genuine chat about how we can't afford our bills and we've got a wedding party to pay for and we're hating life at the moment. Still, £13 cheaper, so I guess that's something.

Another plus is they told me I'll have to pay the £47.25 for next month (I left it too late and the next billing date had passed already because I'm a tit) but for the month after that I'll only pay whatever the new rate is minus the extra I'm paying next month so it balances out, if that makes sense.

[olliebean]

Frankly if it had been over £30 I'd have gone through with cancellation even though it would have meant going back to ADSL speeds.

[Uncle TechTip]

I suppose if it's say a Sky deal and you don't get a much improved offer, you can let it go and rely on torrents or streams or just stop caring about tv. But if it's internet you're bargaining over, that's a lot more risky if they follow through on your cancellation. The other year I changed from BT to Zen in an amicable way and still lost service for two weeks. Thankfully Zen's first price rise was only this year and it was what they'd previously said, about 4 quid.

I say pay the extra then ditch all your tv subscriptions, rinse the torrents, get kodi and stuff, and you'll be saving more money. Absolutely hammer their bandwidth. Cost of living, mate.

[The Mollusk]

I say pay the extra then ditch all your tv subscriptions, rinse the torrents, get kodi and stuff, and you'll be saving more money. Absolutely hammer their bandwidth. Cost of living, mate.

Oh yeah, I don't use streaming services any more, sacked them all off earlier this year. Stealing fucking heaps of music and telly and film every day, Plex the lot to my 4K telly and home stereo system, lovely stuff.

[olliebean]

Been thinking of binning off Netflix now it's over a tenner a month, as it happens.

[Uncle TechTip]

Oh yeah, I don't use streaming services any more, sacked them all off earlier this year. Stealing fucking heaps of music and telly and film every day, Plex the lot to my 4K telly and home stereo system, lovely stuff.

Good on yer, I think it's morally justifiable given the cost of everything these days. Just rinse it as much as you can. Grab everything. Buy your independent artists for sure but fuck the likes of Disney and Netflix.

@olliebean you know you can do it, all that Netflix stuff is available. I put kodi on a raspberry pi and with an addon I can instantly call up all the major shows with no faff, coming off file locker services, don't even have to torrent. Fuck all these money grabbers.

[Sherman Krank]

just let their contract renew instead.

I don't think the contracts renew as such, they just carry on in a rolling manner but you're no longer bound by them so you can leave without any penalties.
My Virgin contract ran out a few months ago and every month or so I get their Indian call centre calling me multiple times a day until I answer. When I do give in and answer I get told that because I'm such a loyal customer they want to offer me a new special contract which invariably evolves me agreeing to take extra services I don't want or need.

As others have said you get the best deals when they think you're genuinely going to leave but you should have another supplier lined up in case they call your bluff.