Sacking off Virgin Fibre Broadband for Three's 5G Home Router

[Malcy]

Make sure your Virgin marketing preferences are set to receive texts/emails/calls, etc, because there's a fairly good chance they will be in touch within the next 30 days with a better offer to get you to carry on.

I got a great deal off Sky last month after cancelling the telly. Bill was due to go up from £42 to £75. Got on the phone, they said the best they could do was £61. Offered to meet them halfway (new customers are paying £52), they still said no, so I told them to cancel it.

Three days later, I get an email, offering to continue for £38. £4 less than I was paying before and £14 less than new customers are paying. It pays to stand your ground.

Also, time on hold when calling to cancel: 48 minutes.
Time on hold when calling to accept new offer: 1 minute 42 seconds.

Weird that.

I work for Sky in cancellations and you did very well to only be on hold for 48 mins. It's been a nightmare recently.

[JamesTC]

Just saw my Virgin bill, bye bye Virgin.

Shell (boo!) reckon they can do broadband only for £21.99 then £32.88 after 18 months for 30mb. Even cheaper (£17.99) if I go for 10mb, how shit is 10mb?

But Virgin wouldn't make a deal and said if I broke my contract they'd take me to court, which they are welcome to do. My question is, are Shell (or any other providers) going to want to see that I'm all paid up with Virgin before they connect me up, or couldn't they give a monkeys?

If they have raised prices then you have every right to cancel. Unless your bill is the amount agreed to originally then I don't see why they are threatening legal action.

[Malcy]

There's ways around it. Companies have exceptions for leaving contracts without paying early termination charges etc.

Worth looking to see if you can find out what they are with Virgin. You'll find a lot of times that agents on the phone will say shite like that just so you don't cancel and affect their stats that affect bonus etc rather than do the right thing.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Thanks for this, I just changed my preferences but it says it might take 28 days to take effect so i wont hold my breath. Still good information though.

I would suspect it takes 28 days to remove you from their marketing list, but a fraction of a second to add you to it.

[Ted-Maul]

I would suspect it takes 28 days to remove you from their marketing list, but a fraction of a second to add you to it.

Ha, yes, spot on. Have had loads of missed calls from Virgin today and when i just answered they offered me £22 a month for 18 months, which i've accepted. Took about 2 minutes.

It's all just part of the capitalist system and the people on the phone seem to suspect you're just playing hardball for a lower amount, cos thats what youre supposed to do in the capitalist system, but im not like that, i hate it. I think they should be rewarding people for loyalty instead of forcing us to argue with their employees every 18 months.

Malcy, i hope you guys just take it in your stride because i find the whole thing really unpleasant. But i've got to pay that gas bill somehow.

[Malcy]

Malcy, i hope you guys just take it in your stride because i find the whole thing really unpleasant. But i've got to pay that gas bill somehow.

Yeah, is what it is. I totally refuse to do the practices a lot of people do to make their bonus and stats better.

I often remove charges for cancelling and just do what is right by the customer. I morally couldn't do my job the way it is supposed to be done. It's horrendous the stuff that goes on.

Some people get calls of people in tears who are told they can't cancel because they are still in contract. Can't pay, will end up in huge debt just because these companies are totally heartless. I just refund and wipe charges and cancel.

Because it's right. It's not like by doing that the company will go bust. There's people, especially the elderly, who are on ancient packages and paying 2-3x what others are paying.

Boils my piss and I'm waiting to be called out on it but fuck em. I've been told that if someone signs up for a specific price but for some reason discounts etc haven't been applied then just cancel their services.

They're obviously not arsed. It's disgusting to be honest. I'm compiling a thing for Martin Lewis.

[JamesTC]

They're obviously not arsed. It's disgusting to be honest. I'm compiling a thing for Martin Lewis.

Do post on here when it is published. Would be interested to read it.

[Malcy]

Do post on here when it is published. Would be interested to read it.

I doubt anything will come of it, he's probably well aware already.

[canadagoose]

Just saw my Virgin bill, bye bye Virgin.

Shell (boo!) reckon they can do broadband only for £21.99 then £32.88 after 18 months for 30mb. Even cheaper (£17.99) if I go for 10mb, how shit is 10mb?

But Virgin wouldn't make a deal and said if I broke my contract they'd take me to court, which they are welcome to do. My question is, are Shell (or any other providers) going to want to see that I'm all paid up with Virgin before they connect me up, or couldn't they give a monkeys?

The 10Mb one will be old-style ADSL, which isn't great if you like uploading things. Probably OK ish but wouldn't be my first choice.

By the by, I seem to remember you're disabled. Have you considered this? https://www.bt.com/exp/broadband/home-essentials If you're on certain benefits you should be eligible and you get a half-decent speed for your dosh.

[Dr Rock]

Thanks - I don't get any of those benefits (and they don't seem disability based), reckon I'll go with Shell (boo) on 30MB.

[canadagoose]

Thanks - I don't get any of those benefits (and they don't seem disability based), reckon I'll go with Shell (boo) on 30MB.

Ah, is it just PIP you're on? Bugger that they don't consider that. Anyway I'm sure Shell will be decent - we had some bother with their smart metering but their broadband has been fine.

[Dr Rock]

PIP and the disability element of Working Tax Credit, which is a fair lump.

[olliebean]

Honestly, fuck Virgin Media, fuck them up their stupid shitty arse. I just called their crappy customer service line to try to haggle a better deal. After making me go through several menus, the automated voice just said their waiting times are far longer than usual, and they would send me a link to get help online. Which turns out just to be a link to their useless FAQ pages, which doesn't let me do anything. I can't even cancel unless they let me speak to someone. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? They don't seem to have provided any other way to contact them. As it is they're just going to start charging me nearly double from next month, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.

[aunt mildred]

Are you out of contract? Sounds like it if they're trying to double it up.

When I was out of contract with TT (bad) and they tried this I just signed up to the cheapest in my area (plusnet) and let them deal with it, all very easy. I only lost internet for about half a day when it changed over.

Plusnet have been good so far and dealt with a line fault halfway through the contract very swiftly after contacting them on their forum. If virgin CS is that bad I would sack them off unless there's no alternative.

[Zetetic]

Honestly, fuck Virgin Media, fuck them up their stupid shitty arse. I just called their crappy customer service line to try to haggle a better deal. After making me go through several menus, the automated voice just said their waiting times are far longer than usual, and they would send me a link to get help online. Which turns out just to be a link to their useless FAQ pages, which doesn't let me do anything. I can't even cancel unless they let me speak to someone. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? They don't seem to have provided any other way to contact them. As it is they're just going to start charging me nearly double from next month, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.

You should be able to find an online chat thing, which will generally prompt you to get a message-back via WhatsApp.

This is much more tolerable, I found, since you can just copy-and-paste "this still seems a bit a high, compared with ...".

[Ted-Maul]

I struggled to get through on the phone at first and each time i rang anew, i had to sit through a message saying "we are sorry you are still experiencing problems with your broadband in the [my postcode] area.... our engineers are currently working hard to fix the problem etc." There was no problem, they are just bullshitting bastards, the whole thing's designed to make you give up. It costs aswell if you dont have free calls so maybe the chat is the best way to go.

[olliebean]

Are you out of contract? Sounds like it if they're trying to double it up.

When I was out of contract with TT (bad) and they tried this I just signed up to the cheapest in my area (plusnet) and let them deal with it, all very easy. I only lost internet for about half a day when it changed over.

Plusnet have been good so far and dealt with a line fault halfway through the contract very swiftly after contacting them on their forum. If virgin CS is that bad I would sack them off unless there's no alternative.

That'd be great if anyone else offered anything better than ADSL in my area. I'm stuck with shit speeds if I don't stay with Virgin. I don't mind waiting a bit longer for downloads, but my housemate does a lot of work conference calls as well as livestreaming, and 1mbps upstream just doesn't cut it.

You should be able to find an online chat thing, which will generally prompt you to get a message-back via WhatsApp.

This is much more tolerable, I found, since you can just copy-and-paste "this still seems a bit a high, compared with ...".

I'd love to do it via online chat, as I find talking on the phone stressful at the best of times, but there are no links to be found to it on the website. I asked on their facebook page, they gave me a link to their help pages which don't include a link to online chat. I asked on their forums, they told me to go via the "Change your package" link, which also doesn't include a link to online chat. I'm honestly thinking they've done away with their online chat but just decided to keep pretending it exists.

The phone line has decided to put me through to a person today, but currently £1.20 into the call and still waiting. It really rankles to be paying to listen to crap music at crap quality whilst waiting to try to talk someone into not screwing me over.

[olliebean]

Gave up after £1.60, fucked if I'm going to pay by the minute to wait around indefinitely. I've now installed WhatsApp (which I hate) just for this, and am waiting to be connected to an agent. God knows how long I'll be waiting, but at least I'm not paying for it.

[olliebean]

Now I seem to be speaking to someone, but they've asked for 3 characters from my 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." I've never been given a separate password to speak to their team, the one I use to access my account is the only one I have and it's 10 characters long (because that was the maximum they allowed), but they're asking for the 11th character.

Bunch of cunts. Fucksake.

[olliebean]

Being transferred to retention now, which is a step in the right direction I suppose. The first offer they made (and the only one so far) was exactly the same as the offer for a new 18 month contract in the email, absolutely crap.

[olliebean]

Looks like £28 is the best they're going to offer me, at least without playing their stupid stressful cancel-and-spend-the-next-few-weeks-hoping-they-make-a-better-offer game. I don't think I can be arsed with that.

[olliebean]

Bloody hell. After agreeing to £28/month, they told me my next payment would be £29.60. I queried it, and got some incomprehensible reply about pro-rata charges. Don't see how pro-rata comes into it, it should be just changing from £24 to £28 per month. Then he said something about there being £1.60 outstanding balance on my account, which is impossible as all my bills have been paid in full. Argued about it with him out of sheer bloody mindedness, but it was clear he had no idea what he was talking about, so in the end just left the chat and raised a complaint. Wouldn't be surprised if they're adding small spurious charges to loads of accounts and just counting on people not bothering to query it.

I can't bloody wait to get fibre here. At this point, if I had any other option for fast internet I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, even if they were the cheapest (which they wouldn't be by a long chalk, compared to the other prices I looked up).

<edit> Just checked my credit report, where Virgin Media is shown as a credit account, and the balance is zero. So the "outstanding balance" of £1.60 was an outright lie.

[olliebean]

Sorry for monopolising this thread, btw.

[aunt mildred]

Not a bad result though considering you have no alternative (I'll bet they know this too from your postcode). I'm hoping you get some decent fttp/fttc round your way soon so they don't have such a monopoly because they sound like a nightmare to deal with.

I didn't think it could get any worse than TT but it sounds like virgin are trying to outdo them. I can't believe they're taking the piss over £1.60 either.

[olliebean]

Cunts are only trying to double-charge me now, by overlapping the new contract with the old. I've sent them another complaint.

[olliebean]

Fucking unbelievable. They've responded to my complaint about the £1.60, basically telling me it's due to "non-maintenance of direct debit," i.e., it's my fault, which is utter bullshit. All my direct debits have been paid in full. And telling me to phone their stupid customer service line if I want to discuss it further, where it'll cost me more than £1.60 just to get through to a person. And my other complaint, about the double charging, when I looked it up on their website it turns out they've closed it without even telling me.

Fuck this. I'll put up with the shitty slow ADSL speeds just to not have to deal with this bunch of cunts. Going to have breakfast, calm down a bit, then WhatsApp them to cancel. I'm still within 14 days of my new contract. If they cause any more problems I'm going straight to the ombudsman.

<edit> Thinking about it, I'm screwed. Switching back to ADSL would mean getting a new phone line, and it's too late now to get that done before the end of my original Virgin contract (and I wouldn't put it past them to cut me off immediately, on the grounds that they've already cancelled that contract and I'm on the new one now). Can't see any way of doing that that doesn't leave me without any internet at all for at least a week or two, and I can't afford to be without it. So it looks like I'm stuck with Virgin, for the next 18 months.

Still going to the ombudsman if they don't sort out this overcharging bullshit, though.

[olliebean]

I worked out where the £1.60 came from. With 12 days left to run of my £24/month contract, they've charged those at the new price - £28/month - and added the £1.60 to cover the difference (12 days pro rata at an additional £4/month = £1.60). But they're also charging me the full £28 for the first month of my new contract, covering those 12 days. So I'm being double-charged. Have explained all this to them thoroughly on WhatsApp, waiting to see if they can get their heads around it.

Absolutely not a mistake, of course; this is clearly what their billing system is programmed to do every time someone renews a contract, and I bet they make a nice bundle of extra cash from the cumulative pockets of people who don't notice or can't be bothered to query it. The most surprising thing is how much they're willing to piss off a customer who does query it, for the sake of £11.20.

It's that extra £1.60 that seems like the most egregious "fuck you." If it hadn't been for that, I probably wouldn't even have noticed the double charging.

[canadagoose]

Fucking unbelievable. They've responded to my complaint about the £1.60, basically telling me it's due to "non-maintenance of direct debit," i.e., it's my fault, which is utter bullshit. All my direct debits have been paid in full. And telling me to phone their stupid customer service line if I want to discuss it further, where it'll cost me more than £1.60 just to get through to a person. And my other complaint, about the double charging, when I looked it up on their website it turns out they've closed it without even telling me.

Fuck this. I'll put up with the shitty slow ADSL speeds just to not have to deal with this bunch of cunts. Going to have breakfast, calm down a bit, then WhatsApp them to cancel. I'm still within 14 days of my new contract. If they cause any more problems I'm going straight to the ombudsman.

<edit> Thinking about it, I'm screwed. Switching back to ADSL would mean getting a new phone line, and it's too late now to get that done before the end of my original Virgin contract (and I wouldn't put it past them to cut me off immediately, on the grounds that they've already cancelled that contract and I'm on the new one now). Can't see any way of doing that that doesn't leave me without any internet at all for at least a week or two, and I can't afford to be without it. So it looks like I'm stuck with Virgin, for the next 18 months.

Still going to the ombudsman if they don't sort out this overcharging bullshit, though.

How come you're still paying for calls? What's your phone contract like?

[olliebean]

How come you're still paying for calls? What's your phone contract like?

PAYG. I hardly use it as I hate talking on the phone, so it's not worth me being on contract, or even buying bundles as they will expire way before I've used them up.

The most they would do, eventually, was agree to waive the £1.60 "as a good will gesture." I've accepted that for the sake of having it over and done with, but made it very clear I wasn't happy and that their "good will" was hollow considering how much bad will they've been prepared to create for the sake of trying to get away with adding £1.60 to a bill that was already paid in full.

It doesn't appear I'm being double charged but due to them overlapping the contracts, the billing cycle is now out of sync with the contract date, which means I'm going to be due a partial refund of my last payment when I cancel in 18 months. When the time comes, they'd better not be awkward about giving me that.

[olliebean]

I see Virgin are now offering new customers, for the same price I'm now paying for 100Mbps broadband, 200Mbps plus a phone line. I really fucking hate them.