It Pays To Dig Your Heels In And Stand Your Ground ......

[Gizmonster]

So we've been with Virgin Media forever (since they were called NTL) and always managed to renegotiate some kinda decent deal when our contract was up.

The last time round, we had fun trying to negotiate a new deal - I ended up having to move out of the house .... all explained here:
https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1508768.html

Anyway, back to the here and now .... our contract was up and the bill has again crept up to almost £50 per month for basic TV, landline and 50 Mpbs broadband. This time they weren't really offering anything; but we had already decided that we would leave and go for a stand-alone broadband service, such as Plusnet, so we gave notice to leave. The best they could offer, would still cost over £40 per month.

We were resigned to leaving, but a few days after giving notice, VM rang and offered us the player bundle for £26 per month. It's a 12 month contract, but the price is fixed for 18 months, subject to inflationary rises ..... RESULT :)

[AliceTickband]

well done!

[Gizmonster]

.... and just for taking the time to answer - I'll give ya BA :)

The thing is, I'm sure that we could have got it for less. When the woman from VM rang, she spoke to my missus and offered her the bundle for £26 per month, asking how she felt about that. That, to me, suggests that if my missus had said no, she may have got a further reduction .... but hey ho .... we're more than happy :)

[gness]

It does indeed, Giz.....my car insurance quote was much higher than the previous year....a bit of chatting up and saying what I could get it down to with other companies brought it down to much lower than not only the quote...but what I'd paid the previous year....much to my surprise.... nice isn't it.... :-)

[bednobs]

can u phone up on my behalf giz? I hate doing that and i need to

[Gizmonster]

//// can u phone up on my behalf giz? I hate doing that and i need to ////

..... ask my missus - she's the one that spoke to them on the phone :)

[gness]

Oh, Giz!.....There you were my hero........and you've let the cat out of the bag!...Wuss!... ;-)

[Gizmonster]

.... well, I've gotta give credit where credit is due (to my missus).

..... and I did offer to ring up, but my missus offered to do it .... HONEST!!!
I'll let you work out which bits are true and which aren't lol :P

[sunny-dave]

That's a **very** good deal - I haggled them down to £29 for 200mbps broadband (don't need TV or phone) and thought I was doing well.

[gness]

Ooooo...I can work them out, Giz...... ;-)

[Gizmonster]

Hey SD - that's also a cracking deal - nice one.

Gness - I think I'll set my own website up .... something along the lines of rumbled.com :P

[gness]

:-)...x

[pastafreak]

I've got VM...but not a contract. How do I haggle them down?

[sunny-dave]

If you have a realistic alternative, you get a quote from the competition and then threaten to leave - ask for the cancellations team.

[Gizmonster]

If you're out of contract, then as already said, shop around and you'll probably find some kind of introductory offer being offered elsewhere. Tell VM that you feel you're paying too much, as you can get a better deal elsewhere and tell them what offers you can get.
We even told them that we wanted the player bundle, that was on offer for new VM customers and didn't think it was fair that existing customers don't get decent offers. The thing is, the offers are there, you've just got to ring up and basically ask for them.

[bednobs]

well giz, i girded my loins and rang them (thanks for the reminder) and came away with a bill £30 cheaper per month

[mccfluff]

are there any services out there other than virgin that don't use BT in some way or another?

[sunny-dave]

Ther's Gigaclear, fluffy - but they mainly concentrate on rural communities that BT won't/can't provide a decent service for.

There are a few other FTTP providers - but they tend to use BT exchanges (but not the antiquated green box and copper network).

[mccfluff]

nope they don't cover me :-(

[sunny-dave]

Too many cars and not enough sheep in your neck of the woods :(

[kat1]

Just seen this (not been on here for yonks) & wow I have just done the same & also they are back dating it & paying me back the money overpaid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much Giz. xxx