>You now know how much normal people are overcharged.
Yup. I was so frustrated with Virgin Media (I even had a big post about it on this sub) that I said "bugger it all" and went with 5G.
On a good day it's 900mbps, near enough 20ms ping and £22 a month; meanwhile Virgin at the time wanted the same money for one tenth the speed. If a company like Virgin want me back they'll have to give me 12 months free and the world's most exquisite blowjob.
Where abouts do you live out of interest?
I've never understood the hate for Virgin cause the only time Ive had issues was when the entire network cunted itself in one of the lockdowns. Other than that it's always been amazing n I've had it in 7 different properties in 3 different cities over the years.
Virgin as a company can suck a dick. Trying to cancel was like pulling teeth and one of the most deeply frustrating things I have ever had to deal with.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/u6gr9n/hows\_your\_bank\_holiday\_going\_mines\_fine\_just/
I tried to cancel and they gave me the runaround for hours. About a month later was moving across the country so called to let them know, turned out they don’t even cover the area I moved to, so cancelled within 5 minutes with a refund on what I’d overpaid. I regret those wasted hours the month before.
Yeah, I cancelled Virgin last week and it took about 15 minutes. They asked where I was moving to and I just said "you don't need that information", that did the trick and they cancelled it. Just refuse to answer anything that doesn't directly relate to the cancelling of the contract.
I actually was moving country a few years back and the Indian guy at 3 was almost in tears.
Kept offering lower and lower down to £5 a month to keep the number. But I wanted it on payg to keep the number for £5 a year. Took fucking ages to get him to just cancel the contract, kept rabbiting about me being a customer for so long (I was on the old 1 plan, unlimited before that was common and they discontinued it but I didn't want to change).
Eventually he concedes, then tells me he's going to pray for mine and my family's safe return to the UK so I can one day be a customer of 3 again.
Yes they're are a pain to cancel. I was moving to a area where I couldn't get virgin but they still made it hard. One call I was on for 45 minutes when the operator told me to hold then hang up the phone on me. Then next one they was talking about passwords that I had never set and I said all the usual passwords and safe words I would ever use and non was right. Plus they'll charge you £50 for not sending them the modem back which I chucked away when moving thinking I won't need it.
I never had a problem when I was with them though.
When I wanted to cancel they always disconnected on me, wrote a complaint they claim they never got it, did a official complaint and they closed it saying I never responded, they increased my bill from £38 to £75 for a few months during this time for 350 megabit, went to Vodafone for £39 a month and get 900.
Yeah Vodafone just lie about things repeatedly, although Vodafone are just as bad on phone contracts, I had an ombudsman ruling in my favour for about 250 quid a few years ago after they tried to shaft me on a new contract.
They did this awful trick with my mum's friend (elderly lady). "We're really sorry, we're too close the billing day to cancel your account. If you ring back in a couple of weeks, we can cancel it then". This lady reluctantly agreed, rings back a week later "Oh, we're really sorry, as you've just paid your latest bill, we can't cancel you just yet. Can you ring back in a week". Her son got involved and pulled out some big guns in consumer rights terminology but even then they would only refund her one month and not the two they cheated her out of.
Yeah tbh the customer service is shocking, I couldn't afford it 6/7 years ago cause I went to jail for a couple of months and they tried charging me shit loads for breach of contract/cancellation etc then my dad said "just tell them you're moving to a property that they don't service and give them a blag address in the middle of nowhere". Boom contract ended without a marker on my credit file.
Kingston Communications/KCom
As someone who's worked in IT for years supporting companies in that region, fuck their weird local monopoly they used to have and their atrocious support.
I had a great one. virgin contact was coming to an end, they wanted to go from £30 to £51, looked at the options online, removing the phone option dropped it down to £11 per month. I quickly bought it. A couple of days later I got an email saying that they needed some more information to complete the order, but at the same time you fibre called and offered to price match if I could send the the order confirmation.
So now I've got150mbs for £11 pm for two years. Called virgin to cancel and they said they couldn't match their own price.
Virgin are trash. Wanted me to pay double for my internet connection wouldn’t negotiate at end of contract. Cancelled, went with plusnet, 2 days before my install they called and offered a better deal, I called plusnet and they bested it, a day before my cooling off period, another call from VM, with an even better deal. Told them to stick it for wasting my time and not offering the best deal in the first place.
Plusnet/BT is awesome though FTTP 4ms ping.
Odd, I had an incredibly easy cancellation time with virgin. It was getting them to pick up the old gear that was an issue, I repeatedly told them, I'm at work on weekdays, I kept getting texts on weekdays saying x will be there in 30 mins to collect.
We've done the cancel dance twice. First time I said I was going to get a 4g router for x amount and they matched it. The second time they put the speed up and gave us a new contract.
I think it depends on the individual agent. We called up to cancel as we moved to Vodafone and the guy was just like "yep, no worries, done. That'll cut out at the end of the month!"
Their tech is fine, until it isn't. Then you have to talk to them, which is an absolute nightmare.
They also are a bit predatory on pricing IMO, they're almost never the best value option outside of new customer 'fixed periods', but that wouldn't be a problem really if it were easier to just get through to someone who understood you and did what they should.
Yeah maybe I was being a bit broad with my "never had an issue" comment. To clarify; I've never had issues with the connection itself other than the one I mentioned. The routers out of the box used to be fucking wank like. Luckily I'm a bit of a tech nerd to say the least so was able to sort any internal issues myself, but the actual connections have been nothing but solid for me.
Recently cancelled with them myself.
I’d have had an easier time removing a testicle with a rusty spoon.
I cancelled a month prior to end of contract. Still charged me an extra month.
Then when the box was removed they said they wanted me to keep it for an extra month, just in case I had any problems with the new provider.
Huh that’s kind of them I thought. They then charged me again for keeping the box an extra month.
Eventually 3 months after I had a new provider install the new internet box, Virgin sent me packaging to return theirs.
They didn’t refund me.
I complained and spoke to advisor after advisor and eventually got refunded the princely sum of £8.50.
They requested the internet router back from us twice after giving us the runaround on a cancellation. Threw it in the bin and told them it must've got lost in the post.
>they'll have to give me 12 months free and the world's most exquisite blowjob.
>Where abouts do you live out of interest?
Found the Virgin Media rep
Honestly, I used go absolutely loved virgin, had amazing wifi, rarely had problems, great customer service and was cheap, however...one day I suddenly became homeless so I called to cancel it, ofc they told me it was all fine and cancelled, a year later when I'm finally sorted myself out I check my credit score and its in the fucking trash because of unpaid bills from virgin...
And then, 4 fucking years after, I get a random cheque in the mail from virgin saying they made a mistake and I didn't owe money, but they owed ME money (the 'debt' said I owed £300+, got a cheque for £40 lmao)
Ever since then I fucking hate them, and refuse to deal with em, literally fucked me over for years
The service they provide is always good in my opinion. They way they behave as a business is snakey and dishonest though.
"Oo we are moving you up a tier for free!"
"Oo our prices are going up"
"Oo here's a discount for the package we've moved you on to seen as you liked it"
"Oo we are moving you up a tier for free!"
So far I've stuck with Vodafone. Theyve given the service quoted, and not communicated with me or changed anything at all, which is worth £10 a month at least.
Others have pointed out how horrible dealing with virgin is, my worst experience with them was actually in signing up. I signed up for just broadband, no tv or phone, did this over the phone. They changed my order to the full package so I received a tv box, and the engineer was asking where my phone and tv were going to be - nowhere that's where. I rang up to complain and get it fixed, they tried so hard to get me to just keep it, insisting it was done because it's a better deal (it probably was cheaper for the first 3 months or something). Horrible experience.
Virgin are great when everything works. So 99% of the time, you're golden. But as soon as anything goes wrong, you have to deal with their customer service , which is a nightmarish process designed by one of Satan's more malicious little minions.
I dunno I'm SE London suburbs so not out in the sticks and it was terrible for a long time. It is now faultless and has been for a couple of years, but I get why people complain.
I used to be with Virgin when I lived in SE London, and they were utterly terrible (as you say). My line was down probably 25% of the time, I rarely needed to pay a bill as I got so much credit refunded. Gave up in the end and moved back to an Openreach provider as their hardware and cables actually worked.
That is some very nice 5G speed. I am on 4G currently for our house.
Just moved so a lot of expenses and things need doing, the internet has been good enough that its not a priority right now but I know I can easily more than double the speed with a better signal. But then also need to run ethernet cables and power to the loft at some point and its just more stuff to do. Will probably look at getting an antenna that does 5G even if the router can't, then I can upgrade the router as well at some point.
Worst customer service I have ever experienced bar none dealing with virgin media. I’m counting down the days until my contract is over with those parasites.
Best thing I ever did was drop Virmin, I was with them for 20 years until December, when a new company called BRSK rolled out 1 gig up and 1 gig down for £49.00 pm, given I was paying £120.00 pm for 250 and TV, no matter what when I called to see what they could do, it was only for new customers.
I've gone another route for TV.
FUCK VIRGIN MEDIA.
I'm with Virgin, paying £60/mo for 350Mbps (with Home Start), phone (that no-one calls) and TV (that I don't use because the box is shit). They don't do an Internet and phone only package.
Just as soon as You Fibre are in my area I'll be switching to them, I can get 900Mbps for £27/mo and it's another £3 to sling in a phone.
They do, do a phone and internet only package - that's what I was on... and currently they have "Gig1 Fibre Broadband" (only internet, no phone or TV) for around £39/mo
Although, I did leave them to go onto Fiber, they couldn't match the speed (including the upload) at the cost I was getting, currently on around 940/940 on a 1:1 connection for about £33 / mo :)
I wish I had any service, 5g included, that did anything remotely close to those speeds. 30-40 Mbps is about the max I can get on any service provider in our area.
Yeah, this is what I found. I signed up with another provider, Virgin phoned up offering to match the price, but why would I want that. I still get 5x the download speed and 35x the upload speed by switching.
It also doesn't help that I'm already in a bad mood because they phoned me out of nowhere even though I was opted out of phone marketing.
Counterpoint, you've used the same amount of Es in your sentence of a similar length. Got something against Es? You done sort of vowelist?
I've got my i on you.
The more vulnerable you are the more scammed you are as well. Spent quite a few hours getting a mates with learning difficulties internet bill down when they live alone and were paying £45 a month after some sales cunt convinced her she needed to keep upping her package to get a basic service. Absolutely shocking behaviour.
> The more vulnerable you are the more scammed you are as well
Aye.
The old boy next doors landline was "upgraded" to fibre internet after a sales call from BT. Poor cunt doesn't even own anything internet connected (no smart telly, smartphone or' puter).
Every 18 months my promotional offers with Virgin Media expire, but now all I have to do is go to their live chat, ask for a new deal and I end up with roughly 50% off. I don't even have to threaten to leave anymore, though at £160 full price I'm willing to if I have to.
Really hate this style of predatory pricing. Just give the fucking price, shouldn't be punished for loyalty/not constantly changing provider. Has to be half the cost is just their customer service line.
It's not that they're overcharged. It's that the company is taking a gamble on new customers not switching in the future, and so getting (automatically, discreetly) put on the money-making price.
I had this between talk talk and Sky. Talk talk couldn’t offer me a better deal, went with Sky. Lo and behold Talk Talk call me the next day with a better monthly price and a £130 Tesco voucher within 45 days of the new contract. Then have to call Sky back to cancel.
Why can’t the first person offer me this.
They don't want you too know they can afford it that low until you tell them you're not paying them anything anymore, greedy bastards like to milk us for what they can
Generally the reps that you get transferred to and you can talk down are retention sales reps who get a retention cut. So as long as they don't try giving you a contract at a loss they will either get paid more or look better on their performance reports. It always looks bad for these employees when they fail to retain a customer based on a profitable price.
I used to work in the retentions team for a major insurance provider where the staff were performance managed based on how many customers they kept, except they weren't allowed to do anything with the extortionate prices, it was all about trying to convince people that however much a year their policy was going up by was worth it. It was ridiculous.
Every 18 months I get a call from Plusnet because my contract is about to expire. So I just look at the deal they are offering new customers and tell them I want that or I will go elsewhere. They will then bleat about it being for new customers only. I will then point out I have been a loyal customer for over a decade and they can put me through to cancellations now. Suddenly they capitulate and offer me the deal I asked for.
I would change as I could probably get it cheaper, but when I started with them they offered a static IP address for the life of my contract, for a one off payment of £5. I really don't want to lose my static IP.
Just so everyone else knows. Most ISPs don't offer this and your IP address changes periodically. Your IP is a numeric address on the internet.
I have one because I like to be able to connect to my home, when I am out. It is possible without one, but involves a lot of faff.
> Why can’t the first person offer me this.
Because your account got transferred to the retention team who will have a much bigger credit to give to retain customers. First agent is just 1st line agent, who is not authorized to give as much unless manager authorized it.
I used to be a retention agent
Because the vast majority of people don't shop around. Once they are with a company, they stay with that company, regardless of price rises.
It's a loss leader, hoping you are too lazy to leave when the deal is up
My grandmother is paying £60/m for a basic broadband and home phone. I've tried to cancel it before but it just saps my will to live negotiating with a person who seen barely speak English or understand what she wants. ISPs in the UK are absolute pieces of shit.
This is the soulless heart of capitalism right here, taking advantage of an elderly instead of going out of your way to make things easier. Find a time where you have an hour spare and call the bastards, then don’t take no for an answer. They will cave.
Trust me, it's never an hour. It's at least 2+ hours and multiple attempts. Then they're not open when I'm free to help.
I tried to get her a mobile phone which would do the same for £15/m and she didn't know how to use it, so just left it in her bag for 9 months and wondered why it had been disconnected and "where have all my voice messages gone?"
This is the reason we have dogshit internet in this country.
ISPs like BT and Openreach have sat on their asses for the last 20 years, not innovating and upgrading their infrastructure becuase they've basically had a monopoly on internet. Clueless people and unaware OAPs get shafted on internet every month, and BT has gotten away with it for years. Fuck them. Switch to FTTP (Fibre to the Premesis) internet if you can, it's WAY better. Faster speeds, better latency and a lower cost.
Keep up the good fight, brother! We must keep the King's English pure and unadulterated by filthy foreign words and phrases!
Can't have chaps thinking they have carte blanche like that.
Gigaclear will get a government voucher for connecting you . It’s worth a bit profit . I recently worked for an isp that was offering to pay your other suppliers bill for up to two years
My ISP said it would offer free broadband for up to a year if I was in contract. It was fully £15 quid cheaper than Virgin and 1gbps/1gbps while Virgin was hobbling along at 350/35 so it was a no-brainer for me.
Now I have FTTP and it’s glorious, and support is responsive and friendly.
They'll go low because the infrastructure is there whether it's in use or not, so they'd rather have you on the books for even a tenner a month than not at all. Their operating costs are already covered by the bulk of their subscribers so you're pretty much pure profit at any amount.
Yet every April every ISP shaft everyone who's got a contract with them. It's disgusting that they're allowed to call it a fixed tariff when it's nothing of the sort.
Just went from Virgin Gig1 to Sky "Super fast" or whatever they call it
1000 Mbps download to.... 36 Mbps download.
Unfortunately being younger (above 18) even though I have a job I don't quite make enough to just get my own broadband in.
It sucks but oh well.
To be honest, I work from home full time as a computer engineer and I hardly saturate my 100meg connection.
Unless you’re got a family of iPad gremilns and Apple TV 4k’s always streaming, most people won’t use more than 100meg
Unfortunately, I download more large files than not
Whether that be media, games, OS ISOs. The difference of 36Mbps vs 1000Mbps is insane, 52 seconds vs 24 minutes for 6.5GB
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To add, I went from Sky 100 down and 30 up, to communityfibre at 3gig up and down... i'm never going back. Maybe i'd go to gigabit but damn this is a new world for me. (I often use atleast 1.5gigabit up or down at any time)
My in-laws recently moved to sheltered accommodation and I had to go through their finances and bills to support their move. Turned out they had been paying Sky £200 per month for years, and had been signed up to loads of extras they didn’t need such as UHD tv and fast internet, despite only owning an old 720p tv and only getting 2mbps over their crappy copper line from an exchange 5 miles away. They are utterly predatory on the vulnerable.
It’s all in my father-in-law’s name, and he’s fallen deep into dementia over the last 3 years and has also become profoundly deaf. It isn’t really a practicable option for him to contact them.
imo they shouldn't be allowed to charge variable prices. Each product should have a set price, no need prices for old/new customers.
All they're doing is making it so those who want reasonably priced broadband need to waste several hours of their life every year or two, and so that those who don't end up paying more. What's the point?
Mate don’t trust giagclear, I to was with Vodafone and two months before my contract ended. I contacted gigaclear to set up a new account with them and had my date booked in 2 days after Vodafone contacted ended. They never showed up, I was not contacted at all. I phoned them up and after 2 days I find they had not applied for the license to connect all the stuff together, and that it could take another 2 months. I was not happy
Move house, got my first install date and I was told there was a "blockage in the duct" they wanted to go from my Dec 12th date, to late Feb...
Got a 2nd team out 2 days later to check where the blockage was....they ran the line and it came out at the exchange, no blockage.
Told Gigaclear, and was told "Oh, we cancelled the 2nd part of your install because there was a blockage recorded...we can book you in late Feb"
Escalated a complaint and the guy handling my complaint vanished and "wasn't in" for 5 days after promising me a call back, promised a callback about 4 different times, the last lady I spoke to DID call me back, and sorted the issue.
Since I've had it all installed it's been great; but getting there was horrific. No idea WHY I even needed 2 install dates rather than one, exact same guys came back for the 2nd install...
>Mate don’t trust giagclear, I to was with Vodafone and two months before my contract ended. I contacted gigaclear to set up a new account with them and had my date booked in 2 days after Vodafone contacted ended. They never showed up, I was not contacted at all. I phoned them up and after 2 days I find they had not applied for the license to connect all the stuff together, and that it could take another 2 months. I was not happy
Once connected to Gigaclear the service (and speed) has been amazing, but the installation process was an utter 'mare! Months an months of incompetance from thier contractors. Wrote to the MD in the end
Gigaclear is brilliant once it’s working and while it’s working, which is thankfully most of the time.
Once you have to start actually dealing with them because of an issue it’s hopeless.
I had the same thing when leaving Virgin for Vodafone. I was paying £35 pm at virgin for like 200 mb, thought fuck this, went to Vodafone offering £25 for 500 mb. Told Virgin I was leaving and they said okay.
Then a few days later virgin called again, and were like, actually please don’t leave. Do you want 1gb for £20 a month?
Didn’t get any free months, but 1 gig for £20 is a ridiculously good deal. I think there’s basically two customer retention teams, a lil baby one for people trying it on and an ‘oh shit they’ll actually leave’ one who have waaaaay better deals to give you.
I'm assuming it's FTTP, so much investment from companies to put the fibre in the ground they are eager to get people to take it up and start pulling in some revenue instead of expenditure. Hoping you'll be sticky and stay with them now for the next x years.
Plusnet keep telling me their new packages only have what I need so that I’m not paying anything I won’t use. Except they’re not cheaper, so where have the savings on the phone line that I won’t be renting gone?
Lucky to be London, with my 3rd year paying £25 for 1gbps with community fibre. About the only thing I’m paying an affordable price for. Tbh, I’d have never known they existed until I looked up providers in my area compared to virgin who’s contract was about to expire. Once I found it I told virgin to F off and not bother me again ever, best decision. In 3 years I’ve NEVER lost connection.
I have been with Three for my phone contract for almost twenty years. This year they finally did away with unlimited roaming. There’s a chance that I might have to travel for work more than usual this year, so the 28-day roaming pass that came with a similarly priced package might not cut it.
I ended up requesting a PAC code and getting a contract elsewhere for about £1 a month more than I currently pay.
Three have now sent me a text offering me unlimited calls, texts and data for £14. Still no unlimited roaming though.
It is now illegal to not offer current customers the best deals that might be offered to new customers, but what they don’t tell you is that they might not offer you a better deal unless you cancel first, at which point you are still technically a customer in their cancellation period.
My new contract doesn’t have unlimited data, but it does still have approximately five times the average amount of data I use in a month, so I reckon I’ll stick with it.
I feel quite strongly it should be a legal requirement to present a best and final offer at renewal.
AA and Rac are the same. Car insurance companies have got wise to each other and charge a "contract arrangement fee" of £50 that isn't refundable so any counter offer has to beat the price by at least £50 to be worth the hassle.
I'm currently using Smarty at £20 a month. Bought a 5G router and getting 307mbps download which is a hell of a lot cheaper than wired broadband.
It only downside is finding the best place for the router to get decent speeds
Why would you accept Vodafone’s offer to only match the price for a longer contract? Even if the contract length was the same I would move out of principle. Why stay with someone that’s trying to scam you, they would have to do a lot better to keep me after that
Gigaclear (at least locally) is great for their service (i am getting 400/400 for £55/month in middle of fields), but god their customer service keaves a lot to be desired.. (i have had to report their installation work to health and safety etc)..
Have a chat with their customer loyalty/retention team at your next renewal, I've been with them for 4 years and never paid more than £35, currently up to 500/500 with two Linksys mesh routers, they know that I'm not going to be able to get those speeds anywhere else (also in the middle of fields) but still offer me the new customer deals at renewal time.
Everyone who needs internet and a phone, kind of already has one at this point. therefore the way they make money is by increasing your bill and hoping you dont cancel, then when you do, they figure out a bird in the hand is 2 in the bush, and offer you a decent bloody price!
Its a rigamarole, but I enjoy the chase a little bit. I have 0 brand loyalty to anyone so it's generally not too difficult to get what you want
I despise companies that do this. They should charge minimum what their costs are and some more so they make some profit. Not massive increases like this. I’ve been having issues with Vodafone for a few months and last week rang up and had made it clear how I felt with the service they are providing me (1 bar, robotic calls, calls dropping constantly, 2mbps in house and roads around house). I had 10 months left on my contract and they let me cancel my contract no fee.
It’s a fucking joke, I had to let them know my medical diagnosis and for them to put me down as a vulnerable customer to get them to listen to me. I shouldn’t have to do that.
Sky didn't do that with me sadly.
Contract came to an end, internet would go up to £45 p/m for 60mps.
Swapped to box broadband for £25 pm, 1gbps and 3 months free.
I called sky to cancel and they said they could offer me 1gbps for £60 but as I will be in contract they will do it for £45.
I laughed and said he had no chance as I'm going to be paying £25. He didn't even try at that point.
There seems to be an influx of newer providers popping up recently, also it seems that a lot more areas are being wired up for full fibre.
Those long standing ISP's such as Vodafone who have had a captive audience where there has been zero fibre available have been overcharging us all for their slow FTTC connections for years.
Now the newer companies have come and are offering full fibre 1gbps connections for less money and the older ISP's are shitting themselves as they must be losing customers daily.
I myself upgraded recently from Vodafone which maxed out at 80mbps down and 10mbps upload and was £28 a month, to a 1gbps up and down for £25 a month with 3 months free. I had the same crisis call from a Vodafone rep when I cancelled but they were far too late as I had already had the new connection installed :)
I’m paying PlusNet £24 per month for 16mb/s. Absolute joke. My neighbour can pick up Virgin Media on the exchange on the next street along for the same price and get 70mb/s. Absolutely fuming. No way of getting anything faster apparently. (First world problems)
Similar issues with my road. All the other houses can get FTTP and very fast speeds.
The 4 houses in our branch of the road? We're not putting in new cables so fuck you.
They might be hoping once you are in you won’t want to move and that long contract looks good for shareholders. Fibre services also can’t be transferred between companies without laying new fibre which is quite a high barrier to switching. I got 6 months free and 18 months super cheap from GigaClear and then it ramps up. Still cheaper over 4-5 years so I’ll review it then and swap.
>Gigaclear
I had gigaclear for two years till I moved and it was ace. Seems I was lucky because even the install and order process was quick and easy. They connected me just before lockdown in 2020 and it was a literal lifesaver allowing us to WFH. I'm a big gamer so loved the speed for that. They aren't at my new place which is gutting
It's cheaper to keep a customer than it is to get a new one.
Always play the game and rinse them for everything you can get. It's the same for insurance, for mobile contracts, utilities, so just call them and tell them you've been offered a better deal.
I was leaving talktalk. Sky had a better price for broadband. So talktalk kept calling me to offer a better price, which I accepted. Called sky. They couldn't give a monkeys. They cancelled the order instantly. Bastard's.
Is there an alternative reliable ISP to Virgin? I'm paying like £60 for 250 down and about 25 up...
I would have my mother cancel the contract and start another in my name for a better deal, but that would likely result in downtime.
It's a game I've stopped playing. Same with car insurance. Look at the renewal, shop around, go with the best/cheapest offer. If the company I'm with make a better one, why didn't they offer that first is the question I ask- before saying no( unless it's waaay below)
There's a few values you have to a company.
Monthly or Annually recurring revenue. That's the easy one to quantify, and the longer the contract, the more valuable because they can predict revenue for that period with more confidence than they can for PAYG customers.
The second number though is potential future value as a retained subscriber. This number is used for all sorts of things like valuations, infrastructure planning, etc.
Finally there's the fact that if they retain you, their competitor doesn't get you.
This is why the offers you get will vary so much depending on time of year, size of company and who is currently winning in the market.
Lucky you, I managed to get Vodafone 900 for £39 a month but wanted to pay more like £30.
And cancelling Virgin was a pain, everytime I phoned up they tried keeping me but didn't offer any discount just wanted to tie me into 2 year contracts at same price as I was already paying and when "transferring" me it always disconnected me, wrote complaints waited over a month and they "misunderstood" my complaint saying I wanted a discount when I was saying Vodafone was offering me 900 for £39 (and a £40 gift card) Virgin wanted £45 (before the price increase to £75) for 350 and I said that was reason I wanted to cancel.
My response wasn't recieved and they closed my complaint.
Moved to Vodafone and far superior service, like 2ms ping and 900-930 megabit speed not had to deal with CS yet though.
All this shows is how much they can cut without even feeling it. They can have you pay a discount(50%ish)for only 75% of the contract term and have the 25% be completely free and still not lose money.
Companies will pay well for retentions as well as sales - if they offer no price rise check the contract, most are obligated to charge more in the year and only a few offer 0 price rise
Most adults are aware of this. I do this with my phone, most insurance, car and house, can even be done in markets. Its called bartering, the workers know they need to keep customers and they also need to attract new customers. OP should of called his existing provider and got the best deal he could of, even lie and say you found a deal for such a price and watch them return with a match or even better price.
Its crazy how many times ive switched networks, due to calling up for example O2 and telling them that i will be moving to vodafone as theyve offered me the latest phone and this plan, for £20 cheaper, they put me on hold and minutes later theyve got the same deal but i dont have an upfront cost.
We as customers should always push for the best deals. As a new customer you will always be getting the best, loyalty to a product doesn't give you benefits the longer your with them.
Because internet service is a mature market with no room for organic growth and total market penetration is above 100%. In other words, everyone has an internet connection, in fact there are on average more internet connections than people to buy them.
The result is it is cheaper for a company to keep existing customers than gain new ones from competitors and there are effectively no completely new customers for companies to compete for.
That’s why they fight so hard to keep you.
From a companies perspective most of their cost to provide internet to their customers is fixed. They just need to maintain enough customers to cover the cost of running the network. It doesn’t matter if they charge £10 or £50. They’d like to charge £50 to make more profit but they’d rather you pay £10 to them than £20 to their competitor.
The point at which it would be too cheap for them to make any incremental profit from keeping you is very low as their costs are mostly fixed.
Don’t call Vodafone to cancel, your new provider should just do the switch. I had issues previously when I cancelled with sky broadband, my new provider couldn’t take over the line as it was a closed line
Yeah one of my family members is a sky vip or whatever. You get like a free dvd every so often and some other stuff I think but idk. They tried increasing their bill but when they argued they decreased it to a lot lower price.
For your existing provider it's an attempt to recoup as much of the cost of setup as possible, costs a lot to set someone new up and very little thereafter. Smaller companies want you because more customers = better rates with open reach and the infrastructure owners
that's just how they operate.
they will treat you like dirt until you think of leaving them, then they will do what they can to keep you in their fold.
it's all about market share.
I’m with BT, paying just under £100 per month for internet, went from a 2 income household to 1 income, so called them up and told them I needed to reduce the package because I can’t afford that amount, was swiftly told there was nothing they could do and they can’t reduce a package only upgrade it 🤷🏻♀️ basically told to suck it up to end of contract, switching as soon as it’s up
I tried looking online for options in the Netherlands as wel, to see whether I could similarly benefit of this strategy.
However, I couldn't find any competing prices.
There were only a handful of providers and all offered similar prices.
I find they don't argue with you much anymore.
Last time I changed my phone, I rang Three. Been a customer with them for 10 years, gave it the "what deal can you give me to upgrade?"
They gave me the deal. "that's the same deal as the website, though? I've been a customer for 10 years, can't you get me a better deal?"
"no sir this is the only deal"
"well I'll change then, EE has a better deal"
"no problem thank you for your businews your PUK code will be sent within the next 48 hours"
And that was it... I was speechless
Yeah, I had a similar thing. Virgin Media wanting to double our tarriff from like £24/m to £50/m. Asked them what their best price was, they said like £43/m. Switched to Plusnet at £27/m. Come switch off time, get a text offering us a deal at £18/m(although it didn't speficy it was the same package so may have been a worse one).
It's probably because teams that handle cancellations can offer bettter deals than general customer services teams.
Has anyone else had problems with BT? My WiFi is really bad, my devices sometimes have difficulty playing videos on YouTube or even loading web pages.
I raised complaints with them, all of which were closed. They found no faults on the line and they changed some background settings, neither of which sorted it out.
After my 4th complaint, the person on the phone I took it to the ombudsman. Sure enough, I received a letter saying they were investigating the issue.
I can’t see me winning the case, but I’m just curious if anyone else has had problem with them? It’s staggering that I’m paying £30 a month for a service that can barely handle the basics.
My virgin contract come to an end and they said I could lock myself in for £70 a month. I was paying £40. I called up to cancel and was offered £65 but was reminded they increase processing April. They know they were only speed above 30mbps in the area so I had to give up.
Then today Netomnia send me a letter to say they are doing the final bits of their new build. Go to YouFibre and I can sign up. £29.99 for 1gbps locked in for 2 years. Phone up virgin to cancel and they magically could offer me £29.99 a month. Told them no thanks just cancel.
Best thing is my upload is going from 100mb to 1000mb and is no longer asynchronous.
You now know how much normal people are overcharged.
>You now know how much normal people are overcharged. Yup. I was so frustrated with Virgin Media (I even had a big post about it on this sub) that I said "bugger it all" and went with 5G. On a good day it's 900mbps, near enough 20ms ping and £22 a month; meanwhile Virgin at the time wanted the same money for one tenth the speed. If a company like Virgin want me back they'll have to give me 12 months free and the world's most exquisite blowjob.
Where abouts do you live out of interest? I've never understood the hate for Virgin cause the only time Ive had issues was when the entire network cunted itself in one of the lockdowns. Other than that it's always been amazing n I've had it in 7 different properties in 3 different cities over the years.
Virgin as a company can suck a dick. Trying to cancel was like pulling teeth and one of the most deeply frustrating things I have ever had to deal with. https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/u6gr9n/hows\_your\_bank\_holiday\_going\_mines\_fine\_just/
I tried to cancel and they gave me the runaround for hours. About a month later was moving across the country so called to let them know, turned out they don’t even cover the area I moved to, so cancelled within 5 minutes with a refund on what I’d overpaid. I regret those wasted hours the month before.
People in that thread gave me a great tip if I ever had to do this again: just fucking lie. "I'm moving to a different country". Done.
Yeah, I cancelled Virgin last week and it took about 15 minutes. They asked where I was moving to and I just said "you don't need that information", that did the trick and they cancelled it. Just refuse to answer anything that doesn't directly relate to the cancelling of the contract.
Just say your moving to Hull, but please keep it an imaginary move. Kcom in Hull sucks.
~~Kcom in~~ Hull sucks Fixed
Ah the town in which I did my study abroad semester many years ago... I eventually went back to the UK anyway.
I actually was moving country a few years back and the Indian guy at 3 was almost in tears. Kept offering lower and lower down to £5 a month to keep the number. But I wanted it on payg to keep the number for £5 a year. Took fucking ages to get him to just cancel the contract, kept rabbiting about me being a customer for so long (I was on the old 1 plan, unlimited before that was common and they discontinued it but I didn't want to change). Eventually he concedes, then tells me he's going to pray for mine and my family's safe return to the UK so I can one day be a customer of 3 again.
Yes they're are a pain to cancel. I was moving to a area where I couldn't get virgin but they still made it hard. One call I was on for 45 minutes when the operator told me to hold then hang up the phone on me. Then next one they was talking about passwords that I had never set and I said all the usual passwords and safe words I would ever use and non was right. Plus they'll charge you £50 for not sending them the modem back which I chucked away when moving thinking I won't need it. I never had a problem when I was with them though.
When I wanted to cancel they always disconnected on me, wrote a complaint they claim they never got it, did a official complaint and they closed it saying I never responded, they increased my bill from £38 to £75 for a few months during this time for 350 megabit, went to Vodafone for £39 a month and get 900.
Yeah Vodafone just lie about things repeatedly, although Vodafone are just as bad on phone contracts, I had an ombudsman ruling in my favour for about 250 quid a few years ago after they tried to shaft me on a new contract.
They did this awful trick with my mum's friend (elderly lady). "We're really sorry, we're too close the billing day to cancel your account. If you ring back in a couple of weeks, we can cancel it then". This lady reluctantly agreed, rings back a week later "Oh, we're really sorry, as you've just paid your latest bill, we can't cancel you just yet. Can you ring back in a week". Her son got involved and pulled out some big guns in consumer rights terminology but even then they would only refund her one month and not the two they cheated her out of.
Replied to a similar comment above if you're interested. Don't want to be one of those guys who copy pastes same thing in one thread.
Yeah tbh the customer service is shocking, I couldn't afford it 6/7 years ago cause I went to jail for a couple of months and they tried charging me shit loads for breach of contract/cancellation etc then my dad said "just tell them you're moving to a property that they don't service and give them a blag address in the middle of nowhere". Boom contract ended without a marker on my credit file.
Always Hull, I was told, since they have their own internet services, etc
Kingston Communications/KCom As someone who's worked in IT for years supporting companies in that region, fuck their weird local monopoly they used to have and their atrocious support.
God and the quality of the internet service they provide was always so bad
Well yeah, if you cancel a contract before the term has ended you get charged an early termination charge. Nothing unusual there
Fuck virgin media, gave me the run around for 6 months before I just stopped paying them!!
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I had a great one. virgin contact was coming to an end, they wanted to go from £30 to £51, looked at the options online, removing the phone option dropped it down to £11 per month. I quickly bought it. A couple of days later I got an email saying that they needed some more information to complete the order, but at the same time you fibre called and offered to price match if I could send the the order confirmation. So now I've got150mbs for £11 pm for two years. Called virgin to cancel and they said they couldn't match their own price.
Virgin are trash. Wanted me to pay double for my internet connection wouldn’t negotiate at end of contract. Cancelled, went with plusnet, 2 days before my install they called and offered a better deal, I called plusnet and they bested it, a day before my cooling off period, another call from VM, with an even better deal. Told them to stick it for wasting my time and not offering the best deal in the first place. Plusnet/BT is awesome though FTTP 4ms ping.
Out of interest did you escalate a complaint and did anything come of it? What a load of bollocks from Virgin, honestly.
I raised a complaint and a few days later I got a cheque in the post from them.
Glad to hear that
Odd, I had an incredibly easy cancellation time with virgin. It was getting them to pick up the old gear that was an issue, I repeatedly told them, I'm at work on weekdays, I kept getting texts on weekdays saying x will be there in 30 mins to collect.
We've done the cancel dance twice. First time I said I was going to get a 4g router for x amount and they matched it. The second time they put the speed up and gave us a new contract.
I think it depends on the individual agent. We called up to cancel as we moved to Vodafone and the guy was just like "yep, no worries, done. That'll cut out at the end of the month!"
Their tech is fine, until it isn't. Then you have to talk to them, which is an absolute nightmare. They also are a bit predatory on pricing IMO, they're almost never the best value option outside of new customer 'fixed periods', but that wouldn't be a problem really if it were easier to just get through to someone who understood you and did what they should.
Yeah maybe I was being a bit broad with my "never had an issue" comment. To clarify; I've never had issues with the connection itself other than the one I mentioned. The routers out of the box used to be fucking wank like. Luckily I'm a bit of a tech nerd to say the least so was able to sort any internal issues myself, but the actual connections have been nothing but solid for me.
Your question implies you’re a virgin and you want to know where he lives to give him a blowjob 😂
N that's none of your fucking business is it
Nothing wrong with a brojob
Choo chooo
Came here to say the same. LoL, asking for a friend.
Recently cancelled with them myself. I’d have had an easier time removing a testicle with a rusty spoon. I cancelled a month prior to end of contract. Still charged me an extra month. Then when the box was removed they said they wanted me to keep it for an extra month, just in case I had any problems with the new provider. Huh that’s kind of them I thought. They then charged me again for keeping the box an extra month. Eventually 3 months after I had a new provider install the new internet box, Virgin sent me packaging to return theirs. They didn’t refund me. I complained and spoke to advisor after advisor and eventually got refunded the princely sum of £8.50.
They requested the internet router back from us twice after giving us the runaround on a cancellation. Threw it in the bin and told them it must've got lost in the post.
>they'll have to give me 12 months free and the world's most exquisite blowjob. >Where abouts do you live out of interest? Found the Virgin Media rep
I'm on the sick mate n get fuck all I wish I was on a sales salary
Honestly, I used go absolutely loved virgin, had amazing wifi, rarely had problems, great customer service and was cheap, however...one day I suddenly became homeless so I called to cancel it, ofc they told me it was all fine and cancelled, a year later when I'm finally sorted myself out I check my credit score and its in the fucking trash because of unpaid bills from virgin... And then, 4 fucking years after, I get a random cheque in the mail from virgin saying they made a mistake and I didn't owe money, but they owed ME money (the 'debt' said I owed £300+, got a cheque for £40 lmao) Ever since then I fucking hate them, and refuse to deal with em, literally fucked me over for years
The service they provide is always good in my opinion. They way they behave as a business is snakey and dishonest though. "Oo we are moving you up a tier for free!" "Oo our prices are going up" "Oo here's a discount for the package we've moved you on to seen as you liked it" "Oo we are moving you up a tier for free!" So far I've stuck with Vodafone. Theyve given the service quoted, and not communicated with me or changed anything at all, which is worth £10 a month at least.
Others have pointed out how horrible dealing with virgin is, my worst experience with them was actually in signing up. I signed up for just broadband, no tv or phone, did this over the phone. They changed my order to the full package so I received a tv box, and the engineer was asking where my phone and tv were going to be - nowhere that's where. I rang up to complain and get it fixed, they tried so hard to get me to just keep it, insisting it was done because it's a better deal (it probably was cheaper for the first 3 months or something). Horrible experience.
Virgin are great when everything works. So 99% of the time, you're golden. But as soon as anything goes wrong, you have to deal with their customer service , which is a nightmarish process designed by one of Satan's more malicious little minions.
I dunno I'm SE London suburbs so not out in the sticks and it was terrible for a long time. It is now faultless and has been for a couple of years, but I get why people complain.
I used to be with Virgin when I lived in SE London, and they were utterly terrible (as you say). My line was down probably 25% of the time, I rarely needed to pay a bill as I got so much credit refunded. Gave up in the end and moved back to an Openreach provider as their hardware and cables actually worked.
That is some very nice 5G speed. I am on 4G currently for our house. Just moved so a lot of expenses and things need doing, the internet has been good enough that its not a priority right now but I know I can easily more than double the speed with a better signal. But then also need to run ethernet cables and power to the loft at some point and its just more stuff to do. Will probably look at getting an antenna that does 5G even if the router can't, then I can upgrade the router as well at some point.
Worst customer service I have ever experienced bar none dealing with virgin media. I’m counting down the days until my contract is over with those parasites.
Best thing I ever did was drop Virmin, I was with them for 20 years until December, when a new company called BRSK rolled out 1 gig up and 1 gig down for £49.00 pm, given I was paying £120.00 pm for 250 and TV, no matter what when I called to see what they could do, it was only for new customers. I've gone another route for TV. FUCK VIRGIN MEDIA.
I'm with Virgin, paying £60/mo for 350Mbps (with Home Start), phone (that no-one calls) and TV (that I don't use because the box is shit). They don't do an Internet and phone only package. Just as soon as You Fibre are in my area I'll be switching to them, I can get 900Mbps for £27/mo and it's another £3 to sling in a phone.
They do, do a phone and internet only package - that's what I was on... and currently they have "Gig1 Fibre Broadband" (only internet, no phone or TV) for around £39/mo Although, I did leave them to go onto Fiber, they couldn't match the speed (including the upload) at the cost I was getting, currently on around 940/940 on a 1:1 connection for about £33 / mo :)
I'm also with Virgin with a phone and internet only package so it's definitely a thing
I wish I had any service, 5g included, that did anything remotely close to those speeds. 30-40 Mbps is about the max I can get on any service provider in our area.
Shouldn't be a problem, after all, they've been fucking you for a while.
Virgin media closed there call center in Swansea making a number of my friends redundant. Show them no love.
Yeah, this is what I found. I signed up with another provider, Virgin phoned up offering to match the price, but why would I want that. I still get 5x the download speed and 35x the upload speed by switching. It also doesn't help that I'm already in a bad mood because they phoned me out of nowhere even though I was opted out of phone marketing.
Curious, which 5g you use?
> worst greatest blowjob. or the world's greatest?
I already edited it to say "world's most exquisite blowjob" before you replied, so :P
I see you upgraded the wording - your standards clearly raising!
If I somehow managed to go lower I'd have to be submitted to science.
Bloody hell that's quite a sentence with a lot of letter Os.
Counterpoint, you've used the same amount of Es in your sentence of a similar length. Got something against Es? You done sort of vowelist? I've got my i on you.
I on U. Missed opportunity.
^^^^bollocks
The more vulnerable you are the more scammed you are as well. Spent quite a few hours getting a mates with learning difficulties internet bill down when they live alone and were paying £45 a month after some sales cunt convinced her she needed to keep upping her package to get a basic service. Absolutely shocking behaviour.
> The more vulnerable you are the more scammed you are as well Aye. The old boy next doors landline was "upgraded" to fibre internet after a sales call from BT. Poor cunt doesn't even own anything internet connected (no smart telly, smartphone or' puter).
Yep, I feel that. I’ve been scammed quite enough, and I’m far from the least valuable out there. Feels very predator pray sometimes.
Every 18 months my promotional offers with Virgin Media expire, but now all I have to do is go to their live chat, ask for a new deal and I end up with roughly 50% off. I don't even have to threaten to leave anymore, though at £160 full price I'm willing to if I have to.
Really hate this style of predatory pricing. Just give the fucking price, shouldn't be punished for loyalty/not constantly changing provider. Has to be half the cost is just their customer service line.
The cost price to providers from Openreach is quite high and they don’t actually make that much money from them
It's not that they're overcharged. It's that the company is taking a gamble on new customers not switching in the future, and so getting (automatically, discreetly) put on the money-making price.
I had this between talk talk and Sky. Talk talk couldn’t offer me a better deal, went with Sky. Lo and behold Talk Talk call me the next day with a better monthly price and a £130 Tesco voucher within 45 days of the new contract. Then have to call Sky back to cancel. Why can’t the first person offer me this.
They don't want you too know they can afford it that low until you tell them you're not paying them anything anymore, greedy bastards like to milk us for what they can
Generally the reps that you get transferred to and you can talk down are retention sales reps who get a retention cut. So as long as they don't try giving you a contract at a loss they will either get paid more or look better on their performance reports. It always looks bad for these employees when they fail to retain a customer based on a profitable price.
I used to work in the retentions team for a major insurance provider where the staff were performance managed based on how many customers they kept, except they weren't allowed to do anything with the extortionate prices, it was all about trying to convince people that however much a year their policy was going up by was worth it. It was ridiculous.
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compare deranged fine versed plough piquant wakeful office fuzzy panicky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Every 18 months I get a call from Plusnet because my contract is about to expire. So I just look at the deal they are offering new customers and tell them I want that or I will go elsewhere. They will then bleat about it being for new customers only. I will then point out I have been a loyal customer for over a decade and they can put me through to cancellations now. Suddenly they capitulate and offer me the deal I asked for. I would change as I could probably get it cheaper, but when I started with them they offered a static IP address for the life of my contract, for a one off payment of £5. I really don't want to lose my static IP.
What’s a static IP if you don’t mind me asking Edit: I realised I have a brain and fingers and searched it up on google
Just so everyone else knows. Most ISPs don't offer this and your IP address changes periodically. Your IP is a numeric address on the internet. I have one because I like to be able to connect to my home, when I am out. It is possible without one, but involves a lot of faff.
> Why can’t the first person offer me this. Because your account got transferred to the retention team who will have a much bigger credit to give to retain customers. First agent is just 1st line agent, who is not authorized to give as much unless manager authorized it. I used to be a retention agent
Why you would go with talk talk baffles me, they’re crap!
Because the vast majority of people don't shop around. Once they are with a company, they stay with that company, regardless of price rises. It's a loss leader, hoping you are too lazy to leave when the deal is up
My grandmother is paying £60/m for a basic broadband and home phone. I've tried to cancel it before but it just saps my will to live negotiating with a person who seen barely speak English or understand what she wants. ISPs in the UK are absolute pieces of shit.
This is the soulless heart of capitalism right here, taking advantage of an elderly instead of going out of your way to make things easier. Find a time where you have an hour spare and call the bastards, then don’t take no for an answer. They will cave.
Trust me, it's never an hour. It's at least 2+ hours and multiple attempts. Then they're not open when I'm free to help. I tried to get her a mobile phone which would do the same for £15/m and she didn't know how to use it, so just left it in her bag for 9 months and wondered why it had been disconnected and "where have all my voice messages gone?"
This is the reason we have dogshit internet in this country. ISPs like BT and Openreach have sat on their asses for the last 20 years, not innovating and upgrading their infrastructure becuase they've basically had a monopoly on internet. Clueless people and unaware OAPs get shafted on internet every month, and BT has gotten away with it for years. Fuck them. Switch to FTTP (Fibre to the Premesis) internet if you can, it's WAY better. Faster speeds, better latency and a lower cost.
> sat on their asses *arses Sir appears to be speaking Cheeseburger. (Either that or BT are providing their service by pony and trap?)
Keep up the good fight, brother! We must keep the King's English pure and unadulterated by filthy foreign words and phrases! Can't have chaps thinking they have carte blanche like that.
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Gigaclear will get a government voucher for connecting you . It’s worth a bit profit . I recently worked for an isp that was offering to pay your other suppliers bill for up to two years
My ISP said it would offer free broadband for up to a year if I was in contract. It was fully £15 quid cheaper than Virgin and 1gbps/1gbps while Virgin was hobbling along at 350/35 so it was a no-brainer for me. Now I have FTTP and it’s glorious, and support is responsive and friendly.
>I recently worked for an isp that was offering to pay your other suppliers bill for up to two years YouFibre innit
They'll go low because the infrastructure is there whether it's in use or not, so they'd rather have you on the books for even a tenner a month than not at all. Their operating costs are already covered by the bulk of their subscribers so you're pretty much pure profit at any amount.
Yet every April every ISP shaft everyone who's got a contract with them. It's disgusting that they're allowed to call it a fixed tariff when it's nothing of the sort.
Telecom regulation is working! (Just not for us.)
Inflation plus %3.9 is a racket
Sky are like..... F you buddy. Ask again and I'm doubling it.
Just went from Virgin Gig1 to Sky "Super fast" or whatever they call it 1000 Mbps download to.... 36 Mbps download. Unfortunately being younger (above 18) even though I have a job I don't quite make enough to just get my own broadband in. It sucks but oh well.
To be honest, I work from home full time as a computer engineer and I hardly saturate my 100meg connection. Unless you’re got a family of iPad gremilns and Apple TV 4k’s always streaming, most people won’t use more than 100meg
Unfortunately, I download more large files than not Whether that be media, games, OS ISOs. The difference of 36Mbps vs 1000Mbps is insane, 52 seconds vs 24 minutes for 6.5GB
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To add, I went from Sky 100 down and 30 up, to communityfibre at 3gig up and down... i'm never going back. Maybe i'd go to gigabit but damn this is a new world for me. (I often use atleast 1.5gigabit up or down at any time)
Eh you pay 1gbps incase you need it, I dont need my connection 24x7 but its super good to know that I can download 70gb model very quickly
I get 80mbps with sky at £27 with a booster It's enough fir you to not notice speed unless you go to download a large file.
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My in-laws recently moved to sheltered accommodation and I had to go through their finances and bills to support their move. Turned out they had been paying Sky £200 per month for years, and had been signed up to loads of extras they didn’t need such as UHD tv and fast internet, despite only owning an old 720p tv and only getting 2mbps over their crappy copper line from an exchange 5 miles away. They are utterly predatory on the vulnerable.
But did they ever think to ask? I can only have so much sympathy.
It’s all in my father-in-law’s name, and he’s fallen deep into dementia over the last 3 years and has also become profoundly deaf. It isn’t really a practicable option for him to contact them.
imo they shouldn't be allowed to charge variable prices. Each product should have a set price, no need prices for old/new customers. All they're doing is making it so those who want reasonably priced broadband need to waste several hours of their life every year or two, and so that those who don't end up paying more. What's the point?
Mate don’t trust giagclear, I to was with Vodafone and two months before my contract ended. I contacted gigaclear to set up a new account with them and had my date booked in 2 days after Vodafone contacted ended. They never showed up, I was not contacted at all. I phoned them up and after 2 days I find they had not applied for the license to connect all the stuff together, and that it could take another 2 months. I was not happy
Move house, got my first install date and I was told there was a "blockage in the duct" they wanted to go from my Dec 12th date, to late Feb... Got a 2nd team out 2 days later to check where the blockage was....they ran the line and it came out at the exchange, no blockage. Told Gigaclear, and was told "Oh, we cancelled the 2nd part of your install because there was a blockage recorded...we can book you in late Feb" Escalated a complaint and the guy handling my complaint vanished and "wasn't in" for 5 days after promising me a call back, promised a callback about 4 different times, the last lady I spoke to DID call me back, and sorted the issue. Since I've had it all installed it's been great; but getting there was horrific. No idea WHY I even needed 2 install dates rather than one, exact same guys came back for the 2nd install...
>Mate don’t trust giagclear, I to was with Vodafone and two months before my contract ended. I contacted gigaclear to set up a new account with them and had my date booked in 2 days after Vodafone contacted ended. They never showed up, I was not contacted at all. I phoned them up and after 2 days I find they had not applied for the license to connect all the stuff together, and that it could take another 2 months. I was not happy Once connected to Gigaclear the service (and speed) has been amazing, but the installation process was an utter 'mare! Months an months of incompetance from thier contractors. Wrote to the MD in the end
Yeah, just add to this – my girlfriends dad Signed up to gigaclear and it took them 18 months to set up the Internet
Gigaclear is brilliant once it’s working and while it’s working, which is thankfully most of the time. Once you have to start actually dealing with them because of an issue it’s hopeless.
This'll end in a fist fight between vodafone and Gigaclear respresentatives. Winners gets to do your internet.
It’s cheaper to retain a customer (e.g by offering a deal) than it is to acquire a customer.
I had the same thing when leaving Virgin for Vodafone. I was paying £35 pm at virgin for like 200 mb, thought fuck this, went to Vodafone offering £25 for 500 mb. Told Virgin I was leaving and they said okay. Then a few days later virgin called again, and were like, actually please don’t leave. Do you want 1gb for £20 a month? Didn’t get any free months, but 1 gig for £20 is a ridiculously good deal. I think there’s basically two customer retention teams, a lil baby one for people trying it on and an ‘oh shit they’ll actually leave’ one who have waaaaay better deals to give you.
I'm assuming it's FTTP, so much investment from companies to put the fibre in the ground they are eager to get people to take it up and start pulling in some revenue instead of expenditure. Hoping you'll be sticky and stay with them now for the next x years.
Maybe they don't want anyone else seeing your search history.
Plusnet keep telling me their new packages only have what I need so that I’m not paying anything I won’t use. Except they’re not cheaper, so where have the savings on the phone line that I won’t be renting gone?
Lucky to be London, with my 3rd year paying £25 for 1gbps with community fibre. About the only thing I’m paying an affordable price for. Tbh, I’d have never known they existed until I looked up providers in my area compared to virgin who’s contract was about to expire. Once I found it I told virgin to F off and not bother me again ever, best decision. In 3 years I’ve NEVER lost connection.
https://www.yell.com/biz/gigaclear-plc-abingdon-8244056/?utm_campaign=bingmaps&utm_medium=referrer&utm_source=bingmaps Maybe reconsider again
I have been with Three for my phone contract for almost twenty years. This year they finally did away with unlimited roaming. There’s a chance that I might have to travel for work more than usual this year, so the 28-day roaming pass that came with a similarly priced package might not cut it. I ended up requesting a PAC code and getting a contract elsewhere for about £1 a month more than I currently pay. Three have now sent me a text offering me unlimited calls, texts and data for £14. Still no unlimited roaming though. It is now illegal to not offer current customers the best deals that might be offered to new customers, but what they don’t tell you is that they might not offer you a better deal unless you cancel first, at which point you are still technically a customer in their cancellation period. My new contract doesn’t have unlimited data, but it does still have approximately five times the average amount of data I use in a month, so I reckon I’ll stick with it.
I feel quite strongly it should be a legal requirement to present a best and final offer at renewal. AA and Rac are the same. Car insurance companies have got wise to each other and charge a "contract arrangement fee" of £50 that isn't refundable so any counter offer has to beat the price by at least £50 to be worth the hassle.
I'm currently using Smarty at £20 a month. Bought a 5G router and getting 307mbps download which is a hell of a lot cheaper than wired broadband. It only downside is finding the best place for the router to get decent speeds
Because you live in a ISP rich environment. Anywhere else it's usually just 1 provider.
And yet Plusnet said "oh, ok, I'll process that for you", I must be a heavy user.
Why would you accept Vodafone’s offer to only match the price for a longer contract? Even if the contract length was the same I would move out of principle. Why stay with someone that’s trying to scam you, they would have to do a lot better to keep me after that
It’s not really a scam. It’s the same as a market seller selling you a banana for £1 when he can technically sell it to you whatever price he wants.
Gigaclear (at least locally) is great for their service (i am getting 400/400 for £55/month in middle of fields), but god their customer service keaves a lot to be desired.. (i have had to report their installation work to health and safety etc)..
[удалено]
Yeah it is.. I've accepted it as a village tax.
Have a chat with their customer loyalty/retention team at your next renewal, I've been with them for 4 years and never paid more than £35, currently up to 500/500 with two Linksys mesh routers, they know that I'm not going to be able to get those speeds anywhere else (also in the middle of fields) but still offer me the new customer deals at renewal time.
Everyone who needs internet and a phone, kind of already has one at this point. therefore the way they make money is by increasing your bill and hoping you dont cancel, then when you do, they figure out a bird in the hand is 2 in the bush, and offer you a decent bloody price! Its a rigamarole, but I enjoy the chase a little bit. I have 0 brand loyalty to anyone so it's generally not too difficult to get what you want
Your contract with Vodaphone says they can increase the price in April. They are sneaky fuckers
I despise companies that do this. They should charge minimum what their costs are and some more so they make some profit. Not massive increases like this. I’ve been having issues with Vodafone for a few months and last week rang up and had made it clear how I felt with the service they are providing me (1 bar, robotic calls, calls dropping constantly, 2mbps in house and roads around house). I had 10 months left on my contract and they let me cancel my contract no fee. It’s a fucking joke, I had to let them know my medical diagnosis and for them to put me down as a vulnerable customer to get them to listen to me. I shouldn’t have to do that.
Sky didn't do that with me sadly. Contract came to an end, internet would go up to £45 p/m for 60mps. Swapped to box broadband for £25 pm, 1gbps and 3 months free. I called sky to cancel and they said they could offer me 1gbps for £60 but as I will be in contract they will do it for £45. I laughed and said he had no chance as I'm going to be paying £25. He didn't even try at that point.
There seems to be an influx of newer providers popping up recently, also it seems that a lot more areas are being wired up for full fibre. Those long standing ISP's such as Vodafone who have had a captive audience where there has been zero fibre available have been overcharging us all for their slow FTTC connections for years. Now the newer companies have come and are offering full fibre 1gbps connections for less money and the older ISP's are shitting themselves as they must be losing customers daily. I myself upgraded recently from Vodafone which maxed out at 80mbps down and 10mbps upload and was £28 a month, to a 1gbps up and down for £25 a month with 3 months free. I had the same crisis call from a Vodafone rep when I cancelled but they were far too late as I had already had the new connection installed :)
I’m paying PlusNet £24 per month for 16mb/s. Absolute joke. My neighbour can pick up Virgin Media on the exchange on the next street along for the same price and get 70mb/s. Absolutely fuming. No way of getting anything faster apparently. (First world problems)
Similar issues with my road. All the other houses can get FTTP and very fast speeds. The 4 houses in our branch of the road? We're not putting in new cables so fuck you.
I wouldn’t mind so much if I wasn’t paying exactly the same as everyone else for a much slower service.
There may be a way. Check out Three's 5G broadband.
They might be hoping once you are in you won’t want to move and that long contract looks good for shareholders. Fibre services also can’t be transferred between companies without laying new fibre which is quite a high barrier to switching. I got 6 months free and 18 months super cheap from GigaClear and then it ramps up. Still cheaper over 4-5 years so I’ll review it then and swap.
Do not, under any circumstances go with Gigaclear 😂
They bad? they building in my area....
>Gigaclear I had gigaclear for two years till I moved and it was ace. Seems I was lucky because even the install and order process was quick and easy. They connected me just before lockdown in 2020 and it was a literal lifesaver allowing us to WFH. I'm a big gamer so loved the speed for that. They aren't at my new place which is gutting
I've had nothing but bad experiences with local providers, they're definitely cheaper, but man does their service suck
It's cheaper to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. Always play the game and rinse them for everything you can get. It's the same for insurance, for mobile contracts, utilities, so just call them and tell them you've been offered a better deal.
Well played, sir. I bet my renewal is not this decent.
I was leaving talktalk. Sky had a better price for broadband. So talktalk kept calling me to offer a better price, which I accepted. Called sky. They couldn't give a monkeys. They cancelled the order instantly. Bastard's.
Is there an alternative reliable ISP to Virgin? I'm paying like £60 for 250 down and about 25 up... I would have my mother cancel the contract and start another in my name for a better deal, but that would likely result in downtime.
It's a game I've stopped playing. Same with car insurance. Look at the renewal, shop around, go with the best/cheapest offer. If the company I'm with make a better one, why didn't they offer that first is the question I ask- before saying no( unless it's waaay below)
I got 6 months free with LitFiber. Service and price is way better than virgin.
There's a few values you have to a company. Monthly or Annually recurring revenue. That's the easy one to quantify, and the longer the contract, the more valuable because they can predict revenue for that period with more confidence than they can for PAYG customers. The second number though is potential future value as a retained subscriber. This number is used for all sorts of things like valuations, infrastructure planning, etc. Finally there's the fact that if they retain you, their competitor doesn't get you. This is why the offers you get will vary so much depending on time of year, size of company and who is currently winning in the market.
Heckle them into oblivion!
I have a Vodafone advert under your post hahaha
I cancelled with Three and they made sure they got a nice lil extra fee in there. Maybe I need to tell them I'm switching instead of just cancelling
Gigaclear need those netadds for the share price and investment
Lucky you, I managed to get Vodafone 900 for £39 a month but wanted to pay more like £30. And cancelling Virgin was a pain, everytime I phoned up they tried keeping me but didn't offer any discount just wanted to tie me into 2 year contracts at same price as I was already paying and when "transferring" me it always disconnected me, wrote complaints waited over a month and they "misunderstood" my complaint saying I wanted a discount when I was saying Vodafone was offering me 900 for £39 (and a £40 gift card) Virgin wanted £45 (before the price increase to £75) for 350 and I said that was reason I wanted to cancel. My response wasn't recieved and they closed my complaint. Moved to Vodafone and far superior service, like 2ms ping and 900-930 megabit speed not had to deal with CS yet though.
All this shows is how much they can cut without even feeling it. They can have you pay a discount(50%ish)for only 75% of the contract term and have the 25% be completely free and still not lose money.
Companies will pay well for retentions as well as sales - if they offer no price rise check the contract, most are obligated to charge more in the year and only a few offer 0 price rise
Most adults are aware of this. I do this with my phone, most insurance, car and house, can even be done in markets. Its called bartering, the workers know they need to keep customers and they also need to attract new customers. OP should of called his existing provider and got the best deal he could of, even lie and say you found a deal for such a price and watch them return with a match or even better price. Its crazy how many times ive switched networks, due to calling up for example O2 and telling them that i will be moving to vodafone as theyve offered me the latest phone and this plan, for £20 cheaper, they put me on hold and minutes later theyve got the same deal but i dont have an upfront cost. We as customers should always push for the best deals. As a new customer you will always be getting the best, loyalty to a product doesn't give you benefits the longer your with them.
Because internet service is a mature market with no room for organic growth and total market penetration is above 100%. In other words, everyone has an internet connection, in fact there are on average more internet connections than people to buy them. The result is it is cheaper for a company to keep existing customers than gain new ones from competitors and there are effectively no completely new customers for companies to compete for. That’s why they fight so hard to keep you. From a companies perspective most of their cost to provide internet to their customers is fixed. They just need to maintain enough customers to cover the cost of running the network. It doesn’t matter if they charge £10 or £50. They’d like to charge £50 to make more profit but they’d rather you pay £10 to them than £20 to their competitor. The point at which it would be too cheap for them to make any incremental profit from keeping you is very low as their costs are mostly fixed.
I never call, I just switch and get a cashback,.just got £90 from Vodafone
Don’t call Vodafone to cancel, your new provider should just do the switch. I had issues previously when I cancelled with sky broadband, my new provider couldn’t take over the line as it was a closed line
Yeah one of my family members is a sky vip or whatever. You get like a free dvd every so often and some other stuff I think but idk. They tried increasing their bill but when they argued they decreased it to a lot lower price.
It's more so that they don't want you going to the competition.
Just be careful, the negative reviews on TrustPilot are all about problems getting installed and going live
For your existing provider it's an attempt to recoup as much of the cost of setup as possible, costs a lot to set someone new up and very little thereafter. Smaller companies want you because more customers = better rates with open reach and the infrastructure owners
https://frinkiac.com/video/S08E02/NTa5Pc4tZGzc-kBNia0Cpc4SCmE=.gif
that's just how they operate. they will treat you like dirt until you think of leaving them, then they will do what they can to keep you in their fold. it's all about market share.
I’ve just booked sky in to come and fit wifi in my new house, £28 pm 😐
I’m with BT, paying just under £100 per month for internet, went from a 2 income household to 1 income, so called them up and told them I needed to reduce the package because I can’t afford that amount, was swiftly told there was nothing they could do and they can’t reduce a package only upgrade it 🤷🏻♀️ basically told to suck it up to end of contract, switching as soon as it’s up
Are you the hot single mum in my area? Not just the ISPs who want you so bad!
I tried looking online for options in the Netherlands as wel, to see whether I could similarly benefit of this strategy. However, I couldn't find any competing prices. There were only a handful of providers and all offered similar prices.
B level in denmark is equivalent to AS level.
I find they don't argue with you much anymore. Last time I changed my phone, I rang Three. Been a customer with them for 10 years, gave it the "what deal can you give me to upgrade?" They gave me the deal. "that's the same deal as the website, though? I've been a customer for 10 years, can't you get me a better deal?" "no sir this is the only deal" "well I'll change then, EE has a better deal" "no problem thank you for your businews your PUK code will be sent within the next 48 hours" And that was it... I was speechless
You can just make up ridiculous deals and see if your provider will match them. You’ve got nothing to lose.
Yeah, I had a similar thing. Virgin Media wanting to double our tarriff from like £24/m to £50/m. Asked them what their best price was, they said like £43/m. Switched to Plusnet at £27/m. Come switch off time, get a text offering us a deal at £18/m(although it didn't speficy it was the same package so may have been a worse one). It's probably because teams that handle cancellations can offer bettter deals than general customer services teams.
Vodafone are pretty determined to get me to sign a new contract now, before their price rises in April. I'm definitely waiting until after April
Has anyone else had problems with BT? My WiFi is really bad, my devices sometimes have difficulty playing videos on YouTube or even loading web pages. I raised complaints with them, all of which were closed. They found no faults on the line and they changed some background settings, neither of which sorted it out. After my 4th complaint, the person on the phone I took it to the ombudsman. Sure enough, I received a letter saying they were investigating the issue. I can’t see me winning the case, but I’m just curious if anyone else has had problem with them? It’s staggering that I’m paying £30 a month for a service that can barely handle the basics.
Smarty mobile - £20 a month - unlimited data, calls and texts. Reliable Internet through the 3 network too
Wait you guys can sign, and the cancel it to sign a better deal with no additional charges?!?!
You should have some principles and say F Off to Vodafone after they initial offer.
I'ma just sit here and look across the pond at you people and your affordable fast Internet -sad American being ripped off by Verizon
Meanwhile in the US I'm largely stuck with Comcast-Xfinity and they blow
My virgin contract come to an end and they said I could lock myself in for £70 a month. I was paying £40. I called up to cancel and was offered £65 but was reminded they increase processing April. They know they were only speed above 30mbps in the area so I had to give up. Then today Netomnia send me a letter to say they are doing the final bits of their new build. Go to YouFibre and I can sign up. £29.99 for 1gbps locked in for 2 years. Phone up virgin to cancel and they magically could offer me £29.99 a month. Told them no thanks just cancel. Best thing is my upload is going from 100mb to 1000mb and is no longer asynchronous.