NTL users take note!!

[Satch]

Got my bill today and it was higher than usual. Quickly became clear that the transition to Virgin Media pricing can throw up glitches, in my case effectively being charged twice for television service because I was not being billed for a bundle, just individual services and also managed to produce a reduction in my connection speed (thanks!)

Anyway worked out better overall for the so called VIP package

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/bundles/vip.html

get a V+ box http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/dtv/vplus/how.html

which is HD capable plus keep the existing box as a second outlet.

We shall see........

 

[Carrotchomper]

Yes, I'm on Telewest and am a little concerned in general- Only just received a glossy, typical Virgin faux-flirty info pack through the letterbox and still don't understand it.

I'm not sure if my bundle is changing- Would love the Virgin+ but not sure how to blag it without paying £75. No real point in the multiroom thing for me, but could do it for a month and then cancel...

EDIT- Just had a play on the site and it looks like my package will cost an extra 50p a month, so no great traumas there. They have got the V+ offer completely stitched up though- You have to take the extra box for a year at £5 per month. So still less than £75. Tempting but pricey- Extra £15 a month for recording and HD.

 

[Satch]

Yes, I'm on Telewest and am a little concerned in general- Only just received a glossy, typical Virgin faux-flirty info pack through the letterbox and still don't understand it.

I'm not sure if my bundle is changing- Would love the Virgin+ but not sure how to blag it without paying £75. No real point in the multiroom thing for me, but could do it for a month and then cancel...

The pricing scheme does require a bit of study and you need to do that online and price out the options. Took me an hour to work out what was best for Schloss S. The outcry from No.1 and No 2. son when they worked out that existing package would go from 8Mb-> 4Mb was huge as we sometimes have 4 computers plus 2 gaming consoles running via routers into the one line!

 

[Carrotchomper]

I'm quite lucky in that it's only me in the house and I don't really need anything other than the basic broadband for what I do. Aside from that, there are all sorts of options to consider! I really would like Virgin + but really cannot justify the extra monthly cost- And certainly not £75 "installation"!

 

[kikkthecat]

I'm on telewest and have just switched to the Virgin VIP package.

All the channels including sky sports and sky movies
TV Drive (same features as sky+ box plus HD capable)
Second set top box installed in another room with all channel access
Talk Unlimited (free 24 hour calling to UK landlines)
Talk International (cheap international calls)
Talk Mobile (Cheap mobile calls)
10Mb Broadband with unlimited downloads

£85 a month which is less than we pay now

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Incredible timing. I've now been listening to music for more than 25 minutes whilst waiting for someone to pick up the phone at Virgin Media.

I'm phoning to say unless they do us a deal I'm off - although I'd be happier if they switch us to a bundle without paying a premium or fee.

Always found their customer service to be excellent, I suspect given the activity of other customers just on this thread they're maybe getting lots of requests to switch. Let's hope they've not reduced staffing as part of the changeover!!

PS They've just picked up!!

 

[Sp!ke]

Thanks very much for that heads up.

I just negotiated a much better deal than before.

For a £1.50 monthly saving, I've increased my TV package, added free weekend landline calls, and got my wifes Virgin PAYG mobile 300 any network minutes per month and 300 texts per month thrown in.

:bannana: :bannana: :bannana:

 

[Carrotchomper]

Certainly does seem to be a lot of activity! On face value the VIP package is really brilliant, I'd have it in a shot but can't really afford it on my own!

Just need to find a good woman- Still!

 

[MikeL]

Incredible timing. I've now been listening to music for more than 25 minutes whilst waiting for someone to pick up the phone at Virgin Media.

......

PS They've just picked up!!

I would guess the phones will be busy for a while - three companies merging to one, at least the phone call is free.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The girl I spoke to was great and looked into lots of different options.

We've kept the same broadband (L), same telephone (M), and TV upgraded to XL (previously M), and the bill has come down from £41.50 plus calls to £29.00 plus calls. Happy with that.

I didn't want the TV upgrade but it seems it's not costing us anything, and there was nothing to be saved by downgrading it.

She also said there's no minimum period so could always change again later I suppose - anyone else told the same?

 

[pammy]

Certainly does seem to be a lot of activity! On face value the VIP package is really brilliant, I'd have it in a shot but can't really afford it on my own!

Just need to find a good woman- Still!

lol - I have little choice Kids demand it plus it's a bit of baggage still running. There's no way I'd have the sports packages. But I rang Sky a couple of weeks ago to ask them how much it would run at to remove it as it was all on a special package - and they reduced the cost of my full package(ex multiroom) to £30pm until April . Then we'll negotiate again.

Have Sky+ and all the channels plus one sky multiroom and BT BB with home hub and internet phone(what a pile of doodah that is) the whole lot is costing me about £75 pm atm plus calls not made through the hub - which is most seeing as the hub is only free for land line calls evening and weekend

Once the contract period for BT is up in August - I'm gonna get one of you lot to negotiate me a new deal!! I prefer a full package tbh - but the Sky BB is looking quite good.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I would guess the phones will be busy for a while - three companies merging to one, at least the phone call is free.

Girl I spoke to said they're getting lots of people upgrading and changing deals because the marketing material and changeover letters has prompted existing customer to look at the website, when they might not ordinarily.

 

[MikeL]

Girl I spoke to said they're getting lots of people upgrading and changing deals because the marketing material and changeover letters has prompted existing customer to look at the website, when they might not ordinarily.

As a Blueyonder (Telewest) user I should be saving £1.75 a month on caller line id - if the info I was given was correct! So a happy bunny.

Mike

 

[MikeL]

The girl I spoke to was great and looked into lots of different options.

We've kept the same broadband (L), same telephone (M), and TV upgraded to XL (previously M), and the bill has come down from £41.50 plus calls to £29.00 plus calls. Happy with that.
.......

She also said there's no minimum period so could always change again later I suppose - anyone else told the same?

That is a great deal - the broadband alone is £25.00 - I'm on the phone again......

Mike

 

[Carrotchomper]

BD, how come you have got that package so cheaply? At the moment I have carried over from Telewest M Telephone, M broadband and XL TV for £40 a month excl calls. Is this 'cos you are out of your initial year contract?!!

If I could get 4meg broadband plus what I have at the moment for £11 less I would be a happy carrot!

EDIT- Let us know how you ge on mike!

 

[MikeL]

BD, how come you have got that package so cheaply? At the moment I have carried over from
......

EDIT- Let us know how you ge on mike!

Phones busy again - 10+ minutes, think I'll give it a couple of weeks to settle down.

Mike

 

[LastMinute]

Just need to find a good woman

A woman will cost you more than £15 a month! And a good one will be a lot more!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

That is a great deal - the broadband alone is £25.00 - I'm on the phone again......

BD, how come you have got that package so cheaply? At the moment I have carried over from Telewest M Telephone, M broadband and XL TV for £40 a month excl calls. Is this 'cos you are out of your initial year contract?!!

If I could get 4meg broadband plus what I have at the moment for £11 less I would be a happy carrot!

When I called I said I was looking at switching provider because I felt as though I'd been paying over the odds for some time, but I wanted to see if they could do me a better deal before making any decisions. Whether this helped get a good deal I'm not sure.

She said originally the packages shown online were going to be for existing customers only, however they've been published online for all to see so new customers can have them too. Reading between the lines I'm thinking it's due to the deals Orange and TalkTalk are doing.

However she also said that they've introduced an extra discount based on those packages for loyal customers - and they can tweak them too, to reflect the fact that they will already have products that might not fit straight into the bundled deals. Whether loyal means existing or longstanding I'm not sure. We've been with Telewest 5 years or so, and have always had a minimum of three products.

She said she could do the £30 deal on the website for £24, or £29 to keep my existing 4MB broadband. I said I would probably take the M broadband to save a fiver at which point she said we'd have the "top" TV package too for the same £29*, but not for £24. By "top" TV I'm assuming she means XL but I didn't ask her to clarify - I was most interested in talking relative to the services I have now to make sure we'd have same or better - but at lower cost.

* The £29 is actually £37 per month with an £8 per month credit (every month - I clarified several times )

She said because I've been a customer so long there's no lock-in period so I thought what the heck and went for it. She was knowledgable and seemed to be acting in my best interests, so thumbs up so far. I'll keep an eye on it and see.

 

[MikeL]

BD,

Which "menu" choice did you select, i.e. new sales, cust supt, etc?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Carrotchomper]

A woman will cost you more than £15 a month! And a good one will be a lot more!

...and she wouldn't be remotely interested in the relative price of broadband, tv etc... Fair enough, I'll can that plan!

I might ring up Virgin along the lines of "I'd REALLY like the plus box but I REALLY can't afford any more money- Can you do a deal?" Whilst not a long-standing customer I would have thought $40 a month is a fairly good customer...