Virgin Media

[StripyPixieSocks]

If anyone out there is still on the 10MB line having been upgraded (during one of their great upgrading sprees) and are paying £24.99 for the privilege... get onto Virgin and tell them you want the 20MB deal with phone and 'evening and weekend' calls (which you can have changed to 'anytime calls' if you ask).

... we just did this and it's actually cheaper

The 20MB deal with phone and anytime calls (to 01 and 02 numbers) is £39.49 / month

Our 10MB line with evening and weekend we were averaging about £45 / month (and this month £63)

I know it isn't much off but double the service for less is better than nothing (and quite infuriating they don't automatically offer you this reduction to be honest)

Hope it helps

[Bluemoon]

My entire family works for Virgin media. The problem is there are so many packages and everyone wants/needs something different. As stripypixiesocks says, phone them, tell them what you've already got and what you'd like/need and they will usually endeavour to sort you out. You might even wind up talking to one of my kids. If you do, let me know, it's an experience I've always yearned for, they just grunt at home.

[StripyPixieSocks]

My entire family works for Virgin media. The problem is there are so many packages and everyone wants/needs something different. As stripypixiesocks says, phone them, tell them what you've already got and what you'd like/need and they will usually endeavour to sort you out. You might even wind up talking to one of my kids. If you do, let me know, it's an experience I've always yearned for, they just grunt at home.

The English side of Virgin is all great, they're really helpful and that includes the Dutch, Scottish and a few others the annoying side is the Indian call centre... grinds my gears when I go through to them because they re absolutely clueless and don't even listen to what you are saying

[missie moo]

virgin media have the most appalling customer service. we are really struggling with our cable modem which now needs constant re-setting - we have had the same hardware for over 7 years - and when i phoned them about the problems they would not let me speak to their 'technical people' on a free line; they said they would refund my call charges if they subsequently decided it was their problem, and i said i wasn't prepared to take the risk and told them i would look into alternative providers if i couldn't speak to the technical people for free. they still wouldn't let me talk for free. so i looked into alternatives.

i have since cancelled our 2xtv boxes and have nearly got my new ISP sorted out (which will be free as my work will pay for it). i will then revert to BT for my landline as well - makes no difference to me as my work also pays for that.

despite the begging letters ("please come back, we know we've messed up"), feeble free gifts and a settling up bill, they have still managed to charge me for all the cancelled services this month. they are completely incompetent. i certainly wouldn't ever trust them to look after any of my money. anything with virgin's name on is as likely to win my business as abbey/santander .

so, for the price of a phone call they have lost our custom - for ever. twats.

jane

[StripyPixieSocks]

We had alot of problems with them this time last year until I found their CEO's e-mail address online and mailed him a very long e-mail about the state of the service they were offering.

In 15 minutes we had one of his officers on the line asking what they could do for us... we eventually got it all sorted out and haven't had any problems for over a year now.

Neil.Berkett@virginmedia.co.uk is the e-mail address of the CEO of Virgin...

You really, really have to be belligerent with the first liners, my OH just plain out demands to speak to someone higher until he gets to speak to someone who can really help and he always get what he wants... he's never rude though just extremely determined in what he wants and that's the only way you can get through sometimes.

We have considered changing over the years but right now Virgin are the best of the bunch for what we want and we get a very good service from them now.

[mrsflibble]

we pay £20 p/m for home phone with unlimited landline calls, and get up to 8meg broadband from talktalk. our speed averages out at about 6meg.

we have freeview.

it costs us £20 per months for all three. no brainer for us lol!!!

[StripyPixieSocks]

Our biggest use is Broadband as we don't have a TV so although it's a high price-ish to pay for phone and Broadband overall we save because we do not have to pay a TV licence.

<rant>...until they decide to force people with PC's to pay it as well that is... which grinds my gears because I don't watch TV even online Grrr!</rant>

Both our PC's are on all day and usually using the internet as I'm still trying to get my business started properly so it's mostly online at the moment with the website and whatnot and I use it to teach myself ALOT of stuff so it's not all mindless surfing

I won't have anything to do with BT though as they ripped me off BIG time several years ago when they started charging me £90 / month for the phone and was challenged on the high bill several times but it was always correct apparently. I went over to NTL and suddenly they had been overcharging us and sent us a cheque for almost £1000. It was nice they sent it but it would have been nicer that most of my wages hadn't got into paying it for months and months in the first place when I needed it for other bills.

What gets me is I was using the phoneline on Freeserve therefore making no phonecalls (and before you say no there were no diallers and other odd stuff using my modem, I checked) so BT are not my favourite company.

Virgin aren't perfect I have my grievances with them too. I used to like ringing tech support and speaking to nice Welsh people as their call centre was in Cardiff but now it's in India and I really abhor Indian call centres

[mrsflibble]

erm... my uncle used to work for their callcentre in nottingham; there's a very very large indian population in notts though... you might not have been put through to delhi...

[Sally Jane]

[quote="StripyPixieSocks"]Our biggest use is Broadband as we don't have a TV so although it's a high price-ish to pay for phone and Broadband overall we save because we do not have to pay a TV licence.

<
I thought this was the case until I got my new licence a couple of weeks ago, and on the back it implies that if you have a PC connected to the internet you do now have to have a licence. Ditto if you have a video/DVD player connected to a telly, even if you don't actually get any tv reception as such at all.
Might be worth you asking if you can look at the reverse of a mate's licence just to check, but this seems to be what they're saying.
Totally fed up with that, as we live in Whitehaven, which was the first place to go totally digital. No cable up here, and unless you have a super-dooper ariel, no digital either where we are so Freeview is no good, as the mountains get in the way of the signals. Hence the town is covered in Sky dishes, and I wish to support Murdoch even less than Branson.
We got the Beyond Cable package from Virgin when we came up here, but are thinking of going over to BT, as the Broadband comes via their landline anyway. I'm just so fed up with technology at the moment except for this website!

[StripyPixieSocks]

Our biggest use is Broadband as we don't have a TV so although it's a high price-ish to pay for phone and Broadband overall we save because we do not have to pay a TV licence.

<
I thought this was the case until I got my new licence a couple of weeks ago, and on the back it implies that if you have a PC connected to the internet you do now have to have a licence. Ditto if you have a video/DVD player connected to a telly, even if you don't actually get any tv reception as such at all.
Might be worth you asking if you can look at the reverse of a mate's licence just to check, but this seems to be what they're saying.
Totally fed up with that, as we live in Whitehaven, which was the first place to go totally digital. No cable up here, and unless you have a super-dooper ariel, no digital either where we are so Freeview is no good, as the mountains get in the way of the signals. Hence the town is covered in Sky dishes, and I wish to support Murdoch even less than Branson.
We got the Beyond Cable package from Virgin when we came up here, but are thinking of going over to BT, as the Broadband comes via their landline anyway. I'm just so fed up with technology at the moment except for this website!

There was absolutely nothing on the back of the form that we got that mentioned the PC anywhere at all.

If you have a TV decoder card then yes, you have to have a licence... we don't nor do we have a DVD / Video player connected to a Telly (as we don't own a telly at all).

We've been checked regularly and they have never said anything about PC when they have been in to check!

And just to check I went to the website:

Do I need a TV Licence?

-
You must be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. It makes no difference what equipment you use - whether it’s a laptop, PC, mobile phone, digital box, DVD recorder or a TV set - you still need a licence.

You do not need a TV Licence to view video clips on the internet, as long as what you are viewing is not being shown on TV at the same time as you are viewing it.

If you use a digital box with a hi-fi system, or another device that can only be used to produce sounds and can't display TV programmes, and you don't install or use any other TV receiving equipment, you don't need a TV Licence.

[Green Aura]

I'm sorry, but you're all have to stop moaning now.

We only have 500Kb broadband, not upgradable for which we pay BT prices - 22.99/month -there are no other suppliers up here and we pay for our phone on top of that.

Then we have to go out and lick the road clean, live in a cardboard box........

[Sally Jane]

Thanks for the clarification regarding the television licence, StripyPixieSocks.
From what you've found out it looks like we won't need a licence once they turn off the last analogue transmitter, as we can't recieve Freeview or the local digital signal, so won't be actually watching anything as it is broadcast!
We currently get a very grainy version of what is being sent via the analogue transmitter over the border in Scotland and which creeps round the Cumbrian Mountains, and we do get 5 channels of which we watch 3 at a push. We're more likely to watch DVDs of old BBC comedies than anything else.
I'm so glad we no longer have 20-odd channels, as we did down South (via ntl, virgin's previous incarnation) because there was the tendency to slob out just flicking between the channels trying to find something worth watching, when we could have been doing something far more useful!

[mrsflibble]

we're considering changing from talktalk after their treatment of us this week... will keep you posted.

[JulieSherris]

I'm sorry, but you're all have to stop moaning now.

We only have 500Kb broadband, not upgradable for which we pay BT prices - 22.99/month -there are no other suppliers up here and we pay for our phone on top of that.

Then we have to go out and lick the road clean, live in a cardboard box........

He he...

When we moved over here last year, we were in the new rented house - the phone line hadn't been put in, so we called eircom... the house was directly on a 'national' road, and not off down a dirt track like a lot of others, so we thought it would be simple... dum-de-dum.....

The first call was made late october... I was given our new phone number straight away & thought, how efficient!
Late FEBRUARY... after several trips by eircom to assess whereabouts to put the telegraph pole, then wondering whether they should dig up the road to lay a cable undergound from the telegraph pole on the opposite side of the road... then deciding that the pole should go into next door's field, and was refused permission..... oh, blimey, it was a little saga of a story!

Anyway, 4 months later, we were FINALLY on the phone... woohoo!!

We had to get a 56K modem & spent 8 months with dial-up, which was dodgy at the best of times - couldn't get broadband, had umpteen power cuts because of the overhead powerlines, & on top of that, all the services had separate bills

OK, we still have separate bills now, but we now have satellite broadband, cheaper than dial-up, superfast speeds & always on....... and live in the back of beyond, but with better services & no power cuts yet! Ain't life strange!

Julie.

[Helsbells]

We tried to sign up for Virgin Media, but they couldnt connect us for something like two months, and they would only come at like 9-5 monday till friday so would have had to take a day off work, so we changed out mind, and I tried to cancel the contract but because we handt yet been connected they didnt seem to know how to cancel it. I spent many a lunch hour wasted on hold to them only to be put back to the origional person I spoke to or some other idiot. Very annoying, and very poor customer service.
(must not have been on the phone to any of your relatioves Bluemoon as I am sure they would have been very helpful)