Friend of mine had a go at them last week about the 45 quid he was being charged for broadband and phone.
Was put through to cancellations and they didn't offer him anything in the way of a reduction..
So the mobile is now the home phone and the 3G dongle is the new broadband;!..
Goodbye Virgin after 12 years of being a customer;!..
Same here. The only fly/ointment has been certain telephone calls - probably to mobiles (I haven't paid that much attention). They bump up the bill, but I seem to pay less for the entire package (10Mb, phone, TV) than I paid just for a BT phone.
Rob
I said a "good look" maybe I should have said a "good look with a microscope". If HMR&C decide to have an in deepth look at you they'll be looking to account for virtually every last penny.
They'd cease to be ITV, then, as the franchise has an obligation as regards how it is transmitted.
Ditto here, but with BT in my case. Recently, BT suddenly, without warning, decided to add £45 to our last quarterly bill. This was, apparently, for 3 months advanced rental !!! When I tackled them they said that they had a new computer system and it couldn't handle the anomaly. I asked why this suddenly came about after being with BT/Post Office for more than 45+ years !!! I was refered to previous answer !. (these drones just trot out the same script every time). I asked what the hell we would get for the £45?, they said the telephone and B/Band rental, I replied that we were already paying for that and had been for 45+years. The lastest bill came to £183. They were adament they wanted the money. We stopped the service. I went through cancellations who appeared totally indifferent. The amended bill will now only go upto the end of March, instead of end of May. So, in the end, they will NOT be getting their 'pound of flesh' after all. So, for much less than the price BT were charging just for a landline and the smallest Broadband service, we are now having Virgin Media's package of ;
1) Telephone pack Talk Anywhere200 including calls to mobiles, at anytime of day/night, 2) 10Mb Broadband (minimum) AND 3) The XL TV package including the HD pack .....Goodbye to BT after 45+ years.
In the end, the consumer WILL have the choice, and the last SAY in what they buy. Wavey Dave
Virgin do 2/10M broadband, phone _and_ digital tv for less than
18+12.NT
We also had broadband only, then one day I had a call from Virgin offering a phone line, "no thanks - got one from BT".
Well he insisted if I had a phone line I would save money each month, fair enough, chap turned up, installed socket where i asked, next bill came and indeed had a discount of IIRC £7 now well over a year later I am still saving money, and I have never even plugged a phone into the socket!
If you have managed to have a BT line for 45 years without paying the line rental in advance I think that is quite an achievement!
I assume that is some sort of cable service.
Yes, but you can only (sensibly) buy what a seller is prepared to make available.
Where I live, mobile phone networks are a good example of suppliers who are prepared to take your money but not provide a viable service.
LLU Broadband ISPs just tell you that they can not provide a service.
In article , Dave scribeth thus
Not that the consumer has -that- much choice .. but as least there is some;)..
Remember the good old days of the GPO ;!....
Friend of mine in the building trade recently got 'looked at' by The Revenue, and they even asked him how many haircuts he had per year, and how much he had spent on his kids' Christmas presents ...
Arfa
What, you mean you're still paying BT for their line??
David
Thing is Bob, I get a good deal right now on my BT. A long time ago, when they were trying to sell package deals, they rang me and said that for the amount I was using the phone (a lot) they could do me a much better deal on one of their 'include it all' packages, where you pay a fixed amount per month, and then all calls are free any time of the day - mobiles excepted of course. It was originally called Option 3 I think, and I'm not sure that they even do it as a new product any more, but they continue to service my account, on that basis. On top of the base cost, I then pay a few quid (literally) for the extra services such as caller ID and alternate number / different ring. I am very happy with my service, and have had the same number forever, so I really have no need of Virgin's telephone service. For my TV requirements, I use a mix of analogue off-air (until that's gone of course), digital off-air, and satellite, with some internet on occasion as well. It's a big house, and I've got all of this little lot tricked up into a fairly elaborate trunk distribution system that allows anything to be watched anywhere. This system would not lend itself to being fed by a Virgin STB.
So that's the thing. I *really* don't need their other services.
Arfa
I am in a similar situation I have a Virgin line which is never used it came part of a package. Virgin charge a connection fee for every call made ,I have the all calls option from BT which cost me 14.00 a month including line rental and no connection charges .
So why not dump the BT line altogether and just take Virgin's Talk Unlimited package (which AFAICS is equivalent your BT offering) at 8.00 per month?
David
Do you happen to know if Virgin do BT number porting ? I get the feeling that they don't, as all of the people I know who have a Virgin phone, seem to have a completely different number from the series of BT numbers which serve my village. Having had my BT number for 35 years - so everyone, including all my business contacts, know it - I would not like to have to change, so if I were to take a 'package' to save money on my (wanted) broadband, by taking an unwanted phone, I think that my socket would probably just sit there unused, as well ...
Arfa
Yes, they do for sure.
David
I think this is standard, as a few years ago a freelancer I know received the same treatment (aimed at finding out how much he was actually spending, so that could be compared to his declared income). He said it was fairly terrifying, and the process ended with his writing a large cheque.
HMRC and its predecessors have had a lo->The only fly/ointment has been certain telephone calls -
Perhaps you don't know about the Money Saving Expert? A page on that site lists all the ways to get lower-price phone calls, and is updated daily. For calls to mobiles, it lists several 0870 numbers you can call, and then enter the mobile number you want. The best current deal there for calls to mobiles is 7p/minute. It's been as low as 3p.
http://callchecker.m>I asked why this suddenly came about after being with BT/Post Office for
A technique I have found helpful in such situations is to tell the drone you want to speak to his supervisor. They all have one, and will usually transfer you pronto. The supervisor usually has more discretion with respect to problem solving.
Adrian .
Adrian Stott snipped-for-privacy@unspam.ca
In article , Arfa Daily scribeth thus
We did that sometime ago from ntl to BT so I presume it still can be done..
Yes, you can transfer your BT number to Virgin, just tell Virgin that you want to do that and they will do all the leg work. One word of warning though, DON'T cancel yout BT account before arranging the new account with Virgin. If you do, you will loose your BT number. Just contact Virgin and they will transfer the number for you AND they will cancel your BT account at the same time. I'm going through exactly that situation right now, and we've been with BT for more than 45 years.
Wavey Dave
Because in my opinion BT and GPO before them have always provided me with good service never tried to over charge me bills have always been correct and have never in the last fifty+ years have I picked up the phone and found it not to be working . Has people say if something is working don't try to fix it if BT are ever able to provide the Internet speeds that Virgin provide then it will be Virgin that gets dumped not BT .
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.