Virgin have annouced they will be increasing the price of Broadband by an average of £2.68 per month only weeks after they staged a significant advertising campaign announcing plans to double speeds for over 4 million Virgin Media customers. No mention was made during the advertising campaign about increasing the monthly subcription fee (they probably just forgot).
Many customers are not very happy about this and rightly so, it’s misleading to say the least and it’s not as if the customers have had any choice in the matter. Richard has decided to upgrade your broadband and bill you for it later.
‘Doubling everyone’s speed is a pretty big job’ expensive too i bet, perhaps you should blow less of your budget on the marketing campaign and more on the upgrade!
That said, if the upgrade delivers what’s promised, and speeds are doubled accross the UK then that’s a pretty good leap forward for UK Broadband, especially as Virgin currently offer some of the fastest broadband speeds currently available in the UK.
If however, further price hikes are a necessary part of the ‘improved service’ roadmap Virgin might want to consider being more transparent with these plans and associated costs and offer customers a choice to either retain their current speed at no extra cost, or pay more a month for additional speed.
Virgin have stated these additional costs are part of the ‘annual review of bundle prices’. That’s fair enough Richard, so long as you don’t mind when customers in turn want to review their bundle prices, and perhaps make a change midway through an 18 month contract.
Also worth pointing out, advertised prices on Virgin’s website for perspective new customers haven’t changed, that’s not to say they won’t change after signing the contract. Buyer beware.
Pete's Tech Blog 
Virgin Terms & Condition’s state under section J, paragraph 5c that should ‘Virgin’ increase their respective charges you may cancel those services affected without penalty by giving ‘Virgin’ at least 30 days notice in writing. Such notice must be given within 30 days of the increase in charges of changes to the services affected or this agreement being notified to you.
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2020 and Virgin Media are still playing the same silly games, ‘free upgrade’ followed immediately by a price hike.
‘We’ve moved you from Current Package X to Faster Package Y, at no extra cost. And you don’t need to do anything else.’ – The unrequested upgrade e-mail states…
‘Looks like you’ve made some changes this month.’ – The monthly bill states…
You call customer services are tell them you don’t want to pay more and you can keep your free upgrade. They tell you they are no longer able to offer Current Package X at the existing price. You tell them you are not willing to pay anymore for your broadband and you cancel your services with Virgin Media.
A couple of days later and Virgin Media customer services ‘special retentions division’ call you and inform you they can now offer Faster Package Y at a much cheaper price, significantly cheaper than the price you were previously paying for Current Package X. You tell them you are tired of this shit and have already found an alternative supplier, no thanks…
When will Virgin Media (and most other ISP’s) learn that this childish nonsense has to stop. It’s infuriating. If i want an upgrade i will ask for it. If i’m happy with the service and the price i’m paying i will be a loyal customer. Just offer me a fast, stable connection without restrictions for a consistent and reasonable monthly price. Is that so difficult?
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