To ask about your experience of Virgin Media?

[Cutesbabasmummy]

We've been with BT for 9 years. Never really thought about changing tbh. But, our 5 year old SMART Samsung TV has turned out not to be so smart, as we can no longer access i player etc through it. We also quite fancy having Netflix. We have an Amazon Fire Stick which wont work with our Samsung, although it will work on other tvs in our house annoyingly! So rather than splash out on something like Chromecast, we thought we would look at other options, one of which is to have phone, broadband and tv from Virgin. We only have phone and internet from BT currently and pay £170 per quarter. It would cost us £38 per month i.e. £360 per year plus a £20 installation fee for a 12 month contract with Virgin. It seems like we could really save money and get more bang for our buck. The only snag is that our phone line where the router would be is the other side of the room to the tv. Can this be connected via wireless? Please let me know what you thin of Virgin! I know some people swear they are the devils spawn, but then people also say that about BT and SKY.

[LindySprint]

Watching with interest. I'm with BT and thinking about Virgin's current deal.

[Rebeccaslicker]

Virgin are awful! Was so happy to move and change to sky.

Broadband kept cutting out. Couldn't watch Netflix because the internet would freeze. Phone line would go off for weeks at a time. Customer services beyond useless.

Don't do it!!

[Rebeccaslicker]

Look at their Facebook page and read the comments on each post (before virgin deletes them!).

[RadioGaGoo]

I am too exhausted of them to even begin to say how useless and frustrating Virgin Customer Services are. I would never, ever recommend them to anyone.

[OwlBeBack]

My year with Virgin was hellish TV wise. The box is so glitchy and slow. It’s got too many menus as well. It’s not user friendly. You press a button and nothing happens - there’s such a delay you end up learning to press a button to select a menu then walk away for a minute because you know it takes that long to change screens.

Awful.

Went back to Sky as soon as I could.

I kept Virgin broadband and telephone though. They’re both excellent.

[RadioGaGoo]

Rebecca. They have told me they don't delete them.

Bloody liars.

[DianaPrincessOfThemyscira]

We’re with Virgin and have been for about ten years.

We pay £55 ish a month for broadband, basic tv package and basic phone. Broadband is very good - quite often have two xboxes and a couple of phones doing stuff on the WiFi with no noticeable lag. We’re in a Virgin heavy area so they correct things really quickly!

Tv is fine. It’s nice having Netflix through the box but we have upgrade to a smart tv and really don’t need it - we watch very little tv that’s not Netflix, iPlayer or amazon prime. Tbh it’ll cost us almost as much for broadband on its own so we keep the package.

The few problems we’ve had have been dealt with relatively quickly and easily. An issue with our router was resolved only when they sent a new one, but they resisted sending an engineer for that. Ditto the issue with our tv box when we stopped getting CBeebies - both times we were refunded with no hassle and it was resolved without argument just took a while! Both over five years ago though.

[DianaPrincessOfThemyscira]

God I sound like a Virgin shill promise I’m not!

[MandaraSugar]

Not technically minded so i'll leave it to someone else to answer the Q about the phone line and router.

Been with Virgin nearly 6 years. Only had a fault with it once, something went wrong with the internet - someone came out the next day and fixed it. However I know other people who, when there's been big construction works on nearby have suffered as this has played with the fibre optics.

Something I was unimpressed with was a couple of years ago I called to make changes to our package, to add more channels so upgrade essentially. We were in the middle of an 18 month contract and by making the changes entered a new 18 month contract, so where we had 9 months left before the change to our package we essentially restarted. Which I didn't realise/they didn't make clear until I called up at what I thought was the end of our contract to try and negotiate a lower monthly or (or "I'll go elsewhere" type threat) and they weren't bothered as I would have had to pay a hefty exit fee as still had 9 months left!

It's not cheap but as far as I can see in line with what Sky and BT charge anyway.

[Elementtree]

Virgin's customer service is appalling, just getting through their phone system to speak to someone makes you want to stick your head in a blender.

[Ellendegeneres]

I’m with virgin and switching to sky. Someone called from virgin yesterday to tell me that because I am such a loyal customer they were going to save me money- great, thinks I. Ten years and they’re finally appreciating me.
Ten mins later and he tells me all the wonderful things I can have- for £20 more than what I already pay. Despite me saying I’m no longer working. Explain that what he was asking per month is what I get per week in income support. Told it’s worth it.
Said to him actually I really appreciate your call. It’s reminded me to cancel, so I’ll sort out set up with sky and call back and cancel- don’t worry, I’ll be sure to mention your name and say it’s thanks to you.
He couldn’t get off the phone fast enough 😂

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

We have a new LG Smart TV. With a relevant subscription you can access Netflix, NowTV, Amazon Prime and the usual free players (e.g. iPlayer) through the TV interface. We love it.

We also have Virgin Media with a Tivo box, which has a good range of channels on the basic package. I'd like some of the documentary ones but it costs quite a bit more. I got a good 12mo fixed rate deal.

Our phone connects to the regular phone line (was previously BT), the Virgin connection was installed separately. We inherited a connection in our dining room (where we've put our router) and they came out and fitted a second connection in our lounge so we could have the Tivo box (which is connected via hdmi to the TV). The TV connects wirelessly to the router (although Virgin prefer you to connect via an ethernet cable). We would rather keep our router in the dinning room and we have an excellent wireless connection to the TV so it doesn't cause any problems. Basically the phone line is totally separate to our Virgin connection points although they provide our phone service.

[putputput]

Hands down, the WORST customer service I have ever experienced. Will be changing providers the moment our contract is up.

[SheepySheepy]

Can't believe you've stuck with BT for that long, they win the prize for the worst customer service I've ever received from a company EVER. Catalogue of errors and ignoring that included them actually breaking our connection so no other company could connect.

I currently have Sky. They are a bit evil empire and I hate Murdoch. But, once you've waited a bit on the phone they are helpful. Engineers are good, it breaks rarely. Overall good service. You can usually get them down on price.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

I've had no problems contacting Virgin on the couple of times I've had a problem with our broadband speed dropping. I'm sure they're just clicking a reset button somewhere and making it out that it's all technical, however they've got it working again quickly.

[QueenOfAccidentalDeathStares]

They are ok. Better than Talktalk.

[TroubleInSnowland]

Mixed opinion here. We have been with Virgin for about 7 years, with very little problem. However since November our speed rate has declined and we’ve had lots of days where the internet has been non-existent. We’ve had an engineer visit and a new router. Things still aren’t great though. We’re at the end of our contract so phoned to cancel and they have convinced me to try the new V6 box and a higher download speed. We’ve had a week where we are supposed to get 200mbs but actually get 125mbs. We’ve also had the internet drop out twice. Im going to phone them this weekend and probably cancel because I really don’t want to be tied into this for another 12 months.

[JJPP1234]

Virgin are truly awful. We cancelled and took them to the ombidsmen. We got £500 compensation plus a refund.

[BarbaraofSevillle]

Posting for ideas as we need to sort out a new phone/broadband deal and might take TV if the whole shebang comes at a good price. But this thread doesn't paint a good picture of VM.

OP, your unsmart TV problem might be solved by something like NowTV. That gives you a few Sky channels, plus all the catch up apps like BBC iplayer. There's also a new fancy box that allows pausing of live TV, or you could just get the basic one. Sold in Currys, Argos, Amazon etc.

[ThePerfectFather]

Been with Virgin for years. Their internet service is generally the fastest you'll get in your are and definitely faster than Sky. When it works. It will randomly drop for days at a time due to some outage or upgrade work. They have also had a policy of selling far, far beyond their capacity in an area and then upgrading it only when the entire system grinds to a halt due to overuse. Their technical support line is located, afaik, in kuala lumpur so good luck with those phone calls - there's a lot of "can you say that again" from both parties.

Their TV service is ok, but the box itself is crap. Just crap.

[woodchuckchuck]

Our house phone is broken (Virgin) but I can't, just can't face phoning them to report it. It's always a very very stressful and frustrating experience dealing with Virgin. I try to block out all the problems we've had with them.

[butterfly56]

Do you have a playstation OP?
I have attached my old ps3 to a non smart tv and used the Playstation Store Network to upload BBC player, Netflix and Amazonprime.
I also have a Samsung Smart tv which as you say as it gets older is not so smart! but I can still access player, Netflix and Amazon at the moment. Will it not let you update to the latest samsung software update?

I do have Virgin Media. Virgin Media comes through Cable so it's a different set up than using BT phone line.
Virgin will bring the cable into your house near your tv or wherever is most convenient for your router.
I personally have my TVs connected by ethernet cable to the router as it's a more stable connection.
The router settings are only accessible on line though and it can be tricky to sort out if you're not too techie with stuff.

You should be able to get better deals if you go online or if your enquire with Virgin you may get a call back offering you a cheaper deal.

[SheepySheepy]

Also for what you want, I know you said you didn't want to buy a Chromecast, but they're about £20. Get yourself a new cheaper deal (MoneySavingExpert, not with Virgin or BT) then a Chromecast, much cheaper.

[georgeoutside]

Been with virgin since before they were virgin. 15 years now. Only once have we had loss of service. Never had any problems with them. Can't really comment on customer services though as have never had reason to contact them.

[lurkeyishere]

I've not ever had an issue with virgin I've been with them about 10 years the internet speeds won't be beaten we paid for 20mb with sky and got maybe 3 or 4mb if we where lucky then there was an issue with the phone line at BTs end after 12 weeks of not alot being done to rectify the problem we cancelled and went with virgin. Virgin warns you of slow service on your account page