Experiences of Virgin Media please

[LittleMissNorty]

We are thinking of switching to Virgin Media as we can get everything we have now (telephone, HD TV, sky sports, faster broadband etc) around £20 cheaper a month than Sky.

IME Sky HD boxes are rubbish and always go wrong when just out of warranty then they charge £65 to come out. Virgin don't charge anything for callout or repairs - another big plus.

Am now looking for others experiences of their service, charges and equipment - positive or negative

All comments will be much appreciated! TIA

Dh is currently on to virgin as I type! We are being overcharged but it seems impossible for them to understand this.

We have little choice to stay with them- can't have a BT line etc but we are utterly hacked off with the discounted rates new customers are getting and we have been with them years and are being fleeced.

We have never had any trouble with the Tv or phone service but do have connectivity problems with the internet quite often. Having said that they have always come out to fix any problems very quickly.

When we move in two years we don't think we will continue with virigin.

NervousNutty, it will sooo please you we are existing customers who have the same package for £20 a month

Have you tried speaking to Retention, telling you are going to leave but you were told to speak to them first - can they offer you a better deal?

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I have now found out that Virgin don't offer Sky Sports HD channels and DH watches a lot of those.....so we may have to get our thinking caps on and work out what's best!

Thanks again

I just have to add my "twenty pence worth" We switched from Sky to Virgin last Dec as DH wanted 20m and Sky weren't offering at the time, oh and also for the HD channels (of which they only have 2)... Complete nightmare, we have lost our landline in 3 separate incidents since then, last one being without landline for 10 days which they think is entirely acceptable, even though they are happy to still take our money each month! All they gave me was a £30 credit to my mobile to offer by way of feeble compensation!

Comes down to the junction box in our village having doors open and wires exposed to the elements (not great in a country where it rains a lot), after a car ran into it. So now it has been a couple of months and several phones calls to report it, still nothing. I walked past it on the weekend and all they had done was put a tarpulin and an ocky strap around it.. Hmm you would think that a company like Virgin could afford to replace a couple of doors! I am so over it and can't be bothered to complain any more. Falls on deaf ears. So on this happy note I have told them we will not be renewing our contract come December and are happily returning to Sky (which we never had a problem with)! Guess it serves us right for changing our loyalty.

We have had them for years and they have been excellent and saved us tons. DH makes loads of international calls so we have their talk unlimited 800 package. With this you get 800 minutes a month to call any number in the world, except premium rate numbers. You can even call international mobiles. With BT our monthly bill was sometimes over £300, now we pay approx £45 a month and this includes the above plus internet and TV. I love the catch up tv service as well, if you miss something in the week you can watch it on demand anything up to a week after.

Been with them forever,and when it was Telewest before hand. Never had any problems at all. Last year i was looking to swap due to cost and they lowered and price matched. Now pay bout £50 for unlimited calls, broadband and XL tv (no movies or sport though) with plus box and extra box in kitchen.

I think the v+ is much better than the sky+ as you get more hours to record and can record 2 channels at the same time and watch another.

Dont even get me started!

Our cable coming into the house got damaged lately after having the driveway done. Anyway after that the phone started playing up so we called them out. They came and patched the cable which seemed to do the job. Week later the phone line wouldnt let us ring out, then not accept calls so they came out again. Guy tempor got it working and sheduled us for a new line. Fair enough.

Anyway.. They came Friday. Turned up at 8.45 instead of the booked 12-6pm. Guys said they were the wrong department and would get in touch with the right guys to come.
Right guys turned up about 2.30 and I saw them putting new cable in the road(they never knocked). Before I knew it they had gone leaving a load of cable on the pavement outside my house without actually connecting it to the house. So basically they had gone without finishing the installation and leaving us with no phone line or internet.
After numerous pointless calls to indian call centres we find apparently the job is signed off as completed!
They now cant send anyone to finish connecting us till NEXT mon!
We are so cross and will be fighting for a discount on our bill! DH has been looking at BT instead today.

We are using a USB thingy for the net and mobiles for calls.

Sorry for the rant but this a raw nerve for us at the mo!

Wilts why can't you get a BT line?

Just puzzled (esp as BT are doing free installation until the end of the month).

It might be enough to persuade Virgin that you want your charges reduced, if they think you will switch to BT and use some other firm's broadband instead.

I think they are pretty good actually. Pretty reliable service, friendly phone staff, willing to do deals when you phone them up and tell them you are thinking of leaving them.

But am rather pretty peeved that we have to wait until the end of november for our v+ box. Thats a bit rubbish really!

Generally I've been happy with them since 2005, although we have had problems. But our services (internet, TV and landline phone) have been down most of the last few days, since Thursday evening, and there's no sign of a proper repair (we've intermittently had things back for 2-5 hours). Others have reported problems for about 3 days, but it's now 4.