Is Virgin Media basically telling its old customers just P off?!

[IwantToRetire]

I am not surprised by this, and know it has been an issue for some time, but talk about telling your existing customers you aren't valued!

My current contract which is due to expire is around £70pm - it was a discounted deal and has had bits added to it for free over past 2 years.

So they tell me if I want to renew with same content, it will now be £170pm

Or then can do a stripped down package for £130pm

And then at the end of the email they tell me that the stripped down package of £130 offered to me, for a new customer would be £40.

Hardly a clever sales tactic!

Talk about letting you know they dont care about you!

Thanks for letting me rant.

It's the total cheek of being so blatant!

No, I mean when I last looked the only options in our area were virgin fibre or broadband over a landline. But we don't have landline, not just don't have a contract, we don't have a physical connection to other infrastructure, no telegraph poles nearby. It's been a few years so I ought to check what's available now.

That's exactly what I meant. I started out with a yahoo address and a Hotmail address for throwaway things (basically shopping!)

I then migrated to Gmail and left behind anything not important using yahoo as the new throwaway.

Then I gradually moved important stuff to my own domain address

I did this all at my own pace so I wasn't at the mercy of someone shutting down a service when they felt like it

If only ...😆

This is why you shouldn't use providers email addresses. It's a massive ballache if you want to to change. Always use an independent email host like Hotmail/yahoo/Gmail.

Sorry - misunderstood.

Seriously - you think these providers have any more ethics than VM etc..

Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it wont.

The only time it might not happen, but then given politics, would be if were assigned an email address similar to our NI number.

A commercial company is never something you should think is everlasting!!

Have just seen this quoted, so in case you didn't see it earlier VM will no longer support ANY of their email addresses

The closure will affect all addresses associated with Virgin Media, including: 1]

• @virginmedia.com
• @ntlworld.com
• @blueyonder.co.uk
• @virgin.net

This information posted is to alert those with any VM they need to plan now how and where to move to!

Just out of interest who hosts your domain name for you to get an email service.

Its rare to get a hosting package that is just email.

Or so I have been told.

Thanks

Virgin are the biggest rip
off merchants ever

Due to laziness I’m still paying over £70 a month for broadband.

thanks to the pp and the content number. need to switch contracts asap, or get a realistic plan.

I hate Virgin Media and have done since the mid noughties. Around 2005, they started broadband internet (cancelled the old dial-up) and it was shite. Kept buffering all time, and spent around 15% of any given week offline, yet we never got a single bean refunded. When it went down, we lost the TV channels too!

The package was around £55 a month (TV and landline phone and internet) around 17-18 years ago! (Probably like £100 a month in 2026!) I wanted to change and DH was digging his heels in. 'Stick with what you know, blah blah blah!' I said 'but what we know sucks! I wanna change!' He refused.

In the mid 2010s we moved out deep into the sticks in the shires, and he excitedly contacted Virgin to let them know our new address. 'Sorry, no can do sir, we don't have service out there, and they suggested Plusnet.' £18 for internet and £11 for landline phone. No cable TV, so we had to have a satellite dish. We had Sky. I was over the MOON to not have Virgin any longer. DH sulked but I told him to suck it up!

Sky became hilariously expensive within 2 years, so we got a Freesat box. Never looked back. Now we have Broadband only with no landline and it's £19.99 a month. (Still have the Freesat box.) Very rarely issues with internet. That is our monthly bill. £19.99.

I am stunned by the prices some people pay for Sky. I know people who pay £170 a month just for Sky, not including any broadband internet! And as the OP has illustrated, Virgin is laughably expensive too.

Move providers @IwantToRetire ! These fuckers do not value loyalty from people!

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Fasthosts

Email only package. I used to have a website too but I stopped that when I no longer needed it

Your probably right, but as others have said, I just want to get on with my life and not have to have daily alerts to check some service provided or another isn't about to take advantage of me!

And it is because I am now paying £70 for very fast broadband, free email service (3 different addresses!) free landline and free calls(!) and a huge tv channel selection that I am a bit taken aback to be told it will go up to £170.

Am I really supposed to believe they have been giving me a package for the past 2 years at a loss to them? They were the ones who kept adding bits on at no extra charge!!

PS you do know that Freestat will be turned off when Freeview gets turned off?

Anyone coming out of their broadband contract or looking to change supplier should use One Touch Switch. Look on moneysavingexpert.com, choose a new deal, enter your details with your new chosen supplier and they will contact your old supplier on your behalf and arrange the change over. Your old supplier will probably contact you to try make you stay but you can ignore them. If you are still in contract you will probably have a leaving penalty to pay but your new provider may cover that cost.

PS you do know that Freestat will be turned off when Freeview gets turned off?

Yes, but an alternative is due to be issued that will give the same service.

Prices are ridiculously cheap! sssssssssssh - dont tell anyone else!

Many thanks.

Shame they only seem to offer .co.uk I would want some obscure domain extension eg [email protected]

And it is because I am now paying £70 for very fast broadband, free email service (3 different addresses!) free landline and free calls(!) and a huge tv channel selection that I am a bit taken aback to be told it will go up to £170.

You know you can get free email addresses via Yahoo, and MSN, and other providers? And all landlines are being phased out in early 2027. Most broadband is very fast now.

You are being ripped off even now, but £170 a month takes the piss.

I would be changing providers even without the £100 a month rise!

!

We did this… just kept the broadband, got a freeview box that records etc and pay for streaming Now TV and Netflix… works out much cheaper. I do one month of Apple or Disney if there something we want to watch… I log in to my parents Prime account for anything in there

Yes, early in the thread, (I know quite far back now) I have already decided, and am attempting to move into the newer world ie no tv box, just smart tv and add ons when needed.

But, and I know others haven't had the same, but their broadband is really good and as working from home that's a priority, (Bet I've jinxed it now)

But its not that I dont know I cant get other emails, I do not have enough hours in my life to tell everyone and have a login with, NHA, bank, etc., etc. I have a new email address.

And in fact it is the loss of the continuity of the email that has really pushed me.

In fact even if they renew at old price, it would be a lesser service as within a year no email service.

Freeview and freestat will be obsolete in the near future.

But the alternative Freely is now on most new tvs.

And I was going to try and not do so much recording.

Or just get as PP said a digital recorder.

Worst company ever. Had mobile and internet with them at one point, never again

Virgin Media are complete sheisters.

When my contract ended they sent me an email saying the price would increase to over £200 per month!

When I phoned them, they reduced it to £46!

How is any of this legal???

I had to look this up as I didn't know the answer. It isn't a phone line, it is fibre broadband but is installed by BT as it runs from the BT exchange.

I bought my domain years ago, and pipe it using GoDaddy and cloudflare into Zohos free mail service and my home server for PBX and other services. As long as you aren't using any "smart" shit they ram down your throat, the free tier on a lot of providers is quite sufficient.

If the worst comes to the worst I can run my own mailserver behind a zero trust tunnel which is already carrying a lot of home automation for Google Home (or whatever it's called this week).

Thanks - I haven't "re-acted" because I can see you are so much more computer literate than me!

But has given me things to think about.

Have found I dont have to decide until 26 October, not 26 September.

Be careful if you choose to leave. I had to threaten legal action before they let me cancel my contract.