In our local area, Virgin are the only fibre provider that can do over about 75mb, so loads of people sign up to them. Then they realise that the reliability is shocking, and have a massive issue cancelling.
The local FB group is absolutely full of rants about VM.
I had such a hard time trying to cancel my VM internet when I left the uk. I was out of contract but they wouldn’t cancel it unless I gave them a uk forwarding address and phone number. I ended up giving a friends details (I did make sure it was ok with them first) 2 months later I got a £100 bill iirc. Had to call them up from France and ask what the hell is going on. It was “an error”. Thankfully I had canceled my direct debit. About a year before I had noticed they had a deal where I could double my speed and keep paying the same as long as I did it before day x. I call before day x, like 5 days before it gets turned on, great. Next month comes round and I’m paying the higher rate. I call up and the person on the other end was refusing to accept that day x – 5 was before day x. It was like talking to a robot who couldn’t comprehend dates. Eventually they agreed after about an hour on the phone that I had changed it in time and I’d get a refund and the cheaper rate going forward. Their insistence not to made me feel like they are trained to be as belligerent as possible.
I attempted to cancel last year. Out of contract I phoned them selecting the “leave Virgin” option. Told the rep I was switching providers and wanted to end the contract. They transferred me to a pushy sales rep offering to take 50% off the bill for a few months and include a “free” SIM card (after which the bill would be even higher). I declined and they hung up the call. Rang back, spoke to another rep who once again transferred me to the “Moving House” team. Same result and was hung up on. It took me two days and a threat to their version of Ombudsman to finally get out of the contract. I cancelled my DD as soon as the call ended and filled out a complaint but never had a response. Awful company. I’m amazed it has taken so long for an investigation.
I’ve often wondered about Virgin.
It’s one of those utilities, that has enough customers that it need not consider a unified price for all (and clearly doesn’t). Some can subsidise the others. The headline price seems to be the maximum price they _usually_ charge, with discounts to tempt new people and obfuscations through packaging to make comparison difficult. But then what to do about existing customers? This is why the entire retentions system exists – to identify the ones it will subsidise.
But surely there is a much more efficent way of doing all this, one that doesn’t burn goodwill and leave half your customer base _begging_ for a competitor so hard, that a second a viable alternative comes to ones street, they flee immediately.
Something which dynamically adjusts pricing based upon local conditions. And even, local disposable incomes. £1million average house price street, where the only competition is copper FTTC? £300 for a gig, £20 for 100mbit. Hyperoptic coming to the street? Wham, £30 for a gig.
I’d love to know if that was more profitable than super-churning and a retentions team.
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In our local area, Virgin are the only fibre provider that can do over about 75mb, so loads of people sign up to them. Then they realise that the reliability is shocking, and have a massive issue cancelling.
The local FB group is absolutely full of rants about VM.
I had such a hard time trying to cancel my VM internet when I left the uk. I was out of contract but they wouldn’t cancel it unless I gave them a uk forwarding address and phone number. I ended up giving a friends details (I did make sure it was ok with them first) 2 months later I got a £100 bill iirc. Had to call them up from France and ask what the hell is going on. It was “an error”. Thankfully I had canceled my direct debit. About a year before I had noticed they had a deal where I could double my speed and keep paying the same as long as I did it before day x. I call before day x, like 5 days before it gets turned on, great. Next month comes round and I’m paying the higher rate. I call up and the person on the other end was refusing to accept that day x – 5 was before day x. It was like talking to a robot who couldn’t comprehend dates. Eventually they agreed after about an hour on the phone that I had changed it in time and I’d get a refund and the cheaper rate going forward. Their insistence not to made me feel like they are trained to be as belligerent as possible.
I attempted to cancel last year. Out of contract I phoned them selecting the “leave Virgin” option. Told the rep I was switching providers and wanted to end the contract. They transferred me to a pushy sales rep offering to take 50% off the bill for a few months and include a “free” SIM card (after which the bill would be even higher). I declined and they hung up the call. Rang back, spoke to another rep who once again transferred me to the “Moving House” team. Same result and was hung up on. It took me two days and a threat to their version of Ombudsman to finally get out of the contract. I cancelled my DD as soon as the call ended and filled out a complaint but never had a response. Awful company. I’m amazed it has taken so long for an investigation.
I’ve often wondered about Virgin.
It’s one of those utilities, that has enough customers that it need not consider a unified price for all (and clearly doesn’t). Some can subsidise the others. The headline price seems to be the maximum price they _usually_ charge, with discounts to tempt new people and obfuscations through packaging to make comparison difficult. But then what to do about existing customers? This is why the entire retentions system exists – to identify the ones it will subsidise.
But surely there is a much more efficent way of doing all this, one that doesn’t burn goodwill and leave half your customer base _begging_ for a competitor so hard, that a second a viable alternative comes to ones street, they flee immediately.
Something which dynamically adjusts pricing based upon local conditions. And even, local disposable incomes. £1million average house price street, where the only competition is copper FTTC? £300 for a gig, £20 for 100mbit. Hyperoptic coming to the street? Wham, £30 for a gig.
I’d love to know if that was more profitable than super-churning and a retentions team.