I think Virgin Media may see me as a challenge.
A couple of years ago I looked at our TV package and realised there were several channels that none of us watched. So I had a look at the packages and asked to downgrade to one cheaper than the one we had, and saved about £20 per month.
A while later, I got a call from them, offering me some extra channels for free for 12 months. Of course, they asked me a lot of questions about how many devices we used on broadband, what kind of channels we watched, and how often we used the land line and whether we made international calls. Then they said they’d upgrade the phone package and include all the movie and sport channels. I asked what happened after the free period and obviously, we’d start to pay for these extras. So I said I didn’t want it free for 12 months, and the Virgin rep was shocked that I’d refuse a free upgrade. I explained that we wouldn’t use the phone more, we don’t watch sport at all and weren’t that bothered about extra movie channels.
Now they call me at least once a year with some offer or other, and still seem incredulous when I say I don’t want it.
I know they’ve been calling me again, as I recognise the number of several missed calls over the last few weeks. They usually call when I’m driving, so I don’t answer, but they got me at 5pm today and I was in the mood to play along, although I was 99% sure I wouldn’t go for it.
This time it was the usual starting spiel, that as we’ve been with them since 2008 and to reward us (and because they know people are watching more TV during lockdown – WTF has that got to do with our package??) they’d like to upgrade our package at a special rate for 18 months. She then asked me about what TV we watched, how many devices we used on broadband (I said 7 or 8, off the top of my head, but there’s my phone, my Ipad, my MacBook, my work tablet, two Amazon Fire sticks, my wife’s phone, her Chromebook, my daughter’s phone and work laptop, so that’s 10, although they’re not all in use at the same time) and she was surprised at 7 or 8!!! So, as well as all the extra channels again (all movies, all their sport channels, neither of which interest us) they’d upgrade broadband from 100mb to 200mb, and improve the landline package. A couple of times I asked how much the offer was, but she wanted to tell me all the things she would give us before giving me the figure. So I let her waste her time and I could tell she thought I was going to go for it, and then she said it would be a fixed price of £99pm for 18 months at which point I interrupted and said I didn’t want that package for the same reasons that I refused their FREE upgrade last year, but that if she could give us 200mb for no extra cost, or could cut the cost of the current package as a ‘reward for our loyalty’ I’d be interested, but all she was able to offer was what she’d already spent 10 minutes trying to sell to me, so I just said there’s no point in continuing and ended the call.
Of course, they’ll try again in a few months. When I retire, maybe toward the end of next year, I’ll probably swap to Freesat anyway, as I’ll need to start making cutbacks in a lot of places so we can live within our means.
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