Virgin Media swallows 215,000 new fibre customers in Blighty

Sort out your pricing and customer service, Virgin

I got Virgin Fibre on an 18 month contract. It was one of those where the first 12 months were considerably cheaper than the last 6.

I have no qualms about the broadband itself - it's incredibly fast and their router seems to work well with loads of devices connected in my house which is very old - and has thick walls where some other WIFI hasn't always worked too well. So no complaints about the broadband.

But, I faced a few issues in the first 3 months whereby they never billed me correctly (using the "last 6 months" rate instead of the first 12). When I phoned them they were apologetic and credited my account. But it was the fact I had to keep telling them. Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Making calls - if you use their phone service on their basic fibre package - is incredibly expensive. To the point where it makes you think of the olden days of phoning abroad, or mobile to mobile 20+ years ago.

They've written to me once during the contract with a price increase - with no real justification - and a load of BS about "benefits" which are things you already got anyway.

So, as a product, it's great and I can see why people use it. But you do feel a bit shafted particularly in terms of the customer service and overall cost. I'm still debating whether or not to renew at the end of the 18 months, that's how "meh" I consider it overall.

Sort out your network contention, Virgin

Been a customer for 3 years, and in the evenings barely get 5Mb on my 100Mb connection. Logged the issue 2 years ago, they've acknowledged that there is a capacity issue in our area, but nothing has ever been done, the review date keeps getting pushed back every 3 months.

I'm amazed they can get away with signing up new customers in areas where they cannot provide an adequate service.

Well I've had to go BACK to them

And so far so good. Only shock came in bill #1 when I got charged my first and second month bill. Apparently I was told this at signup (to be fair I probably was but can't recall), but I do know I got the reduced rate for twelve months but I'm only being held to a 12 month deal; I'm free to leave when the price reverts to the full cost.

TV box is dire though, the apps are appalling so iPlayer et al never gets used.

Only worth it if you can get fibre

like I do. Then use that to supply your content.

VM put the "media" into "mediocrity". There is nothing remarkable about their offerings (except notable absences). And I resented discovering that in this day and age "HD" was regarded as something worthy of charging above and beyond the "bundle" price.

TiVo is crippled too.

Dumped phone, TV and kept broadband. Happy camper.

VM

Pricier than a meeting of Dennis, Katie and Vincent, more latency than a boys public school dorm and the help line is as user friendly as a cornered rat.

When it works well, it's the canine cojones. When it doesn't, reach for the grog.

Been with them for almost 2 years. Was with Sky for almost a decade before that and Sky's customer service is in a different galaxy - Virgin's is appalling and their engineers lie to say they've turned up to appointments that they never arrive for.

I'm only with them because in my area there's no fibre broadband available via anything from a BT socket and 1.5mb/s is the maximum speed, with no plans to introduce fibre so cable is the only way to get a decent internet connection.

And the internet connection is decent - I regularly see around 161mb/s though their phone and TV services are dire. I mostly use my Amazon fire sticks for content when I want to and rarely watch TV anyway.

Moved house, on 150mb with loyalty discount and no phone line.

Speed before was spot on, now at night it's slower than a tortoise walking on flypaper after a hearty meal and a few pints. Lucky if I get 10mb. ADSL option gives me 25mb. Same area code.

Upgraded to Hub3 (for free) and it improved a little but currently getting rebate each month because they haven't fixed it.

I also note that they have aligned their prices with what it would cost for a phone line and ADSL which is not surprising given the company.

4k Tivo?

Pay extra to avoid aged crippleware sluggish app-unfriendly Tivo, get stuck in new 18 month contract. We're hostages, not customers.

Upload Speed Torment

I have no complaints about the download speeds or reliability in my neck of the woods. I'm on the HomeWorks+ package and consistently hit 318Mb. HomeWorks+ is made for home-based businesses though, and Virgin still have the upload speed at a pathetic 20Mb.

Crippling rip-off

I get a bare-bones Virgin deal for phone and internet. It's more expensive than my gas, water and electricity bills combined, even factoring in my "loyalty" discount. Used to be manageable but they are so greedy. Fibre connection? I haven't noticed any great speed hike.

Virgin? Raddled old whore more-like. Set up by a capitalist darling who began his career attempting to defraud the Inland revenue.. nasty, greedy, rip-off company.