Virgin Media Cancellation deals

Muahahaha · 08-05-2014 2:53pm #1

I'm sure most here know about this but I think it's worth repeating as I just got a pretty decent deal from UPC for the next 12 months. I had been toying with the idea of spending €200-250 on a FTA satellite dish but as I live in an apartment I didn't really want the hassle that might come with it. Anyway my current package is 30mb internet and the basic tv package for €63 a month. I rang up 8 weeks back and asked about cancelling the TV portion only. They said the internet on its own would cost me €37 and for €45 a month they would give me both together for 12 months. Anyway I did nothing about it till today and rang them back again, this time he offered me 120mb broadband and an upgrade from the basic tv package to the next level up for €31.50 a month. That's broadband that is four times quicker and nearly twice the amount of channels. Then he offered another small upgrade, for an extra €3 per month I get over 90 channels (includes Discovery, Animal Planet, etc) all for €34 per month for both tv and internet.

I can't complain really because I would have paid around €34 for broadband off some other provider, at least with UPC I've got the fastest and most reliable broadband going and for €34 a month I'm essentially getting all my tv for free for the next 12 months, great deal IMO.

NeVeR · 08-05-2014 2:57pm

it's crap you have to cancel before they offer you something decent !

Muahahaha · 08-05-2014 4:23pm

NeVeR wrote: »

it's crap you have to cancel before they offer you something decent !

Yeah but in fairness to them they gave me a deal that would normally be reserved only for brand new customers. Maybe I'm wrong g on this but it's the first time I'm aware of it happening that they are giving this type of deal to existing customers. Like I said I had rung up about 8 weeks back and was offered to stay for €45 which is probably pretty standard for existing g customers who are trying to cancel. Then today they offered me €31.50 and I eventually settled on €34 for the extra documentary channels. I've ended up with more channels and faster broadband for almost half the price, I can't complain really.

Rowley Birkin QC · 08-05-2014 5:02pm

Do you have the Horizon box or separate boxes?

We signed up through boards a few days ago. Would be interested to go back to them with this as we are within a 14 day cooling off period.

Muahahaha · 08-05-2014 8:51pm

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Do you have the Horizon box or separate boxes?

We signed up through boards a few days ago. Would be interested to go back to them with this as we are within a 14 day cooling off period.

No he didn't offer the horizon box and I didn't ask for it either as I want to get my own router so I can change the DNS and then access BBC iPlayer and 4OD through a NowTV box, from what I've heard it is difficult or almost impossible to change the DNS on a horizon box so I'm happy not to have one as I've no need to record several channels at a time

cunnifferous · 08-05-2014 9:04pm

Just got the horizon max package for 38.50 a month for 12 months. Pretty happy with that tbh.

BBMcQ · 08-05-2014 9:14pm

Horizon is awful I'd reccommend to stay away. I had it on the preview trial last summer and not only did I give it back but I got a full refund for 6 months and I switched to Sky for TV cuz the customer service was so poor. UPC effectively have a monopoly on high quality broadband in apartments though.. Separates FTW

cunnifferous · 08-05-2014 9:23pm

stuartmchugh wrote: »

Horizon is awful I'd reccommend to stay away. I had it on the preview trial last summer and not only did I give it back but I got a full refund for 6 months and I switched to Sky for TV cuz the customer service was so poor. UPC effectively have a monopoly on high quality broadband in apartments though.. Separates FTW

Yeah I've heard complaints about it alright. To be honest I'm willing to put up with the interface faults for the extra capabilites and the price I got. I've also had one of their ancient TV boxes for the last 5 years that is laggy as hell and has no features so It can't be much worse than that.

Eire Go Brach · 08-05-2014 9:37pm

I do it every year with them. They always give me deals. The things is. I say it to other people and they don't get as good deals. Then they moan at me ha ha

At the moment I have middle tv package, 30mb and phone with international calls. All for just €35. It's up again in July. I will be doing the same again

sector_000 · 09-05-2014 12:47am

stuartmchugh wrote: »

Horizon is awful I'd reccommend to stay away. I had it on the preview trial last summer and not only did I give it back but I got a full refund for 6 months and I switched to Sky for TV cuz the customer service was so poor. UPC effectively have a monopoly on high quality broadband in apartments though.. Separates FTW

I have had the full Horizon package for ~2 months now - very happy with it. I had UPC basic digital TV before that.

Incidently, to OP, there's been a huge thread about the "cancellation deals" from UPC on this forum running over the last couple of months. Many people have gotten the max/complete triple play Horizon bundle for €30~€35 for 1 yr. Hard to think of a better deal elsewhere. I couldn't :-)

seanyd11 · 04-06-2014 12:58pm

I would read the small print in any deals they offer. They gave me a great half price deal for 12 months and then pulled it without telling me , putting it down to a mis-quote from an employee. While they wont let you break yourside of the contract , they can do what they want.

RickyBobby1 · 04-06-2014 2:34pm

Any chance of getting those type of offers as a new customer?

04-06-2014 2:43pm

I cannot stress this enough - get any offer in writing before you commit or agree to the offer.

Jesus Wept · 04-06-2014 4:14pm

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

I do it every year with them. They always give me deals. The things is. I say it to other people and they don't get as good deals. Then they moan at me ha ha

At the moment I have middle tv package, 30mb and phone with international calls. All for just €35. It's up again in July. I will be doing the same again

Anyway of telling when it is up? Currently paying 54 quid for basic tv and internet with them. And the internet is being sh1te.

Muahahaha · 04-06-2014 4:31pm

Our Year wrote: »

Anyway of telling when it is up? Currently paying 54 quid for basic tv and internet with them. And the internet is being sh1te.

Their contracts are typically 12 months in duration so once that is up you should be ringing them to renegotiate the price.

I reckon with these things 90% of their customers never haggle and pay full whack so they'd prefer give us 10% who do a discount rather than lose us to Sky or worse, FTA satellite. When they ask why are you thinking of cancelling always mention the cost and that you're thinking g of getting a FTA satellite installed as it only costs €200 and then your TV is free forever. FTA must send shivers up the spine of any company selling TV services and I'd say they'd much prefer see you pay a discounted bill than no bill at all. People who go FTA are highly unlikely to ever go back and UPC/Sky know this.

cunnifferous · 04-06-2014 9:46pm

Shane Miniature Gin wrote: »

I cannot stress this enough - get any offer in writing before you commit or agree to the offer.

Good advice. After getting offered half price for 12 months got my first bill today and saw a 90 euro 'activation fee' which they never informed me of. Rang them up giving out and they said they would review the tapes. Sneaky bastards is all I can say!

Mountjoy Mugger · 24-06-2014 11:34pm

I'm just after getting an offer – Free Horizon TV for 6 months

Get FREE Horizon TV for 6 Months, just pay for your Broadband and Home Phone. It Ties in to a 12 month contract, and I pay an extra €28 pm thereafter.

I assume Horizon is still crap?

Anyone else getting similar?

24-06-2014 11:39pm

I had high hopes for Horizon but IMHO it is RUBBISH . Obviously I am only one person and others might disagree but I'd recommend you stick with the old box if you have it. Unless you get some sort of offer like you mention above, then maybe consider it... if you're happy with a frustratingly slow tv UI, poor WiFi, recordings going missing, noisy box...

EDIT: just to add, I'm in receipt of a new box that apparently is "magic" and will fix the problems I've mentioned. So make sure to ask for similar "magic" Horizon box. :rolleyes:

Muahahaha · 25-06-2014 12:17am

Was your box branded Horizon ? Mate of mine got UPC TV and BB recently and the box he got is made by Samsung, works perfect but the smart tv features are useless, YouTube is virtually impossible to operate on it, waste of time on something that could have been really good IMO.

goz83 · 25-06-2014 1:55am

seanyd11 wrote: »

I would read the small print in any deals they offer. They gave me a great half price deal for 12 months and then pulled it without telling me , putting it down to a mis-quote from an employee. While they wont let you break yourside of the contract , they can do what they want.

Bull

kindalen · 25-06-2014 7:53am

Horizon box I have is a form of torture. Avoid.

Sin City · 25-06-2014 8:03am

Lads my Horizon box is grand. Free hd channels. Decent gui system. The only down side is where they put the built in antennas, , just under the lip of the front panal so I have to leave the hang over the edge of my TV stand to get a better wifi signal. Its much easier to log into the modem on this box as most of the options are through the TV. I must have got one of those magic boxes as iv had mine over a year with no problems and now I get calls to mobiles as part of my package. ..

ok the apps are fairly crap but I wasn't expecting to much out of them tbh

Notch000 · 25-06-2014 12:12pm

what is the horizon TV ?? I got upgraded a while ago but never figured it out. We got a BB speed incresae and a seperate line but its dropping signal constantly since the switch. If one line is down neither works so it a bit Kack TBH

thebackbar · 01-08-2014 5:44pm

hello folks,
i recently got in touch with upc re getting a better price, i finally agreed to a price of 33 euros a month which includes the basic tv package plus internet. However when my first bill came it was for 39 euros, i presume the price they were quoting on the call was pre vat ?

has this happened to anyone else ?

Mimikyu · 01-08-2014 5:49pm

This post has been deleted.

RickyBobby1 · 01-08-2014 10:12pm

Is it worth ringing up looking for a better price as a new customer? Although we were with them a few years back

GotTheTshirt · 02-08-2014 2:15pm

Thanks for the reminder OP.

My contract ended last month and you reminded me to ring them. After asking how much to keep my broadband and ditch the TV package as my bills were too high I got offered my current 70 euro p/m package for 55.50.
I said I'd chip away some more and mentioned FTA satellite, was immediately offered skysports package free for two months and a bump from my 50 mb to 120 mb broadband aswell, happy days!

ciaburkie · 02-08-2014 9:12pm

was offered a similar deal when i was asking when my contract was up...im switching to eircoms 3 package deal thingy

Monotype · 03-08-2014 10:03am

thebackbar wrote: »

hello folks,
i recently got in touch with upc re getting a better price, i finally agreed to a price of 33 euros a month which includes the basic tv package plus internet. However when my first bill came it was for 39 euros, i presume the price they were quoting on the call was pre vat ?

has this happened to anyone else ?

Yes, they're really bad at getting their stuff together. As Captain Morgan mentioned, it could be because you were halfway through a billing period. Try and study your bill and see if this is the case. If you think it's not, then give them a ring.

RickyBobby1 wrote: »

Is it worth ringing up looking for a better price as a new customer? Although we were with them a few years back

Doubtful. As new customers, you can avail of the new deals, which are usually pretty good, though depending on what you're looking for at the moment, it might or might not suit (I see broadband for cheaper than it was, but some of the packages have gone up).

However, you can save a bit through DID or carphone warehouse if you use the affiliate links, through boards or here's another through DID.
http://www.upc.ie/boardsoffer/
http://www.did.ie/upc

I'm not sure if that DID one is out of date. They seem to reflect the older deals.

Even after one year, you might only be able to negotiate a slightly better deal, according to some of the previous posts. They generally give the best deals if you've been with them a few years.

Greentree_uk · 03-08-2014 10:14am

been with them 14 months and I got my top end package for half price for twelve months. don;t accept the first deal they offer you!

manuhalo · 03-08-2014 12:28pm

My yearly contract with them has recently expired but I hate haggling on the phone. Plus I'd rather have something in writing that I can later quote in case of a dispute. Is it possible to negotiate these kind of deals online? Has anyone tried or succeeded?

Virgin Media Cancellation deals

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