BT v Virgin Media

[Fan of Big Tone]

Our BT contract for TV, phone and Broadband has expired, I tried to get a better deal out of them but despite lengthy negotiations they dropped my bill by a measly £4 (final offer), so I started looking round, as luck would have it a Virgin Media man knocked at the door while I was fast asleep in the garden the other day. Mrs. H answered the door and said "Oh I think my husband might want to talk to you". so she roused me from my slumber and I went to the door my brain still befuddled by sleep, the Virgin media man looked relieved when I didn't turf him out on his ear because he had been studying our sign which says "no unwanted callers" (not that anyone takes any notice of the damn thing anyway).

 

I had a long chat with him and Virgin Media are offering me a lot better deal, so I was very interested. The only downside is that we when we moved to our present abode three years ago we wanted to have Virgin Media because we had it at our other house but despite going through all the motions and despite the cable being less than 100 feet from our property they decided that they couldn't do it, so you understand I am a little dubious that this present deal will go through, I explained all this to the chap at the door and he said that there was no harm trying again because things might have changed in the three years.

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed because although BT hasn't been too bad, I think the cable service is a lot faster and more reliable as we are some distance from the telephone exchange and that has an affect on our broadband speed and Virgin are a lot cheaper.

 

He's phoned up today and given us an installation date but says it is dependent on a survey being carried out. Hmmm, I wonder if I can bribe the bloke who does the survey?

 

Watch this space!

[Blink1862]

Virgin Media is better hands down, my parents had BT many moons ago when the service was actually half decent but we switched to VM and it's much better. The only issue is the customer service, its disgraceful but then again so is BTs and TalkTalks.

[themightymagpies]

Virgins the most reliable for me but its down to opinions at the end of the day.

[Fan of Big Tone]

I found BT customer service good if you use the on line chat, when I phone I can't understand the accents of the person on the other end of line, whether it's India or Geordie accent so the online chat is lots better because its the written word. Do you know if Virgin have on line chat @Blink1862?

[Black&WhitePIE]

@tonyhateley Yes, they had it first.

Virgin are good, people will always moan about any company but I find the service to be quality for the money. I have very little problems with them and never have really, vastly improved since diamond cable.

[Chris]

Virgin are the same both online and via the call centre, it's just easier to understand text based replies and that makes it easier to resolve the problem.

I got a reduction in my service price by discussing terms online, I also saved all the screencasts of the conversations and e-mailed them to my e-mail. That way, it cut down the hassle of having to repeat myself and for them to come out with the standard replies but I must admit, if you can overlook the customer service you can't go far wrong.

I thought you couldn't get VM @tonyhateley?

[BromPie]

I am also on Virgin Media as BT don't offer broadband in my area. They have one of those hub open zone things but I can never connect to it.

[upthepies]

I switched to Sky from Virgin, so I am afraid my input would not be warranted here.

[Fan of Big Tone]

Virgin are the same both online and via the call centre, it's just easier to understand text based replies and that makes it easier to resolve the problem.

I got a reduction in my service price by discussing terms online, I also saved all the screencasts of the conversations and e-mailed them to my e-mail. That way, it cut down the hassle of having to repeat myself and for them to come out with the standard replies but I must admit, if you can overlook the customer service you can't go far wrong.

I thought you couldn't get VM @tonyhateley?

 

 

You haven't read my original post properly @notts-joe, when we moved in we wanted VM but after much head scratching etc., they decided they couldn't in spite of the cable being very close, now this chap has come to my door and he thinks that things may have changed in the 3 years we have been here, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can now get VM because I would prefer it.

[Feral Fox]

Virgin by a mile @tonyhateley if you can get it. I've nearly always had them for the bband. I took an offer from sky for one year, but after repeated failures by BT and Sky to sort out the old bt phoneline in the house (needed to bypass the box cover and use the master plug only) I told them where to stick it. Literally.

The speed from V is so good it's daft. Only six months ago I swapped all services to them. I always had sky out of habit, but when I sat down and seriously checked what I watched it came to nothing, Everything I did watch I could get perfect versions of from the Inet anyway so it was only the kids channels. We swapped sky out for a freesat box which did its job and paid for itself, but the kids missed the sky lineup of channels. I rang virgin and they offered me the full tv package (except sky sports) top speed bband and top pone package for £3 less than what I was paying for just the normal phone and bband so it would have been stupid not too!

 

Be weary of sales guys promising infrastructure works though. A mate who lives around the corner from us rents and because one person refused to have the virgin line put in cabling wise on their close (It got missed out when Diamond Cable did the mass install ) the close couldn't have it. The sales guy promised it wouldn't be a problem and still a year later they haven't got around the issue!

 

Support wise they are fine. Next day call out or sameday if needed. Swap out equipment without question. Live chat or forum support available as well as the normal phone support in India!

 

In fact can I have my commission now please! 

[Fan of Big Tone]

Virgin by a mile @tonyhateley if you can get it. I've nearly always had them for the bband. I took an offer from sky for one year, but after repeated failures by BT and Sky to sort out the old bt phoneline in the house (needed to bypass the box cover and use the master plug only) I told them where to stick it. Literally.

The speed from V is so good it's daft. Only six months ago I swapped all services to them. I always had sky out of habit, but when I sat down and seriously checked what I watched it came to nothing, Everything I did watch I could get perfect versions of from the Inet anyway so it was only the kids channels. We swapped sky out for a freesat box which did its job and paid for itself, but the kids missed the sky lineup of channels. I rang virgin and they offered me the full tv package (except sky sports) top speed bband and top pone package for £3 less than what I was paying for just the normal phone and bband so it would have been stupid not too!

 

Be weary of sales guys promising infrastructure works though. A mate who lives around the corner from us rents and because one person refused to have the virgin line put in cabling wise on their close (It got missed out when Diamond Cable did the mass install ) the close couldn't have it. The sales guy promised it wouldn't be a problem and still a year later they haven't got around the issue!

 

Support wise they are fine. Next day call out or sameday if needed. Swap out equipment without question. Live chat or forum support available as well as the normal phone support in India!

 

In fact can I have my commission now please! 

 

 

Ha ha, you deserve commission after that speil, I definitely want to have Virgin but I still think it won't happen, we are in the same position as your mate, there are three houses on a little spur off the main street and according to our neighbours when the cable was installed one of the houses refused to let them dig up the road so none of the three could have it. The sales bloke we are dealing with seems pretty genuine he isn't promising we can have it, he is saying it depends what the survey says but he will do his best to get it through.

[liampie]

we did have some trouble when the trams were more in progress but things have cleared up now, its a good service. i have friends who moan about talktalk which operates from off the bt service.

[AmericanPie]

I have family in the UK who complain about both just as equally. Thank God for free US TV and cheap but reliable broadband.

[Fan of Big Tone]

Well we've been given an installation date, so far so good, I won't believe it till it happens though.

[Feral Fox]

When are you being 'done' @tonyhateley? Keep us up to date.

[Fan of Big Tone]

When are you being 'done' @tonyhateley? Keep us up to date.

27th June allegedly, I have an account number and everything but I don't think they've done the survey yet, that will be the decider.

[Fan of Big Tone]

Well as I suspected we have returned from holiday to a message from Virgin Media to say that they can't install our TV and broadband after all as the cable isn't near enough to our property in spite of the fact that next door but one have it!

Oh well looks like I'm stuck with the extortionate BT option.

[PTID1862]

@tonyhateley that's what you get for living in a stately home.... is it true that next door but one is the gatehouse?

[Cobby]

I'm moving flat next week, and signed up to BT as they were the only ones offering the fastest fiber internet at my new flat.  Good news was as a new BT customer I used a service called Quidco, and they are going to give me £185 cashback! Not too shabby, as it works out at around 3 months free internet/tv/phone

[Fan of Big Tone]

I'm moving flat next week, and signed up to BT as they were the only ones offering the fastest fiber internet at my new flat.  Good news was as a new BT customer I used a service called Quidco, and they are going to give me £185 cashback! Not too shabby, as it works out at around 3 months free internet/tv/phone

 

 

That's briliant @Cobby I wish I had known about that when I first signed up!

 

I decided to renew again with BT after spending half the day researching various suppliers, I thought better the devil you know. I phoned up and said I wanted their best deal so they quoted a saving of around £10 compared to what I am paying at the moment for the same services so I was happy with that, when I got the email confirmation a different price was quoted for my monthly payment knocking another £16 per month off, I am pretty sure they have made a mistake but I wait with bated breath to see which price they charge me.

[Fan of Big Tone]

@tonyhateley that's what you get for living in a stately home.... is it true that next door but one is the gatehouse?

 

 

@PTID1862 The trouble was Virgin Media couldn't get the cable across the moat. 

[PTID1862]

@tonyhateley you better put them in touch with the fellas who robbed your safety box in London. They will show em how to tunnel right good....