Virgin the cheek of them.

[phil_hg_uk]

I think it's just people are getting bored of tv, which I understand as it is happening in this household too.

The only reason I have sky is because there are about 6 channels that I watch almost all my TV on and you cant get them anywhere else, which is of course why sky monopolize like they do to keep you hooked. But I think they are going to find increasingly difficult in the coming years with the likes of netflicks and all the other streaming services around as people will just change the way they watch TV and force the prices down by jumping ship.

 

[marinyork]

The only reason I have sky is because there are about 6 channels that I watch almost all my TV on and you cant get them anywhere else, which is of course why sky monopolize like they do to keep you hooked. But I think they are going to find increasingly difficult in the coming years with the likes of netflicks and all the other streaming services around as people will just change the way they watch TV and force the prices down by jumping ship.

There was a movies investigation by the competition commission. Unfortunately this was dropped because of things like Netflix coming along. I think it was a poor decision.

Netflix isn't a bad service, but the new additions has been very poor indeed since February. It's not a bad little service, but you go on the US service and see the titles on there and it's absolutely staggering. The much newer UK version is extremely poor in comparison. One must give them time, but I think even based on this development's been a bit slow. Netflix is still amazing value for money compared to the PPV generic stuff that's been knocking around on Sky/Virgin/BT for years.

And as for channels like Sky Atlantic, it should have been blocked. The authorities have had a view for a while that both basics and premium content should be wholesaled to virgin and others at a price set by them if necessary. No sooner had the ink dried on the ten year battle to get the pre-historic 'rate card' sorted out and the time of the great falling out sorted out and Sky decide to launch Sky Atlantic.

 

[swee'pea99]

I occasionally see trails for programmes I'd like to see, other things being equal, but I'm not paying the kind of cash it costs. Freeview has enough to keep me happy, and it's free!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Tell them your going to leave and they will probably halve your bill to get you to stay.

Yup, I make that call once every six months.

 

[colly]

And as for channels like Sky Atlantic, it should have been blocked.

How do you mean 'blocked' ? TBH of the Sky channels we get that's the only channel that's worth a light.

 

[Norm]

How do you mean 'blocked' ? TBH of the Sky channels we get that's the only channel that's worth a light.

I think that's exactly what MY means. Sky signed the agreement to cover Sky One etc then set up a new channel with all the desirable US stuff which they could keep away from Virgin Media. Sky should not have been allowed to do that, either by putting the Sky Atlantic programs in the other channels that they sell or include Sky Atlantic in the bundles.

 

[colly]

I think that's exactly what MY means. Sky signed the agreement to cover Sky One etc then set up a new channel with all the desirable US stuff which they could keep away from Virgin Media. Sky should not have been allowed to do that, either by putting the Sky Atlantic programs in the other channels that they sell Or include Sky Atlantic in the bundles.

Ah.
I don't really pay much attention to the ins and outs of the media shenanigans but I do remember reading some stuff to that end.

Oh well, I can live without it no matter how good some of the stuff.

 

[ray7]

I left sky at the beginning of November but the wife is disabled and in the house most of the time and a lot of the channels she likes to watch are not on freeview. I got an offer through the post from sky saying if I went back to them I could have 50% off for 1 year. Rang them tonight to take up the offer but they could not find the offer I was talking about and asked if I would like 75% off for a year instead. I`m now back with sky.

Ray

 

[ASC1951]

Why would you want to watch Virgin or Sky?

 

[Primal Scream]

If it was not for the footy and golf and Sky Arts 1 they could shove the lot.

To be fair I have found Virgins call out and on line problem solving service to be first class

 

[Panter]

We got a letter today informing us our monthly tv broadband and phone is going up by over £4-50 per month.
What it does not say is what extra we are getting for this outlay.
Well on monday they are getting a call,i have said for ages the sh... can go.my kids watch up in their rooms on computer whatever they watch.I have been fed up of watching repeats this year i even think there are more commercials than progs,some poor sop is going to get a right earful on monday.This has just pushed me over the edge with Virgin,i now watch catch up tv no breaks and i watch what i like,
sorry rant over.

With all of our Virgin services, the bill was best part of £60.00/Month, which was just too much as there's just never anything worth watching.
I know that the TV content has nothing to do with Virgin but it's just way too much money for something that we get very little out of.
Finally made the decision to get rid of it last week and pay out for a freesat system (poor TV reception where we are)
Made the call to Virgin, that we wanted to keep the phone and Broadband but scrap the TV and got offered another deal.
Basically, it's their new freeview box, pretty much the same channels as we get now but with larger recording capacity, HD, 3x faster BB and free calls for £30.00/Month.
And, the price is fixed for 2 Years.
So, we signed up for that as it seemed pretty good to me and sky could only offer phone & BB for very slightly less.

As above, we've been very happy with Virgin, I think in total we've had less than 24 hours of the internet being down in over 5 Years of service. It's also fast, we've never had the 10MB quoted (who does!) but it consistently sits at around 8MB and their customer service is very good.

 

[summerdays]

Virgin manage to annoy me regularly despite the fact that we don't subscribe to their services. Every week or so I usually get one or two letters from them - some are just the ones popped through every door, and some are actually addressed to our house informing us that we are the only people in the area who haven't taken up their services. I refuse to open then and either pop them straight into the recycling or back into the letter box.

I don't see why they think that bombarding me that regularly will get me to change my mind! It just makes me cross at the waste of paper and time.

We just stick with normal TV - my children find enough junk to watch on there without giving them additional choices.

 

[ianrauk]

If it was not for the footy and golf and Sky Arts 1 they could shove the lot.

To be fair I have found Virgins call out and on line problem solving service to be first class

Indeed. They may be an Indian call centre but I have never had any problems understanding them and any service problems I have had have been resolved very quickly.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Virgin manage to annoy me regularly despite the fact that we don't subscribe to their services. Every week or so I usually get one or two letters from them - some are just the ones popped through every door, and some are actually addressed to our house informing us that we are the only people in the area who haven't taken up their services. I refuse to open then and either pop them straight into the recycling or back into the letter box.

I don't see why they think that bombarding me that regularly will get me to change my mind! It just makes me cross at the waste of paper and time.

We just stick with normal TV - my children find enough junk to watch on there without giving them additional choices.

I still get their junk mail disguised and all sorts, they have even taken to writing YOUR SKY UPGRADE IS HERE on it to try to get you to open it.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

VIRGIN REALLY S U CK

I've reqached the end with them as well...totally hopeless customer service, they hide behind their website and are totally focused on sales calls only. They dump endless junk mail into my house even through it is marked not to. They never answer complaints except with an automated email to say that have it and then it disappears into oblivion. It took two months of calling, e mailing etc to get them to remove th elandline I never use to save on line rental costs then the bill comes in at over £25 more the next month when I have used even less>>W T F??
The TV is rubbish...the only channels worth watching are available on freeview anyway.
The only thing I am interested in with them is broadband, but trying to get this through to them is proving almost impossible. Yet e mail them on a sales link (even though i was complaining) and they return the call in seconds and try anything they can to upgrade you...regardless of the complaint.

Hopeless. Totally useless.

BT broadband may be slower but perhaps the hassle factor is less over there??

I need fibre optic, at least 10meg broadband.

Virgin know this and treat existing clients like dirt as a result. Its a risky game to pplay Richard...as soon as somebody offers faster broadband for the same money virgin will lose a huge chunk of its client base overnight.