Cost of living crisis.

[Parafox]

7 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Just renewed my Virgin Media.

 

Was currently on 500 meg (think it might have been upgraded to 600 during the 18 month contract), multiroom, every channel including HD Sky Sports BT Sports etc. Unlimited landline calls (I don't use a house phone) and an unlimited everything mobile sim, was paying £89 a month.

 

After getting two deals off someone, she then put me through, offered me another deal, was still too high said nah cancel, she came back and offered everything the same as before (other than weekend landline calls which is irrelevant to me), upgraded 1 gig internet and free Netflix for 18 months, for £85, I accepted the offer. She also said you get some reward which was like free Disney+ for 3 months or something but I've gotta pick which one so I'll look at that later.

 

£4 saved, better internet, free Netflix for 18 months, result.

Got the same deal a few weeks back after the monthly bill went up to £135 p/m. Called up, cancelled shit I didn't need in the package I'd had and bosh, saved £50 a month for 18mths. Will renegotiate when this deal ends. 

It's worth remembering that these people WANT YOUR MONEY. They'll rob you blind if you let them. Make a stand and you get something that's more acceptable

[Spudulike]

23 minutes ago, Parafox said:

Got the same deal a few weeks back after the monthly bill went up to £135 p/m. Called up, cancelled shit I didn't need in the package I'd had and bosh, saved £50 a month for 18mths. Will renegotiate when this deal ends. 

It's worth remembering that these people WANT YOUR MONEY. They'll rob you blind if you let them. Make a stand and you get something that's more acceptable

£135 per month 

You can only make a stand though at contract renewal time. I decided some time ago that it just wasn't value for money. Can't stand the Sky (and BT) coverage anyway. Just a load of ex-players not offering anything new and merely stating the bleedin' obvious. 

 

I now only have a BT broadband package which I'll probably stick with as it gives me 1gb of cloud storage for my music library and my mobile phone. £55 per month and that's a rip off. 

[Free Falling Foxes]

Father in Law has just the 100meg BB and talk unlimited with Virgin. We got him a deal last time so he has been paying £30/month.

He had a letter to say it's going up to £63!

We called them to cancel and they instantly dropped it to £49. We said nope, he's leaving. They then offered £35. We still declined.

Surprise, surprise a few days later they called him with an offer price of £27! It's cheaper than what he was paying pre 'increase'.

[Solihullfox]

40 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

Father in Law has just the 100meg BB and talk unlimited with Virgin. We got him a deal last time so he has been paying £30/month.

He had a letter to say it's going up to £63!

We called them to cancel and they instantly dropped it to £49. We said nope, he's leaving. They then offered £35. We still declined.

Surprise, surprise a few days later they called him with an offer price of £27! It's cheaper than what he was paying pre 'increase'.

Without going in to in depth detail they recently informed that our package of telephone (don’t even have one now) , admittedly very fast broadband and a TV package that included HD sports and cinema was going up to £183 a month - we are a customer of 20 years, means nothing to them apparently 

 

I was totally sick and tired of Virgin so cancelled and intended looking at Sky cost…. Bombarded with calls from Virgin saying the equivalent of sod off to them but eventually got a call to offer our new package at £87

 

Unbelievable that they can alter the price so much and couldn’t refuse an 18 month package but going to Sky streaming next time around 

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 hours ago, Parafox said:

Got the same deal a few weeks back after the monthly bill went up to £135 p/m. Called up, cancelled shit I didn't need in the package I'd had and bosh, saved £50 a month for 18mths. Will renegotiate when this deal ends. 

It's worth remembering that these people WANT YOUR MONEY. They'll rob you blind if you let them. Make a stand and you get something that's more acceptable

What was it you cancelled? They just threw everything at me for £85, pretty chuffed with that. 

[FoyleFox]

12 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Just renewed my Virgin Media.

 

Was currently on 500 meg (think it might have been upgraded to 600 during the 18 month contract), multiroom, every channel including HD Sky Sports BT Sports etc. Unlimited landline calls (I don't use a house phone) and an unlimited everything mobile sim, was paying £89 a month.

 

After getting two deals off someone, she then put me through, offered me another deal, was still too high said nah cancel, she came back and offered everything the same as before (other than weekend landline calls which is irrelevant to me), upgraded 1 gig internet and free Netflix for 18 months, for £85, I accepted the offer. She also said you get some reward which was like free Disney+ for 3 months or something but I've gotta pick which one so I'll look at that later.

 

£4 saved, better internet, free Netflix for 18 months, result.

 

5 hours ago, Parafox said:

Got the same deal a few weeks back after the monthly bill went up to £135 p/m. Called up, cancelled shit I didn't need in the package I'd had and bosh, saved £50 a month for 18mths. Will renegotiate when this deal ends. 

It's worth remembering that these people WANT YOUR MONEY. They'll rob you blind if you let them. Make a stand and you get something that's more acceptable

We had the 600mb broadband, unlimited landline calls, SIM card, multi room HD TV with Sky sports and BT sport on the £89 a month deal. That was due to go to £147 after the deal ended. When I called it reduced to £107 immediately. After I'd cancelled we were bombarded with calls and offers. Down to £72 for everything we had previously but with 1gb broadband and Netflix or  Disney. We still went ahead with the cancellation but it just shows how they'll up the offers if you're leaving. I was quite impressed with the discount level in the end. If we'd still wanted that package level I would've been very happy at £72 a month. 

[Lako42]

Dec gas and leccy bill just dropped at £310 

 

Only 2 of us and rarely put the thermostat above 18 

[Greg2607]

52 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

Dec gas and leccy bill just dropped at £310 

 

Only 2 of us and rarely put the thermostat above 18 

i don't understand how people are getting this level of bill...

 

our most recent bill was £257...... BUT that was for Gas from 1st October till 7th Jan and then Electricity just for December and through to 7th Jan.  (for some weird reason we pay for gas quarterly) 

 

same as you, there are two of us most of the time, but we have kids with us two nights every week and 4 nights every other week. 

 

admittedly, we rarely have the heating on alot and virtually never during the day (despite working from home) 

 

At night, we sit in the lounge and that's really the only light we have on in the house (one LED bulb on a corner lamp) 

 

£257 wasn't as crippling as I expected it to be!

 

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

If you live in an area covered by the network, 3 will do you 5G home broadband, up to 800mbps for £10 a month for the first 6 months, then £20 for the 18 months after. Full 2 year contract works out at £17 a month, plus you can move the unit around your house if you need stronger signal in certain rooms. I'll probably be going for that when my current deal is up. 

[Manini]

Just now, Sol thewall Bamba said:

If you live in an area covered by the network, 3 will do you 5G home broadband, up to 800mbps for £10 a month for the first 6 months, then £20 for the 18 months after. Full 2 year contract works out at £17 a month, plus you can move the unit around your house if you need stronger signal in certain rooms. I'll probably be going for that when my current deal is up. 

It’s the best switch I’ve ever made. Obviously lucky that I live in a very good 5G area but I never get any less than 500mbs and there are never any outages. We went on the 1 month rolling contract in case it was shit, wish we’d have locked in for an even lower price now. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

4 minutes ago, Manini said:

It’s the best switch I’ve ever made. Obviously lucky that I live in a very good 5G area but I never get any less than 500mbs and there are never any outages. We went on the 1 month rolling contract in case it was shit, wish we’d have locked in for an even lower price now. 

I was in there to sort something with my phone and I almost fell off my chair when he asked me for my postcode and said the speed I could get for £10 a month!

[taupe]

4 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I was in there to sort something with my phone and I almost fell off my chair when he asked me for my postcode and said the speed I could get for £10 a month!

How much is the modem/5G box? Are you having to buy one yourself or are they supplying (for a fee)? I'm guessing the tenner a month could just be subscription.

[Parafox]

13 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

What was it you cancelled? They just threw everything at me for £85, pretty chuffed with that. 

Sky Cinema, Disney, BT sport, landline, and a couple of other channels.

 

Boosted BB to 1gig as well.

Edited 10 January 2023 by Parafox

[The Blur]

2 hours ago, Lako42 said:

Dec gas and leccy bill just dropped at £310 

 

Only 2 of us and rarely put the thermostat above 18 

When did you renew your tariff assuming you was on a fixed tariff?

 

I only got billed £200 for December for a house of two people and a baby.   I have heating on for 5/6 hours per day.   My tariff is up this February although so expecting an significant increase!

[Parafox]

Aside from all the above... cat food. Last week I bought a pack of 6 Wiskas. (Our 2 cats won't eat anything else). It was £6:25. Yesterday, £7:75!

 

 

[Lako42]

18 minutes ago, The Blur said:

When did you renew your tariff assuming you was on a fixed tariff?

 

I only got billed £200 for December for a house of two people and a baby.   I have heating on for 5/6 hours per day.   My tariff is up this February although so expecting an significant increase!

We are on the standard tariff and have been since they started shafting us as Our fix had already ran out the month before. 

[FoxesDeb]

13 minutes ago, Parafox said:

Aside from all the above... cat food. Last week I bought a pack of 6 Wiskas. (Our 2 cats won't eat anything else). It was £6:25. Yesterday, £7:75!

 

 

Pet food is one of the things we've noticed a significant increase in over here too, it's about twice the price it was 2 years ago!

[Greg2607]

16 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

We are on the standard tariff and have been since they started shafting us as Our fix had already ran out the month before. 

i'm on a standard tarriff with octopus... ironically, it's cheaper than the fixed deals...

 

[Manini]

6 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

i'm on a standard tarriff with octopus... ironically, it's cheaper than the fixed deals...

 

Same here. Can’t fault Octopus energy. Been really transparent through all of this ****ery for me. 

[Innovindil]

19 minutes ago, Manini said:

Same here. Can’t fault Octopus energy. Been really transparent through all of this ****ery for me. 

Nice to hear. These are the bunch that bought out my failed supplier, Bulb. 

[Manini]

Just now, Innovindil said:

Nice to hear. These are the bunch that bought out my failed supplier, Bulb. 

I used to be with bulb (way before energy companies were going bust), they were good an all. 

[Innovindil]

1 minute ago, Manini said:

I used to be with bulb (way before energy companies were going bust), they were good an all. 

Yeah we've been with bulb for a couple of years now, much better than British gas treated us and sad to see them go under. 

[oakman]

Absolutely crazy how quickly the prices change - got my business electricity renewal letter on 17th December raising my Unit Charge from 15.74p to 94.23p. Just got off the phone with them and apparently prices came down enormously yesterday - just been offered a Unit Charge of 38.64p.

[The Blur]

1 hour ago, Lako42 said:

We are on the standard tariff and have been since they started shafting us as Our fix had already ran out the month before. 

 

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

i'm on a standard tarriff with octopus... ironically, it's cheaper than the fixed deals...

 

 

1 hour ago, Manini said:

Same here. Can’t fault Octopus energy. Been really transparent through all of this ****ery for me. 

 

Yeah,  I am contemplating doing the same when my fixed tariff runs out.   Would be interested to hear how do you all budget for it?  

[Leicester_Loyal]

10 minutes ago, oakman said:

Absolutely crazy how quickly the prices change - got my business electricity renewal letter on 17th December raising my Unit Charge from 15.74p to 94.23p. Just got off the phone with them and apparently prices came down enormously yesterday - just been offered a Unit Charge of 38.64p.

94p, they were clearly trying it on hoping you’d just automatically renew.