# £50 Back from Virgin !



## fergiet

Got an email saying that as the price of the Tivo had dropped I would be getting a credit of £50 ! 

Well done Virgin for doing it before I asked !

:up::up::up:


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## Tony Hoyle

Bah. No email here.


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## Stuartrossd

Got mine yesterday. Sweet.


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## sjp

anybody having recieved the mail care to let us know if you were S1 upgrade customers or early doors VM upgraders.

there seems to be a thought or two "over there" that us S1'ers might not be getting it.

thanks


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## alextegg

I haven't received it and I am an ex-S1 user not VM Upgrader


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## Paddy1

where is "over there"? Can't find any reference to this in the usual haunts.


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## sjp

alextegg said:


> I haven't received it and I am an ex-S1 user not VM Upgrader


ditto, i wonder...


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## sjp

Paddy1 said:


> where is "over there"? Can't find any reference to this in the usual haunts.


nowhere special... http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/TiVo/bd-p/Tivo


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## netnode

I got the mail last Wednesday and am a S1 upgrader (But did have to ring them in the end due to keep missing the damm calls, installed just before the offical launch though so should have still been on the S1 deal)


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## Pine Cladding

4 emails from virgin over the last 2 days, but no mention of £50


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## Fatbloke

Pine Cladding said:


> 4 emails from virgin over the last 2 days, but no mention of £50


Nothing here too as a S1 early installation jobbie, although my Sis-in-law who was installed at the start of the normal installation run got her £50 a couple of days ago.

Is anyone planning to call VM and remind them that they've missed 200 odd people!


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## cwaring

Or perhaps there's actually quite a few so they're working their way through them gradually.


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## deshepherd

No sign of any email to me yet ... though I have had email 2 of the "this is how to use a TiVo" series.


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## Ernie_C

Perhaps the original S1 users are not included in this £50 cahback as their deal was fulfilled?

Their deal was very early install with a reduced activation charge over others.

Perhaps the cashback is only for pre-registered existing customers?


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## cwaring

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now.


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## jethrouk

Got my email promising £50 refund but still waiting for it


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## BigH

an S1 owner here, but forgot to register that way

normal upgrade and got the £50 refund email a few days ago


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## RichardJH

Ernie_C said:


> Perhaps the original S1 users are not included in this £50 cahback as their deal was fulfilled?
> 
> Their deal was very early install with a reduced activation charge over others.
> 
> Perhaps the cashback is only for pre-registered existing customers?


How would we know whether our early install was because of registering as an S1 user or an existing XL customer. I did both and then waited for the phone call and installation was AFAIK 15th Feb.


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## cwaring

RichardJH said:


> How would we know whether our early install was because of registering as an S1 user or an existing XL customer.


Well I asked which list they had got my name off


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## Ernie_C

RichardJH said:


> How would we know whether our early install was because of registering as an S1 user or an existing XL customer. I did both and then waited for the phone call and installation was AFAIK 15th Feb.


I think the installation date says it all. I think you were installed as a previous S1 owner. I don't think any pre-registered customers got installs until much later.

PS The infamous Dean emails didn't come out until the end of March and pre-registered customers weren't able to order until a couple of weeks later.


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## RichardJH

Ernie_C said:


> I think the installation date says it all. I think you were installed as a previous S1 owner. I don't think any pre-registered customers got installs until much later.
> 
> PS The infamous Dean emails didn't come out until the end of March and pre-registered customers weren't able to order until a couple of weeks later.


Yes I guessed I was one of the earliest BUT I don't see that will make any difference to the refund criteria.



> We're conscious that the earliest buyers of this great product paid £149.95, which was an offer only available to existing Virgin Media XL TV customers at the time.


 :- extract from the announcement made by Alex Green of Virgin Media.

We were all earliest buyers at £149.95 and had to have VM XL TV


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## Ernie_C

RichardJH said:


> Yes I guessed I was one of the earliest BUT I don't see that will make any difference to the refund criteria.
> 
> :- extract from the announcement made by Alex Green of Virgin Media.
> 
> We were all earliest buyers at £149.95 and had to have VM XL TV


Yes but you got your £149.95 price and a very early install as an S1 owner. You just happened to be a TV XL customer as well.

As they say, "This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer".

You used your S1 status to get a very early install. You did not use your TV XL status to get a much later install.


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## RichardJH

Ernie 

not sure I can agree with your view. The Alex Green announcement does not use any other description but "earliest" and "XL TV".

Do you have any reason or other info that gives rise to your view

Richard


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## Ernie_C

Richard, I have no insider information. My thoughts are exactly that but based on the following:

1. Yourself, and perhaps others, who took very early delivery because they were S1 owners have not got the £50 off email yet. Perhaps this means that you won't be getting it.

It is my personal opinion that this is OK as you have had an extra two months of use of the TiVo over others who were not S1 owners.

2. Alex's statement is as follows:

"We're conscious that the earliest buyers of this great product paid £149.95, which was *an offer only available to existing Virgin Media XL TV customers* at the time."

That suggests to me that the £50 off is only coming to those that installed their TiVo under that offer and no other offer, such as the S1 owners offer. You installed yours under the S1 owners offer which just happened to have the same price as this offer mentioned in his statement.

I do agree that this needs clarifying. Only Virgin Media can do so.


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## cwaring

RichardJH said:


> not sure I can agree with your view. The Alex Green announcement does not use any other description but "earliest" and "XL TV".


Because the deal for S1 owners isn't relevant to anyone else, and certainly not the general public, so why confuse the issue?


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## RichardJH

cwaring said:


> Because the deal for S1 owners isn't relevant to anyone else, and certainly not the general public, so why confuse the issue?


Once again Carl a post that says nothing and does not answer anything.
Better to keep quiet than contribute nothing.

At least Ernie did answer my questions.

I guess we will have wait until Alex Green clarifies the position or hear that an early install gets the email and £50 refund


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## Karnak

Given there are a lot of former S1 users, who now have a VM TiVo, presumably many of whom took VM up on their 'offer' and received an install in Feb / March, perhaps we can answer this question in short order.

Has anyone matching this description had the email promising £50 back.


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## cwaring

RichardJH said:


> Once again Carl a post that says nothing and does not answer anything.


And, other than your commenting, once again, on my posts, what -exactly - has your post added to the thread? 

Besides, actually it does. Hence my posting it.

Your bog-standard XL Tivo-owning customer will not have known about the S1 units and won't have any clue that we got them earlier so, as I said, why confuse the issue


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## RichardJH

Carl it is you who is confusing the issue in Alex Greens statement he indicates only the earliest buyers and his reference to existing XL TV customers is correct in that any early adopter had to go on to the XL package to qualify for the 1TB Tivo @ £149.

If you can remember that people were having to go onto the XL package just to get a Tivo.



> And, other than your commenting, once again, on my posts, what -exactly - has your post added to the thread?


Carl please note I have an interest in this thread which as you cannot qualify to get a refund it might be better for you to post on subjects that either you have knowledge of or personal interest in.

Its a real shame that the somewhat helpful cwaring that we used to hear from on the old S1 Tivo UK forum has failed to come across to this forum.

Just like rebuilding a PC cloning does not always give the best results


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## richw

RichardJH said:


> Its a real shame that the somewhat helpful cwaring that we used to hear from on the old S1 Tivo UK forum has failed to come across to this forum.
> 
> Just like rebuilding a PC cloning does not always give the best results


If he's annoying you that much, add him to your block list. It's a wonderful feature which makes this forum almost bearable at times.


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## RichardJH

richw said:


> If he's annoying you that much, add him to your block list. It's a wonderful feature which makes this forum almost bearable at times.


A feature that I have used very rarely. I have a 80% to 90% tolerance level but now the annoyance is climbing near to block list time


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## RichardJH

That's it deed done


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## beara

I just asked about us S1 list early adopters via [email protected] and they've told me not to worry as they are working through all the lists to send the emails out

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## mikerr

cwaring said:


> Well I asked which list they had got my name off


Will you tell them their error if they give you £50 back ? 
Since you actually got it for free, not £149 like the rest of us...


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## cwaring

RichardJH said:


> Carl it is you who is confusing the issue in Alex Greens statement he indicates only the earliest buyers and his reference to existing XL TV customers is correct in that any early adopter had to go on to the XL package to qualify for the 1TB Tivo @ £149.
> 
> If you can remember that people were having to go onto the XL package just to get a Tivo.


*Including* the former S1 owners, of course. Which makes my comment entirely relevant.

I suspect that VM are simply making no direct refererence to them for whatever reason. Like I said, to possibly not cloud the issue; "who are these former S1 owners and why did they get a special deal?" for example.



> Carl please note I have an interest in this thread which as you cannot qualify to get a refund it might be better for you to post on subjects that either you have knowledge of or personal interest in.


Well that proves something that I decided against posting earlier; which was that I suspected you were only making a noise because were not content with a special early install as well as £50 off the standard price and would make any excuse to get some money back.

I did not post that earlier I as was trying to be a little less "combative". So, seeing as I seem to be getting hassled either way, I shan't bother in future.



> Its a real shame that the somewhat helpful cwaring that we used to hear from on the old S1 Tivo UK forum has failed to come across to this forum.


And it's a pity that some people can't stop making personal comments about other users in public.



beara said:


> I just asked about us S1 list early adopters via [email protected] and they've told me not to worry as they are working through all the lists to send the emails out.


You know what? I'm sure that someone mentioned exactly that earlier in this thread? Oh yes, I remember now. IT WAS ME 

Absolute proof that sometimes (quite a lot of the time, actually, as it turns out) I do, actually, know what I'm on about 



mikerr said:


> Will you tell them their error if they give you £50 back ? Since you actually got it for free, not £149 like the rest of us...


What error? Myself and the other members of the Sofa event all got the same deal. As I said at the time - and on more than one occasion since - I was all ready to pay before the guy I spoke to mentioned I was getting it for free. I assumed the deal was early install with a bonus of free subs for a year. I never expected the free install.

Interesting that another thread (in which have had minimal input including at least one very helpful post) has, once again, turned into a "have a go at cwaring" thread for no good reason; and instigated - once again - by one of the same small group of people. Perhaps there's a clue there somewhere?! (That they're the problem; not me.)


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## alextegg

cwaring said:


> Interesting that another thread (in which have had minimal input including at least one very helpful post) has, once again, turned into a "have a go at cwaring" thread for no good reason; and instigated - once again - by one of the same small group of people. Perhaps there's a clue there somewhere?! (That they're the problem; not me.)


ROFLMAO. Read that again, and ask yourself did I really just post that !


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## cwaring

That's all you have to say? You can't even bring youself to ackowledge that I have just been shown to be absolutely spot-on in my earlier post.

Yeah. A very helpful and informative post there, alex. My point proved, I think.


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## Karnak

Sigh, off piste, as always.

Let's make this simple:
Has any S1 owner who took VM up on their special 'S1 offer' received an email about the £50?


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## Pine Cladding

Nope!


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## RichardJH

Karnak said:


> Sigh, off piste, as always.
> 
> Let's make this simple:
> Has any S1 owner who took VM up on their special 'S1 offer' received an email about the £50?


No not yet. That's why I was asking the question on this and the VM Tivo forum.

The best info I have seen to date is from the VM Tivo forum post 19 at

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5...50-and-still-no-refund-email/m-p/597713#M9725



> Re: Anybody else pay £150 and still no refund email?
> [ Edited ]
> Options
> 
> on 11-07-2011 15:22 - last edited on 11-07-2011 15:24
> Well... I have just come off the 'phone talking to a nice lady in customer services.
> 
> Apparently she did not know that the 1tb TiVo was now £99.
> 
> I explained the story and she checked what was happening with her manager.
> 
> She said that he said that there is "a TiVo team working through every single TiVo installation who will apply a £50 goodwill credit to everyone who paid the higher price which will appear on the invoice of August or September".
> 
> Unfortunately she was unwilling to confirm this by email and as the moderators don't seem to want to help I guess that I am no further forward.
> 
> O'h well, I am just going to have to trust their word and have another moan if it is not credited by the September bill.
> 
> The £50 refund announcement was a fantastic idea and very good for public relations, I even noticed a newspaper in New Zealand had an article about it. It's just such a pity that Virgin seems to have failed to communicate well with us about it's implementation.


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## Karnak

Yup, I believe I'm the next post in that thread asking the mods for comment (again!).


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## cwaring

Karnak said:


> Sigh, off piste, as always.


Don't blame me. Though I suppose I shouldn't feed the trolls [/QUOTE]


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## Major dude

Got tired of waiting for a email so I rang cs today.
After looking it up they confirmed that anybody who paid £149 would receive the £50 refund which should show up on the next two months bills.

She made a note on my account and I commended them on their good PR over this.

Hopefully, I will receive my £50 this month or next


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## alextegg

cwaring said:


> ackowledge that I have just been shown to be absolutely spot-on in my earlier post


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## Karnak

Major dude said:


> Got tired of waiting for a email so I rang cs today.
> After looking it up they confirmed that anybody who paid £149 would receive the £50 refund which should show up on the next two months bills.
> 
> She made a note on my account and I commended them on their good PR over this.
> 
> Hopefully, I will receive my £50 this month or next


If that's what CS have been told then that's excellent. Thanks.


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## Ernie_C

Karnak said:


> If that's what CS have been told then that's excellent. Thanks.


Yes, perhaps CS may even be correct on this occasion; or perhaps not.


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## Karnak

Does it really matter. If you ring up, they say something and then it turns out they shouldn't have, you're likely to get the refund anyway.


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## smokie

Just had to call them re something else and the (Scottish) lady said my £50 wasn't yet ordered but she's done so now.


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## alextegg

Scottish?

Every time I call I get the indian call centre - how does that work?


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## smokie

Me too. Maybe she was an immigrant, was definitely Scottish.

(Actually rang twice yesterday within about 30 mins and got Scottish both times - maybe it depends what buttons you press)


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## cwaring

smokie said:


> ... maybe it depends what buttons you press)


And what time of day you call too, I assume.


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## dannylau

cwaring said:


> That's some bad spam


Is he equating Tivo with erectile dysfunction?


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## cwaring

Don't know, but my point was that there's not even any hyperlinks in it so how's it supposed to make them any money or turn your machine into a bot, or whatever spam is supposed to do?


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## Pine Cladding

dannylau said:


> Is he equating Tivo with erectile dysfunction?


What's erectile dysfunction?

Sent from my iPad 2 using Forum Runner


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## deshepherd

Getting back to the original subject ... anyone on the S1 offer had a £50 credit yet? I've had my first bill since the announcement but no sign of a credit on it.


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## Karnak

I have not seen it but I have been assured by VM I should see it 'in the next month'.


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## RichardJH

deshepherd said:


> Getting back to the original subject ... anyone on the S1 offer had a £50 credit yet? I've had my first bill since the announcement but no sign of a credit on it.


In the end I emailed customer services from the website quoting the email/forum post by Alex Green of Virgin Media. Got called back by a very helpful lady called Hazel who put the £50 credit onto my account.


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## alextegg

I did the same. If you call when India is asleep you end up talking to Scotland who are more helpful. I referred to the Alex Green refund and they confirmed I would get it next month.

A


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## sjp

S1 offer, registered and waited for them to call me becoming a new VM customer, installed early March (sufficient ID categorisation?).

my £50 was added to my account July 25th for (un)payment end of Aug. makes for a really weird looking bill at the moment - negative 65p, doubt it will stay like that


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## Major dude

sjp said:


> S1 offer, registered and waited for them to call me becoming a new VM customer, installed early March (sufficient ID categorisation?).
> 
> my £50 was added to my account July 25th for (un)payment end of Aug. makes for a really weird looking bill at the moment - negative 65p, doubt it will stay like that


No refund showing yet but my bill cycle is earlier than yours so perhaps it will come through next month.


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## mhopley

Still no e-mail or credit for me.
Are people just ringing the customer service number 0845 454 1111 to claim their refund?


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## nbaker

No email or refund for me yet also


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## RichardJH

mhopley said:


> Still no e-mail or credit for me.
> Are people just ringing the customer service number 0845 454 1111 to claim their refund?





nbaker said:


> No email or refund for me yet also


see my post no.57.

The email to customer services via the web quoting the Alex Green post from the VM Tivo Help forum generated a callback and the £50 refund


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## mhopley

RichardJH said:


> see my post no.57.
> 
> The email to customer services via the web quoting the Alex Green post from the VM Tivo Help forum generated a callback and the £50 refund


Thanks, I eventually found the web form, took about 5 minutes


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## nbaker

RichardJH said:


> see my post no.57.
> 
> The email to customer services via the web quoting the Alex Green post from the VM Tivo Help forum generated a callback and the £50 refund


Thankyou, I have just sent them an email


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## OzSat

mhopley said:


> Still no e-mail or credit for me.
> Are people just ringing the customer service number 0845 454 1111 to claim their refund?


I called accounts and they did the refund.


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## Major dude

OzSat said:


> I called accounts and they did the refund.


Chased refund again as it did not show in my July bill. Scottish call centre confirmed that it could take two months to come through.


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## cwaring

Makes sense. Well there are some 50k to get through, remember


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## RichardJH

Mine showed on my account within 24 hours so for a few weeks I had a balance of -£50.
All gone now with my latest bill of the massive sum of £1.95


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## beara

I used the web form and they rang back today. They're cancelling out the £50 activation fee for the 500gb TiVo fitted yesterday!

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## nbaker

nbaker said:


> Thankyou, I have just sent them an email


Got a reply 5 days later saying "We're sorry to hear that you have not received this refund as you were promised."

and then lots of waffle about why they are giving the refund etc but no mention of if/when I will get mine 

Guess I need to ring up accounts.


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## mhopley

I had a call on my mobile from virgin saying sorry that I had not had my refund and he did not know why. He added an extra £10 refund as compensation 

Almost missed out as when he rang my home number my wife thought he was trying to sell something and hung up on him  In her defence it is not everyday that you get some one ringing up and offering you £60 for nothing.


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## nbaker

So which web form did you use?


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## sjp

nbaker said:


> So which web form did you use?


i was on the phone about something else and mentioned the refund, one check with a "supervisor" later, and i was told it would be on my next months bill.

it was, whether it was time for my refund to find its way through or if it was down to my phone call i don't know.


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## Royalflush

After waiting patiently I mentioned this last week while on the line to customer services about something else.

The agent I spoke to said everyone on the list who was eligible had been contacted regarding the refund. If anyone is still waiting I would suggest that they speak with customer services to get this sorted out.


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## nbaker

I contacted accounts today (via 150) and got my refund, I also got the impression that everyone eligible should of been contacted already.


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## Tony Hoyle

Probably more like 'keep quiet and we won't have to pay most people' - as most people won't be following blogs/forums and know about the refund

Reminds me I really need to chase it..


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## Major dude

Finally,

After another couple of chase phone calls - I even had to quote from the VMs announcement that was on their support forum at one time, I have received my £-50 Bill correction adjustment in my October Bill and I have reduced my TV package to M+ to save some more money.
So, I am down to £[email protected] including Phone line rental (£[email protected] excluding the phone line).

Result.

Every little helps.


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## mikerr

Still hadn't got a refund - so rang up 150 and despite being unaware of it initially,
she put me hold hold while she asked, and came back shortly saying I will have £50 credited to my account "immediately".


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## SPR

No refund for me. I 'phoned a while back & was told I would get one.

Just 'phoned again as I didn't to be told (even after "finding a supervisor") that there was no refund due to me! If I take all my paperwork to a VirginMedia store then they "may" be able to phone for me & get it!


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## teresatt

Yipee!!! I've just got my £50 refund. It's only taken me several months but I've got it at last.


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## tdenson

Still haven't got my refund. Can someone please tell me what phone number I ring where they will know what I am talking about.


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## teresatt

I've always called the normal customer services and they've always had to check with a supervisor and then told me I would get it credited to my next bill. I wasn't holding out any hope for this month but I've been surprised.


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## RichardJH

tdenson said:


> Still haven't got my refund. Can someone please tell me what phone number I ring where they will know what I am talking about.


See my posts 57 and 63 in this thread it worked for me


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## sxb

queried it via the VM twitter team and they sorted it out for me without any hassle (if you do that though make sure you follow them first so they can DM you back, although most of my interaction with them was via email).
I've asked them about a few things, and although they can take a couple of days to get back to you, they do seem pretty clued up (especially compared to the russian roulette routine that seems to happen when you call).


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## beara

I've had far better quicker service through their twitter team - really impressed with them!

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## tdenson

Have now received the following response from VM -

"It looks like the password you gave us doesn't match the details on your
account. For security reasons, we can check the status of the £50.00 
refund and update your contact e-mail address on our records only when 
you've filled in the right password. This is to make sure there's only 
one person accessing your details  and that's you.

Just in case if you've forgotten your password, please call our team on 
either of the numbers below and we'll be happy to reset this for you.

Please elaborate on the last statement in your e-mail (This is the "Alex
Green" refund)."

I didn't give them a password, I don't know what they're talking about and anyway, pretty sure I know the password if they do ask me. Said as much to them and then got the following response -

"Thanks for your e-mail to Virgin Media about your password.

We are really sorry you are unaware of this, Anthony.

If you are unable to remember your CVP, just give us a call and they 
will reset this and deal with your request all in one quick call  dont
forget the call is free if you dial 150 from any Virgin Media landline.

Please provide us with a copy of the e-mail that you received from Alex 
Green for further investigation.

We can help you with your query only when you tap in the customer 
verification password (CVP)."

I'm obviously dealing with an overseas bot, but also can't face starting an interminable series of phone calls. Can someone please point me at the Alex Green email (letter?) so I can placate them on that one.


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## Diamond Mike

At long last I got round to chasing my £50. I rang 150 and after a short conversation was promised a call back after he (Basrat with a strong Scottish accent) had verified the refund with his supervisor. Within 90 seconds I had my call and was told the £50 would be credited to my next bill - here's hoping!


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## RichardJH

tdenson said:


> Please provide us with a copy of the e-mail that you received from Alex
> Green for further investigation.
> 
> Can someone please point me at the Alex Green email (letter?) so I can placate them on that one.


Copied from an email sent to me :-


> Hi
> 
> As many of you will have seen, we have just launched the marketing campaign for Virgin Media TiVo. As part of this campaign we've decided to lower the price for the 1TB box to £99.95. We're conscious that the earliest buyers of this great product paid £149.95, which was an offer only available to existing Virgin Media XL TV customers at the time.
> 
> We want to ensure that those who bought TiVo early are not missing out on the more competitive price now available. We're therefore pleased to say that we'll be crediting all those customers who bought the 1TB box at £149.95 with the £50 difference. This will appear on your bill in the next two months. We'll be emailing all these customers shortly, to confirm this.
> 
> We hope that you'll continue to enjoy your TiVo experience, which we think is the best way to watch TV, ever!
> 
> Thanks for your support
> 
> Alex
> 
> Alex Green
> Executive Director, Commercial, TV & Online
> Virgin Media


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## Diamond Mike

Diamond Mike said:


> At long last I got round to chasing my £50. I rang 150 and after a short conversation was promised a call back after he (Basrat with a strong Scottish accent) had verified the refund with his supervisor. Within 90 seconds I had my call and was told the £50 would be credited to my next bill - here's hoping!


Just checked my Virgin Media account and it is now showing a £50 credit - success!


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## tdenson

Just realised I still never received my £50. I've given up via email (if you look at my previous messages you see why). I don't have a Virgin phone - can someone please tell me what the landline equivalent is and which department I ask for when I get through. May just give up on the whole thing and admit defeat.


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## cwaring

Unfortunately it's an 0845 number - 0845 454 1111 - and I don't have a clue which department is best to speak to. Sorry.


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