Virgin Media to hike prices by inflation-busting 5.9%
Virgin Media has announced it will be hiking its prices by an average of 5.9% from next year.
The changes will impact phone and Big Bundle users from 1st February 2015.
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What's changing?
Virgin Media is putting the cost of line rental up by £1 a month, from £15.99 to £16.99, a 6.25% rise.
Line Rental Saver, which provides a discount to those who pay line rental upfront for a year rather than monthly, will increase by £20 from £144 to £164 a year, a rise of 13.9%.
The cost of Virgin Media's Big Bundles, which include phone, broadband and TV, is also going up.
The Big Easy and Big Bang bundles will cost £3 a month more (including the £1 line rental increase) while the Big Kahuna and Big Daddy bundles will see bills rise by £4.50 a month (including the £1 line rental increase).
The Big Easy bundle currently costs £30.99 for 12 months and £35.99 thereafter. The Big Bang deal costs £35.99 a month for 12 months and £45.99 thereafter.
Meanwhile the Big Kahuna package costs £50.99 a month for 12 months and £60.99 a month thereafter. And the Big Daddy offer costs £95.99 a month for the first 12 months and £110.99 a month thereafter.
Depending where existing customers are in their contract they face a rise of between 3.9% and 9.7% compared to what they currently pay for their Big Bundle deal.
Virgin Media says there are no other changes to call plans or connection fees and its voicemail service remains free alongside calls to Virgin Mobiles and directory enquiries.
Broadband-only customers - who were hit with a £1.50 rise on 1st October 2014 - are also unaffected by today's announcement.
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What Virgin Media says
Virgin Media joins BT, Sky and Talk Talk in announcing above inflation prices rises for existing customers.
But the provider says the price changes are necessary to support the improvements introduced for TV customers and to continue to deliver its award-winning superfast broadband service.
Dana Strong, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Media said: "Some of our prices are changing so we can continue to invest in giving our customers more of what they want – the best entertainment packages and unbeatable superfast broadband. We're doing everything we can to keep any increase as low as possible, especially for our existing customers."
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What can Virgin Media customers do?
Virgin Media is writing to customers affected by the price changes.
Those unhappy can cancel by getting in touch within 30 days of receiving their price notification letter.
You can compare new deals with broadbandchoices.com.
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