VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

So VM have moved all their decent handsets to these new freestyle tariffs where you pay seperately for the phone and rental, which means you can upgraded anytime and only pay off the handset cost rather than the full monthly amount.

There isn't even an option of taking a normal monthly tariff with any of the top phones. Which means if you fail the credit check you can only get a crappy phone now with them.

After being a customer for 6 years and having 4 contracts with them I was after the LG G3 but failed the credit check so my only options are to wait 3 months and try again or upgrade(sorry downgrade) to a phone thats aactually worse than my Note 3.

Quiet pathetic that they treat long term customers this way. Why a credit check when they carried one out when I joined them!

My choices now would be

S4 Mini
S5 Mini
Xperia Z2
Xperia Z1 Compact
Some Lumia phones
Cheap Xperia Phones

Everything else
Xperia Z3
Note 4
S5
LG G3
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus

and others are Freestyle only, so thats the thanks I get for being a loyal customer and having never missed a bill in the last 6 years.

Apparently it makes them cheaper being top phones. I'd rather pay the £69 up front charge they used to have on most of those phones.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Well if l get treated like that after being a customer for 6 years then l know what my answer would be to them.:upyours:

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Seems surprising they act in this manner. Is your new phone's monthly cost more than what you currently pay?

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Unless your staff why would you pay virgin mobile prices anyway? what tarrif are you looking for the LG G3 is mega cheap on ee etc

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I was staff and still get my my rates discount as per the rules.

The new contract would be exactly the same per month, but as I have found out the credit check is done as the company get the money for the phone straight away.

You have two direct debits set up, one for the tariff to VM and the other for the month handset charge. So its really a credit check as if you were taking out a hire purchase agreement now!

I also now need to wait 3 months before I can even try again. Am totally angry.

So its either wait and hope my credit rating sorts its self out or take a crappy phone just now or leave and get stuck without a phone as I probably would fail credit checks with other phone companies also.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Freestyle contracts Can't be used for mates rates

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

So you don't get staff discount at all anymore if you opt for a top handset?

Sounds totally screwed up!

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

You can get it on myrates 50% off but not mates rates. They convert the freestyle contract to a old fashioned type for tax reasons

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

It's my rates I'm on at the moment. But anyway I won't be upgrading until I sort my credit rating I guess.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I'm not sure if you'd be able to keep the discount if you upgraded to one of the Freestyle contracts anyway - it's a completely different set up.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

He wont as myrates has to now be applied from the intranet

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

It does?

So if any of my friends on my rates upgraded they would lose the 25%?

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

you mean mates rates?

It says on the intranet that mates rates is suspended at the moment while they update the new offers

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Well my rates mates rates lol.

I do think they should still offer the option of standard tariffs on all phones.

This new split pricing and taking a loan is silly.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

O2 did it and it was considered a 'good thing', so much so they restricted it to direct sales only to tease people away from independents.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I find it usually highlights the fact your better buying a phone sim free with the silly RRP prices

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

One thing's for sure, whichever way you look at it the days of the ridiculous loss-leading subsidies on handsets are over.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

It is a good thing, in my view anyway.

It means you know exactly what you're paying for the phone itself, rather than the illusion that it is free. It was never free, but paid for over the course of the contract. Now it's just transparent, with the bonus of being able to pay for the phone itself to get an upgrade.

I've just upgraded to a G3 with the phone part costing me £15 a month over 2 years, a total of £360. Yes a little higher than the best price online of £300, but much easier for me to handle than a big lump sum.

I think VM Freestyle is also great, but I cannot fathom why you would fail a credit check despite being a long term customer, that's just perverse frankly.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Its because its not just an internal credit check. But a full on external reference performed.

As the phone part is actually a loan of sorts.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Ah, that makes sense, as I had to agree to a loan contract to get this phone too.

However, I wasn't credit checked, or at least the operator on the phone when I upgraded glossed over it as I was only asked to confirm that I could afford the contract, that was it.

I would say to phone VM to ask if they could override the credit check based on your long standing account but I suspect I know the answer. I really hate these checks when they fail you despite a current contract that you're clearly paying with no problem! Computer says no should not be the be all when it comes to this sort of thing.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

You would definitely have been credit checked and if he didn't tell you then am sure some rules were broken.

I've already tried that and stated that existing customer for years and I pay the same per month on my existing account. However he said they can't skip it or work round it.
He even told me I am C5 on their records which is the highest rating but in the case of freestyle they have to go by the external credit rating.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Hah excellent. If they do any of this to me my solution is really simple - I take my business elsewhere immediately. Do not pass go do not collect anything. I haven't paid VMobile late once in 4 years, so it's their problem if they have changed their criteria.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2015/01/15.png

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

The way these schemes work (both in VM's case and O2's case) is that they've just shrugged off the entire responsibility for providing you with a handset to somebody else, in this cause a pseudo-bank set up by Virgin group to provide financial services. They are now quite literally operating as a broker in order to get you to apply for a loan from a third-party company.

Frankly the separation of a plain credit agreement (loan) for your handset and an airtime agreement for your airtime is a huge step forward considering all the awkward legal complexities and loopholes involved in selling a 'Free' handset with a subsidised-airtime contract. It provides more clarity for both the consumer and the retailer, although not all changes are to the customer's benefit - it's a lot easier to contest the handset part of the contract if you have a faulty handset for example, which was previously a rather obnoxious position to be in if you didn't purchase your handset directly from the network.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Oh I absolutely understand how they work, it's made pretty clear by that the credit agreement is for the cost of the handset rather than any ongoing costs of service provision, however I don't actually care how they work, merely how they impact me personally.

If they cause me grief I'm off :)

---------- Post added at 15:47 ---------- Previous post was at 15:36 ----------

Just linked this thread to their social media team.

While I appreciate the reason for the new checks, it doesn't change that it's a 'back end' process, and something the customer shouldn't be exposed to.

Virgin Mobile have always taken the risk on customers not paying for their handsets by defaulting on contracts, they appear to be trying to outsource that risk and the new credit checks are a part of that.

Where this policy causes customers grief they can and should complain.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I think that's where our interpretations differ. To me I see it as a new service. Mainly, because i'm interpreting it the same way as per O2's 'Refresh' service launched a few years ago. Although in O2's case, you could still purchase traditional/all-in-one contracts via independents, VM customers don't have that luxury because I don't think they sell contract upgrades via independents.

It's not just 'the same thing under a different name' but rather a completely different type of mobile service - change tariff at any time, upgrade whenever you want, etc. etc. - a bit like T-Mobile's old Flext tariffs. While they may be criticised for withdrawing the old options and not giving customers a choice, I see it as novel enough that customers should be aware of and have full exposure to the fact that it is a different service and thus the checks works differently.

Ultimately VM are within their rights to change their credit-check criteria at any time they feel like, whether or not they're selling a new service that justifies the changes. Many operators routinely do so year to year. After all banks can and do still refuse people because their credit records are too good.

In this case the risk isn't being outsourced much as it seems the finance company ("Virgin Media Mobile Finance Limited") is owned and run by themselves anyway.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

It's still a service supplied to the end user by Virgin Mobile. However they are managing things internally there is no reason to credit check customers again beyond 'process'. They should have all the information required to form an internal assessment of credit risk based on an existing customer's payment profile.

They are obviously within their rights to change their credit criteria, doesn't mean customers have to like it.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

AS I see it, I have been told I am classed in their highest block of customers with a C5 rating and 4 contracts on the go with them.

However I can't upgrade my main phone now due to their new way of doing things. Having seen thread on the community forums I am not alone in this. Loyal for years and now a credit check deems me unable to afford it. Even though I am paying the same on that phone as it is now, along with three other phones.

So really their internal credit scoring is now utterly pointless as they are relying on an external credit check for ALL upgrades and new contracts.

I feel there should be allowances or a different process for existing long term customers.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

You'll probably find that the external credit scoring sees you as having too many outgoings with those contracts and rejects you.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Which is where that process is flawed.

I am not taking out anything extra but taking a new phone on an EXISTING service.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Lol

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Down to two contracts with Virgin Mobile, after seeing these new Freestyle tariffs I wont be renewing later this year. I see insurance is not included either.

I cancelled one contract to go to EE 4G, as I have another contract with them already, because VM dont have 4G. I have a total of 4 contracts, for my wife, 2 sons and myself and never missed a payment.

VM must be losing alot of customers when its time to upgrade?

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Well I ended up taking an upgrade on a standard tariff to a Samsung Galaxy Alpha which I've given to the wife. It is a great little phone though.

I've then sold her S4 and my Note 3 and bought the LG G3 SIM free.

---------- Post added at 17:45 ---------- Previous post was at 17:43 ----------

In total aggreement. The fact that they wob't budge on their credit check is plain silly for long term customers like me who also spend a lot of money every month.

They are apparently launching 4G by the end of the year.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Dumping Virgin Mobile as soon as my current contract ends. :)

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I've been waiting 3 weeks for a note 4 on a staff deal, customer service is non existent for staff. I would rather pay more money elsewhere to dump virgin mobile

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I've also heard that since the new freestyle tariffs its made discounts and taking out contracts almost impossible

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Do the discounts work the same as on O2, i.e. you only get discount on the tariff part and not the phone part?

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

It's 50% off the total price, so if you can actually get the phone you like it's not too bad

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

New contract arranged, call tomorrow to tell VM where they can put the Freestyle tariff :)

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Now done. Wow that retentions guy was a bit aggressive.

For the curious they tried to keep me by offering me an 'internal' credit check with the possibility of receiving a Samsung A3 depending on how that came out.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Meanwhile O2 are crediting their similar Refresh tariff system for giving them 'record customer acquisitions' and their 'strongest quarterly growth in six years'

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I actually feel as if I have been burgled today, as I got a message from Virgin telling me they had charged me (within my free call package) 50p a minute because I'd called a local rate 0345 number.

I am not going to let this one lie. BT brought out the 03 series specifically to save callers from 08 premium rate calls, and LBC changed their 0845 number (10p per minute on average) to 0345 and I changed accordingly. The Freestyle tariff (like BT) now don't charge for 0845 numbers but as LBC changed their number I assumed (as it was advertised) that they were local rate.

I am going to kick up a serious stink here, anyone else on board?

Update, I just spoke to the operator who informed me 08-numbers were not included either, but when I checked the itemised bill hidden in the depths it apparently let me off the 0345 number.

Any answers as I am now extremely confused.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Was looking at a iPhone 6 16G deal from VM and was amazed to find that if you buy the phone + SIM only combination, you end up paying £696 for the phone over the 2 years. Get this, you can buy the phone from Apple no less, for £539!!!!

Why would anyone buy the handset and not just go for the SIM only tariff? £157 premium, WTF!

---------- Post added at 18:59 ---------- Previous post was at 18:53 ----------

Trying to chosse between the two SIM only tariffs:

Turns out the FUP caps the Unlimited data at 3.5G!! Is the 0.5G and the free 0800, 0845, 0870 and 0808 numbers worth the extra £5 pcm?

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Because you can't get 2 years of service for free?

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I'm due for contract renewal this month and probably won't stay with virgin after nearly 10 yrs because of the freestyle tariffs .I simply don't want to take a loan out for a phone so I'm looking at other providers to see what they offer

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

I went to a SIM only tariff some time ago for the same reason. if you can't afford to pay for the phone upfront maybe they've got you but if you can then its a no-brainer not to.

Cheers

Grim

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

Yup - I'm going to switch to sim only when my contract is up.

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

The "service" is extra .. VM charge £696 for the handset whereas Apple charge £539. The only different is the VM approach is a monthly payment over 24 months so in effect you pay £157 for the ability to pay for the phone monthly:

From: http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-...html?filters=1

Re: VM's new Freestyle tariffs!!
 

You said:

I assumed you meant the total price for the phone + SIM combination was £696 over two years.