Yesterday my dad asked me to look at his broadband contract. He was paying £75 per month with Virgin and they had emailed him to say it was going up to £98 per month from November 2024. I couldn't believe how expensive it was! This was for a bundle though, he got broadband, home phone (any time calls) and a basic TV package. I checked online to see how much a new customer would pay for the same bundle... Virgin's Big Bundle would cost a brand new customer only £33 per month! Sure, my dad would have to pay an extra £10 on top of that to get the any time calls, but why the hell should he be paying twice as much as a new customer when he has been loyally with Virgin for 13 years?! 

My dad's a pensioner and is already concerned that he may not be getting the winter fuel allowance this year, so I obviously called up and argued with 3 customer service agentsat Virgin to try to sort this for him. The first agent told me that it is what it is, so I threatened to go to Sky, he put me to someone else. This second person said £80 was the best price they could give my dad, I threaten to leave again. The third person offered £69 and my dad said he'd accept it because he really didn't want to leave Virgin.

It is ridiculous that they can offer cheaper prices but you have to fight for them for it. How is this fair to the elderly or vulnerable who may not have it in them to argue for an hour to get the prices they deserve? And Ofcom have ABSOLUTELY ZERO rules stopping these types of predatory pricing tactics!

So, I'm calling on Ofcom to change this. Telecommunication companies are offering insanely cheap deals to new customers by ripping off their loyal customers. I'm calling for Ofcom to implement rules such that:

• every offer is available to every customer, the same as it is in the energy sector, and
• The end-of-contract price increase for all customers is limited to a maximum of 5% of their current contract price.
• Restrict early termination fees in the same way the EU does - customers should not have to pay £1,500+ to leave a contract early!

If you agree that the way your broadband bills hikes up at the end of a contract is out of control and should be regulated properly by Ofcom, please sign and share this petition! 

If you want to follow this petition closer, please subscribe to my blog, TheRegulatorGuy.co.uk, I'll be posting regular updates on there.