Virgin mobile consumers hit by price hikes

A quarter of a million Virgin Mobile customers are facing substantial increases to their phone bills, with the rises set to come into force in April.

Pay monthly and sim-only customers could pay up to £106 more per year, in a move that Virgin said was down to ‘a limited number of price adjustments’ and the removal of old tariffs. The price hike will not affect pay-as-you-go customers.

Although Virgin raised prices by 3.3% last March in line with the rate of RPI, the latest increase is unrelated to inflation. Three customers took to Twitter to reveal that the cost of their contracts had increased from £4.13 per month to £13, a hefty increase of £106.44 a year.

Virgin Mobile said that affected customers would be contacted by letter or email. Consumers can also cancel or change their contracts and incur no penalty if they do so by 31 March.

A spokesperson said: “We want our customers to enjoy our latest and greatest mobile plans so we’re removing some old tariffs and making a limited number of price adjustments for a small number of customers. Any changes made will be communicated clearly to our customers.”

In the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), which was published in January by The Institute of Customer Service, Virgin Mobile scored 74.7, an improvement of 2.5 points on its January 2018 score.