Reminder: get up to 15,000 points just for switching your broadband

I'm currently going through one of life's many pleasures by talking (screaming internally) to Virgin Media attempting to renew our broadband for another year, pleading for a price that doesn't make me want to go through the switching to another provider because I'm already quite busy, something I'm sure you can relate to!

Considering how my live chat experience is going, I may soon be looking for a new broadband provider, which gives me an excuse to shop around on the Avios Shop, and Virgin Atlantic Shops Away.

For those who don't know, these are online shopping portals where in return for clicking a link to an online shop, say Asos, you are given points in return if you were to buy something, making this one of the smartest ways to quickly grow your points balances.

Broadband and insurance are some of the best sweet spots within these two shopping portals, sometimes offering tens of thousands of points for a single transaction. We're going to focus on broadband today, as a way to alleviate my increasing Virgin Media induced headache.

Virgin Shops Away

If you're more Virgin Points inclined, you can currently get up to 12,000 Virgin Points for switching your broadband.

12,000 Virgin Points just happens to be what we've just paid for flights back from New York next year in economy.

Avios Shop

Or if you're Avios loyal you can get up to 15,000 Avios, just for switching your broadband!

That's essentially a one-way Club Europe ticket to Berlin (see prices here), for something you'd have previously got nothing back for.

Hold your horses!

I have one BIG caveat for you, and this runs through any service you buy via these shopping portals (goods such as clothes are different in my experience). Before you click buy, do check the price against a search that has NOT gone via the Avios/Virgin stores.

This is no fault of either of these two companies, instead to recoup the commission that is needed to pay Avios/Virgin for the referral, some companies will raise their prices for searches that come from these stores. From my experience, I find it particularly worthwhile to check pricing against hotels and insurance. Remember, 1 Avios/Virgin Point equates to roughly 1p. So if you're being offered 2,000 Avios, but its cheaper by £40 to purchase it not via the Avios store, the cheaper one is the better deal.

That is all

Well, I've almost thrown my phone at multiple occasions in the time it's taken to write this after having lost two live chat conversations due to my phone locking for a millisecond, and the Virgin Media app being unable to retain an ongoing conversation.

They've since emailed me with a derisory offer, so I think I may soon be flirting with Uswitch via the Avios store.

Sam

Points Well Made is a passion project from Sam and Helena. If you've enjoyed this and want to help us keep the lights on, please consider buying us a Ko-fi or subscribing monthly. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more of the same. Thanks for reading.