I differ in my view to all of these coments. I am using NTL which is now Virgin media and I am happy with the service. This is a problem with us as customers. Every business man wants to make profit. so why do we think Mr Branson is a greedy person. If you know he has just 10% of Virgin media shares and a less control over the company. I believe that company has gone better under virgin name. Call centers are now open till midnight, new virgin central, TV box has improved. I am not sure what we complaining for as all the companies take DD changes. BT take a non direct debit charge. It do take time for a company to improve as I believe Mr Branson has no magic to turn the company around in few months. we have to wait and watch

Josh, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Virgin Media is a total washout. I used to be with NTL before take over from Richard Branson. Every time i ring to ask what is going on with my bill. or to query something, i get a non english speaking person (i do not wish to affend anyone at all).

I ask to speak to the manager or supervisor on duty, but to no avail.. What is going on ?????

Mr Branson is a greedy person. I work very hard to pay my bills. But each time i ring to ask why my bill is so high i cannot get any reply. Wow got through tonight at 7.22 pm. Spoke to an advisor about my bill, but when i questioned him about it , and i got annoyed, he was ranting and raving and so was i. But as soon as i mentioned about a takeover from another company he was having none of it. All out war, i asked to speak to supervisor once again but to no avail. I was cut off i have tried for the lat 30 mins to get through, but to no avail again. Why because i told them what i thought.

S Hudson, Leeds, England

I also think that Virgin Media is rubbish, I've been a Telewest customer for years but when Virgin took over the service went down the drain along with Telewest's reputation. I can't pay by direct debit because of my savings account so Virgin charge me £5 per month because of this. My advice is this, if your thinking of joining Virgin Media "Don't" as its a complete rip off now. Telewest never had the problems before but I think Virgin thinks more about profits than Customers

Tony Hall, Westbury, Wiltshire

Virgin Media have lost close to fifty thousand customers since re-branding took place. The service has generally deteriorated, they have introduced bandwidth throttling on all broadband packages, yet continue to advertise "unlimited broadband services". Customers must now pay for calls to Virgin support where previously this was free. Their "status pages" are full of unresolved tickets concerning loss of service, and many poular TV shows have been removed due to the issues with Sky. It's no wonder customers are deserting in droves

James Franks, Royston, Herts

VirginMedia is a company to avoid at all costs - i was very happy with Telewest, even ok after NTL took over, but VERY unhappy with VirginMedia's price rises, helpline charging, and £10 per month charges if the bill is paid late; as with their credit card (which is really MBNA, another bullying company) dealings and their phone company, VirginMedia have the reputation of take overs that offer LESS to the customer

peter ashworth, LONDON,

I'm also an ex-Blueyonder customer and agree the service was miles better then. It seems like they got rid of everything that was good about By and kept everything that was bad with NTL.

I have switched to a PVR Freeview box for TV and would switch my ISP as well, but by all accounts the ADSL suppliers are even worse than the cable monopoly.

Keith, Newcastle, England

"Virgin Media = a matter of style before content." Les Paine, London, England

Are you sure? I'm a Sky customer but I've got friends who have Virgin Media on their TV's and I must say I'm very impressed. Ok so they can't watch Lost or 24 (both past their sell-by date), but this 'TV on-demand' stuff is well ahead of anything Sky has got. Beauty is more than skin deep Les - perhaps you were pressing the wrong buttons?

Rod Munch, Northampton, UK

The whole virgin package isn't bad, but without the sky channels virgin's programmes are weak. Not much better than freeview really. That's why they lost so many customers and no amount of advertising will bring '24' back to the virgin screen.

Bob Reeve, Brighton,

I really do hope that a private equity firm doesn't take over Virgin. I'm no fan of Richard Branson at all, but it's better than the idea of an equity firm.

My parents have had cable for 12 years. The phone package that was already uncompetitive has become very unattractive due to greed by Branson. Broadband is still good but I expect Virgin to copy Sky and crank up prices every year on the tv packages. VOD is genuinely good but that was a telewest innovation from quite a while ago.

Paul, York, UK

Virgin Media full of promises and poor delivery if at all. Rather like the Labour Government. I've decide to leave - I cannot stand them any more and I'll be changing my mobile network from Virgin as well. Anything is better than this !

Dave, Newtown, Wales

I'm not too sure whether I should be that excited about a possible takeover. Virgin have sent me numerous letters about apparent "unpaid bills" and threatening to ruin my credit ratings. Funnily enough all this started after NTL got rebranded.

They said they'd upgrade us for free, but they never did.

Will Morgan, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

If there is a Buyout of Virgin Media I hope the customer service improves.As customer of what was once Telewest I found the customer care excellent since Virgin took over any enquiries regarding problems to services are switched to India and you can imagine the problems that causes. Lets have our customer services dealt with in this country.

T,Mac, St.Helens, England

It has failed to become a "formidable force" because it failed to get its' basic pricing right.

Alan Chesterman, BOURNEMOUTH, UK

I always thought NTL were rubbish but would happily take them back. I did not want to cross to BSkyB as I felt we were being bullied to do so and I wanted to remain loyal. Unfortunately, Virgin Media do not feel the same. I sent them a letter of complaint on June 4th - still no response as they are busy dealing with lots of other complaints ! Great !

Adele, Guildford, Surrey

Virgin is a company that all should be following, both in company structure and forward thinking. The future is touchable, but only a few reach for it, Virgin is one of them!

Dave Bennett , Durban , South Africa

Well whatever happens, the support CANNOT be worse than it currently is. As an old Blueyonder customer, I was satisfied by the support before Branson moved in. Mind you, the onnly dealings I have had with any other Virgin company ended up with me getting a personal apology from Branson for the crap "service" I received (Virgin Cars, that was, now gone and - happily - forgotten).

Jeremy Poynton, Fromeville, 51st State

Virgin Media = a matter of style before content. It reminds me of those girls when I was a teenager, who said they would but never did. Frustrating interface. Gave up on them in the end. Both the girls and Virgin Media.

Les Paine, London, England