Virgin Media refusing to supply unless I pay previous owner's debt

cake21

The previous owner of my house owed money to Virgin Media, and they are saying that they won't supply me unless I pay that off. It's not a huge amount of money (£20), but I can't be held responsible for someone else's debt, can I?

Does anyone know a way around this?

I'm a bit tempted to pay it off anyway, but I don't need the service - I'm with BT/Eclipse at the moment, just wanted to save some money, and with the £30 connection fee, it all adds up to not much saving.

Thanks very much for any help, and sorry if it's in the wrong place.

olly300

This is not legal. You are not liable for anyone else's debts by law. Virgin Media can rightly ask you to prove when you moved into a property.

I suggest you phone up OFCOM and talk to them. Contact them on 020 7981 3040 during office hours.

You should also contact trading standards - http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/consumers/consumers.cfm
You can do this by email.

If you don't Virgin Media will do this to other people for higher amounts.

cake21

Thanks very much olly300, I was pretty sure they couldn't really come after me but I didn't know to where to go from here!

dmg24

It sounds like VM believe that you have a link to the previous occupant. If you supply them with proof of change of ownership they should be fine.

However, as with any telecoms company, they do not have to provide you with a service, irrespective of credit history.

tsstss7

cake21 wrote: »

The previous owner of my house owed money to Virgin Media, and they are saying that they won't supply me unless I pay that off. It's not a huge amount of money (£20), but I can't be held responsible for someone else's debt, can I?

Does anyone know a way around this?

I'm a bit tempted to pay it off anyway, but I don't need the service - I'm with BT/Eclipse at the moment, just wanted to save some money, and with the £30 connection fee, it all adds up to not much saving.

Thanks very much for any help, and sorry if it's in the wrong place.

Get sky instead - they may not be as cheap but have better channels

(I have vm and want to swap but they keep offering me too cheap to turn down retention offers!! am tempted by sky freeview too...)

cake21

tsstss7 wrote: »

Get sky instead - they may not be as cheap but have better channels

(I have vm and want to swap but they keep offering me too cheap to turn down retention offers!! am tempted by sky freeview too...)

It's the too cheap to resist £9/month broadband that sucked me in (I don't need a landline or tv services, I know I'm odd! :rotfl:)

dmg24 wrote: »

It sounds like VM believe that you have a link to the previous occupant. If you supply them with proof of change of ownership they should be fine.

Not sure what happened, but when I called back to offer proof of change of ownership and/or speak to a supervisor, spoke to a very lovely girl who said "sorry, the email telling you your installation date can't have gone through" and then forwarded it to me while I was still on the phone and apologised for her colleague.

Very pleasant contrast to the unhelpful and rude oik who told me I HAD to pay the previous bill or I couldn't get service, and then hung up on me!

Now hopefully sorted...maybe I'm a pessimist but after reading other people's posts I haven't cancelled my current broadband yet

dmg24 wrote: »

However, as with any telecoms company, they do not have to provide you with a service, irrespective of credit history.

Which is fair enough

Thanks everyone for quick & helpful replies, I would have just given up!

dmg24

cake21 wrote: »

Not sure what happened, but when I called back to offer proof of change of ownership and/or speak to a supervisor, spoke to a very lovely girl who said "sorry, the email telling you your installation date can't have gone through" and then forwarded it to me while I was still on the phone and apologised for her colleague.

As an ex ntl employee, who spent most days correcting errors of colleagues that could not care less, this sounds so familiar!

It is sad, because there are still some excellent staff at VM. Thankfully you found one in the end! x