Virgin Media Dispute

bstack

Hi,

About two months ago I contacted Virgin to cancel my contract as I was moving house. I got through and categorically confirmed I wanted to cancel the deal. However, as I was on a mobile, my battery ran out before I could speak to the 'disconnections dept'. The operator, though, confirmed she understood I was phoning to cancel and was in the process of transferring my call. I therefore expected this to be done.

Now, Virgin are stating that as I did not speak to their correct dept, they did not cancel and therefore continued to bill. They have even advised they are in the processes of instructing a debt collection agency to collect these payments. They have, however, confirmed they have a record of my previous call and a note from the operator to state the nature of it. Because of this, I have advised that I have fulfilled my contractual obligations in speaking to an ambassador of their company and it is therefore up to them to act upon this information, and that if their rep has not acted on this (she should have forwarded to the correct dept or called back) it is their problem.

Legally, I consider myself to be in the right - I have contacted them to disconnect, and they have a note stating this, however they are continuing to claim that, as the call ended before I got through to the correct dept, I am obliged to pay up.

I would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks

MissMuppet

Personally I wouldn't have expected them to cancel if I never got through to the correct department... there would be questions they would need to ask you and the chance to try and retain your custom etc...

I would have called them back and double checked, to be honest I don't think you have a case.

normanmark

Whilst there was an initial contact, unless its confirmed by the employee on the telephone then it wouldn't stand for anything. What you should of done is called back to clarify and/or go through to the disconnections to get it done. The fact you didn't have any correspondence through the mail should of hinted that something was up.

Legally you wouldn't get much from this, so i wouldn't advise going down that route as it'll be costly for yourself.

Your best bet is to put this down to experience & pay it off and ensure that they cancel it from this point onwards.

neas

Pure stupidity..

Your parents not teach you anything about life?

The fact you have dreamed up some excuse why they shoulda cancelled when you spoke to the switchboard etc... is laughable.

Go to court.... pay 20x more than you woulda just cancelling the service now...... and lose!.

I want you too.. because your post smacks of idiocy.... and I hope a judge would see this too.

The oneous (sp?) is on you to prove you gave them notice.... can you prove it? Did you send a letter by recorded delivery.

Also the opposition would rip apart your 'battery dead' excuse. And work around the point most people would go 'ohh oops' and call back later... to confirm.

Pay the bill!... stop wasting ours and your time.

bstack

neas wrote: »

Pure stupidity..

Your parents not teach you anything about life?

The fact you have dreamed up some excuse why they shoulda cancelled when you spoke to the switchboard etc... is laughable.

Go to court.... pay 20x more than you woulda just cancelling the service now...... and lose!.

I want you too.. because your post smacks of idiocy.... and I hope a judge would see this too.

The oneous (sp?) is on you to prove you gave them notice.... can you prove it? Did you send a letter by recorded delivery.

Also the opposition would rip apart your 'battery dead' excuse. And work around the point most people would go 'ohh oops' and call back later... to confirm.

Pay the bill!... stop wasting ours and your time.

Ironic you should use the word 'stupidity', given the volume of spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar in your post.

'Your parents not teach you anything about life?'

Yes they did. They told me not to pay for services I haven't used or received.

'The oneous (sp?) is on you to prove you gave them notice.... can you prove it? Did you send a letter by recorded delivery.'

If you'd read the post correctly, you'd see that they have confirmation of my request to cancel. Again, the failure to read and comprehend, I can only put down to 'stupidity'.

'The fact you have dreamed up some excuse why they shoulda cancelled when you spoke to the switchboard etc... is laughable.'

When you speak to a represetative of a company, and they confirm reciept of your request, it is then up to the company to act on that information - it's called doing their job. Ask yourself, did the operator not forward the request to the correct department, or did she simply do nothing, thereby negating the purpose of her being there in the first place? Why did she not call back if further action was needed, as any worthwile customer relations rep would do.

'I want you too.. because your post smacks of idiocy.... and I hope a judge would see this too.'

As this is a site operating on behalf of the consumer, you seem, to me, to be in the wrong place.

PaulK_3

You didn't speak the the department that actually cancels the contract therfor you did not confirm to them that you were cancelling. You also then failed to make contact again knowing your previous call had ended before confirming with the relevant (and only department that could cancel your contract) what you intended to do.
You spoke to someone in a totally different department who had no power, no actual way and no system in place to cancel your order. There is no way a cancellation can occur without the account holder on the line or a physical letter from the account holder complete with signature.
If you had done the sensible thing and called back or even followed it up with a registered delivery letter you would be getting a more positive level of support but since the errors were made by you then you are only going to have those errors pointed out to you for the majority of responses.

qazitory

Most companies will only take a cancellation in writing? Did you do this after the call?

PaulK_3

VM will take the cancellation by phone via the correct department but as with all providers a registered delivery letter is always a recommended follow up.

normanmark

bstack wrote: »

As this is a site operating on behalf of the consumer, you seem, to me, to be in the wrong place.

Yes it operates for consumers, however you're asking here for an answer that isnt correct. ie. It's all Virgin's fault. When people don't tell you what you want to hear you're throwing the toys out of the pram. Consumer advice? Yes. Moving the goal posts because a consumer f*cked up? No.

You didnt go through to the right department for cancellation & the reason why they were transferring you through was the original advisor wouldn't have had access to cancelling your service.

At that point he/she would not know whether you got through to the dept or whether your 'battery ran out'. They would of dealt with the next call.

Your ignorance here is that you didn't follow up anything. You didn't bother to call back & you didn't bother to confirm in writing. Like i said, alarm bells should of been ringing if you didn't receive a letter from them confirming the cancellation.

You can take the matter to someone of legal authority, it'd be pretty safe to say that Virgin would win 10 times out of 10 in a case like this. Put it down to experience & pay what is owed.

A_fiend_for_life

It's a bit like walking into a bank and saying 'I want to close my account' and walking away without some sort of paper shuffling, settling the balance and signing really.

Your phone packed in really you should have...blah blah.


Best foot forward and try again. If that doesn't work try a compromise.

If that doesn't work try CAB but I wouldn't let it progress any further and certainly not without legal advice.

Sorry but I think it might be a lesson learned though.

bstack

When people don't tell you what you want to hear you're throwing the toys out of the pram

You didnt go through to the right department for cancellation & the reason why they were transferring you through was the original advisor wouldn't have had access to cancelling your service.

At that point he/she would not know whether you got through to the dept or whether your 'battery ran out'. They would of dealt with the next call.

Your ignorance here is that you didn't follow up anything. You didn't bother to call back & you didn't bother to confirm in writing. Like i said, alarm bells should of been ringing if you didn't receive a letter from them confirming the cancellation.

You can take the matter to someone of legal authority, it'd be pretty safe to say that Virgin would win 10 times out of 10 in a case like this. Put it down to experience & pay what is owed.[/quote]

'When people don't tell you what you want to hear you're throwing the toys out of the pram'

I was not complaining about the view/opinion of that poster, I was complaining about the aggresive tone and choice of words of used by that poster. This is, afterall, supposed to be a civil form, and so to accuse someone of 'idiocy' and question the parental upbringing of a fellow poster, quite frankly, flies in the face of civility. Hence my swift rebuttal of that poster.

'At that point he/she would not know whether you got through to the dept or whether your 'battery ran out'. They would of dealt with the next call.'

Virgin have already confirmed, from a note on their system, that they were aware the call ended before I got through, and that they were aware of the nature of my call. Having worked in these type of centres myself, I know that standard practice is to try to call the customer back (Virgin have conf'd they did not attempt this) or to email the relevant dept with the info so that they can confirm this.

I wouldn;t have received a letter becaue, as I originally advised, I'd moved house, therefore the service was of no use.

Regardless of this, I am due to speak to them tomorrow and will advise of the outcome.