charges from Virgin Media

he6rt6gr6m

Im sorry for the use of language in the Subject bar, but I couldnt think of any other way to describe my situation.

Over the past couple of months, Ive found it very hard to get the bills paid in full. Ive paid the majority of their bills, but not the lot, and the more they add a £10 charge, the more its becoming impossible for me to pay it.

My latest bill is £135, £49 of which are my services, and £30 are Phone calls. That means that £55 are charges ranging from Payment Handling (the one where if you dont use Direct Debit, they charge you for no reason - Sky charge 50p for this, for comparison) and a £10 charge for each payment that is carried over to the next bill.

What I have said to the debt collecting people on behalf of Virgin Media, is that I will pay for what I have used, and I will not be pressured into paying any of the payment charges or the Non-DD fees, because I dont see them as being fair... plus I physically cant afford it.

Previously, Virgin have erradicated the £10 fee a few times, which has helped, but Im not too sure that they will eliminate the past 3 charges, but Im standing my ground on the Non-DD charge, given it doesnt cost £5, and the competition is charging 50p.

Am I right to stand my ground here?

scotsbob

he6rt6gr6m wrote: »

Im sorry for the use of language in the Subject bar, but I couldnt think of any other way to describe my situation.

Over the past couple of months, Ive found it very hard to get the bills paid in full. Ive paid the majority of their bills, but not the lot, and the more they add a £10 charge, the more its becoming impossible for me to pay it.

My latest bill is £135, £49 of which are my services, and £30 are Phone calls. That means that £55 are charges ranging from Payment Handling (the one where if you dont use Direct Debit, they charge you for no reason - Sky charge 50p for this, for comparison) and a £10 charge for each payment that is carried over to the next bill.

What I have said to the debt collecting people on behalf of Virgin Media, is that I will pay for what I have used, and I will not be pressured into paying any of the payment charges or the Non-DD fees, because I dont see them as being fair... plus I physically cant afford it.

Previously, Virgin have erradicated the £10 fee a few times, which has helped, but Im not too sure that they will eliminate the past 3 charges, but Im standing my ground on the Non-DD charge, given it doesnt cost £5, and the competition is charging 50p.

Am I right to stand my ground here?

I think you might get more helpful advice if you posted this question in one of the debt forums.

he6rt6gr6m

Argh. Sorry about that. I thought it was a DTV, etc, problem. :S

he6rt6gr6m

Reckon a Mod could move this to the right forum?

sporedude

If you stand your ground the debt on those charges will build up, And it may harm your credit rating.

davethorp

Sky actually charge nothing to pay by direct debit, 50p to pay by continuous card authority or £4 to pay by any other method.

I recently challenged virgin media on these charges and it would appear that they would rather lose someone's custom rather than admit the charges were unfair. I am now very happy with sky, BT and O2 and save £15 a month into the bargain too!

he6rt6gr6m

Hmmm. Complete opposite from me today.

A delightful chap called Chris helped me out a lot, and managed to wipe off two Late Payment Fees and also a couple of these Payment Handling fees, with the return that I pay by Direct Debit in the future.

I then questioned why I only recieved £30 from a recommendation, when a leaflet I had in hand told me £50 was the amount.

'CS will sort that out for you, no problem, so if you can pay £6.44, we will be done, and you will be at £0.00.'

Spot on.

As the guy explained as Payment Handling goes, those charges dont account for the bank to bank transfer, but rather the amount of money spent on ink, paper and phonecalls they do to call up as debt collectors. I should have told them to send me an e-mail everytime, because thats costless. I still think £5 is too steep and needs looking at seriously. Its a big shaft to the customer.

davethorp

Well VM not only ended up losing me as a customer but they also ended up writing off any outstanding balance they thought I had on my final bill because they weren't prepared to take me on in court over the charges (and a couple of other things too)

kerry_lee1979

Hi,

I'm sorry to post on someones else thread (if thats the right word) but can anyone tell me how I start a new thread? I'm new to all of this as you can probably tell but also clueless, thanks in advance for any help )

nordtraveller

click this:

kerry_lee1979

closet trekkie?