Virgin Mobile broadband don't accept payment in advance

arthur2

Because of serious illness leading to disability, I have minimal income, but my wife is employed. I have a very poor credit rating, and am paying pre-disability debts on a negotiated reduced basis.

We have all three Virgin Media services and pay by DD, as we have done for over ten years. We have never had a DD payment to Virgin fail. When I asked to add mobile broadband at £5/month they said:

"Unfortunately, we're sorry to say that your application to set up a Direct Debit has been unsuccessful. But there are still 4 other ways to pay.

If you're sick of messing around with vouchers, then you can grab an E-top up card. You can top up in loads more places. Plus, it's quicker too.

Or better still, register your credit card online at virgin.com/mobile and you
can top up straight from your sofa, day or night."

So we decided to pay in advance, and did a top-up of £20 immediately, to cover the first four months. We could have paid the full year as easily.

They now say their computer can't handle this! They say one has to have a Virgin Mobile credit account before they can set up a DD (though we already have a DD for landline, TV and normal BB), and that they can't set up mobile broadband without a DD:

"Unfortunately, paying for the contract in advance is not an option as the contract can only be added once the credit score has been passed and the Direct Debit has been set up."

Is it legal to force a customer to have a credit arrangement when one is not wanted, or to refuse prepayment (which the earlier email had said was the way to proceed)?

They seem to have a funny way of declining money even when offered in advance!

I find it incredible that in a recession Virgin Mobile does not accept prepayment for their service.

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Arthur

macman

Ask them why your DD cannot be set up or increased to cover the extra. Your credit status should not have any bearing on this if you have an existing Virgin account and are not in arrears. If you have a bank account then a DD can be set up or modified unless your bank have intervened for some reason.

Colliefrog

A Virgin MBB account is seperate to your Virgin Media account, so it wouldn't make a difference if you have a DD set up with Virgin Media or not. Virgin Mobile don't offer PAYG MBB, they only way to set it up is on a credit account. Once this is set up, THEN you can pay by voucher/ETU/debit/credit card. If you feel the credit score decision is unjust then you can either write to the Credit Strategy Team at Virgin Mobile or contact Equifax who they use for the credit score.

arthur2

Thanks to both for replies.

As Virgin Mobile offered prepay in their email. I prepaid and thus probably they can't now refuse the service.

I am taking legal advice as another site implies that: as I have been offered and have accepted a prepaid service, and having duly prepaid, I seem to have a de facto contract now.

We shall see whether they wriggle out of that!

I have not pursued it (yet) through Virgin Media - with whom I already have an ongoing DD - as their staff seem to think that 1GB mobile bb is £15/month, whereas Virgin Mobile say it is £5/month, as stated on both websites! The £5 rate appears to be only for existing Virgin Media customers. I can't afford £15/month, but £5 is OK.

arthur2

This problem has been resolved...

After they said I could not have prepaid mobile broadband, I referred the matter to Neil Berkett, CEO, who passed it to one of his staff.

The DD problem was apparently a deficiency of the link-up between Virgin Media and Mobile, and established Virgin Media customers who are reliable payers should be pre-approved for Mobile DD - which in fact I was, but somehow their computer failed to notice - until yesterday. I now have a DD showing as set up on their system.

This same very helpful lady has been dealing with a couple of other cockups within Virgin Media too, and it now just leaves a bit of administrative tidying-up on the Virgin Media side.

Cheers