Virgin Media Set-Top Box - A CAUTIONARY TALE!

greenfroggy

Anyone else out there? Someone has to have one lying around?

boliston

Is this the sort of thing you threw out?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Virgin-media-cable-tv-stb_W0QQitemZ330403709456QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL?hash=item4ced988210

greenfroggy

Yes it is! and more ...

:mad:

msf

:mad::mad::mad:
I've just had this same problem with Virgin media. I phoned them 5 weeks before I was moving out of my flat to tell them I was leaving. They said fine, we'll send you a poly bag to send us back the set-top box. Not once was I given the option of someone coming round to collect it! Anyway, by the day before I was due to move out nothing had arrived from them and when I tried to phone them I couldn't get through to anyone as it was a Sunday and that department wasn't open! I pressed a button which promised me someone would phone me back - of course they didn't and the next morning when I picked up the phone to try to contact them again it had already been disconnected! Having a million other things to be thinking about as I was moving house that day, I made the decision to just leave the set-top box in the property, thinking surely they'd have sent the stuff to me in time if they'd really wanted it back!
BIG MISTAKE!!!
About 2 weeks later I received (via my re-directed post) the packaging from them in which they wanted me to return their precious set-top box, which by the way was so old it was actually an ntl one! I immediately phoned them to find out a) why it had taken them so long to send it and b) what on earth they expected me to do about it at this point?!
I was told in no uncertain terms that I would be charged for it. I made all of my points to them and the girl I spoke to said she would make a note of them all on my account and that it would be up to customer services or somone. I then just waited to hear from them again but heard nothing from them whatsoever until this morning when I received a letter from a debt collection agency saying I owed them £49.41. I phoned this agency and was treated like a complete imbecile! The girl on the phone likened my behaviour to "borrowing a library book and not returning it - of course you'll get charged"!!!!! Furious, I phoned Virgin only to be fobbed off, put on hold and then eventually cut off completely! I eventually managed after speaking to three different people to get out of them that they HAD sent me a bill for that amount, which I did not receive, but that it was only sent less than 2 weeks ago! Not really much time to have given someone to pay off an outstanding amount before passing it to debt collectors, is it?! I was so furious and upset by this point that I ended up caving in and paying them for their stupid box, mainly so I wouldn't have to deal with this any more, but also because I'm about to apply for a mortgage and I was worried about anything like this damaging my credit rating!
I've sent them off a strongly worded complaint and I've been advised by friends to contact Ofcom, although I doubt that now they've got their hands on my money I'm ever realistically going to see it again...........
From reading other people's postings about this matter I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this could actually be something that they are doing on purpose in order to get more money out of people who are leaving them!
I've also heard that another friend recently had a similar problem with BT though, so maybe they're all as bad as each other???

lindos90

Stumbled upon this thread and so glad I did!

I'll make sure my mum holds onto her virgin+ box when she moves home and switches to sky!;)

...now back to searching for sky+ and talk anytime telephone package without broadband!!

It appears to take them so long to collect, people have moved already, surely the cost of chasing outweighs the cost of the boxes, especially the old ones!

Cambridge81

msf wrote: »

:mad::mad::mad:
From reading other people's postings about this matter I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this could actually be something that they are doing on purpose in order to get more money out of people who are leaving them!

I'm have a problem trying to send my set top box and modem back as I moved to a place that does not have cable.

Twice now they have not sent the jiffy bags and I've requested a third time. I have a letter from a debt collection agency with a demand for money. I have contacted them and they have put the collection on hold, for now.

Like you I suspect this is a scam and Virgin Media are hoping people will just give up trying to return items and pay up.

I've been in touch with customer service and they are OK if you get the right person. But it's their returns dept that is playing shenanigans.

I'd like to make a proper complaint to whomsoever, perhaps ofcom and get someone to investigate Virgin Media as it's out of control.

Any suggestions, please.

buddhu_baddy

All the above sounds very strange, then frustrating!!!. What happened to msf and cambridge81 is disgusting.............

I would suggest if anyone has legal cover as part of home insurance, they can then contact a lawyer to take them(VM/NTL) to court over such issues. The legal cover as part of home insurance is good enough for small court appeals/cases and shouldn't cost one anything.

Another suggestion I was thinking of was for anyone who is subscribed to ?which.co.uk. I think they also offer legal service at fixed price, or maybe give advice on the case. The new comers to ?which can take a 1 month subscription for £1 only and use this legal assistance offered. After one month, cancel the subscription and hopefully wouldn't cost much at all.

Any suggestions

stripelord

Doubt anyone will see this now, but I ended up not having to pay Virgin at all for the box. I explained to the guy who came out that I didn't have it any more. I was very civil to him, which I think he appreciated (they must get a lot of abuse).

He said I'd receive an invoice at some point. That was a loooong time ago and I have never heard from him or from Virgin again.

My guess is that he appreciated me being nice to him and decided not to "write it up".