Virgin Media Direct Debit..?

LNG

Sorry, this is a long one but a problem that is not being resolved! I added Sky sports to my Virgin Media TV package in August, for roughly £18/mnth. After that month was up, I received a bill which included the £18 for the next month's Sky and when I rang Virgin to cancel it, I asked if this would reflect in the direct debit about to come out, i.e, would the extra £18 be taken off before the next payment. I was told that it was cancelled, and yes, the amount due would be reduced by £18. However, I noticed on a sunday that they had taken the full amount 2 days before, leaving me with not enough money to cover my DDs due out the next day. I was charged £60 by my bank and promptly rang Virgin about the issue. They told me I had to write a letter of complaint, including proof of the charge and a covering letter. I did this, but then had to chase them up by phone and was told they would not be refunding the charge because I had cancelled the Sky only 4 days before the DD was due. I argued that if that was the case, I should have been advised so that I could have covered the extra money before it came out. They said they would ask the supervisor to check through the phone calls to find out what was said. I chased up again 2 days later to be told they had no record of the original phone call when I had cancelled the Sky; this puzzled me because one advisor had managed to find out that I'd cancelled 4 days before the DD. They listed all the other calls I had made to them over the last month and said that when advisors access my account, the computer automatically logs the time and date and records notes made during the phone call but mysteriously this particular call had not been logged. They have now given me an address to write to, I must give them the date of the original phone call so they can listen to the actual call and identify the advisor and hear what was said. I don't know the actual date. I have argued with them for over 2 weeks now and am absolutely fed up, especially because if I owed them £60, i'm sure any relevant phone calls would be easily accessed within minutes. I feel as though I'm being conned. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it, I am starting to want to give up, which is obviously exactly what they want me to do.

Esqui

I have had very similar problems with Virgin, it took them about 3 months to sort it out!

But I'd carry on doing what they say - and although you don't know the exact date, give them a rough date (e.g. the first two weeks of October, or something) and let them do the legwork.

Secondly, I don't suppose you could add in a couple of paragraphs there? Walls of text are a bit hard to read

scullster

Esqui wrote: »

Secondly, I don't suppose you could add in a couple of paragraphs there? Walls of text are a bit hard to read

Totally agree, if its too hard to read, I give up - its not like I'm getting paid to do this.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Sorry guys but I had no problems reading that

OP, If you can find the time do go and see your local CAB as they will be able to advise you and help you with this.

Did you only cancel the sports or VM as a whole? If not then ask to be put through to cancellation as these guys are really good at sorting out your problem, In my experience anyway.

Good luck with it.

woody01

This is the second place you have posted this same thing on the forums.

Any where else i should avoid so i dont have to read a third time?

pinkshoes

Can't you look at your phone record to note the time and date that you made the phone call? If Virgin provide the phone line, surely they can tell you when a call was made to them from your line? And ditto for a mobile - just look at calls made.

Just write them the letter, send it recorded delivery, and give them 7 days to respond.

For future reference, if your account is running that low on money, then perhaps signing up to sports channels is not really wise...