Virgin Media Fiasco Help Please!

hopefulmonster

Well first of all I'm new here so a big hello to everyone!

Now I have a huge problem with Virgin Media charges, and I would really appreciate any advice on this.

I've been with them over a year now, I have the TV-Phone-Broadband package that costs £47.50 a month.

Now when I first signed up, I specifically asked if there were any call packages I could get that include mobiles, as I phone my partner on his mobile a lot. When I was told that there weren't any, it wasn't a big deal, just would have been nice.

A few months back, the call costs were creeping up, and my partner rang up to ask about phone call packages that include mobiles, and was again told no there wasn't anything like that.

Three months ago, my partner gets a new job and now spends over an hour on the bus getting home each night. Me phoning him while he comes home made the monthly call charges completely skyrocket. The August bill was over £150 and considering the service charges are only £47.50, you can see how much they charged us! He phoned up to ask about the huge bill and was told it was because of mobile phone calls. He then AGAIN asked if there were any call packages that would help with the costs, and was again told no, but was advised to get a pair of virgin mobile phones.

This month we got cut off for reaching some sort of credit limit. I got services back today (after paying £150 of a £230 bill) but am going to get cut off again on the 7th if I dont pay the other £100.

I mentioned this to a friend who was shocked and said - mate, they DO have call packages that include mobiles - and linked me to the Virgin website which I unfortunetely have never been on before now.

Looking there from what I saw I could have been put on a Talk Anywhere package and get 400 minutes for £17 a month, or even the 200 minutes one for £9 a month. Obviously now, I'm completely aggravated that we have technically been overcharged so bloody much, but even worse that despite asking if anything like that existed, REPEATEDLY being told it doesn't!!? We have paid well over £500 more than we should have done, if they had just put us on the package from the start.

Basically my question is - are they in the wrong for this? I'm phoning them tomorrow when their phone lines reopen, but I am so terrible at complaining and have no idea at all what to say to them, or even if they are actually in the wrong.

I know they record their service calls so they should definitely have records of us asking about it, and being told the wrong thing surely?

Anyway any advice on what I should say to them, or what I should do, or if they are actually in the wrong, would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

ACDeag

hopefulmonster wrote: »

Well first of all I'm new here so a big hello to everyone!

Now I have a huge problem with Virgin Media charges, and I would really appreciate any advice on this.

I've been with them over a year now, I have the TV-Phone-Broadband package that costs £47.50 a month.

Now when I first signed up, I specifically asked if there were any call packages I could get that include mobiles, as I phone my partner on his mobile a lot. When I was told that there weren't any, it wasn't a big deal, just would have been nice.

A few months back, the call costs were creeping up, and my partner rang up to ask about phone call packages that include mobiles, and was again told no there wasn't anything like that.

Three months ago, my partner gets a new job and now spends over an hour on the bus getting home each night. Me phoning him while he comes home made the monthly call charges completely skyrocket. The August bill was over £150 and considering the service charges are only £47.50, you can see how much they charged us! He phoned up to ask about the huge bill and was told it was because of mobile phone calls. He then AGAIN asked if there were any call packages that would help with the costs, and was again told no, but was advised to get a pair of virgin mobile phones.

This month we got cut off for reaching some sort of credit limit. I got services back today (after paying £150 of a £230 bill) but am going to get cut off again on the 7th if I dont pay the other £100.

I mentioned this to a friend who was shocked and said - mate, they DO have call packages that include mobiles - and linked me to the Virgin website which I unfortunetely have never been on before now.

Looking there from what I saw I could have been put on a Talk Anywhere package and get 400 minutes for £17 a month, or even the 200 minutes one for £9 a month. Obviously now, I'm completely aggravated that we have technically been overcharged so bloody much, but even worse that despite asking if anything like that existed, REPEATEDLY being told it doesn't!!? We have paid well over £500 more than we should have done, if they had just put us on the package from the start.

Basically my question is - are they in the wrong for this? I'm phoning them tomorrow when their phone lines reopen, but I am so terrible at complaining and have no idea at all what to say to them, or even if they are actually in the wrong.

I know they record their service calls so they should definitely have records of us asking about it, and being told the wrong thing surely?

Anyway any advice on what I should say to them, or what I should do, or if they are actually in the wrong, would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Would you not be better off getting a contract mobile yourself. You can then call another mobile using the inclusive minutes, it may work out cheaper.

Heinz

Or send one text message whilst your partner's coming home ("ETA?") and use the remaining time to plan what you want to say later.

hopefulmonster

Appreciate the responses - the fact is that I was told repeatedly that such a package didn't exist even though it did, which has meant I've overpaid each month for over a year when (could have been paying £9 a month for 200 mins instead of like £50+ which adds up to a lot of money)

My house gets no mobile signal so getting a contract mobile sadly isnt an option

hopefulmonster

Sorry to double post but I'm at a loss as to what to do.

After complaining to the customer services team (which were offensively rude) they offered me £29 off my next bill, which I politely declined.

I emailed my complaint to them, and apparantly the agents not only gave me false information, but failed to write any notes regarding my queries on my records.

So basically they said I can't prove anything, so I can !!!! off.

Can this be in any way legal?!