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Advice on elderly mother potentially being ripped off by Virgin Media.
Zello
Posts: 1 Newbie
Two weeks ago my elderly mother got a letter from Virgin offering to upgrade her tv/phone/internet package to XL for £51 for the first 6 months and then £58 for the remaining 6. She worked out that this would work out cheaper for her than what she was paying, so she went for it. They sent her a wireless router which she is now using..
A week after ordering the upgrade, her bill came and they have charged her £58. She phoned them up and the woman on the phone, said the service is £58 per month and that she had no record of the special offer. She said she would look into it and then.get back to her and reduce the bill if it was wrong. A week later they still haven't got back to her and the online bill is still stating £58.
In the meantime 2 charming young boys from Sky have been round (got in the house by confusing her saying they were from Virgin and were there because she was being charged too much) and have signed her up to a Sky package of a similar service nature (perhaps a little better) that will work out 47 a year cheaper. She only figured out that they were not from Virgin when they started to arrange installation of a new phone line, but went along with it because it was cheaper and they assured her she could cancel her Virgin services with 30 days notice without incurring a fee. Fortunately she is still within the cooling off period for this.
Where does she stand with Virgin? Technically she is out of the 7 day cooling off period for the new services and signed up to a 12 month contract, however they are not providing what she signed up for. I am going to phone up tomorrow to speak to them. If they refuse to honour the offer (she still has the letter) does she have the right to cancel without incurring a fee?
I think she would rather have the Sky, but may well be stuck with Virgin. Any suggestions please? (Other than putting my mother in a home to save her from herself
)
I'm also considering complaining to Sky while I'm on a roll.
A week after ordering the upgrade, her bill came and they have charged her £58. She phoned them up and the woman on the phone, said the service is £58 per month and that she had no record of the special offer. She said she would look into it and then.get back to her and reduce the bill if it was wrong. A week later they still haven't got back to her and the online bill is still stating £58.
In the meantime 2 charming young boys from Sky have been round (got in the house by confusing her saying they were from Virgin and were there because she was being charged too much) and have signed her up to a Sky package of a similar service nature (perhaps a little better) that will work out 47 a year cheaper. She only figured out that they were not from Virgin when they started to arrange installation of a new phone line, but went along with it because it was cheaper and they assured her she could cancel her Virgin services with 30 days notice without incurring a fee. Fortunately she is still within the cooling off period for this.
Where does she stand with Virgin? Technically she is out of the 7 day cooling off period for the new services and signed up to a 12 month contract, however they are not providing what she signed up for. I am going to phone up tomorrow to speak to them. If they refuse to honour the offer (she still has the letter) does she have the right to cancel without incurring a fee?
I think she would rather have the Sky, but may well be stuck with Virgin. Any suggestions please? (Other than putting my mother in a home to save her from herself
)I'm also considering complaining to Sky while I'm on a roll.
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