Virgin bogus calls

cloudy-day

My Mum is in her 80's, housebound, and lives alone.

She has my and my sister's mobile numbers for emergencies but always calls to the landline at home or work.

Her virgin phone bills are generally £2-3 a month. This month its £200 - all to various mobile numbers with calls made during the day.

My Mum did not make these calls, and doesn't have anyone in the house who would. She gets few visitors during the day and as the phone is in the hall would have heard someone using it.

She spoke to a 'nice lady' from Virgin who assured her that they would block calls to mobiles, but Mum would have to pay £75 for Virgin to investigate if she disputed the bill.

Surely this isn't right? Mum has been with Virgin for years so they know her call patterns - she has obviously been a victim of a scam but how do we prove it? She's been in floods of tears and just can't understand why Virgin won't help her.

Any advice would be gratfully appreciated.

Mark_In_Hampshire

No, it isn't right, it's nonsense.

The bill needs to be put into dispute and only the amount owed should be paid after deducting the falsely billed calls.

This issue does come up on here from time to time and I'm not suggesting it's true in her case, but usually after a poster responds with "do you have a cleaner? Were you out on that day? Were there any workmen at the house that day unattended? Was your grandson left in the house alone" etc the thread stops then and there as the proverbial penny drops.

Personally, I'd suggest if you have the time - send an email to Virgin on your mum's behalf to do this, indicating clearly which bill, which calls are disputed, and explain you'll be paying £X towards the bill of £total because that's what you owe.

I'd then go on to ask them to explain why this occured and the steps being taken to ensure that it does not happen again.

booter

Hi Cloudy-day. I was just updating my thread on a similar situation and spotted your thread! Brace yourself cause you're going to need some stamina. If you have a little read through my thread it may give you an idea of what to expect and how to respond. Hope it helps, but I'll keep checking back in just in case, or you could PM me if you need any further info. Tell your Mum to try not to worry - she may even end up benefitting financially just a little!

Importantly, the first thing for you to do is to complain using one of their online complaint forms, explain that you're getting no-where by calling them, hence the complaint. Ask for the case to be escalated to a manager. This way, you may even get someone's name and direct line! But don't hold your breath - it took longer than the 3 days (or whatever) specified for them to get back to my Mum. (It took them around 2 weeks). Alternatively you could try the direct approach and contact the CEO - neil.berkett@virginmedia.co.uk (as suggested by cable forum - thanks to dave_dph) - this may in fact work a bit better! (Although I've not tried this myself yet).

Good luck!!

cloudy-day

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

No, it isn't right, it's nonsense.

The bill needs to be put into dispute and only the amount owed should be paid after deducting the falsely billed calls.

This issue does come up on here from time to time and I'm not suggesting it's true in her case, but usually after a poster responds with "do you have a cleaner? Were you out on that day? Were there any workmen at the house that day unattended? Was your grandson left in the house alone" etc the thread stops then and there as the proverbial penny drops.

Personally, I'd suggest if you have the time - send an email to Virgin on your mum's behalf to do this, indicating clearly which bill, which calls are disputed, and explain you'll be paying £X towards the bill of £total because that's what you owe.

I'd then go on to ask them to explain why this occured and the steps being taken to ensure that it does not happen again.

Thanks, that is the obvious solution but is NOT the case with my Mum, as she lives alone, has NO help and discourages visitors (thats another thread all together!) Wish it was that simple.

Thanks for your comments Booter - its only just happened so Mum is giving them a few days. Once that has expired your suggestions will be carried out, good to know its not just us this has happened to.

Main problem that Mum is elderly and not as sharp or resilient as she once was - despite everything we say she is still very very upset about all of this.

wantmemoney

Networks are continually being accessed by criminals to place fraudulent calls.

These series of cases going back to 2005 involved criminals placing calls to premium rate numbers to collect a share of the generated revenue but I see no reason why a criminal would not do the same to avoid paying a phone bill.

Virgin Media billing fraudulent premium rate services
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2455827

I recently contacted PhonepayPlus

Dear Phonepayplus,

I don't know whether it is possible but I would be grateful if this correspondence could be forwarded to Sir Alistair Graham for him see and respond to.

It is now clear that the ********'s client was not using the numbers to supply premium rate services to the public but instead was using them to commit common criminal theft.
................
...............

and this is what they said:

Dear **

Many thanks for your e-mail and the information contained within it. I have now had the opportunity to speak to both **** and BT’s fraud department in relation to this matter.

BT have confirmed they have been investigating this for some time and have now passed their report to the police to review. They are aware that this problem has affected a number of their customers and believe that a form of ‘hacking’ into personal lines has taken place. BT are aware of all their consumers that have been affected by this problem and are refunding upon request. They have also been in recent contact with the PhonepayPlus Investigations team to obtain further information about the companies contracted on the numbers generating any charges.

PhonepayPlus will assist both BT and the police in providing any information that may assist their enquiries as requested but will not open a formal investigation as no breach of the Code of Practice has taken place – this appears to be fraud and this is therefore a matter for the police to investigate. Any link between **** and similar problems that may have previously occurred (such as in 1995) will hopefully be discovered as part of the police investigation. We will not be in a position to provide any further information, such as any company that may have sub-contracted with **** to anyone other than BT or the police as part of their investigation.

I can assure you that I have discussed this matter in detail with Paul Whiteing, Chief Executive of PhonepayPlus who is in full agreement with this course of action. Mr Whiteing has regular meetings with Sir Alistair Graham and an update will be added to the next agenda.

If you do have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

PhonepayPlus

booter

Hi Cloudy Day - in case your Mum's still having trouble, I've just updated my thread - hope it's ok though, and that you're ok too.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/38916344#Comment_38916344