My contract ended bit I'm still being billed

Ligeraceaster

Hello,

My 18 month contract with Virgin Mobile ended 6 months ago, and i've still been billed £12 each month since. I rang the disconnection department to be told it was my own fault because I hadn't given them 30 days notice. I argued that I told them not to renew it when they rang up to try and get me to continue the contract but apparently that doesn't count. Do I have any leg to stand on or is it really my fault? I've cancelled it now and I've also cancelled my direct debit because they aren't getting another penny out of me. I'm thinking about threatening to leave their home phone and broadband too, do you think it might work? Any help much appreciated!

Thanks,
Christopher

Exhortation

Contracts are for a MINIMUM term and don't automatically cease when the length of that term has ended. If you don't cancel the contract then it will switch to a rolling 30-day one and you will continue to be billed.

Kilty_2

Exhortation wrote: »

Contracts are for a MINIMUM term and don't automatically cease when the length of that term has ended. If you don't cancel the contract then it will switch to a rolling 30-day one and you will continue to be billed.

This.

Oh and give them notice properly - cancelling your DD is just going to get you a default on your credit file. You might find you are due a final bill which if they can't collect, they'll chase you for.

:mad:

drbesty

I suppose you'd have moaned if they just cut you off once the 18 months was up

Ligeraceaster

Kilty wrote: »

This.

Oh and give them notice properly - cancelling your DD is just going to get you a default on your credit file. You might find you are due a final bill which if they can't collect, they'll chase you for.

:mad:

I've given them notice I just object to giving them any more of my hard earned for something I didn't ask for. I think it's disgusting

drbesty wrote: »

I suppose you'd have moaned if they just cut you off once the 18 months was up

I would have been perfectly happy with that because as far as I was concerned after 18 months that would be it anyway and I'd already told them I didn't want to renew. I thought that the end of a contract was just that but obviously I was mistaken.

mrochester

Ligeraceaster wrote: »

I've given them notice I just object to giving them any more of my hard earned for something I didn't ask for. I think it's disgusting



I would have been perfectly happy with that because as far as I was concerned after 18 months that would be it anyway and I'd already told them I didn't want to renew. I thought that the end of a contract was just that but obviously I was mistaken.

I think you're getting confused with the terminology. Saying you don't want to renew simply means you don't want to commit to another minimum period (i.e., another 12, 18, 24 months). That is very different to actually ending the contract. If you don't renew your contract, it simply switches to a 30 day contract, meaning you can cancel it at any time, subject to a 30 day notice period.

It sounds like you have done the first part 6 months ago, but have only done the second part now. You'd be better off not cancelling the direct debit as you'll get a black mark against your name, and it's also not Virgin's fault that you didn't give notice of cancellation until now, so they have been billing you correctly.

I thought that the end of a contract was just that but obviously I was mistaken.

And specifically this part is where so so so many people trip up. What you have reached is the end of the minimum period of time you have to keep the contract, not the contract itself. Without cancellation, the contract will continue on a rolling basis.

Kilty_2

Ligeraceaster wrote: »

for something I didn't ask for. I think it's disgusting.

It's all in the terms and conditions - which of course you won't have read.

Surprised? Of course not. I worked in CS for O2 for long enough to realise that nobody reads anything and then blames the big, bad operator when things go wrong.