Virgin Media adding extra charges

tetra-xo

I signed up with Virgin Media about a month ago, a rep brought the contract to my house to sign. He told us we had to pay £30 for our first bill, but then our second bill would be £10, then £20 a month afterwards.

I just checked my online account and it says I have to pay a £20 delivery fee and a £20 activation fee. The rep told me and my housemate that we wouldn't have to pay the activation fee and we weren't told about a delivery charge! I can't find anything on the contract which says I'd agreed to pay them.


I've tried phoning customer services twice, but each time I'm put on hold and then the call cuts off after 5 minutes. Before being placed on hold, the first person I spoke to seemed to think I'd have to pay them despite not being told about one of the charges and being told I didn't have to pay the other.


Any ideas on how to resolve this issue?

tetra-xo

sporty_han26 wrote: »

Seems a bit sneaky to me by the sales rep. I would check out the contract that you signed first and then speak with the company again.

I've looked at the contract and gone through all the small print. I've tried contacting the rep 4 times and there's no answer or reply from him. I showed my contract to another rep who was in town and he says I shouldn't have to pay anything extra.

But I can't get in contact with the rep who I originally dealt with and I can't afford to call customer services again only to be cut off.

kwikbreaks

My guess is that the person you bought through may not be a Virgin employee but a third party operating on commission. This is common practice for getting people to switch electric and gas suppliers but I've not heard of it with VM so I could be wrong. Had you ordered through a cashback site (Quidco TopCashBack) you would have got £65 cashback at the moment (it varies) and possibly a free install if VM are offering it on their site which they often do.

I doubt you have any redress as the contract won't mention these fees specifically and it's your word againsy the seller who you can't even contact now.

macman

Th moral is of course never to sign up through cold callers who are purely interested in getting their commission, and will tell you the moon is made of cheese if they think it will get you to sign. Use a cashback site and keep the commission for yourself.

tetra-xo

macman wrote: »

Th moral is of course never to sign up through cold callers who are purely interested in getting their commission, and will tell you the moon is made of cheese if they think it will get you to sign. Use a cashback site and keep the commission for yourself.

Well thank you for insulting my general intelligence there.
It was actually me who got in touch with him in the first place since there was a problem with my address not showing up on the Virgin Media address search.


The contract does have a space for a delivery fee and any extra charges, all of this is crossed out.

macman

No one is insulting your intelligence. But expecting a rep (who is probably a third party not even employed by VM) to tell you the honest facts is optimistic in the extreme, and (as you have now found) they certainly won't be around to explain themselves when you find that you're not getting what they said you would get.

tetra-xo

macman wrote: »

No one is insulting your intelligence. But expecting a rep (who is probably a third party not even employed by VM) to tell you the honest facts is optimistic in the extreme, and (as you have now found) they certainly won't be around to explain themselves when you find that you're not getting what they said you would get.

He had Virgin Media ID and documentation so I'm pretty sure he was employed by them. He also has an employee e-mail address.



Anyway, all I really need to know is if anyone can tell me where I stand. Am I liable for these charges even if they are not mentioned on my bill?

kwikbreaks

tetra-xo wrote: »

Anyway, all I really need to know is if anyone can tell me where I stand. Am I liable for these charges even if they are not mentioned on my bill?

You should really be asking that question in one of the consumer/legal boards. This one tends to just get technical type advice.

That said FWIW I would say you've been stitched up and VM play hardball on unpaid debts although you could get lucky if you complain.

tetra-xo

kwikbreaks wrote: »

You should really be asking that question in one of the consumer/legal boards. This one tends to just get technical type advice.

That said FWIW I would say you've been stitched up and VM play hardball on unpaid debts although you could get lucky if you complain.

Ah thanks, I'll try posting on there for advice.

tetra-xo

I just spoke to someone from the billing department and she told me that I won't have to pay but the system won't update until after my first bill so not to take any notice of the charges that are there at the moment!

kwikbreaks

You got lucky then - nice

I got an incorrect £20 charge and that wasn't refunded until the next bill.