Virgin Direct Debit Mess

buzzarmstrong

Hi,

I have been receiving Virgin broadband since December 2009 and I have just discovered that they have never taken payment for their services.

As I receive only broadband I just assumed that I would not receive a bill due to the fact that the price is constant and there are no factors which would cause this to fluctuate.

I had total faith that the money was being taken from my account via direct debit and the error has only now arisen due to a fault with the service which I reported. They arranged to send an engineer to repair the cable 3 weeks after I reported the fault so I informed them that I was not willing to pay for that months service and they stated that they would refund £20 to my account.

I checked my bank account to see if the refund was there and to my horror I discovered that no direct debit amount was being taken. A phone call to my bank confirmed that no direct debit had ever been set up.

I am 38 and this is the 1st time in the whole of my adult life anything like this has ever happened to me. I have always trusted companies to set up the direct debit and this situation has now left my account in arrears.

What also bothers me though is that direct debit is only one of the methods in which a bill can be paid. If this is the case then why have I never ever received a bill for payment in more than a year of receiving their services?

As of yet I have not informed them of the error but obviously this needs resolving. Would anybody be able to advise me on my rights in this situation and the best way forward?

macman

You've not checked your bank statements in 15 months then?
I'm not sure what 'rights' you think you have in this situation? You've received the service free for 15 months and you'll have to pay for the arrears. There's no back billing limitation for broadband. However, you should be able to negotiate with VM for the arrears to be paid back over a period similar to that in whcih it has built up, so try asking them for a year as an opening offer.
Since it's VM's responsibility to bill you, you're not obliged to point out the error to them at all: however sooner or later the bill will catch up with you, so it might be unwise to let it grow any bigger.

buzzarmstrong

macman wrote: »

You've not checked your bank statements in 15 months then?
I'm not sure what 'rights' you think you have in this situation? You've received the service free for 15 months and you'll have to pay for the arrears. There's no back billing limitation for broadband. However, you should be able to negotiate with VM for the arrears to be paid back over a period similar to that in whcih it has built up, so try asking them for a year as an opening offer.
Since it's VM's responsibility to bill you, you're not obliged to point out the error to them at all: however sooner or later the bill will catch up with you, so it might be unwise to let it grow any bigger.

I check my bank statements for irregular direct debits/withdrawals being taken out. I DO NOT cross reference every single direct debit that is set up and taken out and I would hazard a guess that only a very small majority of people do that each month.

I do not know my "rights" in this situation as I have never been in this situation in the whole of my life. That is why I was hoping to get some ideas from here. I am well aware that I have received a product for 15 months that I should have been paying for but for every other product that I have ever received I have received a bill to request payment be made. In this instance I have never ever been billed and therefore never ever picked up on the none payment until now.

I obviously accept that I am partly to blame but hand on heart, how many people out of a hundred check each month that every single direct debit leaves their account. Their are 2 in my household which is my wife and I that have not picked up on this and neither of us are unintelligent people.

Is negotiating my only course of action? I want to continue with the broadband service but I do not want to pay £40 per month instead of £20 per month over the next 15 months before I catch up with the arrears.

What about Virgin's role in this? I pay my bills on time always to everybody and do not get into arrears, never have but yet Virgin have given me a service for 15 months and just let my arrears build up by not billing me. They still don't know about it now. It will be me that eventually raises the issue. I've never had a broadband service before with Virgin so do not know how the billing system works. My last and only broadband provider was 3 which was for a mobile dongle. I received a monthly bill for that but it wasn't unlimited and therefore subject to change.

Do I have any "rights" at all as to paying the money back over a period that suits me rather than Virgin?

I'm just so annoyed with Virgin and feel that they have now put me into a position that is unfair. How do I stand contractually? Are they obliged to bill me each month before payment? If so then it is them who would be in breach of contract for not billing me.

Should I just threaten to leave them due to their incompetence unless they now agree to my payback terms? It's just frustrating that this company have done this to me.

I can't even access their website to check for any bills as it constantly says "oops something appears to be broken"

The whole situation is just beyond belief.

MegaMiniMouse

Did you receive your £20 refund?

Why don't you set up a 'trust fund', and save a regular amount each month which will cover the shortfall if ever Virgin discover it?

In the meantime, enjoy your free broadband, and when eventually your circumstances change, and you need to cancel the Virgin service, then you may find yourself with a bit of a windfall

MMM

macman

You've had a interest-free loan from VM for 15m, so you've actually done rather well out of this. Now you're saying that another 15m to pay it back is not acceptable (even supposing that they offer that long, which is debatable).
I'm not suggesting you examine every line of every bank statement, but to miss it every month for 15 months you must take some responsibility.
It's entirely up to you, they're entitled to bill you for the lot in one go when they realise the error, but I would suspect that you have more chance of negotiating a more favourable payback period if you inform them voluntarily.
Threatening to leave could result in a final bill with the entire arrears wanted in one go.
Are you even out of your minimum term contract yet?

jb66

Is it possibly going to another account you've forgotten about or a partners account?

buzzarmstrong

jb66 wrote: »

Is it possibly going to another account you've forgotten about or a partners account?

It's not coming out of any of my accounts.

As far as an interest free 15 month loan is concerned, i did not sign up for that and nor would i had that been proposed at the time and besides the direct debit is interest free anyway so how can this situation be of any benefit to me whatsoever? The whole idea of direct debit is to spread the payment.

Not everyone's finances are the same. I would still like to receive broadband but to now pay it back over the next 15 months would mean a £40 per month bill which i have not budgeted for. Nor have i budgeted for a £300 bill. Now thanks to virgin i could now potentially find myself with arrears on my credit file or no broadband at all while i pay back their mess.

It would seem there is no clear solution as most people have never had this mess thrust upon them and therefore do not know the answer.

Logic says somehow i've got to pay it back but does anyone know if i am obliged to pay immediately or on my terms?

MegaMiniMouse

A friend of mine used to say that if you ain't gonna like the answer, then don't ask the question!

Are Virgin hassling you? No? Then what's the problem - just start putting the money aside at a rate which you can afford, and earn interest until Virgin get their act together

Several years ago, I lived in a block which was converted from old almshouses, and the electricity meters were totally random. I tried very hard to sort things out, but gave up after a few months, and enjoyed the fact that I was receiving no electricity bills

Coincidentally, I received a letter from the electricity company just after I had resigned my tenancy. I called the number and offered to give a guided tour of the complex's electricity meters in return for a total amnesty for my previous three years' electricity bills

I gave the tour, and paid not a penny

MMM

macman

VM will want settlement as quickly as possible (assuming that you are going to tell them), but under the circumstances they'll almost certainly agree an extended schedule for repayment-but it certainly won't be on your terms if they are longer than 15m. You have benefited from the situation, as you have presumably been earning interest on the £20 a month that hasn't been taken.
I don't quite follow your comments on budgetting. If you haven't noticed the extra £20 a month you have been better off by for 15m, then are you going to notice the opposite effect for the next 15m?
You will not have any mark on your credit file unless you break an agreeed repayment schedule with VM.
Alternatively, say nothing to VM and start saving towards the eventual arrears bill. The error is theirs, you are under no obligation to bring it to their attention.

robt_2

buzzarmstrong wrote: »

I DO NOT cross reference every single direct debit that is set up and taken out and I would hazard a guess that only a very small majority of people do that each month.

hand on heart, how many people out of a hundred check each month that every single direct debit leaves their account

I'm amazed people don' check their direct debits. No one has suggested you start cross referencing every transaction on your account.

yrp01

Well to be honest if they havent mentioned anything you have 2 choices to either fess up to them and say look ive just realised this or just leave it and let them figure it out.

If you do decide to fess up to them i suggest just writing a letter straight off to customer relations and say your willing to sort something out but the blame isnt completely yours and say youll pay half or smthn

but this is down to you matey me personally i would make them aware rather than 2-3 months down the line they shut you down and ask you for full ammount

If they do ask you for the full ammount it should be on your own terms as this is theyre error but this is my opinion and not based on any laws only really whats fair XD