Help!! - more hassle from useless Virginmedia!!

Andyvas

Hi everyone,

I'm having problems with Virgin and am hoping for a bit of advice. The story's a bit long but please bear with me!!

I've had broadband & calls via them for a few years now (line rental via BT). I moved flats on 1st April (a Friday) & my new flat needed a line installing - I opted for a BT package to get free installation & arranged to transfer my number to my new flat (I have only moved downstairs in the same block). I contacted Virgin early March to enquire re. cancellation & was told that they just needed 7 days notice so I should tell them a week before I wanted my package to end. The following events then occurred:-

• Received email from Virgin on 17th March stating they have been asked by my phone provider to cancel my package - basically stated if I was happy for this to happen or had already contacted re. moving, then I need do nothing. I thought "great, BT have already told them", etc....
  

• Received email from Virgin on 1st April stating that Virgin media services had been cancelled (I had tried to access the internet on the morning of 1st April whilst in my old flat, prior to the BT engineer turning up at my new flat, and could get no connection - this seemed to confirm this email).
  

By 1st April afternoon I had phone & broadband running, via BT, in my new flat and everything seemed fine.

Received email 5th April (the Tuesday after moving in on Friday) from Virgin which stated they were sorry to see me go, etc, & that they were "getting the ball rolling" & putting in a cancellation request, and that the target cancellation dated was 05/04/2011. I assumed this must be an admin error since they had already confirmed that the services had been cancelled, and thought nothing more of it. This is when the fun really started....

I had received my monthly bill as normal on 21st March, which included advanced charges for my services (i.e. from 23rd March - 22nd April). This goes onto my credit card as it has always done, and is paid off when received at the month end. I then received what I assumed to be my final bill on 7th April, showing a refund for the previously charged services from 5th April to 22nd April (I believe this should have been 1st April but that's another story!!). It also had a disconnection fee of £24 - I queried both this fee & the incorrect final date but was basically fobbed off, so figured I just accept this & get it all finalized.

On 20th April I received

another bill for phonecalls made between 5th April & 20th April. When I asked Virgin why I had been sent this & stated that I no longer had my phonecalls from them, I was told that it seemed the new tenant in my old flat had been using the phone and racking up a bill on my behalf. I then pointed out that this was not possible since (a) the flat was vacant & (b) I had taken the number with me!! The lady then said she would credit my account & I would need to sort it out with the credit card company.

The final 'kick in the b@lls' came on 27th April when I found that I could no longer make outgoing calls - just a message stating "this service is not available on this line". After calling BT & carrying out various checks etc, I mentioned the virgin bill scenario & asked if they could somehow have "hi-jacked" the line & blocked it. The advisor said to try dialling 1280 before a number & this worked - she said this proved the line was ok & that it seemed likely that Virgin were holding onto the line somehow. Thus followed 2 days of calls backwards & forwards to Virgin & BT as both tried to blame the other party. Virgin said BT must not have set up the CPS (?) properly, but BT stated this was fine & that Virgin were giving me the wrong information. They said that they could see information stating that Virgin had barred calls due to an unpaid bill!! I am unsure how BT could find out this info when Virgin reckons that everything was fine. I am currently waiting for Virgin to call me back (which, lets face it, is never gonna happen..!!!)

SO..... my question is this - how do I stand with regards to refusing payment / disputing credit card charges? All the three final bills from Virgin are on the credit card statement for April which I should receive in the next day or so. I already plan to dispute the final 20th April charge as previously discussed with Virgin, but am considering trying to hold back all of them & hopefully force them to contact me & get some resolution on the issue. I am sick to death of phoning their useless "help" line which seems to involve going round in circles with an automated message for a while, them speaking to an advisor who takes all your details before passing you (but not your details) onto another equally inept phone-monkey who asks for the same details again before fobbing you off further.....

Thanks to anyone who has managed to stay with me to the end I feel a bit better after this rant!!!.

Any advice or comments would be gratefully received - I am also planning to write a letter of complaint to Virgin but am unsure where to address it to, so any info on this point would also be great.

Cheers

Andy