Difficulty canceling Virgin Media Internet/Phone

Luchia28

Hi everyone,

I need some help/advice.

I moved into a flat on 1st July 2010 and signed a 12 month contract with Virgin Media for Internet (10GB downloads a month) and Phone (unlimited calls - although I don't actually have a home phone - I'm just paying for the line rental! I use my mobile for calls)

In October our landlord became very aggressive and for our safety the university urged us to move out and find somewhere else to live. We contacted Virgin and they said the only options we had was pay a £60 cancellation fee or move our contract over to the new flat for free, so we moved it over to avoid the £60 fee.

The internet is becoming slower and slower, and we are thinking of getting a TV package now - but with our area code, Virgin can't provide us the tv package. We think we're paying too much for what we're getting (£22.44 a month) and now Virgin have told us that they are increasing the line rental (only by an extra £1 a month, something I wouldn't normally be fussed about).

I've found some much better deals with BT and Sky (who CAN offer us a tv package), so I phoned up to cancel (either today, or in a few days, as it'll have been 12 months), but I was advised that my 12 month contract "started" in October - therefore I'd have to pay a cancellation charge?! Which I think isn't very fair, I signed a contract in July? Whilst I did move home, I didn't sign any additional contract - no-one at any point advised me it would "restart"?!

I did a bit of digging for the contract I did sign and the terms and conditions clearly state:

"J. 5. a. If Virgin Media... increase their respective charges under these agreements...you may cancel those services affected without penalty by giving Virgin Media 30 days notice in writing. If you cancel any services in these circumstances, the increased charges will not apply to those services during the 30-day notice period and paragraph J3 will not apply if you cancel before the end of the minimum period. If you do not give such notice of cancellation within 30 days of any increase... Virgin Media will assume that you have accepted the increase in charges"

So I challenged the guy on the phone and he put me on hold - a few minutes later he says his manager says that "the terms and conditions have changed - that no longer applies" - I said I wasn't made aware of this! He said "we would have sent you this information when the changes were made"

If I cancel it, which I really want too as I would like a t.v. package, and faster internet, for a better price than what Virgin Media are offering (and now, on principle, I don't want to pay the extra £1 a month they are charging!) - but he's said it'll cost £46 to cancel...

Can anyone help? Am I in my rights, or is it my own stupid fault for moving out of a dangerous flat and not paying the cancellation fee/not reading all the correspondence carefully that comes my way?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks :-)

Lucy

Widelats

I think your in your rights to cancel it yes, you really didn't start a new contract it was just moved from one place to another.

Virgin will see it as not their problem that you moved house, but did not tell you that you were starting a new contract, i would cancel it and don't pay the cancellation fees, tell them their charges increase will not be upheld by you and that their broadband is too slow and not what you are paying for.

macman

Any change of tariff with VM starts you on a new 12m contract, it's in the T&C's. You might have had one month left on your contract, they'd hardly give you a free home move for you to leave a few weeks later. The 'moving' circumstances are unfortunate, but not VM's responsibility.