Foul play from Virgin Media

unhappywithVIRGINMEDIA

Back in November I moved into a new flat with a 6 month tenancy agreement. Keen to get internet access for the flat I went to my local Virgin Media store to arrange this. I spoke to a sales person there who informed me that as long as I was with them for 6 months there would be no disconnection fee.

6 months down the line the landlord decided to sell the flat, so to save money for a mortgage I moved in with my parents.

I called to disconnect from Virgin, who told me there would be a disconnection fee of around £90! I immediately contested this and was told to write a letter to their customer service department should I wish to complain. (I understand the T's and C's may have stated a 12 month min contract, but you would expect the sales person to provide correct information on their product!)

I did this and 3 weeks later Virgin Media sent a reply. The reply was however to my dad who has Virgin Media at the forwarding address I gave them. The reply was asking for my dad to call them to discuss his complaint. I called up and explained their error, however they said they were unable to speak to me as they were from the 'Cable' team and I needed to speak to someone from the 'National' team. I was told that a note was on my case and I would be contacted shortly.

3 weeks passed and I heard nothing so I tried calling, after being passed around for an hour I was told to try resending the letter and explaining that I had sent it already but was still waiting for a response.

I did this. 2 more weeks passed and I had still heard nothing so I called again. Once again I was passed around between departments for an hour and a half and got nowhere.

A week later I received a letter from a debt collectors on behalf of Virgin Media, followed by a letter from Virgin Media a day later asking for me to call to pay money owed. I called and after 45 minutes got through to a helpful lady who had said after everything I had been through she would put a note on the account and recommend to her manager that the balance be nullified and that I should hear by letter in the next 10 working days.

10 working days have passed and I've once again received a letter from debt collectors and from Virgin asking for the money (I am still yet to actually receive a final bill from Virgin, despite asking for one 3 times).

I called once again and after an hour on the phone got a call back from a 'manager' booked in. The manager called back and after discussing what had gone on, he felt that he couldn't make a decision on the matter and that I should wait for a reply to my letter sent back in May.

Please can someone advise what to do? Will my credit rating be damaged from this? if so, how do I go about repairing the damage?

Thank you.

Mark_In_Hampshire

This is a case of mis-selling. The sale was a verbal contract - they made an offer, you agreed to purchase.

But, unfortunately, you signed the sales documents/contract which is bound to have a T & C of a minimum of 12 months. So it's ultimately your word against theirs.

The way in which it was handled, though, by appearing to look into it, makes me wonder if it might have happened again. If you could find others from the same store who were told the same, then that certainly strengthens your case.

Ultimately if you do not pay it there is a chance the debt might get registered with a credit reference agency. I had believed that CRAs do not accept or store information from utilities such as BT and Virgin Media but that may well have changed at some point. You could ask them (Experian/Equifax) directly.

Marco12452

You need to pay the bill to avoid any legal default, and then consider your options.
You have already discussed the situation with the supplier (without much success), so you could consider going to the telecoms ombudsman if you believe you have a decent case.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html