Virgin Media recollecting old equipment

Andynlisa

A rep from Virgin Media has today arrived at my front door with no prior warning asking to come in and collect old equipment. I wasn't aware that I had to return old equipment and I just binned them when I stopped using them except the V+ Box which I sold because I bought it from Virgin Media for £49 so that was my own. I still have the router, but not sure what to do as they've left a card saying to ring in next 24 hours or £250 could be charged to me. I still owe £200 on account so would be more than doubling my bill Does anyone have any ideas what I can do.
Cheers in advance.
Andy

custardy

Andynlisa wrote: »

A rep from Virgin Media has today arrived at my front door with no prior warning asking to come in and collect old equipment. I wasn't aware that I had to return old equipment and I just binned them when I stopped using them except the V+ Box which I sold because I bought it from Virgin Media for £49 so that was my own. I still have the router, but not sure what to do as they've left a card saying to ring in next 24 hours or £250 could be charged to me. I still owe £200 on account so would be more than doubling my bill Does anyone have any ideas what I can do.
Cheers in advance.
Andy

no. you paid £49 to have the service activated
VM always retain ownership of the equipment
you owe them a V+ box(even if you were binning it,why not remove the hard drive?)
there are some boxes on eBay,but i dont know if that would be acceptable with the wrong serial numbers

Andynlisa

Is there anyway I could get round this without paying out? Was thinking of trying to pull a quick one saying someone else came the week before or that I had binned the lot.

custardy

Andynlisa wrote: »

Is there anyway I could get round this without paying out? Was thinking of trying to pull a quick one saying someone else came the week before or that I had binned the lot.

you mean a way of defrauding Virgin media?
if you wish to try that then its up to you
you signed up to th services
you chose to destroy their equipment

Tropez

Unlike Sky, Virgin's equipment is loaned to you so you never owned any of it. This will be stated clearly in the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you took out Virgin.

To my knowledge, Virgin record the serial numbers of all the boxes and maintain which box is where on a database. If you attempted to claim that a box had already been taken by their rep (which is fraud) then they would ask for more information because this would be theft and they would want to find the culprit. Even if you got away with it, if they find the box you sold at any point in the future you could be in trouble.

If you want to stay on the right side of the law, own up to your mistake and plead ignorance and maybe they'll show you a little goodwill and discount the amount that they will charge you for getting rid of their equipment.

dojoman

It clearly states what the others have said in your contract!

spike7451

Selling the box could come back & bite the OP in the !!! as the boxes will be turned off fully,if not already,so whoever he sold them to might want their money back.
The boxes can also be traced thru the MAC address of the box &,even if the box get's chipped,it wall still show up on the VM network but as Non-Responsive.
The person who bought the box could also be prosecuted for recieving stolen goods & the seller prosecuted for selling them (it has happened over here,plus a couple of dodgy contractors were 'asked to leave' VM or be prosecuted for selling the boxes onto someone who was chipping them)

The OP could try buying a box of E-Bay but these can be traced via the MAC/Serial Number that's encoded into the box,as to saying someone's collected it,doubtful that would work as when the boxes are recieved at stores,they're scanned in & if the box the OP returned wasn't linked to his account, (and unless he has access to his VM account to add it manually) it wont show as being his box,so the box would still show on his account as uncollected.

The OP would also have been given a reciept on collection & a copy would be retained,a simple check on the worksheets to see who was in that area & then cross referencing the reciept book would also show if it's been collected.

So really the's not a lot he can do apart from return the cable modem & take it on the chin,plus read T&C's next time;

http://shop.virginmedia.com/the-legal-stuff/terms-and-conditions-for-cable-services.html

E Using our equipment
Where we hire equipment to you it will be our property at all times and we may need to alter or replace it from time to time. For us to do this, we will need reasonable access to your home.
You are responsible for making sure that our equipment is safe and used properly at all times. To do this, you agree to do the following:
a. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and any other instructions we have given you;
b Keep the equipment in your home and under your control (for example, you may not sell it, lend it or hire it out to anyone else, put it up as security for a loan or mortgage, or allow it to be seized under any legal process against you).
c. Insure any of our equipment against any loss, theft or damage for the full replacement value;
d. Not remove, tamper with or cross out any words or labels on our equipment;
e. Take proper care at all times to prevent the loss or theft of our equipment.
You agree to tell us immediately about any loss or damage to any part of our equipment. You should do this by contacting our customer services team. You agree that you are responsible for any loss of or damage to the equipment, regardless of how it happens. We will charge you for any loss of or damage to the equipment.
If we or you end these agreements, if you decide to disconnect from some of our services, or if you wish to take up an offer to upgrade the equipment we provide to you, you must return the equipment to us or (if we choose) make it available for collection in a reasonable condition, allowing for fair wear and tear. If you fail to return or make available the equipment for collection for any reason, we are entitled to charge you for the replacement cost and reasonable recovery costs of the equipment. If we hold any money we may use that money towards the cost of the equipment. If we have supplied you with any additional equipment, we'd encourage you to dispose of it responsibly if you're no longer using it so please contact us for further information about disposing of your additional equipment.

And in my time at NTL/VM I not only collected the equipment from disconnections I also looked after the stores after I had an operation,so I'm going by experience.

Buzby

You don;t state how long the period was you had this 'old' equipment. As others have noted, it was not your property to dispose of it, however it would be unreasonable for you to have to store the kit for an extended length of time, and I would certainly argue that if they had not recovered their kit for 6 months after disconnection, they clearly had no interest in it and you could assume that they wished you to dispose of it responsibly. If under 6 months... that would be a different issue, and you could be held liable for the cost of the equipment not returned.

chanz4

you have to give notice to vm prior to disposal

beanys

You mention you owe £200 . Is this a debt ? .If you have been disconected for none payment , they will come and collect the equipment.