How to overcome virgin media contract cancellation fee

Sandika

Dear all,

I am in a 18 months contract with Virgin Media for the landline and internet. Due to an urgent requirement of moving out of my current property, I will have to cancel my virgin contract. I am now in the 5th month of the contract.

When I talk to Virgin they ask for a cancellation fee of £158. Can anyone please advise me on how to ovecome this huge amount?

Thank you very much in advance.

Sandika

Buzby

You owe them a massive 13 months of agreed service (as part of your minimum term) the more services you take, the greater the cost for cancellation. As it is you who is terminating early, they are calculating the balance owed for the contract, less a formulae for items you have not taken (call bundles, etc). For the amount you say they want, it seems not an unreasonable amount for only being with them such a short time. When I terminated my BT ISDN (Digital) line, BT wanted £540, for 9 months early termination.

Phones4Chris

Can you get whoever is moving into the property to take it on?

spike7451

You will also have to return any set top tv boxes & cable modems when you leave or you will be charged for them too if you are on a cable service.

Keensaver1999

All

I have just cancelled my V Media contract with 16 months to go on an 18 month contract for Zero fee vs the £180 fee i was quoted when i furs called up.

As Virgin Media increased the cost of some phone calls by 1p from 1 July 2013 you are able to use terms and conditions Clause J3 to cancel with 30 days notice by calling 0845 454 1111 and did it over the phone - quote from Ts and Cs

If we and/or Virgin Media Payments:
a) increase our charges under this agreement
b) make significant changes to the services so the services you are entitled to receive in return for the charges you pay are significantly altered or reduced; or
c) make significant changes to the terms and conditions of this agreement (including the other legal stuff),

you may cancel those services affected without penalty by giving us and/or Virgin Media Payments (as applicable) at least 30 days' notice. Such notice must be given within 30 days of the increase in charges or changes to the services or this agreement being notified to you

When I called and quoted the clause the girl told me that as I was on the XL package it was all inclusive and so the 1p change was not applicable, I asked her to check that and after 2 mins on hold she came back and said that they would make an exception in my case.

Actually all call packages except the XXL are subject to the 1p rise on calls which are not included, in my case that is UK mobile numbers, so she was not telling the truth.

Great result to save £180

macman

It's not a 'cancellation fee'. It's an a early termination charge to compensate them for your advised breach of contract. Moving house does not void your minimum term contract.
Are you sure that figure is correct? Rather than 'massive', it's a mere £12 per month, which is far less than you are currently paying per month for the services.

AndyPK

I would be interested to know if anyone has used that to renegotiate and remove a tv package.

baywatch1234

Just tried to cancel using this clause (moving house to a non cabled VM area any way, thought i'd give it a shot) and the guy had a good laugh at me when i mentioned it.
Was the third call they'd had today and assured me the price increase in no way allows you to end the agreement under sJ3 of the T&Cs. Would say Keensaver1999 was lucky getting in on the 1st of the month, but was probably the only one able to do it before they caught on!

jaxkesa

baywatch1234 wrote: »

Just tried to cancel using this clause (moving house to a non cabled VM area any way, thought i'd give it a shot) and the guy had a good laugh at me when i mentioned it.
Was the third call they'd had today and assured me the price increase in no way allows you to end the agreement under sJ3 of the T&Cs. Would say Keensaver1999 was lucky getting in on the 1st of the month, but was probably the only one able to do it before they caught on!

Sounds like you let them fob you off :rotfl:

Their T&Cs say you cancel if they 'increase [their] charges under this agreement' which is exactly what a price increase is.