Virgin Media Breach of Contract??

Kimina

A few months ago, I signed up for a minimum 12 month phone and broadband service with Virgin Media because the overall cost (and line rental) was less than BT and Virgin were charging separately.

Now only a few months on, Virgin have increased their charges AND made their free evening and weekend calls now available from 7pm from the 1st May (was from 6pm).

Surely this should be breach of contract? IfI decided to cancel the contract, they would charge me a cancellation fee, so how can they increase their charge and alter the free evening call start time without it being a breach of contract on THEIR part??

Who is the customer here?

Disgruntled!

keystone

and somwhere in BOTH BTs and VMs T&Cs will be a clause that allows them to vary their charges from time to time at their convenience and pleasure. Breach of Contract - nah not unless you got a "guaranteed we won't increase our prices for the duration of the contract" statement out of them.

Did you not read the contract before agreeing to it/signing it? If you didn't whose fault is that?

Get off your high horse old son - its not worth the pain of falling off.

Cheers

DVardysShadow

keystone wrote: »

and somwhere in BOTH BTs and VMs T&Cs will be a clause that allows them to vary their charges from time to time at their convenience and pleasure. Breach of Contract - nah not unless you got a "guaranteed we won't increase our prices for the duration of the contract" statement out of them.

Did you not read the contract before agreeing to it/signing it? If you didn't whose fault is that?

Get off your high horse old son - its not worth the pain of falling off.

Cheers

Actually OP has a point.

Kimina wrote: »

Now only a few months on, Virgin have increased their charges AND made their free evening and weekend calls now available from 7pm from the 1st May (was from 6pm).

Surely this should be breach of contract? IfI decided to cancel the contract, they would charge me a cancellation fee, so how can they increase their charge and alter the free evening call start time without it being a breach of contract on THEIR part??

The change of the free calls hours is a change to contract [not necessarily a breach].The big question is whether this is a material change to T&C's which would allow the OP to leave the contract without penalty.

My gut feel is that it is not a material change - if the start time was changed to 2100 it would be much more clearly a material change.

macman

It's not a fixed price contract, so they can increase the price at any time-the day after you commence if they wish. Whether it is a detrimental change to your T&C's is another issue.
If you cancel, you'll need to pay for a ADSL landline install or reconection, so factor this into your costs.

Blkilsdope

Kimina wrote: »

Now only a few months on, Virgin have increased their charges AND made their free evening and weekend calls now available from 7pm from the 1st May (was from 6pm).Disgruntled!

What do you mean Virgin have increased their charges AND?Does it do that all by itself?

DVardysShadow

Blkilsdope wrote: »

What do you mean Virgin have increased their charges AND?Does it do that all by itself?

Homepage link spammer.

Buzby

Your contract has nothing to do with your tariff - which they have the flexibility to change as they see fit. They also volunteer to release customers if they complain directly and within 30 days of being given notice of the intended increase (the rule of thumb is you can request a release if the increase is more than 10%, so their actions better this).

As to whether there is b breach - you need to read the actual terms, and the answer is no - there is no breach.

longstocking_2

On the letter Virgin send you to detail increases in their costs, there is very , very small print at the end that does indeed say that you can cancel without cancellation charges..

However, while you can indeed do this and speak with Virgin who assure you that there is no charge to pay, they will still keep sending you cancellation charges and threatening letters to get you to pay for cancelling.

Anyone else experienced this?

Buzby

Yes - but your point is? The size of the print is immaterial, the offer to have a release is there to be read. Since they can argue the bulk of users would have no intention of leaving, there is no reason to give this equal prominence.

A cynic might suggest this is done for their own ends (customer retention) but at least they DO provide the information unasked, which a good many other firms do not.

DVardysShadow

Buzby wrote: »

Yes - but your point is? The size of the print is immaterial, the offer to have a release is there to be read. Since they can argue the bulk of users would have no intention of leaving, there is no reason to give this equal prominence.

A cynic might suggest this is done for their own ends (customer retention) but at least they DO provide the information unasked, which a good many other firms do not.

The point is very clearly that you can avail yourself of the small print but Virgin Media then treat you as though you had breached the contract.

Buzby

Well considering the number of people who have taken their advice (as provided), given notice and left without issue, means there's either incompetance on occasion or unclear actions from the customer