Virgin Media - Be wary!!!

star_gazer_5

Hi

Just wanted to let peeps know, to be very wary of the packages VM are offering. We moved across to the VIP package a month ago, and we have had nothing but problems.

In the past month, we have been billed for £150.00 for services - AND it's the usual story, it takes an age to get through to speak to someone, and then they either do not have a clue about the packages being offered - One customer service rep, had to log onto the VM website while on the phone to me, and I had to talk him through where to find the information!! - OR they advise that everything is in order and that they have updated the system - blah, blah, blah - DON'T believe a word of it!!!! We received another bill this morning, for broadband services, which we've already been billed and paid for, and it's not for the service we signed up to!!

Will keep ya posted of the outcome, as gearing up for a no doubt futile attempt to get it sorted, later on to today!

:mad:

devon-gnome

I called them to change from Broadband Plan 3 to Broadband Bundle 2 on 9th March and was offered it for £14.99 per month to include free evening and weekend calls (plus contract). Later the same day, I did some research and discovered so much bad feedback that I rang to cancel and ask to stay on Broadband 3 (minus contract). My account shows that I'm now on Bundle 2 and I've emailed and phoned them numerous times to get them to confirm that the original order is definitely cancelled. I've had NO EMAIL REPLIES whatsoever but Customer Services keep telling me not to worry and that I'm 'in the queue' to be cancelled and that I will not be changed over to Virgin Talk on 26th March.

I'm with Primus for free evening and weekend calls and really don't want to move away from them but as soon as this is over, I'll definitely be moving away from Virgin as my broadband provider.

My eyes were opened when I typed Virgin Media forums into Google.

stuartjp_2

the best thing i ever found out about ntl was my regional managers name,
again the other thing to do is to phone between 9-5 and speak to customer retetions department, they are always helpful

echo

customer retentions is now 8-8 ( mon-sat)

elaine373

I was interested to see this thread. Last night i was looking on their website and decided to fill in an application for their services.I filled in most of it but never confirmed as i had 2nd thoughts about the package and whether it was the best deal around. This morning(12 hours later) I looked at my bank account and saw they had taken £28!! I had had no confirmation email . I rang them and they could not trace my application or payment. I rang my bank who said"too late the payment has been processed". Now i realise i should be more careful/sure but i had literally put in my debit card details and then immediately wiped them out. I have now had to cancel my card as i dont want any more money coming out.I spent 2 hours on the phone this morning but everyone i spoke to still finds no trace of a new account or the payment.What do i do?? Some-one is meant to be ringing me back. What i dont understand is how come they have no trace of payment and yet my bank details clearly show where its gone!!

star_gazer_5

Hi Elaine

Mmmm, from the state that their accounts dept. appear to be in it's no surprise that they can't find an audit trail! - Although, if it was a debit card transaction, I thought you were protected if payments are taken without authority? Although I could be wrong.

Anyway, I rang at 0800 this morning on the dot, and you could have knocked me down with a feather, as I was straight through to a customer advisor!! I explained the problem, and was assured 100% that the accounts had all been updated, that the D/D due to be taken on the 29th had been cancelled, and that there would be no charge for this months broadband - Well suffice to say, I will be ensuring that the amount is sat in my account, just in case as I had been told this on 26 Feb, 5 March etc........ Although have to say that the advisor was very helpful and quickly linked the two accounts and recognised the problems - Sooooo here's hoping!

elaine373 wrote: »

I was interested to see this thread. Last night i was looking on their website and decided to fill in an application for their services.I filled in most of it but never confirmed as i had 2nd thoughts about the package and whether it was the best deal around. This morning(12 hours later) I looked at my bank account and saw they had taken £28!! I had had no confirmation email . I rang them and they could not trace my application or payment. I rang my bank who said"too late the payment has been processed". Now i realise i should be more careful/sure but i had literally put in my debit card details and then immediately wiped them out. I have now had to cancel my card as i dont want any more money coming out.I spent 2 hours on the phone this morning but everyone i spoke to still finds no trace of a new account or the payment.What do i do?? Some-one is meant to be ringing me back. What i dont understand is how come they have no trace of payment and yet my bank details clearly show where its gone!!

devon-gnome

UPDATE :mad:
On 13th April, Virgin took VirginTalk off my phone. It took them that long!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, Primus had given me an override number so that my calls would be through them. Virgin Customer Services are a fiasco - I eventually got a couple of email replies, after sending many emails but the replies came too late to do any good. The advisors were very reassuring on the phone - as if they were reading from a script but they withheld essential information eg that even though I cancelled on the same day as the order, I would have to wait 28 days before my former plan was reinstated. (In fact, it turned out to be even longer than this.)
I'm now back to Broadband Plan 2 without free w/end and evening calls and (best of all), without a contract and I'm still with Primus for my free w/end and evening calls. I'm looking to change ISP - can anyone recommed a good one who won't tie me into a contract or a bundle?

BritBrat

Zen internet, monthly contracts and excellent service and UK support.

But with all things you get what you pay for and they do cost a little more than some, but have no restrictions of any kind on the service apart from the caps that they inform you of before signing up.

http://www.zen.co.uk/Broadband/athome.aspx

Here is another you may want to look at, If I move from Zen I think this will be my next choice.

Orginal ADSL is available at a choice of 512kb/s, 1Mb or 2Mb download speeds with a fixed upload speed of 256Kb/s. There is an option to have this based upon a MAX connection in which case the download speed is fixed with the upload speed being rate adaptive up to 448kb/s* for the same price.

http://www.ukfsn.org/home/internet/adsl/unlimited.html

Bazn

yep virgin are cheats and lyers...

marcellep

I think the biggest problem with VM is that they do not have set fee's for customers, They don't know what everyone has been offered. Since the revamp of there company they have changed the way they bill customers which seems to cause many problems and errors, they have also out-sourced there Broadband helpline to India.

I have been with VM/TW for 6yrs and never had so many problems until the start of this year. I am planning on changing all services, but in the mean time I put up with there terrible service.

Twinkly

Just to add that if anyone takes a direct debit out of your account without authorisation it is protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee and is immediately refundable by your bank. The bank is responsible for correcting DD errors. Please see here:
http://www.bacs.co.uk/BPSL/directdebit/generalpublic/yourrights/