Moving home with Virgin Media into a non cabled area

markmcalear

I called Virgin yesterday as I am moving from a cabled into a non cabled area. I was told either take a lesser service for similer money or pay £180 termination fee. I have been a VM customer for about 14 months.

I have sent them the following email this morning

"Yesterday I called your customer services team to inform you that I am moving house next Saturday (June 21st). My new address (21 ****** ****, B** 2**) is in a non cabled area. I was told that I am still in contract with Virgin and that I can either pay £180 to cancel or take your adsl service.

This raises two concerns for me. Firstly I have been with you for over 12 months. I called up in the last couple of months to cancel and was offered a lower subscription price for the same services I already receive. At no point was I informed that I would be entering into a new 12 month contract. I will require evidence of a new contract being entered in to either by way of a signed contract or a recording of the telephone conversation.

Secondly, I signed up to Virgin Media last year to receive your fibre optic broadband, tivo and telephone services. At my new address you are unable to provide 2 of the 3 services in our original agreement. I dont think its fair that your customer service agent says my only options are to either pay £180 to cease my services or to take your telephone and adsl service for £29 per month. My current broadband service is 100mb for £47 per month. Both services include unlimited downloads so the only real difference is the speed offered. My current service costs me 47p per 100mb of download speed. Your adsl service would be costing me £17 for roughly 5mb download speed. If we were to keep the ratios the same then I would expect to pay less than £2.50 per month for your adsl service. The problem here is that even if you offered it to me for this price, I do not want this service.

I have checked broadband availability at my new address. It is in a FTTC enabled area so I would expect speeds in the region of 40mb from this.

Please look into and resolve this matter asap. I will not be agreeing to take a lesser quality service from you nor will I be paying a termination fee because you do not supply my new property. It seems to me like there are two options available, either you waive you unfair termination fee or you cable the area I am moving to.

I await your speedy response."

What kind of response should I expect and do they have a history of allowing people out of the "contract" in these circumstances?

lisa*_5

I'm in a very similar situation. I've been with Telewest/Virgin for 5.5 years. In February I phoned up to get Baby TV added to my package and complained that whilst they were charging me £3.50 for it, I'd get it free with Skye. The operator then proceeded to add it to my package for free as I'd been a long standing customer. Great.

Yesterday I called to say I was moving and would be happy to have Virgin in my new house. They don't supply tv in the area so it would only be ADSL and Phone for which I'd have to pay £35. I currently have XL TV, Virgin +, decent phone package and fibre optic broadband for £50. Erm its a no brainer really, I'd rather get Skye. However they then spring it upon me that in Feb when they added Baby TV to my package they also signed me up to a new contract and therefore I need to pay £160 disconnection fee. Erm I don't think so. I think thats crazy. How do they justify the disconnection fee when I've been with them for 5.5 years? Which email address did you send your email too?

kelpie35

The same happened to me when I moved house.

I sent an email and to date I have still not received an answer.

I moved over 10 months ago.

I just cancelled my DD with them and to date have note received any correspondence from them.

macman

Any change of tariff/package with VM invariably starts you on a new minimum term contract-and invariably they fail to mention it at the time.
You contracted at the current address, and VM do not guarantee to be able to provide you with the same (or indeed any) service at any other address.

visidigi

You're moving, not Virgin, their ability to deliver a service to your new address is not their problem - its unfortunately yours. The contract you signed is to provide service to the address you detailed in the sign up process - not your new address.

If the minimum term of that contract has not expired then you will be liable for the charges associated with early termination.

As for the other poster who cancelled the direct debit....you wont heard from Virgin, but you will when the debt collector gets hold of it...

markmcalear

I just sent my email via the "contact us" form on their website

lisa* wrote: »

I'm in a very similar situation. I've been with Telewest/Virgin for 5.5 years. In February I phoned up to get Baby TV added to my package and complained that whilst they were charging me £3.50 for it, I'd get it free with Skye. The operator then proceeded to add it to my package for free as I'd been a long standing customer. Great.

Yesterday I called to say I was moving and would be happy to have Virgin in my new house. They don't supply tv in the area so it would only be ADSL and Phone for which I'd have to pay £35. I currently have XL TV, Virgin +, decent phone package and fibre optic broadband for £50. Erm its a no brainer really, I'd rather get Skye. However they then spring it upon me that in Feb when they added Baby TV to my package they also signed me up to a new contract and therefore I need to pay £160 disconnection fee. Erm I don't think so. I think thats crazy. How do they justify the disconnection fee when I've been with them for 5.5 years? Which email address did you send your email too?

markmcalear

As far as I am concerned my contract has ended. I called up to cancel a few months back as Sky was cheaper. At that time I was looking for a new house. If VM had mentioned that the discounted subscription also meant me entering into a new contract I wouldnt have agreed to it as I was looking at houses on new build estates. If they cant prove Im in a contract then surely I have no contractual obligation to pay any termination fees.

visidigi wrote: »

You're moving, not Virgin, their ability to deliver a service to your new address is not their problem - its unfortunately yours. The contract you signed is to provide service to the address you detailed in the sign up process - not your new address.

If the minimum term of that contract has not expired then you will be liable for the charges associated with early termination.

As for the other poster who cancelled the direct debit....you wont heard from Virgin, but you will when the debt collector gets hold of it...

macman

Why on earth do you think that they would reduce your sub without something in return-i.e. a new minimum term?

markmcalear

Because they offered me a new lower price but did not mention anything about a new minimum term.

macman wrote: »

Why on earth do you think that they would reduce your sub without something in return-i.e. a new minimum term?

macman

They should have mentioned it. But equally you might have asked what they were getting in return for giving you a discount?
Why would they reduce your tariff just so you could give your notice the next day if you wished?

purple.sarah

markmcalear wrote: »

As far as I am concerned my contract has ended. I called up to cancel a few months back as Sky was cheaper. At that time I was looking for a new house. If VM had mentioned that the discounted subscription also meant me entering into a new contract I wouldnt have agreed to it as I was looking at houses on new build estates. If they cant prove Im in a contract then surely I have no contractual obligation to pay any termination fees.

When you called up to cancel you would have been put through to the retentions department, with the aim of retaining your custom by offering incentives such as discounts. When you said you were going to cancel but then continued with the service on condition of a discount, that continued your contract. They should have made the T&Cs clear to you but as macman said, they would not give you something for nothing.

I do share your concerns about Virgin Media service, ours declined drastically when we moved. I am not sure how to get out of the contract without paying fees but I don't think claiming you do not have a contract with them will work.