Virgin Media Voicemail Service?!?!?!?

Buzby

Good luck - however the T&C's would be irrelevant as this is fundamentally a tariff issue. All networks provide Voicemail as standard - in this day and age it is a valid expectation and an opt-out. Your complaint is that it should be an opt in - and that would be unreasonable for a free facility.

All the Material relating to their phone service advises you get Voicemsil as standard, the website even explains how it works. But even if you dialled the (industry standard) code of 1571, it talks you through everything EXCEPT how to disable it. For that, you need to speak to CS and it will be removed from yor profile.

My reason for removal is I do not want calls answered when I'm on a call as the person should be able to call me back later without incurring a charge.

Since your argument is solely based on that fact they supplied the service and you missed recorded calls because of bring unaware/unfamiliar with the process, only a goodwill gesture is relevant.

This makes seeking punitive costs an extreme risk. Should they decide to defend (and win), not only do you lose your court costs, but have to pay theirs (capped, but at around £100) this should be factored in to any pursuit.

Jonny1275

Buzby… many thanks for the constructive reply. I do agree in principle with some of your comments however,

When a new customer joins vm they are given the voicemail service automatically… I was not a new customer nor was I entering a new contract, I had been with them for over 5 years and had never had this service before and had never before been asked before if I wanted it.

When a new customer has this service put on their line they are advised of it in their welcome letter and receive a booklet detailing how it works…. On receipt of virgins own records I have proven that I was not advised it had been put on my line and the response to my sar request advises that they can not find any details or mention of the letter virgin media claims was sent out to me.

As part of my repayment arrangement my phone was restricted to only ringing virgins 150 number and 0800 numbers, if I had been aware the service had been put on my line I still would not have been able to dial 1571 and access it as the call restriction on my line would have not let me connect to this number. This point is raised by the gentleman from vm I spoke to when I discovered the service and thankfully following my sar request I have the full transcript of this conversation.

As for virgins t&c’s, section H2 states that they retain the right to improve, modify or amend services but at the end of this text is states that you have the right to cancel these affected services if the changes are significant and directs you to section J5 which states If you were not notified of these changes in advance, you must give notice of cancellation of the services affected to Virgin Media Ltd and/or Virgin Media Entertainment (as applicable) within 30 days of receipt of your first bill following such increase in charges. As the voicemail service is not listed on my bill and as vm did not advice me of it, they broke their own t&c’s by taking away my right to remove it.

I appreciate some people on here think I am just chasing the compensation, or as in your words trying to mug a supplier, but the fact remains that I entered into goodwill agreement with vm that allowed me to retain the basic services whilst clearing the outstanding balance, and vm in return retained me as a customer. I might add that this agreement was completed, the balance was cleared and I still remain a customer of vm. However I was not informed that they had placed this voicemail service on my line advising callers they could leave messages and as I have advised, on discovering this service had been on my line for nearly three months and contacting each employer I had sent an application to, I found that I had missed several interviews and the mentioned work contract.

If vm wish to try and contest this matter in court I’ll quite happily risk the incurred costs, which would only be any costs they try to claim if I lost, however as they have already failed to follow the courts pre-action conduct I feel if this matter makes it to a court room the judge would most likely be sympathetic even in the event I was unsuccessful.

With all respect to the mse forums, I’m not really seeking any further advice on this matter and to be fair would not have progressed it as far if I had followed the majority of advice on here. However I’ll keep the thread updated on the outcome as I’m sure I’m not the only customer who has experienced this problem.