Virgin - Contract I never agreed to

spidereyes

Firstly I have posted this on the Virgin forum also but as of yet Ive not had any replies...

Ive been a Virgin Bundle Customer for the best part of 4 years, and I have to admit that as long term customer I am really unhappy by recent events.

Ever since I first took out a contract with Virgin I have ALWAYS been on a 12 month contact, last year my contract ended around September. I phoned Virgin Nov 6th 2011 (Im pretty sure thats the right date) and renegotiated a new contract over the phone. I was told that it was a 12 month contract and the price was to be lowered to £29.50 a month, fair enough and I was happy with that.

I phoned recently to discuss renegotiating a new deal as I was now out of contract again only to be told I am not able to do so as I was on an 18 month contract (so still another 6 months left!) - annoying as I never agreed to this, this wouldnt be a huge deal except now Ive discovered that the discount I had on my bill no longer applies!

Needless to say my price has now jumped from £29.50 a month to £35.90 (payable for another 6 months) and not only that Ive just had an email to say I will be having a further price increase of £3.24, which by February will take me to £39.14 a month.

Im really annoyed that I was told I would be put on a 12 month contract, only to find Ive been put on an 18 month contract and the so called deal I was given was only put on for 12 months of this.

Obviously as it was all done over the phone I dont have any proof of what I actually agreed to and Im pretty sure that I never received anything in writing to state the exact terms of the offer.

I know that I can use the price increase to get out of the contract if I want but to be honest I just dont want the hassle of having to try and get new services installed etc. I just want either the terms I agreed to or for them to honour the discount for the remaining period of contract.

Does anyone have any suggestions dealing with this?

macman

Have you made any other changes to tariff or package in the last 12 months?
It seems that just scratching your nose will start you on a new minimum term as far as VM are concerned.

Buzby

A good many misconceptions here. You cannot 'always' be on a 12 month contract,as there is no such animal. You may have had a 12 month minimum term, but after that you remain in contract with no minimum. Any changes to service that include new provision will restart the minimum term, and each time you will receive a letter confirming what is ordered and the revised minimum term period.

You appear to have made changes, got a new router or other stuff which hiked the price and added to the minimum term which isn't cumulative, but simply restarts. All offers remain valid, and any discount will stay in place until expiry of that offer, the new price being charged after this period.

Ectophile

Ask them to review the original phone call. It will have been recorded.

If all else fails, insist they send you a copy of the original phone call under the Data Protection Act, but they may charge you up to £10 for this.

mickaveli2001

They've upped the pricing of all virgin products, so if you get a letter through informing you of this, you can cancel your entire contract. Maybe best to do that, and then re-start?

AmboMan_3

I believe a change to your Digital TV or Cable Broadband package starts you on a new 12 month contract, whereas a change to your Landline Telephone or ADSL Broadband package triggers a new 18 month contract. You should have been made aware of this on the telephone, but you would have received an e-mail or letter after the call to clarify your new package and minimum contract term. That said, it may be hidden in the T & C.

I would advise cancelling due to the price rise notification, refuse the offers from customer services and inbound retentions and insist on cancelling.

Then wait for the call from outbound retentions and see what deals they can offer you. I would suggest you could probably get a better deal than you were on before.