Virgin Cancelation Rights Dispute

Funsam

Hi, first time posting on here after some advice.

I am currently/was with virgin media wasn't happy regarding the price increase (3.50 increase roughly 9.5% rise) & phone customer retention & was offered a extra £1 saving a month + 1 month free off bill.
after spending a bit finding alternate info & deals, I think the deal wasn't that great.

so I tried to cancel this morning, apparently the 28 day cancellation virgin media normally does they say is now 7 days because I was a current customer & no one informed me of the changes when they put me on a new contact.

I never received any info, so I wasn't aware only had 7 days to cancel, phoned this morning apparently was 10 days ago, I contacted them. & they say I gotta pay £180 cancellation fee now.

Any idea if this is true or against the law, because I wasn't informed of the change.

bod1467

When were you informed IN WRITING (email is OK, their website is not [as far as I know, although a link in their email to their website MIGHT be]) of the price increase? The clock starts ticking then, and I believe the grace period is 30 days (per OFCOM guidance). If you haven't been informed in writing then you haven't been informed - regardless of any phone calls.

(That's my understanding).

ValHaller

Your post is unclear as to whether or not you accepted the retention deal.

If you did not accept the retention deal, then you are cancelling the original deal where the price was increased and you should have 28 days regardless of having spoken to retentions.

If you did accept the retention deal, well you are now cancelling the retention deal and 7 days is about right.

[Deleted User]

Hi FunSam - we have just had a very similar experience to you, except that instead of trying to claim a notice period of 28 days, Virgin are telling us 30 days. From this evidence alone, it's clear that it's a case of 'make up company policy on the hoof'.

We exchanged contracts on the sale of our property yesterday with a completion date in 2.5 weeks time. We took out an initial contract with Virgin for 18 months and that has now lapsed. In effect, there is no contract between us and Virgin. We pay each month and they provide a service.

Today we called Virgin to give them as much notice as possible. We spent over 30 minutes on the phone and the Virgin operator hung up on us in the end. She kept saying that she would not book a disconnection if we did not agree to pay for 30 days notice period. We said that we were happy to pay for service that we received, but not for service that we did not receive. As there is not contract between us now, she cannot hold us to any specific 'notice period under the contract'.

We told her that she had no authority to charge us for goods and services that we had not received. We would revoke the direct debit authority and would send a cheque for the balance that we owed. She did not listen and just repeated her script. We alerted her to the situation that if she did not complete a proper disconnection that could mean that Virgin received no money from us and had no forwarding address. She ignored this comment - I guess it wasn't on her script.

In the end, after going round and round in circles with her script, she just hung up.

All we can do now is write to Virgin, by recorded delivery, giving notice and sending a cheque for any monies owed up until the cessation of service. But do be aware, FunSam, that Virgin bill you for the line rental in advance, so they already have some of your money for any notice period.

This link is slightly helpful:

Best of Luck!

arcon5

30 days notice is reasonable and common. You agreed to this when you originally signed up

visidigi

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi FunSam - we have just had a very similar experience to you, except that instead of trying to claim a notice period of 28 days, Virgin are telling us 30 days. From this evidence alone, it's clear that it's a case of 'make up company policy on the hoof'.

We exchanged contracts on the sale of our property yesterday with a completion date in 2.5 weeks time. We took out an initial contract with Virgin for 18 months and that has now lapsed. In effect, there is no contract between us and Virgin. We pay each month and they provide a service.

Today we called Virgin to give them as much notice as possible. We spent over 30 minutes on the phone and the Virgin operator hung up on us in the end. She kept saying that she would not book a disconnection if we did not agree to pay for 30 days notice period. We said that we were happy to pay for service that we received, but not for service that we did not receive. As there is not contract between us now, she cannot hold us to any specific 'notice period under the contract'.

We told her that she had no authority to charge us for goods and services that we had not received. We would revoke the direct debit authority and would send a cheque for the balance that we owed. She did not listen and just repeated her script. We alerted her to the situation that if she did not complete a proper disconnection that could mean that Virgin received no money from us and had no forwarding address. She ignored this comment - I guess it wasn't on her script.

In the end, after going round and round in circles with her script, she just hung up.

All we can do now is write to Virgin, by recorded delivery, giving notice and sending a cheque for any monies owed up until the cessation of service. But do be aware, FunSam, that Virgin bill you for the line rental in advance, so they already have some of your money for any notice period.

This link is slightly helpful:

Best of Luck!

Oh dear.

You have completely misunderstood the contract you agreed to.

You agreed to a contract with a minimum term of 18 months. As you have indicated that minimum term has elapsed so you are no longer bound by the 18 month minimum term.

As part of the contract you are required to give 30 days notice to end it. That can be done in the last 30 days of the 18 month minimum term or any time after it, you will be liable for the 30 days payment in order to end the contract (note contract, not minimum term).

I would imagine the reason they hung up on you is you simply didn't accept and understand the contract you are bound by. The script you refer to is not a script, its the contract you've signed. You can cancel the DD, but they will trash your credit record.

I suggest you understand any contracts you sign at your new place fully before advising people at companies that they cannot do what you contractually agreed to.

railbuff

when i cancelled my broadband to move i was told i had to call retention to get MAC code.
I refused to call retention as it is basically level 2 sales and their job it to keep youn and not let you leave. they told me then i cant have MAC code until i called retention, which i told them they were wrong as they could not refuse me a MAC code once requested as i was not going to call their sales team. eventually they emailed me my MAC code.

mattyprice4004

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi FunSam - we have just had a very similar experience to you, except that instead of trying to claim a notice period of 28 days, Virgin are telling us 30 days. From this evidence alone, it's clear that it's a case of 'make up company policy on the hoof'.

We exchanged contracts on the sale of our property yesterday with a completion date in 2.5 weeks time. We took out an initial contract with Virgin for 18 months and that has now lapsed. In effect, there is no contract between us and Virgin. We pay each month and they provide a service.

Today we called Virgin to give them as much notice as possible. We spent over 30 minutes on the phone and the Virgin operator hung up on us in the end. She kept saying that she would not book a disconnection if we did not agree to pay for 30 days notice period. We said that we were happy to pay for service that we received, but not for service that we did not receive. As there is not contract between us now, she cannot hold us to any specific 'notice period under the contract'.

We told her that she had no authority to charge us for goods and services that we had not received. We would revoke the direct debit authority and would send a cheque for the balance that we owed. She did not listen and just repeated her script. We alerted her to the situation that if she did not complete a proper disconnection that could mean that Virgin received no money from us and had no forwarding address. She ignored this comment - I guess it wasn't on her script.

In the end, after going round and round in circles with her script, she just hung up.

All we can do now is write to Virgin, by recorded delivery, giving notice and sending a cheque for any monies owed up until the cessation of service. But do be aware, FunSam, that Virgin bill you for the line rental in advance, so they already have some of your money for any notice period.

This link is slightly helpful:

Best of Luck!

Not only are you wrong but I bet you were horrible to the person on the phone, even though you were incorrect!

I love customers.

Highlandlass28

You should love customers they are the people that pay your wages.

dalesrider

railbuff wrote: »

when i cancelled my broadband to move i was told i had to call retention to get MAC code. .

I guess that the Op is on virgin cable. As such you do not need a MAC, that is for ADSL.

You should love customers they are the people that pay your wages.

But this person is wanting to leave... So that does not apply :rotfl:

You also have to remember that telling a customer the truth, no matter how painfull to them. Is the priority....

As many of us in customer service know. Truth hurts when its not what the customer wants to hear.