Can i cancel Virgin with no fee because of their bad service?

hounddog88

Hi,

I have had Virgin Media for 13 out of the 18 month contract but they have had technical errors on my tv service for a while. They said online that it would be a week of disruption but it has been nearly 5 weeks and they just keep extending it online as well. The problem is i can't access half the channels i pay for/ cannot delete anything in my recordings or access any online services, e.g bbc i player. I am really unhappy about this as i upgraded to the big tv package only a couple of weeks before that but because they are not providing the service they promise should i be able to cancel without paying a fee?

Sorry for the long explanation. Please help!

RHYSDAD

I would ring them up and, politely, moan endlessly re their terrible service and iterate that you feel some recompense may be in order for their technical misgivings. Other than that you're still tied in to a contract which you'd find hard to wriggle out of unless you could prove that your contract with them is in breach due to their terrible service. You'd find that difficult though....

macman

No you can't. No service guaranteees 100% uptime. But you can ask for a credit for the downtime.
And if you did cancel, then without a BT based line, you'll have nowhere else to go.

Geordie_bear

I've also had downtime on my TV & Broadband service, the trick is always ask for compensation they won't offer it you have to ask for it. In the past couple of months I've had about 8 days disruption, the 2nd time I ask for compensation for the 5 days and I got a week I then complained I should get extra compensation for it being the 2nd time in as many months they then gave me 2 weeks compo :T

JamieStapleton

YES YOU CAN.

Whilst it may not be the norm to be granted cancellation, it is possible.

I myself experienced 4 months solid of Broadband latency and outages. Roughly 10 days ever month were blighted with no service or very poor service.

Every month I rung up and complained, and every month I was credited for affected days.

I felt I should be able to cancel without penalty, so I emailed them with a complaint and request to cancel without penalty. See a snippet from my email below -

I understand that download speeds cannot be guaranteed however I believe that 4 month continuous months of partial service, in the form of lost packets and complete periods of outage, is not reasonable and certainly does not meet the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 definition of 'fit for purpose'.

I have an external internet quality monitor provided by ThinkBroadband that has a complete history of connection quality, this clearly shows my loss of service experienced.

[details about my loss of service history...]

If my request is not met, I wish to escalate this issue and engage the Internet Service Providers Association immediately to arbitrate this problem, potentially resulting in legal action.

Last month I received a phone call from Virgin in reply to this email. Not only did they grant a full cancellation (Broadband, Phone and Line Rental) WITHOUT penalty, they also credited me the full amount possible for that month (£75) as a good will gesture. I was surprised as anyone regarding the great customer service I received, I had previously heard bad things about Virgin and their attitude to customer service.

So all in all I suggest pursuing what you want knowing that it is possible to get a cancellation in full without penalty, especially if you have been persistently let down by the service.