Virgin Media - Cancelling Early?

MercilessKiller

Hi There,

I'm in "Area 15" (North London), and for other people in that area on Virgin Media, you'll be used to having a lack of service and seeing a known fault on the Virgin Media website, similar to the below:
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-to-60Mb-Setup-Equipment/Consistent-problems-with-Known-Faults-in-my-area/m-p/2099208/highlight/false#M138404

So this appears to be a very common problem with this area. For me personally, the connection has been down at least 6 times within the past month alone. Each time, when checking the Virgin Media site, there has been a "known fault" which an engineer has had to fix.

I called today to explore my options of cancelling my contract early and was told I'd have to pay an early termination fee. I explained that my service has been down 6 times in the past month, though I was told that they can only cancel early if I had an engineer out to fix the problem at least 3 times in the last month. Apparently Ofcom call this "acceptable" (According to David Kerr, the manager I spoke with).

SO, according to Ofcom, the service can be down 24/7 as long as an engineer doesn't need to visit your specific property, and they only allow for early terminations IF they do need to book out an engineer to your specific property.

I asked David the below question:
"Are you telling me that broadband going down for at least 9 hours every weekend due to known problems, is an acceptable level of service and shouldn't be included within the early cancellation policy?"

At this point, David agreed with me. He's now apparently trying to get in contact with the area manager to investigate why it's been going down so much (and to confirm it has been I imagine), and also let me know what the actual reason is and whether there is a long term resolution due shortly.

What's my rights here? Am I able to tell them to get lost without having to worry about fees? These are all known problems that were on the Virgin Media status page, so I'm surprised they actually require me to manually book an engineer each time in order to be able to cancel - Makes no sense?!?!

Thanks for any advice!

macman

Unfortunately, there is no SLA on a residential contract, so all you can expect is a credit for the downtime-which you'll get if you ask for it.

MercilessKiller

macman wrote: »

Unfortunately, there is no SLA on a residential contract, so all you can expect is a credit for the downtime-which you'll get if you ask for it.

Was worried that would be the case.

Pretty appalling consumers don't have more rights here? I mean, these are known faults affecting the entire area - If they don't do the necessary things to resolve them, how can they be allowed to tie people into long term contracts?

Hmmm

kwikbreaks

Haven't they notified you of the February price increase yet? You get 30 days from notification to terminate penalty free.

Here's what it says at the bottom of the email they sent me...

If you do not wish to be bound by these changes you can cancel your contract with us without penalty. The process to be followed is set out in our terms and conditions at virginmedia.com/legalstuff

If you don't/can't cancel then you can still call in and ask for credit for the disruptions. That isn't retroactive though so what has happened in the past and you haven't claimed for is lost. Call them during or straight after downtime.

MercilessKiller

Hi Kiwk,

Thanks for that - I forgot about that actually. I got the email on the 15th of November so guess I have 6 days.

If I cancel, would it be instant (I.E from the day they receive notification?) or could I give them a date? I.E last day of January?

BT Infinity said they'd take about 4 weeks to set up the connection so would be good to limit the crossover.

Thanks!

macman

You'll need to give your normal notice period.

MercilessKiller

Great news!

I'm waiting for BT to confirm I can get their fibre optic (as my flat isn't in their system, but the flat next door can get it).

Hopefully they can do that this week and I can cancel!!!

Wish me luck

kwikbreaks

Good luck.

I've got FTTC on order with an install date set for 19th. If the Openreach bod actually bothers to show his face and install it this time around I'll be giving my 30 day notice from then.

MercilessKiller

Hi All,

Just an update, I received a call from a network engineer in my area this morning (I have to say, pretty impressed with that! I thought my complaint would go into a black-hole)

He explained that Area 15 (Haringey) was split into 2 last month. This was a major architecture change but would result in much better speed and performance.

Unfortunately, there were problems and lots of little niggles, but a lot of money and work is being invested on resolving them, and they're confident it's much more stable now and shouldn't have further issues. He accidentally dialled me without hiding his number, so he said while he shouldn't give out his details, I can call him if there are further problems.

What's interesting for me now, is a network engineer has actually confirmed the service has been down an extraordinarily large amount of time in the past month due to problems with upgrades.

I only have 5 more days to cancel under the price change thing, but as I'm not sure I can get BT Infinity in time, I don't want to be left without internet for potentially a month.

Hmmmmm. Maybe I take the risk and stay with them. Contract is up in June anyway so wouldn't have to wait too long!