Virgin Net - bad experience

atreyu1629

Has anyone else had experience of trying to cancel a Virgin Net account? I cancelled mine 3 months ago and they are still taking money off my credit card. I have emailed them 4 times, but never get a reply.

Am I the only one receiving this poor service? I would love to know if other have had bad experiences with Virgin Net.

wirm

Have you paid for it once they charged you?

Speak to your credit card company, they may be able to help....

atreyu1629

Yes, I have been on to barclaycard, they say it is not possible to cancel the agreement from their end and Virgin Net have to do it. They may be helpfull and I have sent them the referenece numbers of the 4 emails that I have sent to Virgin Net. It shouldn't have to come to this and if Virgin Net were anything of a decent company it wouldn't have. Thanks for your input.
Keith

wirm

Have you paid for it once they charged you?

If no joy from Virgin, I think you need to consult Trading Standards etc. Do you have a telephone number for Virgin?

Sub_2

Has anyone else had experience of trying to cancel a Virgin Net account?  I cancelled mine 3 months ago and they are still taking money off my credit card. I have emailed them 4 times, but never get a reply.  

Am I the only one receiving this poor service?  I would love to know if other have had bad experiences with Virgin Net.

Virgin tried *exactly* the same thing with me. I properly cancelled my broadband account with them but they just kept taking whatever they wanted from my credit card.

Fortunately, having had prior experience of this kind of behaviour from Virgin at one of their health clubs I was prepared.

I'd kept a record of the telephone cancellation (date and time I called, name of person I spoke to). I'd also kept a copy of the email I sent to them to double confirm my instructions.

I gave this info to my credit card company, they took back all the money Virgin had improperly taken from me and refunded my account. Virgin apparently kept trying to take money for some months after that but my card company blocked their debits until they got the message. Virgin sent me all kinds of whining, complaining and threatening letters and emails but I ignored them all. Excuse my french but f*ck 'em - they are either deliberately dishonest or incompetent, either way that's their problem, not mine.

If your virgin isp terms and conditions were they same as mine then you can cancel your virgin account either by phone, letter or email. If you can provide your credit card company with proof that you have done this then they *MUST* stop allowing virgin to debit your account. Give your card company the proof of you having properly cancelled the account and a copy of the t & c.

Credit card companies sometimes give customers a pretty hard time over these continuing mandate type card arrangements, insisting that the retailer or service provider must stop them not the credit card company. This is a little misleading in my opinion, *you* are able to cancel an ongoing continuing mandate with a company, just end any contract between you and them in accordance with the terms and conditions. They then have *no right* to debit you any more, no matter what your card company say. If your card company give you the run around complain in writing and tell them if they do not act to your satisfaction you will complaion to the industry ombudsman and take your future business elsewhere.

Don't let them get away with this. Let us know how you get on mate.

atreyu1629

Thanks for your message. Just to update you, Barclaycard were not very helpful and said they don't have the power to stop the direct debit. It seems that I am unable to do it myself and Virgin have now taken a third unauthorised payment. I have put Barclaycard on warning that I am about to cancel my card and direct debit with them. This is because I can't just let Virgin keep taking my money. I will deduct the Virgin money from my Barclaycard account before settling my last bill. I know this (according to Barclaycard) is not strictly legal, but I am prepared to fight them.

Everyone else be warned, If you need to cancel a VirginNet account, you are in for a fight. Better not to get involved with them in the first place.

Sub_2

Cancelling the card and withholding part of the final payment might not be the best way to tackle this. You may find that increases rather them remedies your headache.

In my view, Barclaycard are simply fobbing you off because they find it easy and convenient to treat individual customers in this shabby manner. It is simply incorrect for them to say they cannot help you. They bloody well can and in your position I'd give 'em absolutely no choice but to understand this.

If I were you I'd call Barclaycard again and simply report all three Virgin payments as unauthorised transactions. This is what they are and you want them dealt with as such. If Barclaycard try again to fob you off simply refuse to take no for an answer.

I expect that Barclaycard are trying to say that while the continuing payment mandate is in place they cannot stop the debits, this is true but it's just not relevant to your position. The mandate you granted to VirginNet has ENDED. It ended when you cancelled your service agreement with them. As soon as you properly cancelled your VirginNet account their right to charge you for said account ENDED. Barclaycard are right to tell you that they cannot terminate a continuing mandate payment between you and a service provider, but *you* can, and you *have*. VirginNet are now taking money from your visa card without authority, tell those Barclaycard buggers that if they don't act properly you will involve the Ombudsman.

Get a fax number from Barclaycard and put this in writing to them. Demand that they give you a written response. Demand that VirginNet provide Barclaycard proof of their authority to take money from your credit card account. If Virgin claim the authority stems from the agreement granted at the start of your isp contract with them, you can easily show that contract has been properly terminated, and thus so has their right to charge you. They haven't got a leg to stand on.

Apologies if this post sounds a bit "stern". It winds me up good an' proper when these companies treat us this way and I just want to give an idea of how firm you might want to be with Barclaycard.

I still have a copy of the VirginNet Terms and Conditions and the fax and other bits I sent to my card provider when I was in your position. If this stuff might be of help to you, or you want anything else, feel free to email me. I'll be glad to do what I can.

Let us know how you get on.

alexuk_4

I had a similar problem with national car rental, they kept debiting my card 3 months after i off hired their vehicle. My CC said they couldnt do anything, but would start to investigate the matter as Fraud. National car rentals seemed to buck their ideas up then and gave me a cheque for £25 as compo!!