Virgin Media Broadband charging 25p/min for its helpline

MSE_Martin

What's this about?

On 1 July Virgin Media started charging 25p/min for its technical helpline.

One way to get some money back

If the reason you're calling the technical helpline is because it has made an error, rather than it's your issue, if you ask, it should refund you the cost of the call against your next bill.

Also if you need help with technical queries it's always worth asking the helpful bods on the Techie Stuff Forum.

credit-card-tart

Lets hope someone will post the normal 01/02 number either here or on http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

trubster

I called up Vermin Media CS today and explained the fault to billing dept, They put me trough (After telling me that he shouldnt do it) as the "Internal Extention Number" was the same!

I got through to someone in the uk, and problem solved in 5 minutes, the guy even said "This call will cost 25ppm"

THEY CAN DO IT, the question is, "How much do VM Value customers"???

Alfie_E

The Broadband Support Premium Rate Line FAQs include the following question and answer.

Do I have to pay for a call if it's a Virgin Media issue?
Our technical support agents will have discretion to refund the cost of your call* if your modem is faulty, if we need to book an engineer to come and see you to resolve the issue or it's as a result of an otherwise unreported outage.

*Any refunds will be issued on the basis of what the call would have cost from a Virgin Media landline. Please bear this in mind if you are calling from another phone such as a mobile.

You should note the following points.

• You must check that your problem is unreported, before dialling the premium rate number.
• If your call to the premium rate number isn’t answered within three minutes, it will be terminated. The status line recording may have changed since you started dialling the premium rate number. It would be advisable to call the status line again, before each time you dial the premium rate number.
• If it takes a number of calls before Virgin Media acknowledge there is a problem they are responsible for, it may be very difficult to get the cost of all but the last one refunded.
• You will only be refunded 25p per minute, no matter how you call them. If you have to use a mobile, any refund may only be a small fraction of what the call cost you.
• Any refund is discretionary.

Churchpolly

I think its disgusting that they are charging a premium rate at all - why dont we try and protest instead of just accepting it?

I loved it when my broadband was supplied by Telewest - it was a far superior service at less cost!

So - any ideas on how we can let Virgin know that we aint happy? :mad:

How about an online petition???

Polly

sylwright

Churchpolly wrote: »

I think its disgusting that they are charging a premium rate at all - why dont we try and protest instead of just accepting it?

I loved it when my broadband was supplied by Telewest - it was a far superior service at less cost!

So - any ideas on how we can let Virgin know that we aint happy? :mad:

How about an online petition???

Polly

I couldn't agree more. Have had Telewest broadband for over 3 years without any problems whatsoever, but as soon as Virgin took over the service was very unreliable and I spent more time trying to solve the problems than I did being connected.

I emailed Virgin to tell them how unhappy I was with their service and said I wished to cancel my subscripton. They only contacted me to ask me to inform them again with all the subscription details and that was it. I have now gone with Sky broadband for £10 per month instead of £25 I was paying to Virgin.

Seems a shame that they took over a successful and reliable business and ruined it.

Greevee

I had never used the broadband helpline before so was unaware that the price had increased when I called on Sunday morning, however was quite clearly notified that it was 25p per minute at start of call. What did surprise me though was that half way through a sentence I was interrupted and informed that I had been on for 10 minutes and that they would terminate the call and call me back within 30 minutes. They actually called back after a couple of minutes where call lasted at least another 15 mins and my problem was sorted. I was actually quite impressed with the service.

free4440273

sylwright wrote: »

I couldn't agree more. Have had Telewest broadband for over 3 years without any problems whatsoever, but as soon as Virgin took over the service was very unreliable and I spent more time trying to solve the problems than I did being connected.

I emailed Virgin to tell them how unhappy I was with their service and said I wished to cancel my subscripton. They only contacted me to ask me to inform them again with all the subscription details and that was it. I have now gone with Sky broadband for £10 per month instead of £25 I was paying to Virgin.

Seems a shame that they took over a successful and reliable business and ruined it.

is it a yearly contract - or can one cancel the service at any time, with no additional costs? what i mean is, is it a monthly contract with virgin? thanks.

marleyboy

free4440273 wrote: »

is it a yearly contract - or can one cancel the service at any time, with no additional costs? what i mean is, is it a monthly contract with virgin? thanks.

Fortunatley for me, my 12 month min contract with VM is up, I am currently looking for alternatives, as I find it outragious that I have to pay so much for the constant faults I am STILL having to endure with them.

HOwever, those stuck within their contract with Virgin, should know that in introducing this premium number, they are in breach of the contract that you have signed up for, using this as the reason to terminate, they cannot charge you a fee for cancelling, as you did not sign up any contract with a premium rate number attached. Sure they will try to fish their way around this, but as it is, its not your breach, its theirs, so cancelling a contract on those grounds completely covers you.

mach3blackbird

I called up on monday to report a fault with my broadband and was quite angry at the time. The man who answered the call managed to calm me down and after 4 minutes had determined that there was indeed a fault and that a technician was probably required. He offered to call me back once he had elevated the call to 2nd line. he called back within about 5 minutes and booked a technician to come and investigate (admittedly only in 3 days time). Before I asked he said that because there was a fault he would refund the cost of the call.
Can't say I'm pleased that they have started charging 25p/min but on this occassion I can't really complain.
Although 3 days to send out a techie for a broadband line that is among the most expensive anywhere in the UK now is pushing it!

mattydj

I've just had a run in with Virgin Media tonight. I objected to paying 25p a minute, especially when my bill which arrived this morning had an 0845 number as the Broadband support. The Service Status 0800 number had no record of any fault in my area, so I rang several numbers and spoke to several people who refused to tell me anything, other than I needed to ring 0906. So, I registered a formal complaint, then did just that. My call was answered after 3 seconds! He too had no record of a fault in my area and after 4 mins, he could not rectify the fault, so said he would contact someone else and ring me back.

Within 5 minutes, he did that to tell me that there was indeed a "Low S & R" fault in my area since this morning! It should be fixed by tomorrow!

So I have paid £1.35 to tell Virgin that they have a fault with their own equip ment that they currently cannot fix!

Coincidently, the Broadband connection came back to like 15 mins later and has been perfect ever since! I am going to send them an invoice for a call out charge!