Do I have a valid complaint?

Stixx

Hi all,
I would be grateful for your advise....
I have (had) 3 mobile phone contracts with Virgin Mobile
2 x pay monthly, 24 mnth, £21 pm (blackberry)
1 x sim only, 30 days, £15 pm

On Monday I contacted Virgin to cancel the sim only deal as my partner has switched to Vodafone. The operator was very helpful and advised me that the 2 pay monthly contracts had expired in August 2014 and that I was paying too much. She switched both contracts to sim only, £7 pm, same minutes, texts & data.

The 2 pay monthly contracts are for my teenage children, 2 years ago Blackberry was "the" phone, now they are hankering over Samsung v Apple..... so I'm shopping around and looking for a good deal.

My question is, should Virgin have notified me that my contract was due to end and have offered me something else? The Blackberry phones both gave up the ghost about 18 months ago and despite returning them to Virgin and having them "fixed" I gave up and bought simfree from Carphone Warehouse.
In July/August 2014 my son lost his phone, so I contacted Virgin (I had insurance) who said that I wasn't covered for the simfree Samsung I'd purchased only the original Blackberry. I still had this so I said I would like to claim as it wasn't working, I was told there was a £70 excess! Needless to say I didn't claim, bought a cheapo £10 simfree phone for my son and he has been using that since.

At no point in July/August was I made aware that my contract(s) was ending and I could have upgraded, instead I was told that I would have to pay the £70 excess......

I want to complain to Virgin for such sloppy service but am I just wasting my time?
If they had notified me in August that my contracts had ended, I could have a) upgraded or b) switched to simonly and saved myself £200+ so far..!

Can I complain - how do I start?

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Vix

grumbler

No grounds for a complaint.
No, they shouldn't notify you. Even now they did you a favour by advising to switch to sim-only.

And it's not a rocket science to know when your minimum term ends without any external notifications or to set a notification yourself in a calendar if you need it.

Stixx

Yeah.... Thanks for that..... I think.

FYI I never had anything in writing from Virgin with regard to contract end date, I didn't record the date as I was always waiting for the paperwork. And yes, it is sometimes very difficult keeping track of dates when you have two teenage children with millions of different things to remember!

grumbler

Not all contracts have to be printed and signed. Surely you knew the minimum term whey buying the contract(s).

With "two teenage children with millions of different things to remember" it's even more important to put all important dates in some online calendar (google, MS Outhlook, Apple, ...) to receive a e-mail reminder(s) when needed.

Silk

Stixx wrote: »

FYI I never had anything in writing from Virgin with regard to contract end date, I didn't record the date as I was always waiting for the paperwork. And yes, it is sometimes very difficult keeping track of dates when you have two teenage children with millions of different things to remember!

Mobile contracts don't "end" or expire as you mentioned earlier, they just reach minimum term and continue on a rolling contract, you then have the option to cancel or take out another contract if you don't wish to continue paying over the odds.

mobilejunkie

Stixx wrote: »

Yeah.... Thanks for that..... I think.

FYI I never had anything in writing from Virgin with regard to contract end date, I didn't record the date as I was always waiting for the paperwork. And yes, it is sometimes very difficult keeping track of dates when you have two teenage children with millions of different things to remember!

You chose both the children and the contract. Presumably you decided on the first with a degree of care; why would the second not require any?

macman

If you can't be be bothered to take note of when your minimum term ends, then next time pick either an o2 Refresh contract, or Tesco Mobile. The latter is even more suitable, as you can cap the contracts used by your teenagers.

Stixx

Wow! I'm really surprised by the sarcasm, I thought this was the place to come for advise, clearly I was wrong.

augustusgloop

Almost right! This is (or has become) the place to come for advice you didn't ask for which makes the advice-giver feel better about themselves!

chanz4

no grounds, and even with baby's so easy to keep track

glitterboots

Did you receive any communication in general during that time? Chances are you opted out of marketing so they wouldn't be able contact you about anything upgrade related.

As for making a complaint, they're unlikely to do anything now you have upgraded as this would have been the time of negotiating. Look at it that you are now saving £28 a month on those contracts from this point forward.