Do I have a case against Virgin?

Captain_Shambolic

Hi all, so let me explain as thoroughly as possible.

My wife and I moved into a new house on 29th October. As we were moving and we were on the rolling contract with Sky we decided to shop around and see what Virgin could offer.

Virgin stated they were able to set us up within a few days because there was a Virgin line at the place we had bought (Sky by contrast told us it would take 4 weeks to get an engineer out to us)

They also threw in a load of freebies, such as faster internet, Movies, BT Sport and this worked out cheaper than Sky by £9 a month.

In addition, they offered us £100 credit. When I asked what this credit would be for (i.e. used for pay-per-view events or premium movies) they stated it would be a credit on the account to be used against future bills.

We also got an email stating we were eligible for a £100 gift card, which we selected for John Lewis and received accordingly.

They added this on because I came in a day before a new promotion was set to start and the manager agreed to chuck it in.

So we've had teething problems. Virgin needed to call an engineer out because the equipment we had was old Cable & Wireless stuff, meaning that while there was a Virgin line, we couldn't set anything up.

However the real problem is that they invoiced us £132.99 for the first bill, due to come out on 12th December. When I called in, they agreed they hadn't factored in the £25 deposit so took that off, leaving £117.99

They however had no record of the £100 credit. I went to the store and they apologised profusely. They stated they would get the £100 credit sorted but that since the bill had been generated, I needed to pay it. Annoying, especially around Christmas.

So the kicker is that I'm going to see them after lunch but I'm wondering what my options are;

I suspect that the £100 gift card might be the credit, but this was not stated and I specifically asked what the £100 credit was for. They did not state it was a gift card and would be credit on the account against future bills. Problem is, it's my word against theirs.

Can I turn around and ask they terminate my contract with no penalties? I'm working on the basis that they will say I've received my £100 as a gift card and my argument would be that they have misrepresented this, as we would rather have the credit on account (as it pays the first two months bills)

To be honest I'm regretting leaving Sky!!

Any help would be appreciated.

onomatopoeia99

Do a subject access request and ask for the recordings of calls to them? If you arranged this £100 credit in a shop, that won't work, of course.

teddysmum

You will know, from Sky, that they do not allow overlapping promotions, so are you sure you were not offered the credit (ie money in your account) then the voucher, but accepted the latter assuming you got both (and not an either /or) ?


£200 and the freebies you mention do appear to be very generous deal.


I don't think lack of a credit would be sufficient to cancel, as there is no problem with the service or price increase.