Help- Virgin Media Holding Us to Ransom?

JS2006

Hi,

We have 2 contracts with VM- 1 for our current home and 1 in my mums house. I called to cancel the contract at my mums house and was advised that I made a change in September and was entered into a new contract, therefore I would need to pay £88 in early cancellation charges. I advised that at no point during the phone call in September was a new contract mentioned. The VM employee said that they were obliged to mention this on the call, he would raise a complaint for me and someone would get back to me in a few days as a manager would need to listen to the call.

I called up today as it had been over a week and the person I spoke to role me it could take up to 50 days for a manager to look at my complaint and that they then may decide not to listen to the call (the whole crux of the complaint) as a new contract had been posted out.

After to-ing and fro-ing, in the heat of the moment I asked if I could make the package cheaper. He then said 'I can't do that if you're just going to cancel within the 14 days.' And put me on hold then came back and said his manager had advised that if I cancel within 14 days, my old contract would take effect and that was VM policy.

My question is- is this true? Surely once I enter into a new contract, my old one is ended and if I cancel I am within my rights to do so? I feel like I am being held to ransom! I am still absolutely fuming from the whole experience.

iniltous

What was the change that was made in September ?,
if some sort of discount was applied or extended or they added something for 'free' then entering a new minimum term is sort of accepted , after all if they are giving you something they expect something in return,
TBH, if they think they are on solid ground and that whatever was said in September constitutes a new minimum term , they don't have to re negotiate again until that minimum term has expired
Did they send out a paper copy of the change made in September ?
if they did and it says what the deal was, that it starts a new minimum term and gives an 'upto' date, when you can cancel the 'deal' , then they probably don't have to review the call, they will say if you didn't agree , the letter said to ring and cancel, but you didn't ring, therefore you accepted the new terms
Assuming you did get something in September, it does look like you would be liable for ETC's if you cancel before the minimum term date.

JS2006

Hi,

The change was a package change as we were thinking of getting mum a mobile instead. We have been with VM for over 10 years.

My point was that when I first called, the person on the phone told me that they are legally obliged at that point to mention the new contract and if they didn't, then I should be able to cancel without charge. It seems they are backtracking now.

Also, I wanted to know if they are allowed to re-in state an old contract if I enter into a new one and cancel within the 14 day cooling off period.

onomatopoeia99

JS2006 wrote: »

Also, I wanted to know if they are allowed to re-in state an old contract if I enter into a new one and cancel within the 14 day cooling off period.

Pretty sure they are if you are still in the minimum term for the old contract, otherwise it would be an easy way to break you committments.

teddysmum

I have never been with Virgin, but, with Sky, you don't generally (there have been exceptions) get a cooling off period on joining them and not when you change your contract items, even when out of minimum term.

JB162

iniltous wrote: »

What was the change that was made in September ?,
if some sort of discount was applied or extended or they added something for 'free' then entering a new minimum term is sort of accepted , after all if they are giving you something they expect something in return,
TBH, if they think they are on solid ground and that whatever was said in September constitutes a new minimum term , they don't have to re negotiate again until that minimum term has expired
Did they send out a paper copy of the change made in September ?
if they did and it says what the deal was, that it starts a new minimum term and gives an 'upto' date, when you can cancel the 'deal' , then they probably don't have to review the call, they will say if you didn't agree , the letter said to ring and cancel, but you didn't ring, therefore you accepted the new terms
Assuming you did get something in September, it does look like you would be liable for ETC's if you cancel before the minimum term date.

You get 14 days coming off period on everything with Virgin. Change of packages, new contracts everything!

JS2006

JB162 wrote: »

You get 14 days coming off period on everything with Virgin. Change of packages, new contracts everything!

Yes, but VM told me that if I made a change to my package and then cancelled within the 14 days, my old contract would then take effect again. I thought if I entered a new contract, the old one would be null and void and therefore unable to be restarted?

Buzby

For upgrades, ordinarily there are no cancellation waivers - but VM do allow it. Therefore, the roll-back puts you back in the same situation as before, which is fair. So if you are restored to what was valid before the change, how is this a problem?

JS2006

Buzby wrote: »

For upgrades, ordinarily there are no cancellation waivers - but VM do allow it. Therefore, the roll-back puts you back in the same situation as before, which is fair. So if you are restored to what was valid before the change, how is this a problem?

Because we want to leave VM, but they want to charge us a cancellation fee as our package was changed in September. We weren't advised that this would start a new contract. I though a way around this was to change the package again and cancel within 14 days thus releasing us from the contract.

[Deleted User]

JS2006 wrote: »

Because we want to leave VM, but they want to charge us a cancellation fee as our package was changed in September. We weren't advised that this would start a new contract. I though a way around this was to change the package again and cancel within 14 days thus releasing us from the contract.

You mean you're finally admitting that you are trying to defraud Virgin? And yes, that is what you are trying to do. You agreed to the original contract, now you're stuck with it.

JS2006

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

You mean you're finally admitting that you are trying to defraud Virgin? And yes, that is what you are trying to do. You agreed to the original contract, now you're stuck with it.

If you had read my first post, you would have noticed that I had mentioned my intention was to get out of a contract that I had been entered into unknowingly. My initial contract was started in 2006, so I am not trying to defraud anyone as they should have told me that a new 12 month contract should commence. Virgin are the ones who have admitted an error and then refused to investigate it.