Do Virgin media have to honour deals offered in chat room?

Skint_yet_Again

I have spent most of this afternoon on the phone to Virgin Media and have almost lost the will to live

I currently have

TV M+
Tivo 500
Broadband 50mg,
Talk weekends - free phone calls weekends 01/02/03
HD box

with a £4 loyalty discount total £33.98 pm plus line rental saver (coming to an end this month) = 603.76 pa

First phone call offered a discount of £1.50 a month. so add line rental saver £196 = £48.83 pm = £585.96

Online chat said they could do same TV & phone package but with 100mg broadband for £38.50 for 6 months then £41 a month. He confirmed this included line rental. He then said it did not include the HD box. At this point the chat cut off.

I phoned VM to be told that he did not offer me that deal it did not include line rental. I have a transcript of the chat and it clearly shows he said line rental included. I was then told he should not have offered me that deal it does not include line rental.

Chap I spoke to said still £1.50 pm discount plus £30 one-off credit (so works out at £4 a month) so total £48 discount. = £556 pa and no 100mg broadband. I have made a complaint.

Don't know if I would get offered anything better if I gave them 30 days notice. No better deals around. Or should I just take the £1.50 a month discount & £30 credit ?

Sorry such a long post. Thanks for reading !

teddysmum

If someone in a shop makes a mistake by stating an incorrect price, when the correct higher price comes up at the till, then the shop does not have to honour the deal.


Virgin could claim that this , too was a mistake. (This is what they appear to have done, as the next call centre person told you the offer was incorrect.)


I don't know how Virgin works, but if Sky tv is out of minimum term , there is all to be gained by cancelling (even better letting it be switched off), but if you cancel phone and broadband it may not be possible to undo this and you could be stuck with a cease charge and a reconnection charge with them or another provider.

Skint_yet_Again

Just to update as this complaint is still dragging on. Heard nothing by 10 March so I phoned and was asked to email a transcript of the chat which I did. Still heard nothing by 17 March so phoned again to be told that they cant confirm this person received the email. Sent the email again as advised & asked for them to send me an email reply to confirm receipt, the girl I spoke to on 17 March said they cant refuse to honour what has been offered .... waiting for a reply

dawyldthing

If medium tv is like it was 5 years ago it's just like freeview. So neatly £600 for the Internet and tv is far far too much. I pay less than half that per year with ee and have their recording box too

dekaspace

I have my own issues with them, been on loyalty discounts for almost 18 months which they kept screwing up, then increased price without telling me and said as 30 days had passed I couldn't barter, I said I was unhappy and asked about when my contract ended so I could barter, a few weeks later I moved at short notice and phoned with a query about getting moving costs waived and renegotiating contract, I WAS asked moving date and said I wasn't sure and they said there was a open account at new address so needed to check if old tenant had moved out and promised call back.

I do admit to missing the call back but no voicemail was left, 10 days later at old address services went off and I was told this was due to house move.

Due to the stress of house move I waiting till engineer arrived to phone back, I phoned back and was told I agreed to the house move and was in a new 12 month contract and charged full costs.

I better stop but lets just say months on I get things that did happen twisted such as when I complained about the price increase but asked about renegotiating was told I could do so in Feb but its likely wouldn't get much better than I currently get, I "agree" thats likely and that as things stand the major issues bar new contract and price increase are sorted, they interpret this as case being closed.

So now I pay £9 more than I did 4 months ago, and in a new contract I never agreed to!!

Skint_yet_Again

Sorry to hear your VM woes Deskaspace


Still heard nothing so I phoned Monday and was promised a call back within 48 hours ... surprise surprise no call back.


So I phoned again yesterday to be told yet again that they will not honour the deal I was offered in chat, they will only offer the same discount as initially offered of £1.50 a month and that he would not have offered me the £30 credit as the regulator has told VM that they should not offer one-off credits as an apology . :mad: He offered a call back from a manager but said they would just confirm the same. He would not increase the £30 credit.


To be honest I gave up at this point - I think they deliberately fob you off until you lose the will to continue complaining - I have looked around and cant get a better deal elsewhere for fibre tv & phone TiVo & additional HD box, so I took the offer and £30 credit.


dawyldthing - M+ includes sky channels and others which I cant get on freeview or freesat

Skint_yet_Again

I been thinking about this all day and have now sent a complaint via resolver - nothing ventured nothing gained ... will see what happens next.