Help! in a Broadband pickle

atravellingpang

I'm currently with BT paying £52.49 a month, out of contract. Tried to join Vodafone but they couldn't confirm download speed so went with Virgin for £40 a month plus £75 bill credit effectively making it £33.75. Then realised Virgin don't help you leave your current provider and managed to confirm with Vodafone a decent download speed who contacted BT on my behalf so went with them for £27 a month.
BT Retention called and offered me £19.99 so decided to stay with them. Canceled my Vodafone order. Then tried to cancel Virgin but as am outside '14 day cooling off period', I will be charged EDF of £260. Spoke to BT and they won't cover it as it wasn't part of the deal that was agreed with Retention team.
I want to claim that Virgin can't charge me as I'm not using their service (technically correct as haven't connected to them yet) however have done research/read Virgin's T&Cs and contract start date is the date my kit arrived or when they made 'service available' to me. I've just see my first bill and it's £119 (first and second month plus installation fee) and no bill credit in sight!!
HELP. I want to leave Virgin.
How can I get out of my contract?
How can I recover some of these charges?

AndyPK

don't sign for the router. or collect it.

Complain there is no bill credit and use as an excuses to leave?

couriervanman

No help now......but you should have phoned BT first to see what they could offer

[Deleted User]

Of no help to the OP I'm afraid but this is why if I'm switching, I don't try to cancel in cooling off periods regardless of the belated retention offer from the existing supplier. It's far too much hassle with too much to go wrong.

Biggus_Dickus

I’m no legal expert but on the face of it Virgin are well within their rights to invoke their £260 cancellation fee. They’ve already invested a considerable sum in you, as a new customer. Router, engineer/installation visit, admin etc.

If you stay with Virgin (£33.72/month) you’ll pay £405 + £39?? installation fee = £444 for the first 12 months.

BT will charge you £240 for the first 12 months.

You have a choice;...stay with BT and hope you can ‘negotiate’ your way out of your Virgin contract;...a risky strategy perhaps!

Or,... cancel your new BT contract (assuming you still have time!) and bite the bullet by staying with Virgin;...it’s going to cost you an extra £204? over the coming year but I assume (perhaps wrongly) that the Virgin fibre broadband will be faster and more stable than your local FTTC broadband offerings; i.e. BT, Vodafone etc.

Assuming you purchased Virgin’s 110Mbps package perhaps you can, even now, negotiate a cheaper deal by dropping down to their cheapest 55Mbps broadband package.

I’ve been a Virgin fibre (Broadband only) customer for 8 years and my service has always been excellent, tbh,...but it isn't cheap. However, I have no knowledge of how stringent Virgin are when it comes to letting new customers ‘off the hook’ so to speak.

Good luck,...I have a feeling you’ll need it.