Virgin won't close my account after the end of my fixed contract - HELP

JJ_Egan

Ofcom is the regulator .

frederick1950

So when you called in June 2020 did you give them 30 days notice ?
You haven't cancelled the DD have you ?
On what date in  June did you give them your 30 days notice?
Its only 1st August now so we are only talking of between 4-8 weeks depending on when you gave notice.
If you had cancelled your DD and the 30 days notice was still outstanding they wont let you leave until all arrears are cleared.
I have never had a problem with Virgin and they have always actioned things immediately when requested.
Call me a cynic but I feel we are somehow not getting the full story? 

Usermah

You are cynical because the story is unbelievable that something like this can happen....it is the worst experience I have ever had in my life. Perhaps this wouldn't have happened in a non-Pandemic lockdown kind of world, but regardless I should not become Virgin's hostage even in this scenario - I should not have to pay for their problems. Perhaps you are cynical because you know people at Virgin and have good experience with them - if so please ask them to acknowledge my request to terminate my account....I do not enjoy spending over 12 hours on this... Thanks JJ for the regulator details....perhaps they can help.

frederick1950

But you still havent answered the questions so people can try to understand what has gone on .
In the distant past I did have experience of where they wouldnt let my son cancel because of a very small outstanding amount.
 

Usermah

I am beginning to think you work for Virgin.... but very well here is the information you specifically ask:
May (end): I tried to reach Virgin to change my services however no-one would pick-up even after being on hold for hours
June (beginning): I decided to cut Virgin however again no-one would pick-up even after being on hold for hours
June 16: I tried complaining on their website complaint form, however the form wouldn't go through (before you ask I tried multiple times and multiple browsers)
June 16: I use mobile app chat to inform the person on the other end that I would like to close my account, he informs me that I have to chat in the morning as he can't help me.
June 16: I emailed their CEO email dated 16th June to their CEO Lutz Schueler complaining of their service and informing him that I want to close my account
June 17: I try the mobile chat again and inform them I want to close my account, the guy this time disappears for 30mins then comes and tells me that he has been trying to get me a better deal but can't help me close my account as he is from billing and directs me to the website chart box (which only works if you are not logged in to your virgin account)
June 17: I chat with the person on the website chat and I tell them I want to close my account and again after wasting my time they tell me I have to speak to the team which handles that.
June 24th: I finally get through to someone in the team which handles leaving customers and I inform them that i want close my account. She acknowledges my email from 16th requesting my account to be closed but wants to start my 30 days from 24th. I challenge this and she says she will have to call me back. (She didn't call me back) 
June 29th: 2nd Email to Mr. Schueler
July 7th: Registered letter of complaint to Virgin's Complaints team and asking them to acknowledge my request to close my account.
Instead of an acknowledgement that my account is being closed and looking for a final bill settlement, I have received an email informing me of my ongoing bill. 
I hope this finally satisfies the cynic in you Frederick - and i will repeat this again here before you ask again...at no point in time have i missed a payment to Virgin or has there been an outstanding bill - they don't even send or talk about a settlement bill!

frederick1950

You appear to be your own worst enemy.
From past experience with Sky and Three I have found they wont accept cancellations via email or chat.
So you eventually did the correct thing and when you spoke to someone on the the 24th who was  willing to accept your noitice you decide to complicate things by starting to argue about a previous online chat.
It could have all been sorted there and then !
Most staff are working from home and some of the usual inter-department communications are not up to their usual standard .
So to sum up, you wasted the best part of a month  by not continuing to try and contact them by phone and  then when you did get through you blew it ?

Usermah

Thanks Frederick....its quite clear that according to you nothing Virgin can do is wrong. I am actually quite surprised by your position which endorses poor services and basically blames the customer for said bad service. Basically in your opinion Its my fault because:
1. I couldn't get through to the specific Virgin team on the phone despite making multiple efforts and spending hours on hold
2. I shouldn't have put anything in writing despite wasting hours on the phone on hold trying to speak to them
3. I shouldn't have complained when I couldn't get any service by phone or in writing
4. I should just accept to pay Virgin for a service I do not want at a price they keep increasing
I am not sure what is worse the abysmal customer experience or your endorsement of Virgin and blame-the-customer attitude for their shortcomings. Yes the pandemic situation is not easy but its not easy for any of us. That doesn't mean that customers should have to pay large corporations for a service they do not need or want - we all have our own financial problems to deal with. If you are an employee of Virgin Media or affiliated with them in some way, you would be better served by raising your service levels than trying to shoot down the messengers. I am 100% certain you will come back with some quib to divert the attention from the main takeaway from my post. Please don't!

frederick1950

Do you mean 'quip' ?

kiwiscott

User ah I am having the same trouble! Admittedly it’s not been as long as you have been at it. I’ve been trying for 3 weeks via the phone and internet but they send you around it an eternal loop. The phone blames covid and suggests sending you a text message with the link you require to leave... this takes you to an unhelpful page that tries to scare you off leaving by warning you about charges and losing your virgin email... I now live in a road that has no VM so it’s not even an option fo keep them. Today I signed up to another provider and it took 20 mins to set everything up online without speaking to anyone... these companies are happy to make it easy to join but try leaving and they deliberately make it difficult. I am yet to harass the CEO or Branson but have tweeted VM twice with no response. The financial onbudsman or something equivalent needs to get onto this and put something in place that ensures people can leave as easily as they have joined if they aren’t overdue any payments!
and yeah Frederick is a VM employee for certain!! Anyone can see that! 

macman

Branson has nothing to do with VM, and hasn't for years. He doesn't even sit on the board. Like most of his ventures, it's purely a branding and royalty  exercise.