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pickledmoose

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Jamesyb123

They are unlikely to remove a hard search and if they don’t have the recording they can claim they are right and you are wrong. I appreciate it’s the principle but the one search won’t do much damage and it’s negative effect is gone after 6 months. Don’t pour a lot of time and effort into something that won’t make a huge difference.

MEM62

pickledmoose said:

This open dispute is making it impossible to apply for a new credit card and bank account which I had planned to do in January.

One hard  search will not have that impact.  There must be other factors at play.  

Jamesyb123

pickledmoose said:

(Removed by Forum Team).

I am happy (have little choice!) to wait for Virgin Media to investigate their complaint, sadly it seems their resolution team is as rubbish as their sales advisors. I understand the point you are making but for someone like myself it does make a significant difference having a hard search on their credit file, but I am not going into this for personal reasons.

Jamesyb123 said:

They are unlikely to remove a hard search and if they don’t have the recording they can claim they are right and you are wrong. I appreciate it’s the principle but the one search won’t do much damage and it’s negative effect is gone after 6 months. Don’t pour a lot of time and effort into something that won’t make a huge difference.

They might not have the original recording from outbound retentions, it is amazing how these things can disappear in large organisations. However I recorded my outgoing call to Virgin Media after getting a bill for Virgin Mobile in which I was told the sales advisor from outbound retentions had put me on the wrong tariff and that it could be seen in the notes the SIM was to be included in my Virgin Media package. Also nowhere in the email sent by the sales advisors from outbound retentions does it say the SIM is a separate contract, it states quite clearly it is included in my monthly Virgin Media contract.

I also never provided any bank details to the outbound retention team sales advisors, so he took my details on file in order to set up a direct debit for Virgin Mobile, again done without my permission or knowledge.

There is not a chance I would agree to taking out a SIM for a monthly cost because I have been with my current mobile phone provided for six years on a SIM only contract and I am more than happy with them.

The second call I made to Virgin Media was also recorded, in which I am told by someone who is liasing with a manager they will remove the hard credit search from my file!

I also recorded the inbound call from the same person on the same day in which she advises her manager is going to rectify the issue.

So, I have more than sufficient evidence that Virgin Media have screwed up and yet they are saying the complete opposite to Equifax.

Not everyone is able to sit back and ignore poor customer service, some of us like to take a stand for when we think we have been conned, ripped off or misled and I am one of those people, plus perhaps I am more sensitive because I struggle with my mental health and I really do not handle stress very well.

That’s fair enough, everyone is free to pursue what they want I’m just speaking from personal experience that the effect of the hard search is a lot less than the stress and the effect on your mental health of trying to get a result. You may even find that 12 months will have passed and the search disappeared all together by the time you get any joy. But by all means you must do what suits you this is just friendly advice based on personal experiences 

MaryNB

Just to make you aware, banks don't see your score/rating. Your credit history is important and is seen when a company performs a hard check. A lender will use your data and their own internal assessment/scoring system (you won't see how they score you, just accepted/rejected) to decide if they will let you open a credit account. 

[Deleted User]

pickledmoose said:

MEM62 said:

pickledmoose said:

This open dispute is making it impossible to apply for a new credit card and bank account which I had planned to do in January.

One hard reach will not have that impact.  There must be other factors at play.  

I am not ashamed to share my story since I posted it elsewhere on this forum last night.
Virgin Media carried out there unauthorised hard credit search on 13/01 I have for the last six years worked hard at improving my credit rating and on the 15/01 my DRO from 2015 went off my credit file, I was expecting to see my score go up not go down because Virgin Media performed a credit search without my permission.

And for the record it seems you are correct, it has not impacted my credit score as I have just been approved for a Barclaycard 0% 18 months after additional checks were carried out by them, but still the fact remains Virgin Media carried out an unauthorised credit search and I will get that removed if not by them, by the financial ombudsman when I escalate the complaint to them, in the meantime I have to be patient and wait for Virgin Media to deal with the complaint escalation.

Good you got the card, shows this search means nothing and you can relax now
However, please note your score is meaningless, nobody but you ever sees it, no lender ever decides to give credit based on this fictitious score