Beware Virgin Media: no seriously - buyer beware

aphil01

I've just been through a dispute resolution service to get an apology (of sorts) from Virgin Media and I want to warn others before you sign up with them.. About 3 months ago, out of contract and paying a hefty Broadband + landline monthly bill I swapped through uSwitch to Plusnet for a far cheaper monthly tariff.

Swapping after 4-5 years paying my bills regularly and on time seemed to upset Virgin who sent me a further 3 bills which totalled £150+ which I refused to pay having legally and legitimately swapped providers. Anyhow - CEDR is the place to go if you have any problems with Virgin and leaving them. I eventually got an apology from Virgin Media which still tried to blame me despite Virgin accepting that they had recieved a code request from Plusnet before I transferred.

I had previously had phonecalls from Virgin Media - but bypassing their security computer having lost my password (that I rarely used anyway) is incredibly difficult. There is no human being to speak to and all emails to solve matters are always a no-reply address.

Anyhow, in the last 10 days mandated period given by the dispute resolution service I managed to speak to a real human being at Virgin 3 different times where said they would send a new password code so I could get through security. (They never did) and they were always insistent that they would record the phonecall (implicit threat there) for legal purposes. Having done nothing wrong - my last phonecall yesterday morning - I asked the operator to start recording the call and he dropped the call like a hot potato. Luckily, by 2p.m. in the afternoon - Virgin's 10 day deadline from CEDR had run out and they have had to accept my claim begrudgingly.

Anyhow, nasty company, nasty customer service and why they are allowed to stay on uSwitch and not even behave according to the rules of customer choice and transfer of providers - I don't know.

pbartlett

i would rather sit and watch paint dry for my entertainment than go anywhere near vm...

brewerdave

aphil01 said:

I've just been through a dispute resolution service to get an apology (of sorts) from Virgin Media and I want to warn others before you sign up with them.. About 3 months ago, out of contract and paying a hefty Broadband + landline monthly bill I swapped through uSwitch to Plusnet for a far cheaper monthly tariff.

Anyhow, nasty company, nasty customer service and why they are allowed to stay on uSwitch and not even behave according to the rules of customer choice and transfer of providers - I don't know.

Bit irrelevant now but Virgin media offer broadband over their own network NOT the Openreach network used by the likes of Plusnet , so the gaining provider led process for switches doesn't apply - in other words you should have cancelled Virgin yourself !!
Consider it a learning opportunity.

[Deleted User]

I'm with Virgin on this one I'm afraid, not once I have mentioned when you cancelled your Virgin contract and I suspect you didn't which is why you ended up like this.

It is NOT a "swap" or a "legal and legitimate transfer" as you have worded it when you take out a contract with an Openreach based ISP. You can have both Virgin and an Openreach provider.

Simply signing up to Plusnet does not cancel the Virgin contract. The only time a "swap" or "transfer" would apply is if you switch between OR providers - say from Plusnet to BT for example.

Sounds like you got off lightly with something that was your own mistake and I don't think that is a good reason to bad mouth Virgin Media. I agree they're not perfect but I've been with them for 50% of the last 20 years as my ISP/TV/Phone provider and can compare them with Sky / BT and other big names and I actually think they are the best I've used.