£240 termination fee from Virgin Media for elderly parents

jetcocker

My parents have had phone/broadband from Virgin Media for the last 10 years.  Their most recent contract ends in August 2022.  Due to a sudden decline in their health, they have had to sell their house and move to an assisted living property as they are no longer able to live independently.  Virgin Media do not have coverage at their new address so they have changed to a different broadband provider.  They are being charged £240 for early termination of the contract with Virgin Media.  I have spoken to their Customer Service team and disputed this as they have been loyal customers for 10 years and they are being forced to move for reasons beyond their control, but they don't care.  Is there anything else I can do or can complain to? Many thanks.      

littleboo

Unfortunately, your parents have a contract for supply at their current address and VM are quite within their rights to collect the early termination fee. Anything movement from this would be a goodwill gesture from them. The other way to look at its that by paying in-contract prices for 10 years, they have most likely saved more than £240 compared to being out of contract, paying more per month but able to leave penalty free.

milgo

Is there another family member or friend who could possibly take over the contract from them? Obviously they would need to be in position to be wanting or needing a virgin internet connection. 

Neil_Jones

jetcocker said:

My parents have had phone/broadband from Virgin Media for the last 10 years.  Their most recent contract ends in August 2022.  Due to a sudden decline in their health, they have had to sell their house and move to an assisted living property as they are no longer able to live independently.  Virgin Media do not have coverage at their new address so they have changed to a different broadband provider.  They are being charged £240 for early termination of the contract with Virgin Media.  I have spoken to their Customer Service team and disputed this as they have been loyal customers for 10 years and they are being forced to move for reasons beyond their control, but they don't care.  Is there anything else I can do or can complain to? Many thanks.      

The agreement was for where they lived previously.  If they've moved to an area/house where Virgin don't supply,  then that's not the fault of Virgin.  That's what the agreement was when they joined. Loyalty doesn't come into it unfortunately.

The_Fat_Controller

Just the same as any other utility, if you leave the contract early there are fees.

You could have appealed for a bit of goodwill but going in with guns blazing disputing the entirely correct fees was never going to work.

GibbsRule_No3.

Interesting, when I moved, granted six years ago, Virgin did not supply where I was moving to and had a section that sorted phone, broadband and Sky tv for me. Even suggested not taking Sky broadband due to the area not having fibre at the time and by having a Sky broadband contract for a lower speed, I would be low priority for an upgrade if it was later installed. So went EE broadband and phone.

molerat

The_Fat_Controller said:

Just the same as any other utility, if you leave the contract early there are fees.

Not quite.  If I leave my other utilities early they will charge me £30.  The telecoms industry do seem to have a monopoly on in contract increases and exorbitant early exit fees.

The_Fat_Controller

@molerat, there's no "not quite" 

There are fees, I never mentioned how much.

Head off to OFCOM and complain, they regulate that sector !

pbartlett

Utilities charge £30 because when you sign the contract at the start that is what it says in the contract.

My mobile contract says you agree to pay for 12 months or whatever and are not allowed to terminate. Or you can choose to pay more each month and be allowed to terminate with a month's notice.

VM says you pay £x for 12 months at this price and then you can terminate at no charge.

It all comes down to what is in the contract when you sign

molerat

The_Fat_Controller said:

Head off to OFCOM and complain, they regulate that sector !

Or not as the case may be
Of course it is all in the contract you sign up to but the contract is as much as they can get away with regards to fairness before the regulator jumps on them.

onomatopoeia99

molerat said:

The_Fat_Controller said:

Head off to OFCOM and complain, they regulate that sector !

Or not as the case may be
Of course it is all in the contract you sign up to but the contract is as much as they can get away with regards to fairness before the regulator jumps on them.

There are ISPs that will do 30 day minimum term contracts.  They are obviously more expensive and tend not to do "deals".

I can't get over these people that sign up for two years at an address then complain when they have to pay termination charges because they break the minimum term.  You have a choice, get the discount for agreeing to a long minimum term and accept that you will have to pay ETCs if you break it, or pay more each month and leave penalty free.  It's just the Great British Punter that wants both, low prices and no commitment (from them).