Virgin Media Woes!

Siobhan7

Evening Money Savers!

We have used virgin broadband for years and recently we added a TV contract - we were told it would be £65 per month then we got the confirmation and it said £70. We called up and asked them and they refused to put it back down to £65 so we raised a complaint.

We were told that it would go to £65 and then our complaint was closed. We are still being charged £70 and we feel our complaint was completely ignored even though it was all resolved at £65.

Now we feel we cannot trust Virgin and we don't want to be in a contract with them. We want it to go back to the way it was before when we just had broadband and no contract but we feel we shouldn't have to pay the disconnection and other fees given we have had such a terrible service (£240!)

They keep throwing the "well you had a 2 week cooling off period" at me but we didn't know they were going to charge us the higher amount instead of the agreed amount. Our new contract started on 2nd September and our first bill came out on 18th September.

I know it's only £5 a month but it all adds up and the fact it was ignored twice and our complaint "resolved" then also ignored is just a kick in the teeth to be honest.

(I know I will be asked the reason we didn't try and sort this out earlier - I have been in and out of hospital with major spinal problems and up until today, I have not been in any fit state to deal with this and my partner hasn't either due to caring for me)

Neil_Jones

You might want to check the next bill because things like TV are charged in advance.  So if you have an upgrade the next bill tends to have an uplift to ensure it does end up in advance payment and then it settles from the following bill onwards.

When you upgrade/recontract with Sky you get a complicated looking page full of credits/cancellations and a relatively arbitrary payment.  Its not so much an issue if the change happens after the previous bill has been generated but when it happens mid cycle it looks really confusing.

Siobhan7

No, it’s definitely supposed to be £65 and they charged £70. We were charged the same this month too and when I spoke to them they apologised and said they will refund what they’ve overcharged and make sure my payments are at £65 going forward but I’ve heard that before 3 times now and I just want out of the contract. Only so many times I can trust the same company to rectify a problem 😓

JJ_Egan

Ask them to let you out of contract . They will probably say no as it was a mistake.

Then you go down their disputes route.

Do not just cancel  contract nor direct debit as that will lead to big problems .

sparklep0ny

Siobhan7 said:

No, it’s definitely supposed to be £65 and they charged £70. We were charged the same this month too and when I spoke to them they apologised and said they will refund what they’ve overcharged and make sure my payments are at £65 going forward but I’ve heard that before 3 times now and I just want out of the contract. Only so many times I can trust the same company to rectify a problem 😓

You're not going to get out of contract from a billing mistake. If they make the matter right that is the end of your complaint.

Ensure they do and move on. It sounds a lot like you have buyers remorse and are looking for an excuse to get out of your contract.

You're spending £780 a year on your TV and broadband connection, is £60 paid back later really breaking your budget?  If it is you might want to look at what your priority debts are, Virgin broadband and TV ain't one of them.

Siobhan7

sparklep0ny said:

Siobhan7 said:

No, it’s definitely supposed to be £65 and they charged £70. We were charged the same this month too and when I spoke to them they apologised and said they will refund what they’ve overcharged and make sure my payments are at £65 going forward but I’ve heard that before 3 times now and I just want out of the contract. Only so many times I can trust the same company to rectify a problem 😓

You're not going to get out of contract from a billing mistake. If they make the matter right that is the end of your complaint.

Ensure they do and move on. It sounds a lot like you have buyers remorse and are looking for an excuse to get out of your contract.

You're spending £780 a year on your TV and broadband connection, is £60 paid back later really breaking your budget?  If it is you might want to look at what your priority debts are, Virgin broadband and TV ain't one of them.

Thanks but I can afford it, quite well actually. You could call it “buyers remorse” if you mean in a way of being messed about 3 times in a row and not wanting to carry on a contract with a company so unreliable then yes I would call it buyers remorse.

It isn’t just these problems, it’s internet connection issues, it’s issues with the TV and also issues with the lack of customer care. 

If it was JUST the £5 issue then yes I’d let it lie but no it’s not. 

Regards 

Siobhan7

And also, whilst broadband may not be a priority for you but it is for me as both myself and my partner work from home and we rely on broadband. Hence why we are paying a fortune for what is supposed to be a good service.

Neil_Jones

Siobhan7 said:

And also, whilst broadband may not be a priority for you but it is for me as both myself and my partner work from home and we rely on broadband. Hence why we are paying a fortune for what is supposed to be a good service.

Unless you pay for business broadband from any provider any problems you have with it will be back of the queue priority-wise. Business broadband costs more money, granted, but you get dibs on repairs and if you take a Service Level Agreement (at more cost, granted) you get a repair in 6/12/48/whatever hours or some compensation.  On a domestic package it'll take 72hrs just to get round to looking at it never mind fixing it which may be another 96hrs at least.

Work from home is one of those things that was foisted on everybody, it was technically a breach of domestic home user's T&Cs for their packages (as they're not intended for business use) but realistically pretty much all providers looked the other way.with regards to that.

JJ_Egan

As above and be aware you may not get the same Broadband nor TV packages from other providers  / You would need to check actual supply to your address as well .