Is the Virgin Media Contract for Internet & Phone Unfair?

stuggyduggy

I renewed my contract with VM for 18 months on 4/1/22 with the new contract starting on 3/2/22. On 10/1/22 - six days after agreeing the renewal, VM notified me that the monthly charge would increase by £4 wef 1/3/22. I've been given 30 days to walk away from the contract without penalty. This is in accord with clause K of the small print.

This seems very one sided as If I had found a better deal midway through the contract & demanded that VM either match it or release  me from the contract without penalty I would have been given short shrift. 

Is this behaviour lawful & in accord with accepted  practice etc?

Neil_Jones

stuggyduggy said:

I renewed my contract with VM for 18 months on 4/1/22 with the new contract starting on 3/2/22. On 10/1/22 - six days after agreeing the renewal, VM notified me that the monthly charge would increase by £4 wef 1/3/22. I've been given 30 days to walk away from the contract without penalty. This is in accord with clause K of the small print.

This seems very one sided as If I had found a better deal midway through the contract & demanded that VM either match it or release  me from the contract without penalty I would have been given short shrift. 

Is this behaviour lawful & in accord with accepted  practice etc?

You should get 14 day cooling off period and they'll put you back in the same position you were in before you agreed it, albeit at a higher price.  If you agreed this on the 4th, that doesn't expire until the 18th so it should be moot anyway unless you want to stay with them come what may.

As to price increases, better deals exist all the time.  But you agree to stay with them for 24 months so if you push off early they will charge you.  That's what you agree to.  The 30 day thing is a requirement and a get out of jail free clause.  If you can find a better deal that will save you more money than paying off the rest of a 24 month deal, then the ball is in your court.  If it won't save anything, its pointless moving.

At least with Sky it tells you in the T&Cs they can uprate prices by up to 10%, and you can't leave because that's what you agree to.  Surprising Virgin haven't done this for TV... yet.

Marvel1

stuggyduggy said:

This seems very one sided as If I had found a better deal midway through the contract & demanded that VM either match it or release  me from the contract without penalty I would have been given short shrift. 

Always best to never look at deals while mid contract.

agentcain

If you leave, you get penalised by paying extortionate rates for something that doesn't really perish or requires storage. 
Yet when they break the contract, you don't get any reimbursement on it.

Totally one sided. 

stuggyduggy

Spoke to Ofcom - no help.
Called Virgin who offered a 6m delay on the £4/m price increase without needing to speak to anybody. That softens the blow although VM are still getting the increase for the remaining12m of the contract . I guess that I'm not alone in being outraged at VM's cavalier attitude to contracts.