terrible customer service

conned_2
conned_2 Posts: 14 Forumite
Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
edited 14 February 2022 at 4:21PM in TV MoneySaving

I would like to share my experience of terrible customer service from Virgin Media when I tried to renegotiate my costs after a price rise. Following the advice on Moneysaving Expert, You and Yours and my own long experience of negotiating savings on energy and insurance I was ready for Virgin Media’s usual tactics (I have been a customer for many years), but nothing prepared me for their latest saga of confusion, delay and broken promises.

I first asked their Cancellation Department to challenge my price increase as I was about to end my contract and could get the same service slightly cheaper with Vodafone. Virgin claimed that they no longer offered the same 100MB broadband with inclusive 5GB sim card, even though I later discovered that this package is offered to new customers at the same old price. Instead they said I would need a higher broadband speed and bigger sim, neither of which I required, at a price increase of almost 50%(£27 to £39).

When I challenged this I was passed from department to department, promised call-backs and WhatsApp contacts, in all wasting almost a full day of hassle and stress. Eventually Virgin agreed to offer me the same package at the original price, despite claiming earlier that this was not possible. It turned out that they had even issued me a new contract before I had agreed a price.

When I raised a complaint about their customer service it was first dismissed then ignored despite numerous phone calls. My advice to other Virgin customers is to be prepared for incompetence and misleading claims about what is available, and also to be ready to spend hours on the phone to get half-decent customer service.

In the end Virgin gave me a proper apology and a £50 credit, but I would rather have avoided the hassle and stress of dealing with all this in the first place. I have ample time and skills to cope with this, but I dread to think how others may fare, which is of course exactly what Virgin Media seem to want- to deter customers from getting fair prices and good service. (Removed by Forum Team)

Comments

  • OP, not a good experience for you, but they can be good sometimes. I contacted them on Monday about my dad's package. Had to do it on WhatsApp as they are busy, but he got a higher BB speed with same TV and phone package for £10 less a month than he was paying before. From start to finish was 5 hours, but it was just a WhatsApp message every 15 minutes or so, so I got on with my day. 
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