Virgin Media scam?

nohuex

Hi all,

Sharing my story to raise awareness and in the hope some of you might have some guidance.

As most of you know, telecoms companies went through a price increase recently. As an existing Virgin Media customer, I received a letter prior to the price increase, where I was offered three options:

1. Stay on the current contract and be subject to the price increase
2. Re-negotiate the terms of the contract
3. Leave the company penalty-free

On the 8th of February, I contacted Virgin Media and was presented with an offer to renew my contract with them for a fee of £70.50 for 18 months. To ensure there was no room for doubt, I asked the agent to confirm the details several times during the call, and the phrase she repeated was always “£70.50 for 18 months”.

Later that day I received the new contract. I noticed that it stated “Monthly service charge: £70.50 - £79.00 from 9th August 2022” so I called and explained this was not the deal we had agreed. The agent reassured me, saying he could “see in the system that I would be charged £70.50 for the whole duration”. “You have my word” (last famous words).

After a reduced first bill in March, on the 1st April I received the next bill where I’m being charged… £79.00!!

After several calls speaking to different people, I was told that in the T&Cs it states that price can change at any time, and that the £8.50 I was given as a discount, was only there to offset the price increase I was subjected to from the 1st of March.

So basically I re-contracted for a whole 18-months to avoid the price increase, but they increased my price a month later anyway, taking away my option to shop around penalty-free.

So I’m left with a few questions:

• Is this even legal and do we have any rights in this situation?
• Is it worth sharing this story elsewhere? (Any consumer rights bodies? News outlets?)

Would love any suggestions from the community or from the MSE team if they read the forums.

Thank you!

rpmworld

if you have it recorded its a verbal agreement you can legally cancel without penalty

if not your stumped but personally id cancel agreement and pay penalty to leave them dont give them your business anymore.

nohuex

rpmworld said:

if you have it recorded its a verbal agreement you can legally cancel without penalty

if not your stumped but personally id cancel agreement and pay penalty to leave them dont give them your business anymore.

Thank you for your advice. We did have a few exchanges about the recordings, but that got me even more upset. First the other day they told me someone would listen to the recording to verify and get back to me within 2 days. After not hearing from them for over a week I called again today. To my surprise, today they instead told me that yes they might have recorded it but they don't listen to call recordings to settle disputes.

So basically it's as if they can do whatever they want since they are the only people holding any proof of a legal agreement.

I would totally leave them on the spot but my fear is they'll charge me for the whole duration of the contract. I will look into it for sure.

Ectophile

Under the Data Protect Act, you can ask them to provide you with copies of any information they hold on you.  That includes logs of phone calls, including any call recordings.

Ectophile

Have you made a FORMAL complaint to them yet, rather than just chatting with their phone operators?  Once you do that, it starts the clock ticking, where they must respond to you, or you go to the ombudsman.

visidigi

My advice. Post here than you need help.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/bd-p/ManageAccountCable

They will message and look into it.

I just did the same and what had dragged on two months was fixed in a matter of days.

nohuex

Ectophile said:

Have you made a FORMAL complaint to them yet, rather than just chatting with their phone operators?  Once you do that, it starts the clock ticking, where they must respond to you, or you go to the ombudsman.

Thank you for your advice. Earlier I called back and went straight to the cancellation/complaints department and they seemed to be willing to help. We’ve opened a formal complaint and now I’m waiting to see whether they do what they promised (listen to the calls and make the necessary adjustments). Amazing how each operator does/says the opposite of the previous one…

born_again

Ectophile said:

Have you made a FORMAL complaint to them yet, rather than just chatting with their phone operators?  Once you do that, it starts the clock ticking, where they must respond to you, or you go to the ombudsman.

Virgin do not fall under a ombudsman.
If a complaint is failed to resolved it goes here.
https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/