Virgin Media has raised my contractual monthly bill from £26 to £33

supersinglerent

Virgin Media has raised my contractual monthly bill from £26 to £33 even though my contract of £26 doesn't end till Dec this year. They sent me a letter to notify the price increase and given a window period to respond but I missed it so now I'm complaining to their customer service. However, they said I missed the deadline to cancel the package. I find it unfair for them to violate the agreed contract rate but feel helpless to take actionable cause at this point. Can anyone advise?

badger09

supersinglerent said:

Virgin Media has raised my contractual monthly bill from £26 to £33 even though my contract of £26 doesn't end till Dec this year. They sent me a letter to notify the price increase and given a window period to respond but I missed it so now I'm complaining to their customer service. However, they said I missed the deadline to cancel the package. I find it unfair for them to violate the agreed contract rate but feel helpless to take actionable cause at this point. Can anyone advise?

Hi there
You've posted this in the Savings & Investments forum. 

You’ll get more help if you repost in the Phones & TV forum - it’s a sub forum in Homes & Mortgages. 

(Sorry I can’t work out how to post a link)

MODS could someone please move to correct forum

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved the thread.

(You can request a move using the 'report' button.)

oldernonethewiser

Does your contract allow for "in term" price increases?

TheMilkmansDad

The agreed contract rate would have included the CPI increase in the T & C's. To be blunt, you finding it unfair is irrelevant as you've signed up to it.

Don't really think there's much you can do here I'm afraid.

Detail_Merchant

TheMilkmansDad said:

The agreed contract rate would have included the CPI increase in the T & C's. To be blunt, you finding it unfair is irrelevant as you've signed up to it.

Don't really think there's much you can do here I'm afraid.

Virgin haven't started doing CPI related increases yet.
They only changed their contract as of 1st May 2023 to allow them - the first CPI related increases will actually happen early 2024.

But their previous terms and conditions allowed for prices rises at any time.
See https://prod.ctassets.virginmedia.com/uploads/Terms_and_Conditions_TV_Fibre_and_Phone_POST_01_NOV_22_v1_ae32073a5f.pdf page 4:

Changes to prices, terms and conditions and the services we provide to you – See Sections K and N • Wemay increase our charges under this agreement at any time. We may also change these terms and conditions, the equipment, and the services that we have agreed to provide to you. • Subject to the exceptions explained below, if we do any of these things and the changes are not exclusively to your benefit, we will notify you of this and inform you of your right to cancel this agreement without paying an early disconnection fee by giving us notice in accordance with Section N.

And on page 9:

6. Subject to the exceptions in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this N6 and paragraphs N7 and N8, if we and/or Virgin Media Payments: 1. increase our monthly charges under this agreement; 2. increase any of our other charges that you are required to pay under this agreement 3. make any changes to the terms and conditions of this agreement that apply to the services you already have which are not exclusively to your benefit 4. make any changes to the contracted equipment or services (other than those permitted under the terms of this agreement) which are not exclusively to your benefit or 5. if there is a permanent loss of the services, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice of such a change and inform you of your right to cancel this agreement without paying an early disconnection fee by giving us notice in accordance with the instructions set out in our notification. You need to give us your cancellation notice within 30 days of us notifying you.

But given that the 30 day window has passed, as @The@TheMilkmansDad said, there's not much you can do now.

ladruid

VM told you of a price increase with the required time to cancel if the new price did not suit you (as per your contractual terms posted above). You did not contact VM during the given timescale, so you missed the date to cancel without penalty. VM isn't at fault here as they are following the contract you agreed to.

If there were extenuating circumstances like you were in critical care or some such for that 30 days then you would have grounds to dispute it, and I am sure customer service would work with you if you provide evidence... if its because you kept putting it off, then forgot about it, that's on you.

Carefultoo

I'm in a similar position - I got the letter to say that the price increase "won't affect you until your current price offer ends" (£25 pm, ends Sept 2023) - so did nothing. However when I got my bill this month it was for £32. Prev bill said £60 package with £35 credit = £25, new bill said £69 package with £44 credit = £25, plus a further £7 re "package changes" - suspect this was because VM had to amend packages so that my bill remained at £25.
Queried on WhatsApp, result next bill = £3.09, then £16 for future bills - contract remains the same ie ends Sept 2023 - had a Service Change Receipt via email - Result! Will reassess in September when contract ends.
I suggest you check your bills to see whether they have done something similar with yours - get in contact with them, nothing to lose and relatively simple via WhatsApp.

ladruid

My letter also said the price increase would not affect me until the end of my current price offer. I read that to mean my price would not change until my current offer had expired, i.e. end of the agreed contract. I called up to clarify their position and got the automated message to save me £10.50 of my current price, to which I accepted, and I had no idea what would actually happen then. My bills did in fact go down by £10.50 with no increases, so it was like a free £10.50 a month in my pocket till the end of contract!

If the OP has a "won't affect you until your current price offer ends" letter, then I would fight it.

FreeBear

I had that email advising of a price increase. Sent a stiffly worded email to Virgin's complaints department and was assured that I would remain on the same price until end of contract in November.

Latest bill shows a £6.00 increase without any explanation, so another complaint hitting their desk.

FreeBear

FreeBear said: Latest bill shows a £6.00 increase without any explanation, so another complaint hitting their desk.

Stiffly worded email elicited a response - Complaints team have agreed to keep the price at the original level until November. Will see if this actually happens..