Virgin performed 2 hard credit checks on me due to their error

anto135

I’m due to move into a new house next month so wanted to get the broadband sorted as I work from home.
Ive gone with virgin media, signed up last week 15/02 they did the credit check, everything went through ok and got an email confirmation with the contract.

Skip forward to the start of this week and had a call from virgin when I’d initially put my phone number through to look at their deals on an earlier occasion than when I actually signed up(because for some reason now you need to enter your phone number on the website just to be able to look at prices to which someone calls you back to try and get the sale). 

I explained that I’ve already signed up and she asked if she wanted her to check it over to confirm it had all gone through ok, to which she did. She explained that there was still an active account at the address which must be from the previous tenant and with the website not “being clever” it wouldn’t have realised this and asked me to contact the estate agent to contact the previous tenant to ask them to contact virgin, as the contract wouldn’t be valid with an account still active there. Estate agent couldn’t help as the landlord can’t contact the previous tenant. 

I’ve gone back to virgin to explain and they asked me to leave it with them for a couple of days and they’d come back to me.

skip forward to today and they’ve contacted me and advised they’d sorted it on their end but I’d have to go through the sign up process again upon which they’d had to perform another hard credit check, I obviously wasn’t happy but they’ve advised there’s nothing they can do and I’d have to consent to take out the contract as it’s part of the process. I’ve obviously consented because even if I were to go with someone else, they’d perform a credit check. 

Anyway it’s all signed up and she’s given me the customer care number in relation to the credit check issue if I wanted to try and raise a complaint and escalate it further.

My question is, am I likely to be able to get them / is it possible for them to get the hard check removed? Should I even be worried about it having an impact with it being the same company performing the credit in a short space of time?


also - I do realise typing this out now, that the story above sounds like an elaborate scam, but I’ve had confirmation from virgin that it’s correct.

MorningcoffeeIV

You could ask them to remove it if you feel desperately strongly about it, but it's not a big deal.  I'm sure you have better things to do with your time, given your imminent move.

anto135

Thanks for that, will the 2 searches rather than one have an impact in terms of my credit history?

CliveOfIndia

Having 2 searches in a short space of time will have a very small impact in the short term - and only if you'll be wanting more credit in the very near future.  If you were to apply for further credit in the next few weeks then you may find the 2 searches will hamper your chances of acceptance.  But after a couple of months or so their impact will be pretty much zero.

Searches are not like a default, for instance, which would impact your credit history for 6 years.  They only really become an issue when you have lots of searches in a short space of time - the implication being that you're desperate for credit and keep being refused.