O2 have been taking £5 unauthorised direct debit from my 81 yo Dad for 15 months

Grumpy_chap

tiny_girl said:

Nope.  Just TV, Broadband & Landline + £1.75 admin fee for paper bills: 

My Gosh!!!
£115 per months after discounts, until it increases to £150 per month in October.
Does he really need such a comprehensive package?
There seems to be far more scope for efficiency here than just the £5 per month mobile.

You do need to look a the original paperwork, though, as that may indicate that the package also includes the £5 SIM to be billed separately - particularly if it was just after O2 and VM joined forces but they had not combined billing.

RedLorryYellowLorry1 said:

Hi I had simular issues with my mother and wrote to them in a formal letter asking for the costs to stop and refund to be issues (they had set up a new account and not delated the other). What worked well was that I sent a copy of the letter to the CEO - the matter was resolved within days with flowers. Alway consider talking to you local councillor and get in touch with the company HR/CEO who emails and address is normally public knowledge.

I always feel that issues should be resolved via the company complaints process first - it is hard to see how a local Councillor can really do much in the case of Virgin Media.  Amazed that you got a bunch of flowers.

PHK

At the top of your bill it says Volt. 

Volt is the account where you save money but being both a Virgin and O2 subscriber, so it looks like at some time he must have subscribed. 

tiny_girl

PHK said:

At the top of your bill it says Volt. 

Volt is the account where you save money but being both a Virgin and O2 subscriber, so it looks like at some time he must have subscribed. 

That's exactly it. He hasn't! He never gets any emails or bills from O2, so I think they must have made a mistake when he renewed the contract, but it's proving very difficult to rectify. 

tiny_girl

Grumpy_chap said:

tiny_girl said:

Nope.  Just TV, Broadband & Landline + £1.75 admin fee for paper bills: 

My Gosh!!!
£115 per months after discounts, until it increases to £150 per month in October.
Does he really need such a comprehensive package?
There seems to be far more scope for efficiency here than just the £5 per month mobile.

You do need to look a the original paperwork, though, as that may indicate that the package also includes the £5 SIM to be billed separately - particularly if it was just after O2 and VM joined forces but they had not combined billing.

RedLorryYellowLorry1 said:

Hi I had simular issues with my mother and wrote to them in a formal letter asking for the costs to stop and refund to be issues (they had set up a new account and not delated the other). What worked well was that I sent a copy of the letter to the CEO - the matter was resolved within days with flowers. Alway consider talking to you local councillor and get in touch with the company HR/CEO who emails and address is normally public knowledge.

I always feel that issues should be resolved via the company complaints process first - it is hard to see how a local Councillor can really do much in the case of Virgin Media.  Amazed that you got a bunch of flowers.

We've got the original paperwork and there's no mention of a mobile or sim card being part of the package. It is expensive but he likes his sports and they said the best way to get that was to get the Max package 🤷🏼‍♀️ It was going to be £184 before we renegotiated. Not relishing doing it again in October. It seems really unfair that they can't just offer everyone a fair price without having to renegotiate a better deal every 18 months 🤬 especially for older people 

Grumpy_chap

tiny_girl said:

We've got the original paperwork and there's no mention of a mobile or sim card being part of the package. It is expensive but he likes his sports and they said the best way to get that was to get the Max package 🤷🏼‍♀️ It was going to be £184 before we renegotiated. Not relishing doing it again in October. It seems really unfair that they can't just offer everyone a fair price without having to renegotiate a better deal every 18 months 🤬 especially for older people 

I am not an expert on the Virgin Media bundles and their names, the package chosen does seem to be one where you'd be pretty much saying "yes" to everything.
The Virgin Media website today does say that "Volt" packages are exclusive for being with both Virgin Media and O2.

Brie

cc'ing a councillor or MP or CEO helps because it scares the complaints team into action. (my opinion at least)  And besides it doesn't hurt.  

Meanwhile has your dad logged you as having authority to talk about all issues on his behalf?  This can be done simply (normally) by getting him to sign a note stating "I, tinygirl's dad, give authority to tinygirl to discuss all aspects of my account on my behalf including any financial or renewal details."  Then he adds his name in full, address and date of birth.  (not everyone needs the DoB but some do).  He could also add something to the affect of this being done due to his age and poor hearing making him a vulnerable customer and that they need to assist him as such.  

Hoenir

Brie said:

cc'ing a councillor or MP or CEO helps because it scares the complaints team into action. (my opinion at least)  And besides it doesn't hurt.  

When everybody does it though the impact wears off. Not as if working people have better things to do with their time either. 

Grumpy_chap

Hoenir said:

Brie said:

cc'ing a councillor or MP or CEO helps because it scares the complaints team into action. (my opinion at least)  And besides it doesn't hurt.  

When everybody does it though the impact wears off. Not as if working people have better things to do with their time either. 

CC the CEO may prompt better response from the company.
CC a local Councillor seems to have no benefit at all.
CC an MP may have some benefit if that is followed up with some policy comment - something that the initiator thinks should be changed to improve the way things work.
Simply CC a Councillor or MP to scare the company into action seems like an inappropriate use of Councillor / MP resources.

tiny_girl

Brie said:

cc'ing a councillor or MP or CEO helps because it scares the complaints team into action. (my opinion at least)  And besides it doesn't hurt.  

Meanwhile has your dad logged you as having authority to talk about all issues on his behalf?  This can be done simply (normally) by getting him to sign a note stating "I, tinygirl's dad, give authority to tinygirl to discuss all aspects of my account on my behalf including any financial or renewal details."  Then he adds his name in full, address and date of birth.  (not everyone needs the DoB but some do).  He could also add something to the affect of this being done due to his age and poor hearing making him a vulnerable customer and that they need to assist him as such.  

Yes he usually speaks to them first and asks them to speak to me (on speaker) because he can't hear well. We haven't gone down the formal route because he still deals with all his own finances etc. He just struggles with the phone but thank you. It's a good idea 

PHK

tiny_girl said:

Grumpy_chap said:

tiny_girl said:

Nope.  Just TV, Broadband & Landline + £1.75 admin fee for paper bills: 

My Gosh!!!
£115 per months after discounts, until it increases to £150 per month in October.
Does he really need such a comprehensive package?
There seems to be far more scope for efficiency here than just the £5 per month mobile.

You do need to look a the original paperwork, though, as that may indicate that the package also includes the £5 SIM to be billed separately - particularly if it was just after O2 and VM joined forces but they had not combined billing.

RedLorryYellowLorry1 said:

Hi I had simular issues with my mother and wrote to them in a formal letter asking for the costs to stop and refund to be issues (they had set up a new account and not delated the other). What worked well was that I sent a copy of the letter to the CEO - the matter was resolved within days with flowers. Alway consider talking to you local councillor and get in touch with the company HR/CEO who emails and address is normally public knowledge.

I always feel that issues should be resolved via the company complaints process first - it is hard to see how a local Councillor can really do much in the case of Virgin Media.  Amazed that you got a bunch of flowers.

We've got the original paperwork and there's no mention of a mobile or sim card being part of the package. It is expensive but he likes his sports and they said the best way to get that was to get the Max package 🤷🏼‍♀️ It was going to be £184 before we renegotiated. Not relishing doing it again in October. It seems really unfair that they can't just offer everyone a fair price without having to renegotiate a better deal every 18 months 🤬 especially for older people 

Is it possible he’s added it since he took it out.