What is wrong with Virgin Media?

Badger_Lady

I was delighted with the Virgin Media sales process when I moved into my new house - polite, friendly people at the end of the phone, who offered me:

• Telephone
• Broadband
• Television

For a total of £20 a month (2 for £20 plus free TV).

But, since then, they've never sent me an itemised bill and my account's been debited £43.50 a month!

Well, today I checked my bank account to find I'd been debited £225, so I got straight on the phone to sort it out.

The man said he could change my contract with effect from today so that I would switch onto 2 for £20 (which is exactly the same service), but that I had so far been paying £15 for this, £18 for that...

I asked him for a refund of the overpayments I have already made, and also a breakdown of this mysterious £225, and he couldn't help - told me to write into their head office with my "contract papers" (whatever they are).

How can they even attempt to get away with this? They're charging me more than double for my service... and the very fact that he's offering to switch me onto £20 a month demonstrates that there's no need for them to do so :mad: .

I think it's absolutely outrageous... and even more so that they can't carry out my refund over the phone - I'm notoriously awful at communicating by post (I'm young, I'm not used to it - I grew up with email).

GGGGGGGGGRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Oh yeah, and in the meantime, their £225 has pushed me over my overdraft limit, so God knows what the bank's going to charge me now...

misssaver12

I have had a year of poor virgin service

No broadband internet for 6 months but they still charged me and then trying too disconnet was a nightmare and they assured me they would deal with the fault and clearly made no attempt to.

2 damaged bags from plane flights - one was replaced (with 10,000 free airmiles apology and a letter saying this will never happen again) and then 4 months later used the replacement bag and that was damaged - now waited 7 months for them to refund me on the second suitcase i bought in replacement and had lies, finally got through yesterday and they say it was all confusion - but took me forever to get through. Still await for the money refund.

I was taken seriously ill to a allergic reaction and was on oxygen on a flight due to an issue that the crew were aware of and did not heed - the flight ground crew was not notified that there was a sick passenger and my treatment was appalling and when i wrote to complain i was issued another 10,000 airmiles ( which get you very limited places with Virgin - and you have to pay as much in tax as i checked that infact its cheaper to pay full price with another airline) and told that the issue was not theirs.

My health and wellbeing it seems is seen as the same worth as a damaged bag..

When you email or call to complain - nothing is done and when i searched the net there are pages of people complaining as well.

olly300

People who work in call centres are only allowed to do certain things by design of the systems they use.

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I think it's absolutely outrageous... and even more so that they can't carry out my refund over the phone - I'm notoriously awful at communicating by post (I'm young, I'm not used to it - I grew up with email).

GGGGGGGGGRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Don't worry letters are not much different from emails.;) You just put a date, subject and address on them, and remember most importantly to send them via recorded delivery.

I've spent the pass year complaining to Talk Talk, BT, Tiscali and 3 mobile about their service, and none of them would respond to my emails. However to give BT and Tiscali credit they did respond to the letters I sent them without me having to resort to futher action.

I suggest you search this board - http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34/ for advice.

BTW previously I had an argument with the technical people of virgin media when I refused to send a password via email due to the fact that email is insecure.

dmg24

misssaver12 wrote: »

I have had a year of poor virgin service

No broadband internet for 6 months but they still charged me and then trying too disconnet was a nightmare and they assured me they would deal with the fault and clearly made no attempt to.

2 damaged bags from plane flights - one was replaced (with 10,000 free airmiles apology and a letter saying this will never happen again) and then 4 months later used the replacement bag and that was damaged - now waited 7 months for them to refund me on the second suitcase i bought in replacement and had lies, finally got through yesterday and they say it was all confusion - but took me forever to get through. Still await for the money refund.

I was taken seriously ill to a allergic reaction and was on oxygen on a flight due to an issue that the crew were aware of and did not heed - the flight ground crew was not notified that there was a sick passenger and my treatment was appalling and when i wrote to complain i was issued another 10,000 airmiles ( which get you very limited places with Virgin - and you have to pay as much in tax as i checked that infact its cheaper to pay full price with another airline) and told that the issue was not theirs.

My health and wellbeing it seems is seen as the same worth as a damaged bag..

When you email or call to complain - nothing is done and when i searched the net there are pages of people complaining as well.

VM and VA are completely different companies.

As an ex ntl employee, I can sympathise with the problems you are having B_L. The call centre staff used to have some level of autonomy, but now sadly all they are allowed to do is read from scripts. If you ask anything out of the ordinary they really are limited as to what they can say/ do.

If you don't want to write, then call back and ask to speak to a call centre manager. It may take several goes to get through to someone with any level of authority, but if you keep on hassling them, you will get there eventually. Also, ask for the details of their legal and PR departments, this tends to get results.

An alternative option is to ring the main switchboard and ask for the MD's PA (I don't know the name of the MD anymore, it has changed so many times!), or ask for the PA's email address. Don't ask for the MD directly, it doesn't work.

Let us know how you get on x

d123

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Oh yeah, and in the meantime, their £225 has pushed me over my overdraft limit, so God knows what the bank's going to charge me now...

take this up with your Bank, it is an unauthorised DD, in terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee they have to give you notice of any DD, as an unauthorised DD the Bank should arrange for the DD to be reversed.

The DD Guarantee
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The direct debit guarantee applies to all banks and building societies taking part in the direct debit scheme. It says that:[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]If there is a change in the amount to be paid or the payment date, the person receiving the payment (the originator) must notify the customer in advance. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]If the originator or the bank/building society makes an error, the customer is guaranteed a full and immediate refund of the amount paid.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Customers can cancel a direct debit at any time by writing to their bank or building society. [/SIZE][/FONT]

Badger_Lady

Thanks all... just to clarify, I'm certainly not upset with the individual call-handler but with the management / processes in general that don't allow this type of query to be resolved. However, I'm reluctant to call again because it was terribly difficult to understand the foreign accent or, equally, to make myself understood. Written communication seems the way forward but, for a company with such a "young, modern" brand, shouldn't there be LiveChat or at least email?

And I do know how to write a letter :-) I'm just rubbish at dispatching them - for example, I can't currently get my printer to work. And as for finding an envelope, a stamp and a postbox... I like to click buttons!

It just worries me that this can occur in the first place - why have a package available but then sign people up to individual services that therefore cost the customer more with no benefit? How many people (in the absence of bills) would just continue to pay the extra without realising? Or would just accept the call-handler's suggestion that they will have reduced payments going forward but with no refund?

caleo

Hi B_L....don't wish to put a dampner on things, but it took me a YEAR to get money back off them!!!

I had a letter confirming the refund, and the letter on their system was exactly the same as mine, except it denied the refund??? Fortunately I found my copy and was able to prove it!

I left them last year (Broadband) because they blamed my slow speed connection on my phone line----yet after I asked for my MAC, the speed suddenly improved!

I am now waiting for them to refund the credit on my account. I just hope this time they realise I won't give up and sort it out sooner!

I couldn't get anything sorted out by email or phone, only by post, so I guess that is probably your only option with Virgin.

I would also check with your bank, as it is an unauthorised payment from your account!

Good luck!

Caleo

Helix

They do have ways of contacting them electronically.

You an use this form to email them: http://help2.virginmedia.com/assets/html/customer_feedback/customer_feedback_querytype_1.html

They also have newsgroups with are manned by staff who will help with problems.

d123

Badger_Lady wrote: »

And I do know how to write a letter :-) I'm just rubbish at dispatching them - for example, I can't currently get my printer to work. And as for finding an envelope, a stamp and a postbox... I like to click buttons!

Don't give up on email, write the letter and then email it to them as a first attempt at resolution ( I have resolved problems by emailing virgin in this way). As an example, Virgin Media's acting chief executive is Neil Berkett. Virgin email works as [EMAIL="firstname.lastname@virginmedia.co.uk"]firstname.lastname@virginmedia.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Send the email to him, chances are you will get a pretty speedy response from either his PA or one of the staffers in the CEO's Office. You could also try googling for the Financial Director or any other Director you feel might be able to help.

G47

The first bill from VM will be nearly double the actual amount

d123

G47 wrote: »

The first bill from VM will be nearly double the actual amount

All very intresting, but nothing to do with the OP's problem, why dont you read the original post first and then post?

This is nothing to do with a first bill.............