Virgin media underhand tactics refusing to honour contract

ebw1969

Yesterday I received my bill with confirmation that my contract is ending and that it will rise from £72.12pm to £191.30pm. I used their message service to speak to them and finally negotiated a deal at 130 in the afternoon for £75pm but I would lose certaint aspects (sports/voicemail/sky cinema/anytime chatter). This locked me in for 24 months. 
At 16:06 I received an email saying congratulations they are extending my current £72.12 pm contract until September 2026. At 16:20 an email came through saying thanks for signing up for the £75pm contract.

I have been on chat and on the phone for them for 2 hours today and they are insisting they will not honour the email from 16:06 yesterday and that I am locked into the £75 per month contract!  When I queried this along with suggesting cancelling the £75 deal under cooling off period rules they said if I did this then my bills from September 2025 would be £191.30 and they won't honour the email from 16:06 yesterday.
It's all linked to our mobile phones and we get lots of money off and other benefits (volt) - those for being with O2 and virgin so financial implications etc. of changing are quite convoluted.
They offered me £75 it seems out of the kindness of their hearts 🙄 but insist my options are staying on the £75 (24 month) contract with less products or paying £191.30pm. They will not honour the extension of the current contract at all.

Anyone got any advice please. Have escalated a complaint and a letter is coming out with the ombudsman details. Surely this practice by them is both underhand and immoral (not sure re legally)

Thanks 

MyRealNameToo

ebw1969 said:

Yesterday I received my bill with confirmation that my contract is ending and that it will rise from £72.12pm to £191.30pm. I used their message service to speak to them and finally negotiated a deal at 130 in the afternoon for £75pm but I would lose certaint aspects (sports/voicemail/sky cinema/anytime chatter). This locked me in for 24 months. 
At 16:06 I received an email saying congratulations they are extending my current £72.12 pm contract until September 2026. At 16:20 an email came through saying thanks for signing up for the £75pm contract.

I have been on chat and on the phone for them for 2 hours today and they are insisting they will not honour the email from 16:06 yesterday and that I am locked into the £75 per month contract!  When I queried this along with suggesting cancelling the £75 deal under cooling off period rules they said if I did this then my bills from September 2025 would be £191.30 and they won't honour the email from 16:06 yesterday.
It's all linked to our mobile phones and we get lots of money off and other benefits (volt) - those for being with O2 and virgin so financial implications etc. of changing are quite convoluted.
They offered me £75 it seems out of the kindness of their hearts 🙄 but insist my options are staying on the £75 (24 month) contract with less products or paying £191.30pm. They will not honour the extension of the current contract at all.

Anyone got any advice please. Have escalated a complaint and a letter is coming out with the ombudsman details. Surely this practice by them is both underhand and immoral (not sure re legally)

Thanks 

So you agreed to £75, they then made a typo in the email and put £72 which they spotted and corrected about an hour later. 

You've gotten exactly what you agreed to, there was no financial detriment in the hour or so it took them to spot the human error. Fully understand why they are sticking to the agreed price. 

Isthisforreal99

You know the £72 was wrong after what you verbally agreed to so I can only see one immoral intent here, from you not Virgin.

Exodi

I don't want to break forum rules of being friendly/polite, so I will just say that I couldn't disagree with the OP's position more strongly.

ebw1969

MyRealNameToo said:

ebw1969 said:

Yesterday I received my bill with confirmation that my contract is ending and that it will rise from £72.12pm to £191.30pm. I used their message service to speak to them and finally negotiated a deal at 130 in the afternoon for £75pm but I would lose certaint aspects (sports/voicemail/sky cinema/anytime chatter). This locked me in for 24 months. 
At 16:06 I received an email saying congratulations they are extending my current £72.12 pm contract until September 2026. At 16:20 an email came through saying thanks for signing up for the £75pm contract.

I have been on chat and on the phone for them for 2 hours today and they are insisting they will not honour the email from 16:06 yesterday and that I am locked into the £75 per month contract!  When I queried this along with suggesting cancelling the £75 deal under cooling off period rules they said if I did this then my bills from September 2025 would be £191.30 and they won't honour the email from 16:06 yesterday.
It's all linked to our mobile phones and we get lots of money off and other benefits (volt) - those for being with O2 and virgin so financial implications etc. of changing are quite convoluted.
They offered me £75 it seems out of the kindness of their hearts 🙄 but insist my options are staying on the £75 (24 month) contract with less products or paying £191.30pm. They will not honour the extension of the current contract at all.

Anyone got any advice please. Have escalated a complaint and a letter is coming out with the ombudsman details. Surely this practice by them is both underhand and immoral (not sure re legally)

Thanks 

So you agreed to £75, they then made a typo in the email and put £72 which they spotted and corrected about an hour later. 

You've gotten exactly what you agreed to, there was no financial detriment in the hour or so it took them to spot the human error. Fully understand why they are sticking to the agreed price. 

No that is not what happened. This was not a typo. By taking the £75 offer I lose a little financially but also have less in my package and a longer contract. 

Hope this clarifies. I'm so tired! 

They told me  at 7.55am the cost would be £191.30  because contract expires in September
I called them later in the morning and they went down to 75pm with some features removed and locking me into a new 24 month contract
They emailed me saying very clearly at 1606 that contragulations they were extending my current contract til September 2026 at the same price of £72.12
They then emailed me at 1620 to thank me for the changes and confirming the £75pm 'deal'
If I cancel the £75 deal in the cooling off period they have told me I will have to pay the original £191.30 pm

It wasn't a typo. The details are completely different. I would not have agreed to a higher cost lower provision longer lock in contract if they had advised they were extending. I feel the least they should do it cancel the £75 contract and reinstate the extension offered? 

ebw1969

Isthisforreal99 said:

You know the £72 was wrong after what you verbally agreed to so I can only see one immoral intent here, from you not Virgin.

No they have sent an email confirming they are extending my contract! It is not a typo apparently I have been chosen as a valuable customer for this contract extension. 

ebw1969

Exodi said:

I don't want to break forum rules of being friendly/polite, so I will just say that I couldn't disagree with the OP's position more strongly.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. They have indicated I am able to have a contract extension due to being a valued customer but then said I can't. If I had not been cornered by them into the £75 deal with the threat of a 191.30pm charge then the £72.12 would have just rolled on

saajan_12

You're being perfectly clear. However that does not change the fact that the £72 email was just that, not a new contract. Typo as in they selected the wrong email to send to you. They wouldn't have to 'honour' a contract that they never entered into (continuing on £72 deal). A contract requires a meeting of the minds and the thing that was verbally agreed by both parties was the £75 deal. 

Just because one side negotiated harder and may have accepted something less doesn't mean they have to give you that lowest price. 

ebw1969

"As a valued customer of ours, we want to make sure we continue to offer you the very best deal we can. As your current discount is about to expire, we will apply the same* discounted rate for another 12 months, starting from 28 September 2025.

What this means is you'll keep enjoying our TV and Broadband bundle uninterrupted and at the same great price** with no fuss and no new contract.

* This relates to your main services, and does not include any add-on products

** Prices will increase every April in line with your T&Cs"

Apparently I didn't need a new contract it would have just rolled over. The contract was agreed on the basis that if I didn't agree to it my payment would increase to £191.30per month and I agreed the contract on those terms. Them subsequently indicating that my payment would have rolled over til September 2026 is undermining the terms I accepted it on. When speaking to them they confirmed if I had been sent that email I had been chosen for the rollover. 🤷

Edited fourth line up to read 2026 as put 2025