Virgin Media Default Preventing Mortage

helpmepleasegawd

Hi everyone

I've seen a few of these Virgin Media default threads but seems there haven't been any for a few years so thought I'd ask the community again.

We switched to Vodafone from Virgin last year, and were issued a final bill of 100 quid

I assumed it would have been taken by direct debit as normal but for some reason I had to pay this one manaully which I wasn't made aware of.

The bill went unpaid and now I have a default.

We never received it by post. And were never warned about an incoming default.

We have found emails since issuing the final bill that were filtered into spam.

But no warning about teh default was made. We contacted virgin about a seperate matter months latter, and they never mentioned anything.

They also continued to take money from our direct debit months after the final bill, when they charged us for the old set top box.

Once it came up on a credit check we called and eventually found someone to pay (we were originally told it had been sold off to a debt collector but that turned out to be false)

We're not getting the usual "it will come off in 6 years" two line email from the credit file amendment team.

I see Virgin aren't covered by the Ombudsmen, and teh ICO turnaround time is 40 weeks according the their automatic response email.

Chatgpt / Google etc seems to think we have a case of disproportianlity, poor customer serivce / communication etc

Just wanted to get the boards opinon on whether it is pointless to keep trying to get this removed, or whether anyone has ever successfully had a default removed when it wasn't applied in error?

Thank you in advance!

eskbanker

I see Virgin aren't covered by the Ombudsmen

Virgin Media's nominated ADR provider is CISAS:

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints#72b3c991-3ffa-45a4-bec4-73d3ea71bff4

Nasqueron

What are you aiming to achieve?

There is no legal requirement to issue you a notice of default, it's only a recommendation

helpmepleasegawd

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956093#Comment_81956093

Cheers for the response, aiming to get the default removed.

CliveOfIndia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956140#Comment_81956140

I'm not suggesting this wouldn't be possible. But viewing it entirely objectively, the fact is that you were in default. The fact that the emails went to your spam folder is a tenuous defence at best - it's always a good idea to give your spam folder a quick eyeball every so often, it's not at all uncommon for genuine mails to find their way in there. So the default marker is factually correct.

By all means, try and negotiate with them to get it removed - and I sincerely hope that you succeed. But you must bear in mind the facts, and try to interpret them as a totally impartial third-party would, if that make sense.

Nasqueron

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956140#Comment_81956140

Complaining like the AI is suggesting is somewhat pointless as it automatically puts them against you, rather than working with you. You owed £100, you missed the bill and reminders as they were spam - so they sent them and did what they need to do to issue a default for missed payments. You could ask nicely by explaining the impact, emphasise you were a good customer etc but I suspect it won't make a difference if they are already saying no. A single payment issue will lessen over time on an otherwise well managed file but you might need to work with a broker who specialises in this area

KittenChops

I can't get the quote function to work but the OP said:

"They also continued to take money from our direct debit months after the final bill, when they charged us for the old set top box."

So why didn't Virgin take the last bill via the same Direct Debit?