Virgin Media and leaving

replaced post due to misunderstanding please ignore

I'm having real problems trying to cancel my Virgin Media service. Wasn't happy with a few things, mainly the broadband. Paying for 350 but cannot get anything like that. Usually around 70-80. So contract was up and I decided to cancel.First phone call they offered me a cheaper deal. Said I would think about it but ultimately phoned them back to cancel. During this phone call the operator said they could get a broadband "expert" to give me a call, he was super at his job and would help me. Was told I could trigger the cancellation now and when after this chap telephoned (one week later) if I still wanted to leave the cancellation would be backdated. The experts advice was I had two connections I could use and I had to switch to the other one. That was it. Three minute phone call that did not help one bit.

So when I phone a third time to instigate the cancellation re the previous date and phone call, this advisor said I had to cancel from this date. I could not have the "expert" call me if I was in cancellation mode. Told him what had happened and if this is the case I had been lied to. He actually agreed with me. He could even tell me who it was who had spoken to me.

So, back to square one. Start again. Asks me if I want to keep my telephone number. Yes. Eventually it's completed, cancellation date is 17th May. Ask him to send the detail by email. Don't receive it. A few days later I phone again, get a very nice lady who can bring up the details on her screen, says it's all good and when I ask her why I have had no email, she says it was sent, but she would re-send it. I'm still waiting.

In between times I have arranged for another provider and the phone and broadband would go live on 17th May.

Yesterday I receive a phone call from Virgin to say they had a request to transfer my telephone and just wanted to check that this was ok with me. So I'm thinking everything must be ok.

Get an email tonight with my "new" package. Everything I had, less the telephone. And stupid quotes for the revised monthly package.

Back on the phone. Lady I get says I have only cancelled the phone line. When I explain that is not the case she suddenly finds my notes and says that nothing else can be cancelled until the telephone has been changed to the new provider. When that happens on the 17th, I have to call them back and they can cancel everything then. This is the first I have been told this. And when I ask for her to send me these details through by email she says hey don't have access to email. Really.

I'm sorry for this war and peace post, but I'm at the end of my tether with this lot. Any advice appreciated, especially from anyone with a similar experience.

Found VM a nightmare, and what should have been a quick cancellation took several months and hundreds of pounds later...

Never again.

Just about to embark on cancelling VM. Each time I called with questions about the leaving process, easy to get through. Today I wanted to formally give the 30 days notice (I'm out of fixed contract). So the first guy I get through to tells me there's a phone queue to wait for a cancellation 'specialist' - 40 mins!

Anyway I will call them again at a supposedly quieter time of day. It all seems a bit fishy...

And from reading the below experiences, it really sounds like not worth trying to take the landline number with you. If I just drop the old number, seems a much more straightforward process.