VIRGIN IS INCOMPETENT!

[Judesman]

I have been a customer of Virgin for eight years. I pay my subscription by continuous credit card payment and I have done so for the past eight years without a problem.  In March Virgin reminded me that my credit card was due to expire and I needed to enter the new card details on the web site.  This I did towards the end of March. On the 10th April I received a letter (dated 2nd April) telling me that there was no valid payment method on my account and my sub was overdue and I risked having my account suspended. I immediately phoned Virgin who confirmed that no payment method was set up. My March sub was taken manually and the continuous payment was set up.

On 16th May Outlook would not work so I spent an hour playing with settings that I did not understand so I phoned Virgin. I was told that my service had been suspended through non payment of my sub and that it was my fault. I explained what had happened, the member of staff looked at the records and quickly apologised and told me that there was a "system error".  I paid my April sub manually and the continuous payment was again set up.

After the phone call I wrote to M. Davidson, Customer Care, Virgin Media, PO Box 238, Wythenshawe, Manchester, M22 OWJ and complained. I received a letter dated 24th May from Customer Complaints, Matrix Court, Llansamlet, Swansea, SA7 9BB telling me that someone would contact me by phone within two weeks. Two days after I wrote to Virgin on 16th May I received a letter from Virgin dated 3rd May telling me that if I didn't pay my sub my service would be suspended (as it was).

On 31st May Customer Complaints phoned and told me that no valid payment was set up! So for the fourth time I gave my details and the continuous payment was set up.

It was then that I discovered my account on the Virgin web site. I didn' know it was there and as I hadn't had any problems for eight years I had no reason to look. I looked at my account and found that my May and June subs had not been taken. I phoned Virgin on 21st June and my May and June payments were taken manually and the continuous payment was set up for the fifth time. I asked for the address of the Ombudsman so I could complain and was told that there is no Ombudsman.  This is not correct, there is the ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association). I asked if I could speak to the IT dept. but was told that IT does not deal with the public. I was told the matter would be referred to them.

On 21st June I wrote again to "Complaints" in Manchester asking them to phone immediately.  On 2nd July I received a reply stating that someone would phone me within two weeks. At the time of writing (21st July) no-one has phoned.

On 20th July I looked on my account and saw that the July sub had not been taken.  I phoned Virgin and was told that there was no valid payment method. So the July payment has been taken manually. I was told that the problem would be referred to IT.  I explained that I had been told all this before.

I have now set up a Direct Debit, something I did not want to do.

I have spent hours trying to sort this out and I want some sort of reimbursement for my phone calls.  I also want written confirmation that I have not been blacklisted with a Credit Reference Agency for non payment of my account. I still want that phone call promised on 2nd July. This whole business is a disgrace and Virgin is not fit for purpose. A warning to anyone thinking of banking with Virgin Money - don't. If they can't set up a payment here why should their Bank do any better?

I had to phone again to check the start date of my Direct Debit and I was tod, for the first time, that Virgin has received a number of calls about continuous payments not being set up.

I've had enough of this shambles.

[Judesman]

gordyb, there seems to be rather a lot for you to take in so to make it easier for you to understand I will summarize.

Virgin failed to set up my Continuous Payment five times.

My service was suspended through no fault of my own.

Staff gave me incorrect information.

I have waited over a month for a phone call in response to my complaint, and still waiting.

Warning letters sent by Virgin are taking two weeks to arrive.

I don't think that makes me incompetent.

[Peter_]

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Judesman wrote:

I have spent hours trying to sort this out and I want some sort of reimbursement for my phone calls.  I also want written confirmation that I have not been blacklisted with a Credit Reference Agency for non payment of my account. I still want that phone call promised on 2nd July. This whole business is a disgrace and Virgin is not fit for purpose. A warning to anyone thinking of banking with Virgin Money - don't. If they can't set up a payment here why should their Bank do any better?

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You will need to call up to get that confirmed as it requires you to clear DPA which cannot be done via the forum.

As for Virgin Money that has nothing whatsoever to do with Virgin Media as they are not even the same company so it will not be involved in your billing as that bank belongs to the Virgin Group of companies which only leases the name Virgin Media to NTL/Telewest.

A direct debit is also the best way to pay your bill and it saves you time and money.

[Judesman]

Thank you Peter. I quite understand that very liitle, in this case, can be done by the Forum. This has been going on for four months and I felt that my problems deserved some publicity.

I did not know that Virgin Money and Virgin Media  are separate organisations. Nevertheless this sort of poor service can not do the Virgin name any good.

Thanks for your input.

[Aaron_G]

Hi Judesman

I am really sorry to hear of your difficulty when trying to re-instate your automated payment method.  I can relate and empathise since I found myself in a similar dispute with my home insurer - In my scenario, the issue was caused by my card number it was out of range, causing automated payments to fail - my card issuer replaced the card, which resolved my problem.  

I am happy to see you have spoken to one of our customer care agents who has been able to come to a resolution with you.  It is beneficial to pay via direct debit, than any other means as this will save you £60.00 per annum.

Once again I apologise if you feel that the customer care you have been given has not met your expectations I would like to assure that we try our utmost to resolve an issue at first point of contact.

Regards

Aaron

[Judesman]

Thank you for your response Aaron, that is appreciated.

At last on 24th July I had a phone call from Head Office Complaints (0845 2340755). That was in response to my letter of 21 st June! Absolutely no humility on their part and quite aggresive at times. I don't think they have the first idea what is causing the problem. I was told that Virgin does not want customers paying by continuous payment but I have not been told this before and having phoned my card provider I know there is nothing wrong with my card. Max at Head Office told me that it was because I had kept entering my details on the website but clearly he had not read my notes because in March I used the website and every other time I gave the details over the phone.

Aaron, the £5 off a month is a con. When I signed up it clearly said save £5 this month and every month. But what happens is that if you do not pay by direct debit or continuous payment they charge you an extra £5. As I already paid by continuous payment (If it worked) I was not eligible. NOWHERE on the site did it tell me that. Max referred me to some obscure paragraph in the terms and conditions and even that did not make it clear.

They grudgingly gave me two months free sub provided I did not take the matter any further. Not a pleasant experience and a classic example of how not to treat your customers.

[Aaron_G]

Hi Judesman

Thanks for your reply.  I apologise it took a while for the complaints office to get back to you, we do advise a minimum of 14 working days to allow us time for them to receive your complaint, investigate and find a resolution. 

Now you have the DD mandate in place, you should see a £5.00CR off your next bill (as long as the DD mandate remains in place, the credit will be applied continually). 

When your next bill is generated, log in to http://my.virginmedia.com

Click on 'View Bill' then on the 'Overview' tab, you should see that you haven't been charged a £5.00 non-direct debit handling fee.

If you don't see this let me know and I will check on it for you and get in touch with customer care if necessary to fix this for you.

Regards

Aaron

[Judesman]

Hi Aaron

You say a 14 day response time, it took them over a month.

I have never paid a £5 handling charge for manual payments. But I have never made a manual payment until the mess up with the continuous payments not going through. I noticed that in my account on the website it invited me to sign up for a direct debit payment "£5 off this month and every month" There were no conditions and no explanation about the reduction having anything to do with a £5 handling charge that has never appeared on my account anyway..  I discussed it with the support staff at the time and they did not explain it.

I thought I was getting a £5 reduction in my monthly subscription.  It was thoroughly misleading.

Max from complaints tells me tha Virgin has seven million happy customers.  He obviously hasn't read the Forums!

Thanks for your input,

Judesman.

[Aaron_G]

Hi Judesman

I advised a minimum of 14 working days, It can sometimes take longer dependant on the contact method and cause of the complaint.  We aspire to respond fully to all correspondance in a timely manner in the event that we're unable to do so, we'll acknowledge receipt of your letter at the earliest possible convenience. 

Moving on, I've checked and yes you would also receive a £5.00 discount for paying by automated debit.  In your scenario there was an issue in setting up this mandate on several occassions.  So we asked you to set up a direct debit mandate instead.

Sorry for the confusion where you thought you would be getting a further £5.00 off your current subscription charge, I trust this is now clear.  I totally understand why you would be frustrated and upset -- we've apologised and have compensated you for the inconvenience.  May I suggest that if you don't wish to pay by Direct Debit mandate, speak to our customer care team and maybe try a different card when setting up the automated debit mandate? 

With the forum being manned by technical support agents, we're limited in the support we can offer surrounding account and billing issues so I am sorry I can offer no further support here.

I have to agree with Max from complaints regarding VM and our customers, you'll only hear from the people who are unhappy, you seldom see an individual comment on how reliable a service is, efficency of the support provided and the attitude of the people involved, this is where customer feedback comes in to play.

Kind regards

Aaron

[Judesman]

Hi Aaron,

Thank you for your further input.

I do not think that it is acceptable to take over a month to respond to a complaint.

Nobody ASKED me to set up a direct debit. I spotted that there was the option and felt that this might resolve the problem.

I am happy with a direct debit but you say if I want to revert to continuous payment try a different card. Max from complaints told me that Virgin would not now accept a continuous payment from me and that I could NOT revert.  There does seem to be a lot of confusion at your end.

I did not look to the Forum to resolve the issue. That took four months of frustration, letters and phone calls. Eventually your people admitted that a number of customers had problems with continuous payments. I posted here so other customers could see that there was (and still is) a problem and to give publicity to the contact phone numbers and addresses because if you look around the Forum you will see that one of the complaints is that nobody knows who to  get in touch with in the event of a complaint. Your support staff do their best but they are not up to dealing with matters such as this.

Finally if you are going to write to a customer to tell them that their sub has not been paid don't use snail mail. One of the letters sent to me took over two weeks to arrive with the result that my service was terminated. Wht not use email, you use it for everything else.

Thank you for your interest in my case.

Judesman.