Forum Discussion

twhitehead's avatar
twhitehead
Joining in
11 months ago

Closing bill covers period of no service

Hi all

Posting here as no one with VM phone support seems to understand what I’m getting at. 

I cancelled my contract with 6/7 weeks notice. The final date of service was 10 May, which was also the last day of my 18 month package deal contract. All fine. 

However there’s now a closing bill on my account for about £140, which is the full undiscounted monthly price for my previous package deal. The bill covers 11 May to 10 June and is due on 16 May. Which of course is a period entirely when I have no service from VM.

is this normal or a mistake that I should challenge more vigorously? I’ve seen people talk about VM charging a month in advance but surely not for a period entirely after service has ended? I’m not super keen to pay and wait ages for a refund, especially as a family currently on statutory maternity pay. The advice from VM over the phone was to cancel our direct debit, which seems like a terrible idea.

 

thanks all!

4 Replies

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  • Cardiffman282's avatar
    Cardiffman282
    Wise owl
    11 months ago

    As it's a disputed payment you could demand that your bank reverses the debit under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme whilst you continue to liase with VM on it. 

  • Lee_R's avatar
    Lee_R
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    11 months ago

    Hi twhitehead thanks for posting and welcome to our community.

    Sorry to hear of any confusion around your final bill and for any inconvenience this may be causing you. I would like to take a look on your behalf. I am going to send you a private message. Please keep an eye on your inbox in the top right of your screen.

    Regards

    Lee_R

  • japitts's avatar
    japitts
    Very Insightful Person
    11 months ago

    IMHO this is not a disputed payment covered by the DD guarantee, since you have a bill for the amount which would have correctly generated the DD.

    That the bill was generated the day after disconnection is the interesting bit. If it was before disconnection, the standard pay-in-full and wait for a refund advice would apply. If it was a week or so after disconnection, then alarm bells would be ringing.

    Although billing is obviously automated, I wonder if your disconnection on a Friday and billing on a Saturday, is a factor here.