Forum Discussion

catnamedog's avatar
catnamedog
On our wavelength
2 years ago

Daylight Robbery!!

I was out of contract with Virgin, so when they proposed to increase my monthly payment, I decided to move to Talk Talk. There was a gap of several weeks between the changeover, but then I discovered that Talk Talk didn't have fibre to the premises, as their advert says, so I decided to go back to Virgin. Talk Talk had installed a new hub and connected my landline to their system.

I negotiated a better deal with Virgin, and that's when the nightmare started.

Changing back to Virgin was fraught with lack of service, my landline had effectively disappeared, and I was frequently disconnected when trying to get service back on. No-one had told me that I had been changed over from landline to VOIP, and the only way I could communicate in either voice or data was by using my mobile. 

Throughout, Virgin have pestered me for money that they say I owe. I don't. 

Only this morning I spoke with a woman at Virgin who told me that the payment demand stands because there was no disconnection, that my service was continuous, and that even faced with the fact that a Virgin engineer came out to install a new hub because the old one was faulty, and had been so for some time, this bill stands. I also discovered later that I had been allocated a fresh home phone number - but no-one told me what it was!!

So, thanks to Virgins lousy technical and customer services, I am stuck with a bill that I don't owe, which unless I pay it, it will have a negative effect on my credit rating, and I will have reduced Virgin services.

I regard Virgin Media as a totally dishonest organisation. There is no comeback to these payment demands. It is daylight robbery.

  • Steven_L's avatar
    Steven_L
    Forum Team
    2 years ago

    Hey catnamedog,

    Welcome back to the community and thanks for taking the time to post.
    I’m sorry to hear of the issues that you’re having with your account at the moment. I can see that you have spoken to the team since you last posted, unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to help any further from here with the charges as the charges would stand but I can look into your issue with your landline, would you like me to do that? We would need to do this via private message, so let me know if you'd like to do that or not.

    Kind Regards,

    Steven_L

    • catnamedog's avatar
      catnamedog
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago

      Hi

      The home phone issue has been resolved, thank you. Everything is now working, but there was a period of time when I had no broadband and no home phone. My complaint is that I am being charged excessively - on the rate that I should be on if I'd stayed, Your records show that I have a new contract on a lower monthly fee, yet the feeble excuse from Virgin is that I didn't request a disconnect!! 

      I will probably have to pay, but I will be complaining to Ofcom. I will move away from Virgin as soon as this new contract expires. I no longer want anything to do with them.

      • catnamedog's avatar
        catnamedog
        On our wavelength
        2 years ago

        Incidentally, I have a full log of WhatsApp communications where I am constantly asking for my broadband to be connected.. Each time I get a promise that something will be done, but nothing was done until the 13th November

  • Alby41's avatar
    Alby41
    Up to speed
    2 years ago

    So if you leave Virgin Media again on reflection of  your antecedent history ... how would you complete this and what advice would you give to other honest gullible Virgin media customers who have had enough ?

  • catnamedog's avatar
    catnamedog
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Sadly, we are at the mercy of these organisations. A long time ago I left Sky. They still owe me £70+. I genuinely believe that the systems are designed to wear us down when it comes to money they say we owe. I have had multiple connections disconnected after long periods of waiting for some action to be taken, only to have to repeat the whole thing again to a new agent.

    Now, I have reached to point where I will pay Virgin this money, in the full knowledge that I don't owe it to them, but they have the upper hand, and Ofcom is almost useless.

  • catnamedog's avatar
    catnamedog
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    As a postscript to this matter, I received a text from Virgin this morning. My bill had gone up to £175-odd!!

    I have paid some of it with the greatest reluctance. I am being charged for Virgins inefficiency. Absolute robbery!! I can't wait for the contract to end. DON'T GO WITH VIRGIN!!

  • catnamedog's avatar
    catnamedog
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    The trap for potential leavers of Virgin is their "30 day" rule. They insist that cancellations take 30 days to process. In other words, even if you are no longer under contract, you need to wait 30 days before you are free of them. This of course maximises the take for Virgin. Not making me aware of this when I cancelled created the crazy situation of Virgin telling me that, even though I was actually connected to Talk Talk, my Virgin service was considered to be still active, and banged me for the new, increased monthly charges. The didn't take the money from my still-active bank DD, though, so I was also charged for late payment of 2 monthly charges.

    I cannot express enough my disgust at this racket. Ofcom is a complete joke, which is why these sleazy rackets continue.

    • Beth_G's avatar
      Beth_G
      Forum Team
      2 years ago

      Hi catnamedog

      I really am sorry to hear you feel this way about us. If you have been billed incorrectly, we can certainly look into this with you. 

      I've sent you a private message so I can take your account details and help you further from there.

      Thanks,

      • catnamedog's avatar
        catnamedog
        On our wavelength
        2 years ago

        Hi Beth

        I am in work, and have been unable to access my virgin account on my works PC since being reconnected to Virgin. It isn't a firewall etc., problem. I had a similar problem with my home PC, now fixed. It still took weeks to fix though.