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.