Forum Discussion

Johnny_b's avatar
Johnny_b
Just joined
3 days ago

End of Contract advice

Hi, an elderly neighbour ( 91 years old ) has a package setup by his son a while ago with M250, Mixit TV, TV360, Landline phone, and Weekend chatter and is billed about £98 per month.  He has asked his son many times to remove some of the packages  but his son ignores him.  I have been trying to help him workout how to solve this problem, BUT my neighbour does not have access to his account as it was setup  by his son with the Neighbours address.  Anyway,  the neighbour has received and email from Virgin to say his contract expires on the 7th of June 2025.   So the question is... 

He cant cancel the contract as no access to the account and memorable word held by his son.

 If the contract expires and ends does the monthly billing stop OR does it just carry on out of contract.

He is trying to find away to just get back to BB and Mixit TV, as £98 a month is a waste of money or at worse, scrap the lot.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Many thanks

5 Replies

  • -tony-'s avatar
    -tony-
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    at the end of the contract it goes to a rolling 30 day deal at a new price - there will have been notification of that price on the account but from what you say he cannot get into it - thats likely to be much higher that the £98 he is paying now - guesswork - £140-£150 - there will also be an offer between the [guessed] high figure and what he pays today to sign up for another contract period - afaik that can be done on line so the son may just do that and all your neighbour will see is an increase in his DD

    i have no idea how he can change things without access via his son - he can stop the DD and sooner or later VM will cut him off [maybe] but they will chase him for the money and black mark his credit rating - which may or may not bother him at his [good] age

    staff take a few days to get to threads and will comment - not sure they will be able to help though

  • japitts's avatar
    japitts
    Very Insightful Person
    3 days ago

    An awkward one, VM caught between rightly preventing unauthorised third parties from accessing accounts, versus the rightful account holder being locked out.

    If your neighbour has received an email from VM, it follows that they have access to the registered email account, and may be able to reset their account password via the myVM online account > Account settings. If all else fails, a VM-CS agent can usually send a reminder letter to the registered address, and allow a reset that way.

    As mentioned, VM's contracts are not fixed-term ones that end on the given date, the logical consequence of that would be all customers automatically being disconnected. In common with other UK telecoms providers, your neighbour has a rolling 30day notice contract with a minimum-term. It is that minimum-term that's often confused with "contract end"

    One other "be-aware" is that VM operate a multi-buy discount system, where additional services attract discounts that reduce the per-service price. This is especially so with phones, where a "with" bundle is often cheaper than a "without" one.

  • John_GS's avatar
    John_GS
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    3 days ago

    Hi Johnny_b 

    Thanks for posting and welcome to the community.

    Please can you call the team whilst with your neighbour?

    They then should be able to go through offers as long as Data Protection is passed

    150 / 0345 454 1111 option 4.

    • Johnny_b's avatar
      Johnny_b
      Just joined
      2 days ago

      Hello, whilst we could call the team, we have no way of providing any memorable word to pass the Data protection test.  I have been email the " Change the memorable word" document, but after putting in my neighbours email address (the address the email was sent to ) and then click to change, it then sends a message to his son to indicate someone if trying to get access by changing the memorable word,

      So, not sure how to progress the situation..   

      • Kath_P's avatar
        Kath_P
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        2 days ago

        Hi Johnny_b, 

        Thanks for coming back to us on this. If the customer is unable to reset the password to access My VM, then the team can ask some security questions instead. They'll also be able to update the contact details so the son's access is removed. 

        If the account holder, is unable to answer the security questions, they can send a letter with the memorable word to the account holder's address via post too. 

        Failing that, if the account holder can register his own forum account, then we can support them directly here. We just can't do anything to help with a third party I'm afraid. 

        Many thanks,