Forum Discussion

jenkstm's avatar
jenkstm
Joining in
3 months ago

Impossible to Cancel Virgin Media - vulnerable person's account

I am a Lasting Power of Attorney for my father, who is now in permanent care.

I am trying to cancel his Virgin Media account which is £170/month (out of contract) for a service he barely used and now cannot use.

Virgin are making it utterly impossible to cancel.

  • I contacted their web chat last Friday who refused to accept notice of termination, passing me onto their customer service phone line.
  • Their customer service phone line passes you between 3 departments then disconnect you.
  • I have issued written notice to their postal address per their Terms and Conditions via Signed Royal Mail delivery. They haven't signed for the delivery.
  • I have raised a complaint about the state of this. The response to that complaint was unironically to phone the main customer service line as they can only take verbal notice. I also issued written notice of termination in that complaint, which seems to have been ignored.

Disgraceful behaviour for a vulnerable person's account. Clearly in breach of VM's own Terms and Conditions where issuing verbal notice of termination is all that is needed under Section N Paragraph 1, let alone 4 different notices that have all been ignored.

I am so frustrated - letter to MP & regulator time.

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    3 months ago

    Failure to cancel is a common cause of complaint on here.

    FWIW, ref delivery, the last 3 times I have tried to use RM signed-for (to other companies than VM) I have had no signature on delivery, although the letters did go through. RM signed-for is a bit of a dead loss these days. A fully tracked service is needed for anything important now.

    However, VM's own T&Cs section T3 state your letter is considered 'delivered' 2 working days after you posted it so, in the worst case, you have that as a reference for your 30 days notice letter irrespective of signature.

    While waiting for a VM forum team reply ...

    You can share your unhappy cancellation experience with OFCOM.

    They launched an investigation into VM on 13 July 2023 specifically into VM's cancellation and complaints processes.

    https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/bulletins/enforcement-bulletin/open-cases/cw_01275

    Case ref. no. and an email at the bottom of the above page or submit with same info via the contact form

    https://ofcomforms.secure.force.com/formentry/SitesFormCCTMonitoring

    Submitting information won't help your individual complaint but it will contribute to the OFCOM investigation and it sounds like your experience is directly relevant to the terms of reference of the investigation.

    A VM person should reply here within a few days.

  • Steven_L's avatar
    Steven_L
    Forum Team
    3 months ago

    Hello jenkstm,

    Welcome back to the community and thanks for taking the time to post here on the forums. I’m sorry to hear of the issues that you’re having trying to cancel a vulnerable customers account. This is far from the experience that you should be having and I would be happy to take a further look into this for you but first I would need to confirm a few details via private message, please look out for my message and we can get started.
    Kind Regards,
    Steven_L

  • floladygooner's avatar
    floladygooner
    Tuning in
    2 months ago

    Hi 

    Sorry to hear you have had to go through this. I feel very lucky with my experience. I rang in and spoke to a very helpful Scottish lady, about switching off my Mum's equipment as she is now in a Nursing home  (And was paying a similar high monthly price....) As soon as I mentioned she was in Nursing home, all talk of contract penalties disappeared and the service was terminated at a date of my choice with no penalty. (she is contracted until August 2025) 

    slight issue with the return of the ancient equipment as  I specifically asked someone to send it to me , not my Mum's house (As it is empty) but they still sent it there anyway, now rectified with another helpful Scottish guy. 

    the way you have been treated is pretty shameful. passed from Pillar to post. I am grateful i got to speak to 2 competent , helpful nice people 

    • jandacooper's avatar
      jandacooper
      Up to speed
      3 days ago

      Hi, I've just read this. Would you be kind enough to let me know how you managed to actually contact a human at VM? Thanks, in advance... and good luck to and with you Mum. We've been there.