Forum Discussion

Tammyland's avatar
Tammyland
Just joined
2 days ago

One touch switch failure, left paying for 2 providers Virgin and Sky

 

I am posting here to share my experience and to see whether others are facing the same issue with the One Touch Switch process.

On 15 December 2025, I contacted Virgin Media to cancel my services as I was moving to Sky. During that chat, Virgin Media advised me to use the One Touch Switch, explaining that my new provider would notify Virgin Media and that there would be no overlap of services or billing.

I followed this advice in good faith.

My Sky broadband was installed and live on 17 January 2026. Sky has since confirmed that they completed and submitted the One Touch Switch notification to Virgin Media.

Despite this, Virgin Media states they never received the notification. My account remained active without my knowledge and I was repeatedly told I must now give 30 days’ notice, meaning continued billing.

This has resulted in me spending weeks acting as a go-between for two providers, repeatedly explaining the same situation and facing the risk of paying two broadband providers at the same time, despite following Virgin Media’s own guidance.

What is particularly concerning is that Virgin Media actively promotes the One Touch Switch, customers are told it prevents overlap, yet when it fails the financial and administrative burden falls entirely on the customer.

I have since found multiple similar complaints going back many months, which suggests this is not an isolated case.

I have raised a formal complaint with Virgin Media and will also be escalating this to Ofcom, as this appears to be a systemic issue rather than a one-off error.

If anyone else has experienced issues with the One Touch Switch between Virgin Media and Sky, I would be interested to hear how or if it was resolved.

4 Replies

  • Steven_L's avatar
    Steven_L
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    10 hours ago

    Hello Tammyland,

    Welcome 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 experiencing with your former Virgin Media account. 

    I'd be happy to take a further look into this for you; however, 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

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 days ago

    It's tempting to blame VM for still billing you, but under the regulations it's Sky who must sort this out. Whoever is to actually to blame, Sky must make sure you get your money back.  

  • Richardr1's avatar
    Richardr1
    Fibre optic
    2 days ago

    Independent of the rights and wrongs of why something has gone wrong with a One Touch Switch transfer, any issues should go through your new supplier, in this case Sky. The interaction between Virgin and Sky is for Sky to manage on your behalf. Thus, any complaint should be through Sky.

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    2 days ago

    Although now over a year old, One Touch Switching is still in it's infancy and there are still too many pitfalls with all ISP's (it's not just VM that are responsible) when using this method. There are still too many failed matches when starting a switching order. 

    Latest failure rates :-

     https://totsco.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/OTS-Message-Data-November-2025.pdf

    The gaining provider (in this case Sky) are responsible for the landline and broadband switch and should be able to see what went wrong. Sky should either re-send the "switch complete" message or trigger a manual disconnection with VM.

    Also see https://totsco.org.uk/help-engagement/totsco-industry-trials-results-summary/