Virgin have completely messed up my contract when moving address
This is quite a long tale, and at this point is ongoing.
In May 2024, I signed an 18 month contract. It was £68 per month for the Mega Volt bundle, plus TNT Sport and an extra TV box.
I recently sold my house, so contacted Virgin Media to change the address. The website makes it very clear that you can "keep your contract", which is great because it was a good deal. I opted to do this via web chat, as it is generally less disruptive, and I was supposed to be working at the time.
The conversation with the agent was frustrating to say the least. It took around 5 minutes to get each reply. Despite clearly saying that I wanted to keep my current package, as I am entitled to, the agent forced me to answer questions about my use to see if I am "getting the best deal". I stated that it was important for me to have access to sports and movies. I used the internet for everything - work, streaming, gaming, etc. After spending more than 30 mins answering these questions, the agent offered me the Bigger Bundle for £108.
Now, this is not only £40 more than I was currently paying, but it was also a worse package. It didn't include sports, or movies, despite clearly saying that they were my main priorities. I was frustrated that I'd spent so long answering these questions, only to be ignored and offered a terrible deal. I emphasised that I would like to keep my current contract. The agent confirmed that I would keep the contract, and processed the move.
Move day happened. Techie came the next day to set up, he came promptly, was super friendly, and got everything set up. A few days later, an "important" football match was on, so I flicked to Sky Sports, only to see that it was greyed out in the menu, and "not part of my subscription".
I spent hours trying to talk to someone at Virgin to work out why I no longer had access to Sky Sports. I went through the webchat, only to be told that they were busy and would reach out via WhatsApp (which never happened). I tried to call, only to be directed to the website, then hung up on.
Eventually, after days of trying, I managed to speak to an agent. Apparently, the reason why I didn't have access to those channels, was because I was on the Bigger Bundle, and didn't have access. Confused, I checked the contract details on MyVirginMedia, and it indeed said that I was on the Bigger Bundle. And it was charging me £168. I told the agent that this was a mistake, but was told that they couldn't sort it. I asked to speak to the complaints team, and was instead directed to the Moving Team.
The person from the moving team was friendly enough, said that clearly a mistake was made, and that it would be corrected. However, a few days later, I still didn't have access, so I reached back out through web chat and raised a formal complaint.
A few days later, I got a response, saying that "as agreed, internal feedback was provided". Again confused by this email, seeing as I'd not spoken to a person, I hadn't agreed that internal feedback would close my complaint, I checked my Virgin Media account to see if the problem was corrected on the contract page.
Nope. While Sky Sports and Cinema had indeed been added to my contract, I was now being charged £212.25. I replied to the complaints email. I got a response pretty quickly. Theyf "couldn't see any record of the previous contract I was on", and requested evidence. I obliged, providing copies of contracts, bills etc.
More than a week later I got a call. The complaints team initially asserted that my initial contract was cancelled, and that I'd agreed to a new deal. Obviously this was stupid, and suggested they'd not read my complaint at all. They offered me a deal, which again was worse than I was on. They said they'd have to forward me to the Moving team again to get them to remedy the problem.
The lad that I spoke to from the Moving team sounded completely disinterested. He told me that it was some sort of "out of franchise" move as it was a different region that I moved to. I couldn't really care less about that, I was told I could keep the same deal. Apparently what should have happened, is a credit should be applied to reduce the contract amount down to the initial £68. He said this was in place. I confirmed that the contract would end in 7 months time, as expected, and he said yes.
Great, the main issue was resolved. The Complaints team called back later to see if it was resolved. At this point, correcting my contract was only part of my resolution. I'd spent around 8 hours trying to sort this, so requested additional compensation, which was agreed. Overall, sounds like I got what I was after, everything was as it should be.
I then got the written confirmation via email. This stated that my complaint was that "my personal details are correct", and the resolution was "extra guidance on billing". Again, not really reflective of my complaint, and no written evidence of what was agreed. This again prompted me to check my contract online.
It appears that I have been signed up to a new 18 month contract for £101 per month. A £38 credit is applied for the next 7 months. That means, at the end of the 7 months, I'll be suddenly paying a lot more than I ever agreed, but tied in to the contract for another year.
The whole process should have been really simple. It's annoying, because the home move is short term, and I'm moving again in 2 months time, and I'm worried that I'll have to go through all of this again.
Has anyone else suffered through this sort of mess before? What was your solution? Ultimately, I'm going to submit a DSAR. Unfortunately for Virgin, I'm an Internal Auditor, and when I smell a problem, I try to hunt it down.
Tl;dr, VM signed me up to a contract without consent, aka fraud by false representation (TWICE!). The customer service messed me around. The Complaints team deliberately fudge the complaint type to look more favourable on their KPIs.
