Forum Discussion

ergosum's avatar
ergosum
Tuning in
2 days ago

Virgin Media are really frustrating. Please help

I have been a virgin media customer for over 20 years now, had several issues over that time but this one tops them all. We have recently purchased a new home, and needed to move in gradually as we were renovating. Part of that was needing internet. So as we were living in both places we had VM installed in the new house.

Moving day is finally almost here where the whole family is moving in to the new house. 

I contacted Virgin Media to let them know we needed disconnecting at the old house and the contract would need to be cancelled, as we already have Virgin Media in the new house. The response, ok no problem, you will just need to pay the £900 early contract termination fee. Is someone seriously extracting the urine here or what???. I put in a complaint and it was supposed to be looked at by a supervisor to look at resolving it within 48 hours. No response and we are now two weeks later. I called them again today and spoke to someone in their call centre, same response, I need to pay almost a grand. I asked to speak to a manager, they were all busy and someone will call me back.

Does anyone else see my logic that it is absolutely absurd that I would have to pay almost a grand to terminate the contract because I already have a contract WITH VIRGIN MEDIA at the new property. It honestly beggars belief. I currently feel like I want to cancel the lot and go with someone else, and make it my life's work to share this far and wide. Ludicrous. Hopefully there is someone on here that works for Virgin media that can sort this mess out please.

8 Replies

  • RetiredATCO's avatar
    RetiredATCO
    Up to speed
    17 hours ago

    Oh dear, but I'm afraid it's all a mess of your own making @ergosum

    Should've done your research first.

    I presume you've had to use a different email address and/or name to get the new contract so hopefully you managed to get a "new customer" deal too.

  • Carley_S's avatar
    Carley_S
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    21 hours ago

    Hi ergosum 

    Welcome to the Community Forums. 

    Sorry to hear of your concerns with your early disconnection fees.

    As the Community has advised, we do have a move and transfer process that would have your services and contract moved to your new address, rather than cancelling your service and having to pay early disconnection. The contract is between Virgin Media, the account holder and the address. The service contract agreed at your new property would be completely separate from your old property's contract. More information on our Moving home process can be found here. 
    If you're within your 14-day cooling-off window with your new property, then this can be cancelled, and the move and transfer process can be actioned from the link provided above. 
    Alternatively, if your new property was indeed one of our 'no contract' 30-day rolling contracts from here, then you would need to cancel this and begin the move and transfer process for your old property's service/contract. 
    We are unable to action any move and transfer requests via the Community Forums, so you would need to speak with the team here, should any of the above apply to you. 

    • ergosum's avatar
      ergosum
      Tuning in
      19 hours ago

      Thank you for your response Carley. 

      We had virgin installed in the new address on the 30th August. I have just checked and that is a 24 month contract.

      • Kath_P's avatar
        Kath_P
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        17 hours ago

        Hi ergosum, 

        Thanks for coming back and clarifying. We're afraid that, as mentioned above, the contract is taken by the account holder at the address. As you've decided to take services separately, without following the move and transfer procedure, the early termination fee would apply. As you're outside of the 14 days cooling off period, it would not be possible to cancel the services at the new address, to allow the transfer of services of the old account. 

        Apologies for any inconvenience caused. 

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

    I think the previous responders have missed the key point that you needed a broadband connection at the new property before finally moving out of the old home.  An early termination fee for the old property implies that at some stage you entered a new minimum contract period on the old property which still has months to run on it rather than let it roll forward on a 30 day basis.  

    • japitts's avatar
      japitts
      Very Insightful Person
      24 hours ago

      I think the previous responders have missed the key point that you needed a broadband connection at the new property before finally moving out of the old home

      Whilst a valid point, I fear that a temporary solution - potentially mobile-based - may have been a better option at the new property.

      It would evidently have made things easier in the long run. If your new install is within its initial 14day period, then using the statutory cancellation option is certainly one viable route.

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

    You should have been advised to use the Moving Home process which would transfer the services and remainder of the contract from your current property to the new property.  

    Failing to do that would result in a cancellation of the contract at the current property, thus having to pay off the remainder of that contract as you weren't continuing the present contract by 'moving' the services to the new property.

    The solution is to cancel the installation at the new property and perform the move house process.  If you don't make any changes to the services then you  continue at the old rate for the remainder of that contract length, or see if you can negotiate a new deal as you won't be eligible to claim new customer pricing.

     

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 days ago

    VM has a standard procedure where you can move to a new address and take your existing contract with you. That's what you should have done.