Forum Discussion

phelpsey83's avatar
phelpsey83
Tuning in
5 months ago

VM Cancelled my contract with out speaking to me

Hi All,

I have what I believe to be a strange situation, which I don't believe is 100% legal.

I'm moving out of my property this week. VM disconnected yesterday, and I got my final bill today. I owe VM £185 as my contract legally ends in April 2025. Now, if I cancelled, I would abide by the contract; after all, I signed up under those terms.

But I didn't cancel the contract; the new owner phoned up and (I would assume as I wasn't party to the call) stated he was moving in on the 12th and would like to set up services. I had 1 missed call from VM, which came up as spam, so I didn't answer. The next thing I knew, I got a message and email stating that my contract had been cancelled and would be cancelled on the 9th. Under no circumstances did I agree to this and VM made no attempt to contact me after the 1 missed call. Under contract law "Silence cannot amount to acceptance - as in Felthouse v Bindley" 

I had thought at the time that it would save me a job, that they must be transferring the contract somehow, and that I wouldn't be charged early repayment.

Had I known I would have been charged, I would have transferred my services but they were cancelled before i got the chance to call back (had i know it wasn't a spam caller as well).

Were VM actions legal, and could i consider this a breach of contract and save myself the early repayment fee?

 

Many Thanks

Rich

contract
legal
  • Matthew_ML's avatar
    Matthew_ML
    Forum Team
    5 months ago

    Hey phelpsey83, thank you for reaching out and warm welcome to the community.

    I am sorry to hear this, however if you are moving out to a place where you can take our services you would be charged an disconnection fee.

    If you was moving out somewhere where our services cannot be taken and you have legal documents we can waive this.

    Which one applies to you? 

    • phelpsey83's avatar
      phelpsey83
      Tuning in
      5 months ago

      Hi Matt,

      I'm effectively homeless at the moment as I'm not buying or renting currently. I'm staying with family while I sort my permanent living arrangements. So I would assume the second one is applicable to me. I cannot transfer because I don't own any property.

      Also please could you specifically state if you can or can't cancel my contract without my approval. Unless I was in breach of contract which allowed you to cancel it. I was under the impression you had to gain my approval. What's to stop anyone from phoning up and cancelling my contract?

      • goslow's avatar
        goslow
        Alessandro Volta
        5 months ago

        We have seen this before on here where administrative bungling from VM, and the imperative to push through new sales, has resulted in an existing customer having their services disconnected by VM on the basis of nothing more than an installation request from a new potential customer.

        In some past cases, the existing customer was not due to move out for some time and was still using the service(s), resulting in having to go through a reconnection process

        I can't give you a legal answer, as I am not a lawyer, but I would side with your POV that VM chose unilaterally to disconnect you and cut off your services so I can't see why you should have to pay any early disconnection fees.

        A single phone call to you would not, IMHO, count as a reasonable attempt to contact you before disconnecting you.

        VM is supposed to give you 30 days notice if it intends to disconnect you (Section N 1 below)

        Section N13.2 below mentions immediate disconnection but the circumstances you have described do not seem to fit that clause.

        https://prod.ctassets.virginmedia.com/uploads/Terms_and_Conditions_TV_Fibre_Phone_from_4_February_2024_35cc93ecec.pdf