Vulnerable elderly exploited

Question

I’m am currently in shock at firstly, the lack of people available to speak to about what I feel is a serious issue, and secondly, the issue itself. My mother in law is currently moving home, and after being a virgin customer for years, the home she is moving to has sky, so she needs to cancel. It is only at this point that we find out how much she is paying as she is told she has a huge early termination fee to get out of the contract. She has another 6 months to run on an 18 months contract that she knows nothing about. She has not been emailed anything to review, and she hasn’t even been sent a bill in the last 12 months, so I would suggest all! The lack of care and the lack of anyone even willing to discuss is shocking. I spoke to customer support who fully understood….before passing me to an out of hours voicemail, never to be seen again! I honestly cannot get my head around the fact that someone has completely taken advantage of this elderly and vulnerable woman, and they are now only interesting in charging her more to get out of a contract she didn’t even know she had!! I really did not appreciate how poor the virgin media customer service was until today.

Cardiffman282 · Answer

Early disconnection fees are standard. However contracts&nbsp; between parties where one party is vulnerable and appears to have limited capacity to form legally binding contracts in the first place are not okay. You may wish to demand copies of all associated contact between VM and your mother via a data request. The link is below. There is another link for formal written complaints.&nbsp;

Tudor · Answer

If the move is to an area served by VM it’s far better to just transfer over the connection. I believe it’s free. The contact can be terminated for free when its term is up. You would pay the same for this as if you terminated the contract now. If the move is to an area not served by VM you can terminated the contract without penalty.&nbsp;

Zach_R · Answer

Hi Benny293,
 Thank you for your post and welcome to our community forums. We're here to help.
 I'm sorry to hear that your mother-in-law hasn't had a great experience with us recently regarding their contract and billing.
 An early disconnection fee, if she's looking to cancel midway through an agreed minimum term, is valid and applicable. We would've advised at the beginning of the term how long the term is for before the deal is agreed to, making the agreeing customer fully aware. The early disconnection fee is the monthly total for the bundle multiplied by the remaining months.
 Can you clarify if you're saying that the new home already has Sky so she wouldn't want to take it across, or that we currently cannot provide our services to that address?
 As for the monthly bills, these are all made available to view at any time via the My Virgin Media online account. Along with this, they're sent monthly via email or, if requested, we can send them via post for a small fee. If she's agreed to receive them via email but they haven't arrived, it'd be worth checking the spam/junk folder and, if not there, it might be worth ensuring we have the current and up-to-date email address registered.
 Thanks,
 &nbsp;

Benny293 · Answer

Thanks for the reply. I totally understand the early termination, my issue is that she is very cautious with her money, and she did not agree to this contract. I spoke to someone yesterday who said they could check that the contract had been emailed to her to review and agree, but it had not. She does not have an online account to her knowledge, and she was not aware that she had increased the speed of her broadband or that she had sky movies added! This to me, stinks of a sales person taking advantage of someone who it is very clear, when speaking to her on the telephone, does not fully grasp what is happening with her contract or her billing. This is my biggest concern at the minute, not the exit fee, the fact that she has been paying for a service she does not want or need for 12 months!

Benny293 · Answer

Just as additional points in response to your message. I have checked all of her emails, including junk, and there is nothing there. She has not received anything, and has had the same email for years. They also managed to send a copy of the August bill and the pre-contract documents when requested yesterday without taking the email address. They were never received in August 23 and I would really appreciate copies of any recording if the claim is that this agreement was done verbally before I approach ofcom.&nbsp;

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