Forum Discussion

Abie's avatar
Abie
Joining in
17 days ago

Vulnerable Virgin Media customers beware!

My account is marked that I am a vulnerable customer. I have a physical disability which causes me to have memory problems, I also suffer with depression.  I also have 3 autistic adult children who i care for. 

My children's lifeline is the Internet, as it is mine as well

 We don't have a package, we just have the top broadband thing. Our broadband was cut off last night. I often forget to pay bills, and I looked to go pay it and I was shocked to find that i owe about £460 and they want £400 to reconnect our service.  It turns out the last bill i paid was in July. By their own accessibility and vulnerability policy I should have been contacted by phone or another means to assist me.

All they have sent me is bills which I didn't look at because I just go onto the Web page when I want to pay which is sometimes when our services are restricted but I just go and pay when they are restricted and what i would have done last night if it wasn't £400 to reinstate the Internet. I should have set up a direct debit but last time I spoke to them a couple of years ago I asked about a direct debit and was told I'd need to phone again to do that, which i forgot to do.

I called up today and was told I had to pay £400 to have it turned on. She did say something about a payment plan but it involved a lower broadband speed. I asked if I could speak with a manager which then took an hour to get through to. She said I could have it turned on if I pay £270 which i can't afford.  No mention of a payment plan.  Both the people i spoke to said that they asked be to build up 6 months of debt because I was on the "special needs" list so they were helping me by doing that. 

I said nobody had contacted me to tell me ot was building up and that i hadn't paid for 6 months, they both said that all they needed to do from their side was send me bills and that's all the contact they need to do.  

So someone whose vulnerability and disability involve forgetting to pay bill gets to have it build up to an impossible amount of money and only notified it's built off by having services restricted.

This is from Virgin Media's accessibility and vulnerability policy:

"If you are struggling to pay your bills we can help you as we have a specialist team who will start by reviewing your account. We will attempt to contact you by phone or preferred method of communication to discuss your situation and needs."

I got no telephone calls, no letters, no emails from a specialist team.

All I got was bills sent to my inbox. I doubt open them, when I remember to pay i go directly to my account, not open the email.  The same when my services have been restricted.  I go straight to my account. 

This must be a new unadvertised rule for the vulnerable that they let us go 6 months without paying with no contact other than bills and then demand a £400 lump sum.

 

 

  • You mentioned you often forget to pay bills... if you use a smartphone or tablet you can create recurring monthly reminders. Google Calendar allows you to do this, as does Apple Calendar.

    Can also do this with a paper based calendar but it's much less time consuming with a digital calender.

    I find it very useful personally, I even use Google calendar to remind me to water the plants!

  • Mr_K's avatar
    Mr_K
    Knows their stuff

    There are other interweb providers out there if VM won't provide. But as mentioned, monthly DD is the best way to pay. 

    Do you qualify for 'essentials broadband' from VM? £12.50 a month. #https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/low-income-families#

    Might be the best option going forward. 

    • newapollo's avatar
      newapollo
      Very Insightful Person

      That's a good idea Mr_K providing the customer is receiving one of the qualifying benefits, Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Income-based Employment Support Allowance

       However, sadly they wouldn't be approved if they applied at present due to

      Section 2 of https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/essential-broadband

      Customers applying for Essential broadband, or upgrading to Essential broadband plus or Essential broadband plus with Flex, will not be eligible if they are currently in arrears or on a scheduled repayment plan.

  • Hi Abie,

    Welcome back to our community forums and sorry to hear you have been having issues with your billing. We can understand your circumstances and want to do our best to help.

    Generally, your billing is your notification that payment is required. We notify you that your bill has been generated and that payment is required. It looks like your chosen contact method may have been emails which is why you were contacted that way. You can out more about payments in your Terms and Conditions We do want to assure you that our team will aim to support you if you are having issues making payments. We would advise contacting our collections team on 0345 454 1111. They have the means to be able to discuss the best options regarding the bill and set up a payment plan if required. They will do their best to help support you.

    Thanks,


     

    • Abie's avatar
      Abie
      Joining in

      As I've said in my post I've already spoken to the collections team. The manager said my only option is to pay at least £270. The manager gave me no other option.

      This is in your accessibility and vulnerability policy:

      If you are struggling to pay your bills we can help you as we have a specialist team who will start by reviewing your account. We will attempt to contact you by phone or preferred method of communication to discuss your situation and needs.

      Ate you stating that the specialist team that will contact vulnerable customers to discuss a vulnerable person's situation and needs doesn't actually exist because it's covered by the automated system that just sends out bills?  

      Can you confirm that virgin media plolicies and procedures for vulnerable customers just involve an automated bill and there is no team reaching out to discuss anything as per virgin medias own policy document?

      I really need confirmation that what is said in your accessibility and vulnerability policy actually just means virgin media will send out the same automated bill they send to everyone. 

      This is the policy I'm talking about https://www.virginmedia.com/corporate/media-centre/public-policy-statements/accessibility-and-vulnerability-policy

       

      • Robert_P's avatar
        Robert_P
        Forum Team

        We understand the frustration, once an account falls into arrears or has missed payments they are flagged to our Collections Team who will reach out to offer support. This can be in the way of a Payment Plan to clear the arrears over a certain period of time whilst maintaining the standard monthly payments.

         

        We can't support with issues of this type via the forums as we aren't able to take payments or arrange payment plans, these need to be set up by the collections team. We have reached out them with your details to make contact with you but are unable to offer further support via the forums.

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta

    You should pay by monthly direct debit (this applies for all ISPs, not just VM).

    Once you've resolved your payment issue with VM, search for another ISP as you will probably find someone else that is cheaper.