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Spotti's avatar
Spotti
Tuning in
18 days ago

What happens to contract IF account holder goes into care, or dies

I'm the account holder third party contact. The account holder is 85.

I've arranged for the installation of broadband and TV for next week. 18 months. The reason I got him virgin was that the agent said everything will be taken care of i.e. installation - I might not have time to be there on the day.

The agent assured me that if the account holder dies or has to go into care, then 'everything will be ok'. I just read the t&c', and this subject is very vague, with no mention of going into care. Even death is not clear.

Because there is no clear policy in writing for this, I'm worried that the account holder could be pursued for the remaining contract if any of the above happens.

I spent an hour with customer chat, and was shunted around, going round in circles - it was not a good experience, and to be honest, considering cancelling the whole contract before installation.

Does anybody have experience with this, preferably with a clear outcome?

Thanks.

 

27 Replies

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  • Spotti's avatar
    Spotti
    Tuning in
    18 days ago

    Hi,

    Thanks for this. When I looked at the contract terms and conditions, it didn't have this - or I might have missed it. 

    So if this happens, the account is closed, no payments due?

  • GNS1's avatar
    GNS1
    Tuning in
    18 days ago

    I believe Virgin has a 14 day cooling off period where you can cancel a contract within that period. Given that your services haven't even been installed yet and your circumstances, I would think Virgin would be able to cancel it no problem?

  • Spotti's avatar
    Spotti
    Tuning in
    18 days ago

    Hi, 

    I was asking if the account holder dies, or goes into care during the contract period?

    The links tell me where to go if it happens, but not what happens to the remaining contract payments.

    Just need to know they are cancelled?

    • goslow's avatar
      goslow
      Alessandro Volta
      18 days ago

      A VM person should reply to your topic within a few days and clarify what you want to know.

  • Spotti's avatar
    Spotti
    Tuning in
    11 days ago

    The installation date was yesterday 8am to 1pm. 8th.

    I took a morning off work and waited with the account holder.

    Nobody turned up, no message: no email, no call, no text. It's now the 9th, and still no word.

    I just looked at his contract, and it was started yesterday (8th) - but nothing had been installed.

    He also told me yesterday that someone turned up at his flat, unannounced a few days ago, went in and then did some cabling work outside - without me present.

    The account holder is 85 years old and therefore vulnerable.

    This is all pretty disgraceful from Virgin.

    We've wasted 10 days, and could have sorted something else.

     

     

     

    • Spotti's avatar
      Spotti
      Tuning in
      11 days ago

      Just spent an hour with the useless bot, and the not much better real person chat. 

      I said I wanted to cancel the whole thing. I was then told that the engineer date had been changed from the 8th, to the 9th. No contact from anyone letting me know this. 

      Took a few requests for them to cancel - the chat agent kept on trying to push the installation. 

      The bouncy, talkative agent that we used, who had previously visited the account holder, and must have realise how vulnerable he was, didn't go through with his promise to 'take care of everything'.  He didn't bother keeping in touch with either me or the account holder to see if everything was okay on the day of installation.   

      All in all, appalling service, especially, as I've said a few times, the account holder is a vulnerable 85 year old. 

       

       

    • Martin_N's avatar
      Martin_N
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      11 days ago

      Thank you for that information. We can certainly appreciate the frustration with that. 

      We can take a look into this for them. If we were to private message you would you be able to answer account and security questions?

      ^Martin

      • Spotti's avatar
        Spotti
        Tuning in
        11 days ago

        I've cancelled the account though chat.

        Not entirely convinced its been cancelled to be honest, as the agent seemed slightly confused, so I'll be taking the account holder to his bank on Monday to get the DD cancelled.

        When I asked the agent about making a formal complaint, they  told me that they would 'escalate' the complaint, so I asked for a direct contact for me to make a complaint, but the agent just said to look on the website, and kept saying bye, they then closed the chat (same as putting the phone down).

        Can't believe that companies in 2025 still don't realise that customer service is everything, and that some customers are vulnerable. 

  • Spotti's avatar
    Spotti
    Tuning in
    9 days ago

    Don't have time to go through anymore rounds of back and forward with this. 

    Give me a working link to an online complaint form please? 

    Thanks.