Forum Discussion

mrix's avatar
mrix
On our wavelength
13 days ago

Break of Contract due to outage

Hello all, I have not had broadband and internet access since the 10th July 2025, I live in the BH23 area. I have so far had two fix dates and none of which have fixed the issue, I now have another fix date for Monday!

I cannot keep going on like this with being given false promises , a few years ago I went through a similar situation whereby I had 15 fix dates! and I certainly do not want to go down that road again!

I have decided decided to jump ship and go with another provider in my area and would like to know if I can cancel without terms of the ending contract early ? with the downtime and already two fix dates have pasted surely I cannot get billed for stopping my contract 2 months early ? I have been a customer for over 20 years and hope that would mean something ?

Just one note also its very difficult to contact Virgin Media by email and from what I can fathom you cannot end your contract by sending a email ?  I would like to send a email with more detail of my situation but have nowhere to send it ? can anyone help here with the correct place to direct a email ?

Thanks for any help all

11 Replies

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta

    VM will almost certainly not release you from a minimum term contract on the basis of an outage. The best you will be entitled to is the OFCOM compensation below

    https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

    so keep detailed records, along with evidence of all VM's failures to fix, to ensure you get paid the correct amount.

    Any fix dates/times VM gives out are nothing more than estimates, not guarantees.

    You need to give VM 30 days notice to leave (or you may be able to truncate the notice period by using the one-touch-switch system with a new supplier) but you need to complete your minimum term to avoid early disconnection fees. If you wish to cancel VM yourself, the usual advice on here is to do it by post using a tracked service to confirm delivery.

    Depending on who you plan to move to, some providers offer to pay off early disconnection fees (up to a few hundred pounds I have seen previously) so you may be able to leave via that route.

    Many of the regulars on here would suggest that the best way to switch (if it is feasible/affordable to do so for the customer) is to get your new service installed and overlap it with VM.

    That way you get to try out the new service in your 14 day cooling off period with VM as a backup in case the new service is unsatisfactory. Overlapping also gives you a bit of a buffer in case there is a delay in getting the new service installed.

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person

    It's a grey area in the way it's phrased, but if the problem lies within VM's network, and they are unable to fix it within 30 days, they may offer you the right to exit your contract without you being penalised. This usually relates to a drop in speed and not total loss of service, although I would argue that total loss of service is a speed reduction.

    Info below from the Right to Cancel FAQ's section on the https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/our-speeds-explained page.

    If the actual download speed you received to your Virgin Media Hub during the test period falls below our ‘minimum guaranteed download speed’ for 3 days in a row (continuously or intermittently), we’ll confirm that there’s a speed fault, and if we can’t fix the issue within 30 days of your report, you may be eligible to leave us without paying an early disconnection fees............

    You can read more about ending your contract in Section N of the terms and conditions https://www.virginmedia.com/legal  If we don’t provide the ‘minimum guaranteed download speed’ as set out above (i.e. we have not remedied the speed problem within 30 days of your notifying us or we cannot address the problem) then we’ll offer you the opportunity to end your contract immediately, without an early disconnection fee. In exceptional circumstances (for example where you cancel technician visits or miss appointments) we may extend the 30 days but we’ll always discuss this with you beforehand.

    You should allow VM 30 days for their engineers to test your connection (although I can't see how they can perform any testson your connection if it's an actual area fault)

    You cannot cancel by email.  The https://www.virginmedia.com/help/leaving details the accepted cancellation methods.  Click on the View Contact options link which will open a pop up window, so ensure you have pop ups enabled in your browser. You can click on "Chat to us online", however the chat/messenger options won't work if the office is closed.

    You can call VM by dialling 150 from your Virgin Media home phone or 0345 454 111 from any other phone.  Select options 1,1,4 and 4 for the cancellations department.

    You can send your leaving request by registered (signed for) post to: Virgin Media, Sunderland, SR43 4AA  including your name, address and account number.

    You can also contact VM via WhatsApp on 0780 3089 684

    Or you can contact VM on Social Media by either messaging 

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virginmedia  or Twitter: https://twitter.com/virginmedia

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous

    “I have been a customer for over 20 years and hope that would mean something ?” Alas that means nothing, actually no, in VM’s eyes in means you are very unlikely to move on now, so don’t offer you anything! Yes, you’ll make all sorts of threats to go, but in their eyes you won’t actually do it, so ignore them - unless of course you do actually leave, in which case they will be all over you like a rash to get you to stay.

    VM have no customer-facing email addresses for support, you can’t email them anything. Almost as if they really don’t want to have to deal with annoying people, like paying customers. Odd, but it is the way they work.

    Now here’s what I would do if I were in your situation, you have two months left of your minimum term contract, right? Sign up now with an alternative provider, get yourself back online. Meanwhile you are now due compensation from VM of a little under £10 per day (with some caveats), so you are now owed some £75. Give it about another month and then cancel VM, cancel completely (I assume that you have your new provider in place), and do it via a physical letter to their Sunderland office - there are certain legal protections doing it via letter (keep a copy and send it by registered - signed for delivery)

    Now even though you have left, you are still owed the compensation - short term you will probably be out of pocket, longer term you are free of VM and may possibly make a small profit!

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta

    In the dropdown "Our minimum download speed guarantee" it states "The minimum download speed guarantee does not apply to outages."

    • newapollo's avatar
      newapollo
      Very Insightful Person

      Thanks for that and pointing me to the correct section goslow​   I missed that as I was speed reading, and should have taken more care. (I was watching boxing at the same time)

  • mrix's avatar
    mrix
    On our wavelength

    Huge thanks for the feedback all much appreciated, the thing is my connection is not just slow but none existent, since the 10th I have had no internet access at all and the TV requires internet access on most of the channels as it keeps coming up with a internet connection Warning you keep having to click off every few seconds, I have decided to go with the quick switch system whereby the other supplier pays for any possible end early fee`s, makes me less likely to go back to Virgin later down the line if the other supplier does not work out.

  • mrix's avatar
    mrix
    On our wavelength

    Just a update to say I have now surpassed the 2 fix dates and now on the 4th fix date today, I don't suspect my issue will be fixed today 24th July and simply another fix date will be added for the 27th etc! We shall see.....

    Also whenever you ring or look online it explains the outage has been identified and a engineer is on their way! I have had this on every fix notification! seems like a standard template they use and not really related to the issue!, they need to be a little more honest, more detailed and transparent of what these issues really are, the way the system works at the moment does not feel anyone with confidence your getting a genuine update, presently it just feels you are simply being fobbed off with any excuse, I did actually get a call from Virgin Media today who did explain a little more detail which was a breath of fresh air and it was explained that the issue was some kind of line noise they cannot presently locate so who knows how long my specific issue will carry on for ? 2 more months until my contract runs out ?

    • mrix's avatar
      mrix
      On our wavelength

      Obviously once again there is another fix date issued for now the 30th! 

      Now 5 Fix dates have passed and not been resolved!

      • Sabrina_B's avatar
        Sabrina_B
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team

        Hi mrix 👋.

        Thanks for reaching out to us and welcome to the Community Forums, apologies to hear of the issues that you are facing with an outage in your area and that the estimated fix time has been pushed back. We can assure you that it's not the level of service we aim to provide.

        Whilst we do our best to keep any faults and downtime to an absolute minimum, unfortunately sometimes service issues do happen from time-to-time. We'll always aim to have you back up and running ASAP, but, in some instances, this can take longer than we'd like.

        You can read about our auto compensation scheme (https://virg.in/autocomp) and if you do wish to discuss this further please let us know and we can drop you a private message, please look out for the envelope on the top right of your web browser or if you are using a mobile device, it will be located under your profile icon.
         

        Thanks.
         

        Sabrina

  • mrix's avatar
    mrix
    On our wavelength

    Two more fix dates issued, one was for the 6 August 2025 and now today I had a update for  31st of July. 

  • mrix's avatar
    mrix
    On our wavelength

    Nope fix date has now gone back to the 6 August! = 8 Fix Dates!