Complaints ignored - Escalation Letter?
Hi,
There is a lot to this, I will try to keep it brief where possible.
I was completely without internet for over 4 weeks just over a year ago. I called numerous times for updates, also numerous texts from Virgin saying it would be fixed the next day. All the staff I spoke to were good and as helpful as they could be.
I was working from home during this time, so I had to spend money to connect hotspots, so being without internet did cost me money.
Stupidly during this time my contract expired and I renewed. I was told on the phone that I would automatically receive compensation, I didn't need to do anything. Some months later Virgin increased my bill by 25%.
I left it some time, thinking they'd need to calculate the amount owed, then called to enquire where my compensation was. I was told this would be escalated to a complaint, I asked to only be contacted by email.
I received a copy/paste reply offering me "30GBPS". I replied and said the amount is £9.33 a day after 2 days, I was off 4 weeks, which was acknowledged by Virgin at the time of the fault.
Received a further copy/paste reply, with a few rude comments and just stuff they'd made up, such as telling me I needed to contact them to arrange compensation (Automatic Compensation Scheme?). They upped their offer to "35GBPS", despite admitting they had me down as being off for 12 days, and me providing evidence it was really over 4 weeks.
I replied and said that they were not being honest. I read on the OFCOM website that I needed a deadlock letter from Virgin to escalate this. I requested this letter to be sent.
Heard nothing, sent a further email and still nothing. I then decided I should probably raise a further complaint, I've heard nothing at all from that complaint. I've now sent them an email giving 14 days to respond or I will contact OFCOM.
I'll be honest, if my bill had just stayed at the original agreed amount, I probably wouldn't have pursued this.
I guess I just need some advice please. Has anybody had similar long periods with internet?
Did Virgin pay compensation? Or did they lie and label it as "intermittent" like mine?
Can I get OFCOM or anybody else to provide any help to get this resolved?
If all else fails, is there any way I can cancel my contract due to this and switch to another provider?
Yours is a familiar story on here.
Customer has an outage, or outages, over a long period of time. VM eventually resolves the fault. VM claims no compensation is due (for a variety of dubious reasons). VM offers a much smaller 'goodwill' payment.
You will need to take the matter to arbitration.
Process for that is a formal complaint to VM first of all (a required first step but unlikely to result in any useful outcome)
https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints
If VM fails to resolve you can go to arbitration with a deadlock letter or in any event after 8 weeks
https://www.commsombudsman.org/our-process
There has been a steady stream of customer feedback on here (in similar circumstances) where VM has denied any compensation but this was rejected at arbitration.
Success at arbitration often seems to be when the customer presents a clear and easy-to-understand timeline of events, backed up with linked evidence, which the adjudicator can use to come to a decision. VM's evidence (if VM presents any) is likely to be a muddled mess of random information and unsubstantiated claims. If you can do better than that, then you are likely to win the case.
Here are a few past examples, under similar circumstances, which might offer you some encouragement that it is worth following up
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Landline-not-working/m-p/5230030#M184701
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/A-tale-of-woe/m-p/5345224#M194067
