Forum Discussion

Cardiffman282's avatar
Cardiffman282
Community elder
10 hours ago

Dragging VM to the Ombudsman: What are your odds of winning?

 

So you have exhausted the formal VM complaints process and are probably feeling exhausted and bewildered as a result.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints

But there is one more avenue open to you which is the Communications Ombudsman. 

So what are your odds of victory by taking your case there? Well, I've had a look at the stats for you. 

Firstly the Ombudsman is free of charge to you (but not VM). 

Secondly it all of course depends on the strength of your individual case (the old hands on this community can guide you here). 

Finally those odds. 

VM has become more aggressive in fighting claims taken to the Ombudsman over the years. In Q2 2022 VM would contest 3/5 cases (settling 2/5), lose half of all cases and win 1/7.

By Q2 2025 (the latest stats) it contested 4/5 (settling 1/5), lost a whopping 2/3 of all cases and won 1/7.

Therefore your headline odds at the Ombudsman are very good at getting something in 6/7 of cases.

Remember: it's free to you. 

By comparison TalkTalk settles 9/10, Sky settles 3/4, and BT fights the hardest of all contesting 19/20 cases and winning 2/5.

Good luck. 

https://www.commsombudsman.org/complaints-data

 

2 Replies

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    9 hours ago

    This summary of the stat's will be useful to encourage people to go to the ombudsman.

    From memory, I think it used to be the case that the customer either won, or settled with VM, in something like 80% to 85% of cases and that was fairly consistent over time. Latest results seem in line with that pattern.

    One other feature from past feedback on here has been that VM's evidence to the ombudsman, in some cases, was little more than a jumble of cut-and-pastes from helpdesk and order management systems (which was incomprehensible to the adjudicator). If the customer can come up with a clearer account of events than VM, then the customer's chances of success will go up significantly

    At time of writing, this post still exists

    compensation for delay in broadband installation | Virgin Media Community - 5529046

    which is a useful summary for customers going to the ombudsman.

    • RedRedWine1's avatar
      RedRedWine1
      Just joined
      7 hours ago

      Now, honestly, I would say that bearing in mind, VM's utter incompetence  in their ability to resolve customer issues, the I would say that anyone escalating an issue to the Ombudsman service has an almost 100% chance of it being upheld  VM being terminally incapable of defending their stance.