Forum Discussion

FarrellJ's avatar
FarrellJ
Joining in
8 months ago

Virgin taking advantage of Vulnerable Elderly...

My elderly Step Mother is hospitalised and I am in the process of taking over her day to day affairs.  I was absolutely horrified to find out what Virgin are charging her each month.  She has one additional TV Box for her bedroom but has no broadband, just a telephone and they are charging her £110.47 a month - FOR TV AND TELEPHONE?????

Their biggest bundle that I could see advertised which has superfast broadband, Sky Sports, Telephone and all the bells and whistles was £77.

I tried today to speak with someone but I don't have the memorable word and the team from the vulnerable support refused to take the call - congratulations Virgin - great Customer Experience training there!!  I now have to wait three days for a letter with a reminder of the memorable word before I can discuss the account.  

I was thinking of moving from Sky to Virgin but seeing how they operate has made me stay with Sky. 

How has this not made headlines I wonder - but Virgin should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for preying on our vulnerable and elderly community.

Let's see how I get on...

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    8 months ago

    It sounds as if your Step Mum is a long time customer and has just accepted all the yearly rises without ever questioning them.  If that is the case, she will be able to leave without penalty.  If she ever did need to come back to VM, she will be a new customer after 90 days and will get the cheapest deals at that time.

  • japitts's avatar
    japitts
    Very Insightful Person
    8 months ago
    FarrellJ wrote:

    I tried today to speak with someone but I don't have the memorable word and the team ....refused to take the call ....I now have to wait three days for a letter with a reminder of the memorable word before I can discuss the account.  

    To add, from the perspective of the agent taking that call - you were an unathorised third party to your step-mothers account, and so their correct process should indeed be to refuse you access. The exception would be if you have a lasting POA registered - do you?

    As others have said, it sounds like your step-mother has accepted a series of annual price rises without querying them, and potentially is also on an outdated bundle. It's not uncommon for elderly customers to be in this situation, but once you have POA on her account, you could do your research into alternative packages and negotiate a new cost-effective bundle on her behalf.

    Or get your step-mother to call into CS, pass security and explain the situation, and then pass the phone to yourself for further discussion. Or you could indeed give 30days notice to cancel, just do make sure you have alternative provision inplace in-plenty of time.