A big fat fine doesn't seem to be first choice in the ICO's proposed new approach to enforcement though
goslow wrote:A big fat fine doesn't seem to be first choice in the ICO's proposed new approach to enforcement though
That's correct, I work for a regulator (not Ofcom, be assured), and fines are a last resort. Monetary penalties and prosecutions are long winded, slow, open to legal challenge, what a regulator seeks is compliance. So they'll be trying to understand what the facts are, why cancelling is difficult, what VM have been doing about it, and what needs to happen to make things different in future. Helping a non-compliant company into a compliant position is always quicker and potentially more effective than extracting a few quid from them. From a business perspective, fines are a corporate expense and are never paid by the parts of the business that create a problem. Unless there's direct criminality nobody will be help personally to account. So whilst I'd dearly like VM to be fined squillions for this long running, deliberate, and unacceptable behaviour, I don't think that will happen. The ideal outcome would be as somebody commented earlier, a simple "cancel my contract because I hate you" button in MVM. Other industries manage it, VM and other telcos should be forced to provide that However, where Ofcom are a pushover, I expect that all that will happen will be VM are found to have made things difficult, but will get away with a mumbled "dint meen it, won't do it again much" apology, before trying to get back as close as possible to the previous behaviours without breaking the letter of any promises to Ofcom.
On the plus side, a regulatory investigation is difficult and very expensive for companies. I shall contact them and provide my observations during my time as a VIP, others may wish to consider whether they have anything to add for Ofcom.
You EARNED this Virgin Media, now OWN it. Hahahahahhahahaha!
How would one go about contacting them? I am furious with the lack of customer service, ongoing erroneous bills after making agreements, and the impact on my credit score because of those bills. Twice now I've had to pay a bill that was not explained in order to ask someone about the bill and the amount!
I'd raise a complaint with VM first of all. You can then escalate as required to Ombudsman Services according to the process for this. https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints
You can let Ofcom know all about your experience so far but it's for their records purposes only (albeit supporting their live investigation into Virgin as per the thread) and it's unlikely that they will respond. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/complaints/complain-about-phones-or-internet-services/billing-and-charges
