Virgin Media Community

[KeithD35]

Rang 150 to speak to Virgin Media Customer Services, waited for 50 minutes to get through.  Then while waiting to be transferred to the Disconnection Team the call was hung up.  Tried recalling back on 150 but got message  Too busy ring later and goodbye message.  Has it was urgent I spoke to the Disconnection Team I called their 0345 number. Again waited 45 mins to get through and again put on hold while being passed to Disconnection Team.  After waiting for 104 minutes waiting to speak to someone the call was again disconnected. In total I spent 3 days trying to contact Virgin Media Customer Service, they are obviously overwhelmed and unable to provide a service to their customers.

I have a Anytime call package however as my call exceeded the 60 mins limit on hold waiting to speak to someone I have now received a phone charge for £6.24.  I feel I should not be charged for this call as it was Virgin Media who put me on hold and were obviously struggling to provide a service. Has anybody else had this experience trying to speak to Virgin Customer Services.

[nodrogd]

You will be charged for calling an 03 number if the call exceeds 60 minutes. There is also absolutely NO advantage in calling the 03 number over calling 150. The calls do not use a different "route" into customer services from a Virgin line, nor do they allow you to "jump the queue".

Virgin are not responsible for you choosing to use their chargeable number.

[KeithD35]

Hi,  thanks for your comment and your right I shouldn't have used the 0345 number, just got very frustrated having been on hold for hours to the disconnected. 

Things have since moved on and after some 24 years with Telewest, Blueyonder and now Virgin I have decided to move on to a more competitive supplier.   With the latest price increase I will be paying a massive £71 for Broadband, basic TV and Anytime calls.   I no longer use the TV package / Tivo box, we now watch TV through Freeview.  Being out of contract I tried to get Virgin to offer me a more suitable package for my requirements but this proved impossible, best offer was £46 for Broadband at a slower Broadband speed and Anytime calls. The lower broadband speed isn't an issue as we are very light users.  The Virgin package offered me is twice as expensive as current packages offered by other providers, (£24 -£30) and even Virgin themselves, be it new customers,  so much for my 24 years loyalty.   Being retired and having to watch the ££ I suppose I should treat service renewals like car insurance and shop around for the competitive deals.  

[japitts · Accepted solution]

Just to add to this, if your mobile includes an unlimited landline call bundle, it's quite likely that you have a cutoff or call limit longer than 1 hour. Caveat that everyone's provider/package may differ.

It can - in these cases - be preferable to use the 03 (landline) number from there. My mobile provider (not VM) have a call limit of just over 2 hours, with the use of a headset or handsfree kit, it takes a lot of the pain out of queuing.

And yes to the OP, a renewal of TV/broadband/home phone should be treated exactly the same as an insurance or suchlike - it's a potential commitment of more than a thousand ££ over an 18month contract!!

[comnut]

I said this elsewhere, but worth the repeat...
GET UP EARLY, start ringing at 7:55 AM, and you have a high chance of being first... 🙂