Virgin - Aklamio Referral Reward nightmare

[Flyier13]

Hi ,

I am one of those who got caught up in this Virgin - Aklamio shambolic reward scheme...

My virgin broadband service was installed 3 months ago and Aklamio account set up to receive £50 referral reward. When I contacted Aklamio they said they waiting for Virgin authorization. Contacted Virgin twice, they refused to do anything saying they dont need to make any authorizations and I should contact Aklamio back. Aklamio saying again it is the Virgin who needs to do it.  And here goes the circle of frustration again... 

Looking at posts here , it is systemic failure of customers. How is it possible that Virgin is not taking action with their 3rd party reward provider and allowing to fail its customers in such numbers????? 

How am I supposed to sort this myself with two incompetent call centres refusing to do anything ? 

Kind regards. 

[Flyier13]

Hi ,

I am one of those who got caught up in this Virgin - Aklamio shambolic reward scheme...

My virgin broadband service was installed 3 months ago and Aklamio account set up to receive £50 referral reward. When I contacted Aklamio they said they waiting for Virgin authorization. Contacted Virgin twice, they refused to do anything saying they dont need to make any authorizations and I should contact Aklamio back. Aklamio saying again it is the Virgin who needs to do it.  And here goes the circle of frustration again... 

Looking at posts here , it is systemic failure of customers. How is it possible that Virgin is not taking action with their 3rd party reward provider and allowing to fail its customers in such numbers????? 

How am I supposed to sort this myself with two incompetent call centres refusing to do anything ? 

Kind regards. 

[Paul_DN]

Hi Flyier13,

Thank you for reaching out to us in our community and welcome, really sorry to hear you and your friend who referred you have not received your £50 credit and that speaking to us and Aklamio hasn't brought you to a resolution, I would like to help you find a resolution.

When you refer a friend to do the referral then they get an invite to join us then they choose the package Via a sent link and this then sends bth the referer and referee and Email advising you would get the credit, did you both receive this?

Regards

Paul.

[Flyier13]

Hi,

Order and referral done over the phone. Emails with links to register for reward followed. Aklamio accounts created and Reward showing as pending ever since. It is now over 3 months since service connection. Contacted both companies, the result is posted in my previous post. Look like many others having the same issue as a result of Virgin- Aklamio mess. 

I have now submitted official complaint to Virgin media. If not resolved,  then will complain to Ombudsman. 

[Tom_W1]

Hi @Flyier13, thanks for your post here in the Community, although I'm sorry to hear of your concerns raised here regarding your Refer-a-Friend credit.

As we have mentioned to you I would imagine over the phone previously, it is correct that Aklamio must be the ones to process the credit - we have no control over this once it has been passed to them.

If they are suggesting that they are waiting on us to process the credit, this is incorrect as we do not intervene in this process.

I would advise kindly re-contacting Aklamio as this is sitting with them, their phone line number is 01576 820030.

I hope this helps.

Many thanks

[Andrew-G]

---

@Tom_W1 wrote:

As we have mentioned to you I would imagine over the phone previously, it is correct that Aklamio must be the ones to process the credit - we have no control over this once it has been passed to them.

If they are suggesting that they are waiting on us to process the credit, this is incorrect as we do not intervene in this process.

I would advise kindly re-contacting Aklamio as this is sitting with them, their phone line number is 01576 820030.

I hope this helps.

Many thanks

---

Could one of the mods or VIPs flag this as a retraining need, please?  If Virgin Media (a) sell packages with the promise of incentives, or (b) make promises to existing customers to act in a certain way in return for incentives, then Virgin Media are legally obligated to honour their side of the agreement.  This falls into scope of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, in case (a) it is Section 50 para 1a, and in case (b) it is Section 50 para 1b.  If VM have chosen to outsource any aspect of incentive fulfilment or handset trade in to a third party (Aklamio, Likewise, or any other fulfilment house) that's fine, but it is not the customer's problem to make it work, it's Virgin Media's problem to make it work.  In law, the OP has no legal agreement with Aklamio, why should they have to deal with that third party, and VM most certainly DO HAVE control, because they will have a contract with Aklamio.

So, Flyier13, unless VM want another crack at getting this right, looks like the forum staff are washing their hands.  Before involving an adjudicator (for VM it's CISAS) you need to formally raise a complaint with VM as per this page. I always recommend putting complaints in writing and sending by recorded post - telephone service you know all about, and the web form doesn't work reliably. If VM can't sort your complaint out to your complete satisfaction, then you reject any inadequate "resolution" and ask for a deadlock letter and then involve CISAS.  Or if VM stonewall the complaint but don't issue a resolution, then after eight weeks you can escalate to CISAS without a deadlock letter.  If you need to go to CISAS, add a request for a further £30 compensation in respect of the nuisance of failing to honour the original deal, and an additional £50 for the poor handling of the complaint.  

[Flyier13]

Well, this is at least 5th Virgin Media staff telling me to go to speak to Aklamio despite telling them I already done so twice. And Aklamio keep telling me the same thing - go and speak to Virgin. Seriously shambolic. 

From Aklamio: 

"Thank you for your message.
 
Your referral reward has been correctly registered on your Aklamio user account, and it is now being checked by our partner - Virgin Media. The reward is pending until our partner confirms that all conditions have been met and validates it.

Virgin Media currently needs around 8-12 weeks to confirm the reward (starting from the date of activation). Therefore, we kindly ask you for your patience. We have no direct influence on the time that our partner needs to verify the order.

When your reward will be confirmed by the partner, we will of course notify you per e-mail. Then you will also be able to transfer your money from your user account to your bank/PayPal account."

This is despite Virgin website stating within 60 days of activation of service...

Aklaimo call centre is disconnected  - you can only contact them by email. ( that's not just because is Sunday today, it been like this ever since I tried to contact them by phone over last three weeks ) Just dial , you will see... 

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

Looks like you need to do that formal complaint, then. 

When you've posted that, dial expectations down to low.  Then very low.  Then another two notches.  That way you'll not be surprised or disappointed when you get some codswallop "resolution" letter, apparently created when VM's PAI* system slings together a few cabbage stumps of phrases frequently used in previous complaint responses but of no relevance to your complaint, and pastes them into a poorly formatted letter.  But giving VM's comedy complaints system a chance is a necessity before you can escalate to CISAS.  It is only when things get to CISAS that somebody intelligent and well trained will impartially review the case, and issue an adjudication.

* Poundland Artificial Intelligence.  Imagine a computer running a human brain simulation on a processor rejected as under-powered for controlling a toaster.  And then imagine the brain being simulated is one with an IQ in low single digits.

[Kath_F]

Hi Flyier13, 

Thanks for coming back to us on this one. We can only apologise this is ongoing for you. 

Based on the reply you've received from Aklamio, it sounds as though when you contacted them you were still within the 8-12 week period for the validation. 

The refer a friend offer is no longer provided by Virgin Media. It is offered through Aklamio and as such, this is why you need to deal directly with them. 

We have no way of escalating accounts for validation as these are done automatically as long as all the criteria was met. If it's since been 12 weeks since your services went live, I would reply back to the email you've posted above advising that it has now reached the 12 weeks and you would like to escalate this further. Aklamio will then be able to help further. 

Apologies once again. 

Thanks, 

[Flyier13]

Again, 7th VM person keep saying the same story - nothing to do with us... Seriously?