I come back from holiday and have no dial tone

[mlgibbons]

I got back from an extended holiday this week only to find that the phone line is not working.

The phone itself is fine as I've tested it on my backup ADSL line with no problem.

On checking the Virgin line there appears to be an active line of some type: the phone thinks there is as it does not display "Check Phone Line"and I can hear some low noise on the line but there is no dialtone.

I had assumed that I had been switched over to IP telephony with no notification but a test of the phone ports on the Hub4 also does not work and the Hib's web page shows telephone as "disabled".

Suggestions?

[mlgibbons]

Boy, oh boy. Have Virgin Media excelled themselves this time.

I have been giving them over two months to try and address their mistake.

In the end they told me that it was down to me talk to BT and try and get my phone number of 30 years back.

End of. Mic drop. Complaint closed with the resolution of "Account info updated".

Customer service of the worst kind; or so I thought.

After receiving this notification I gave up on ever getting the number back abd called up to ask them to terminate my service.

Now bear in mind that my contract ended on June 3rd 2023 so I had no contract with them on 25th June when I called them

But apparently I actually do have a contract - until Nov 2024 - a contract which I at no time agreed to.

To say I was incredulous would be an understatement but I can guess what happened: when they reinstated my phone line as part of correcting their error I explictly stated that I would not accept new contract and they agreed that one would not be required as my current one only had 1 month to run. They lied. They went ahead and unknown to me and without my consent, they put me on a new contract which is nothing short of scandalous and I would guess illegal.

So, I raise a new complaint about this "phantom contract" and that complaint is closed out in 5 days with no contact with Virgin Complaints with the resolution of "Technical Help Given" and advice to contact the Omsbudsman service.

Again incredible and made even more so by the fact that one cannot contact that service until 8 week have elapsed or one has a "letter of deadlock" which I do not yet have.

So now, I am told by Virgin that I am on contract which I never entered in to, which if I phone up and cancel I will be liable for an 18 months early cancellation fee and which I cannot complain to the Omsbudsman about yet.

I've been a happy Virgin customer for over 20 years but something has gone seriously wrong at that company if they think this is an acceptable way of treating their customers and engaging in these kind of shady practices.

[goslow]

A very sorry story indeed. There is nothing you can do (personally/directly/technically) to recover your previous number yourself. VM has to engage with Openreach/BT (if BT owns the number) to make the original number available again so VM can port it back to VM once more.

AIUI, there is supposed to be 2 week window when your ported number ceased with VM where it is 'on-hold' and still with VM (which should allow a restoration in the case of an unintended disconnection). After that it goes back to the owner of the number where it should stay in 'quarantine' for a minimum of 3 months for a residential number.

If that is correct, then your window of opportunity for VM to recover the number is closing. It is VM's responsibility to recover the number since they lost it.

The hopelessness of the VM complaints system has been well-documented on here. If you have two closed complaints which you have rejected then VM should (proactively) issue you with a deadlock letter.

In your circumstances I think I would speak to OFCOM on the business of the missing phone number and VM's bungling of the landline switchover scheme

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/contact-us

and then contact Ombudsman Services for advice on next steps in progressing a case with them ref the fake contract renewal.

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/about-us/contact-us

[mlgibbons]

Thanks for the advice.

I've raised a case with the ombudsman. The person I spoke to was intelligent, coherent, professional and instilled confidence. Everything that Virgin are not.

I'll contact OFCOM this week too and may drop a line to The Guardian and a few other press outlets.

And I shall continue to document my journey here.

Cheers.

[mlgibbons]

I note that Virgin have now been referred to OFCOM regarding customers having contract issues. What a surprise.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/virgin-media-investigated-over-difficulties-cancelling-con....

[mlgibbons]

Virgin have now supplied - some - of the call recordings - which are very enlightening.

I would recommend that anyone having an issue with VM raise a DSAR to get access to their information.

It is forming a large part of the evidence that I am submitting to the Ombudsman.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/dsar-faq

[Lee_R]

Hi @mlgibbons thanks for posting and welcome back to our community.

Thanks for the update on the progress of your complaint. Sorry to hear that it's not been satisfactorily resolved so far. I'm sure you're aware that as you've taken the complaint to 3rd party adjudication, my colleagues would no longer be able to liaise directly with you regarding that specific complaint.  They would liaise with the adjudicators and adhere to their decision. I hope this is resolved for you as swiftly as possible.

Regards

Lee_R