itemised phone bill & phantom calls

[forret86]

I don’t have a fully itemised phone bill (which is part of my issue here) but recently I noticed we had large usage charges for landline phone calls on our bill, yet there is no phone attached to the landline! The charges, inc VAT, amounted to around £14.00 in October, for around 60 calls lasting a total of 12 mins - which means phoning around twice a day but for less than 20 seconds. I looked back and realised that the charges started at least as far back as January (I’ve been a customer for around 10 yrs and had largely stopped bothering to check the bill) but then they were only around £5.00 for the month, and they’ve been gradually increasing since. And just to remind you - there is no phone attached to the landline!

I have contacted virgin repeatedly via their awful chat service but have found it incredibly frustrating and wish I could speak to someone. They won’t even tell me which number I’m alleged to have called (apparently that’s against company policy!) and I’ve requested a full itemised bill listing the number or numbers but they haven’t even been able to do that.  I’ve also asked them to block the number (whichever number it is) but again nothing. So guess what, a new bill arrived for November with even more usage charges (64 calls this time) amounting to £15.12 inc VAT. They did suggest sending out an engineer to look at the line so I said ok, I’ll try anything, but when he arrived he had no idea what he was being sent to look at. When I described the problem he was very sympathetic, agreed it sounded like a fraud / scam, but said there was nothing he could do and went off without even getting his tools out. And I’ve just discovered that I will have to pay £25 for that enlightening visit.

Can someone please help me?I feel totally trapped, unable to stop these charges as they keep on rising, and just don’t know how to resolve this. I’ve been a customer for about ten years but this has been such an ordeal I would have happily cancelled if it wasn’t for the fact that I was trapped in a contract. Can someone identify which number I’m supposed to have called and then help me establish that these are phantom calls so I can get a refund. Thanks

[Shinymatt]

Hi Lisa, did you get this sorted?? It is happening to me - for the past 3 months & i have ben told since 2022!

[Matthew_ML]

Hey Shinymatt, thank you for reaching out and I am sorry to hear this.

I can see you are currently in PM with my colleague, please do reach out to her if you need any more help on the matter. 

[forret86]

Latest update. The nightmare continues! I was refunded for the phantom usage calls as described above but guess what, they lied when they assured me they would disconnect the phone line. In fact they just changed my phone number, and the phantom usage charges have continued for December, January and February, around £16 each month. So today I have spent another hour on the phone to Virgin being passed around and around, on hold as I write this in despair. Why can’t they just cancel my landline? 

[Alex_RM]

Hi forret86,

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear you're still having some issues with the line.

So I can take a closer look, I've popped you over a private message so I can get a few more details from you.

Alex_Rm

[davidstoncold]

i have just had the same . only £1 plus vat but its not the point i dont have a landline phone plugged in

[drcymru]

Hello

I've just checked through my bills and have been charged a total of £10.37 since June 2023 for calls to 01230000000 and 02921111111. I don't have a phone plugged in either.

Is there someone on the Forum team who can help me with this?