Cancellations

[parkodrive]

Does someone at Virgin care to explain why it's basically impossible to get in contact with you?

Ive spent over an hour and a half on hold today alone and despite you advertising that your web chat service is open till 10pm, there's no conceivable way to access it. You're making it almost impossible for me to cancel my services. God forbid you allow me to do it from my account. That way you wouldn't be able to keep my services running while charging me for the privilege.

I just want to cancel my service as you are no longer financially competitive and your customer service is atrocious. 

I want you to have someone call me within 48 hours else on the day my contract ends I will cancel my direct debit and I will take you to court for failing to allow me to cancel.

[FedUpCustomer6]

VM are under a specific obligation* to make it as easy to leave VM as to sign up. Register your complaint with the regulator Ofcom, it takes 5 minutes.

* Ofcom Fairness Code, Paragraph 5: "Customers can sign up to, change and leave their services quickly and smoothly. Providers ensure that customers who are leaving do not face additional barriers or hassle compared to those who are signing up to new services;"

[parkodrive]

You say this but it's not true is it? I can't get through to you on the phone. There is no link to start a live chat anywhere in your website and I can't do it online through my account. What part of that is easy?

If I want to sign up to a new service I can do so in around 15 minutes. Probably less but so far today I've spent over 1 and a half hours trying to get in contact with you with no result. If it was truly as easy to leave your services, then it would be possible to do so in under 30 minutes.

This is obviously a direct contradiction of paragraph 5 of the Ofcom fairness code that you claim you are following.

[FedUpCustomer6]

You misunderstand. I am not VM. Try re-reading my post, I said it was easy to register you complaint with OFCOM. 

lt's a fact they are obliged to make cancellation as simple as signing up, whether they do or not is a different matter. (Spoiler: They don't) That is why i suggest you complain to OFCOM since VM have broken their obligation.

BTW You are better off asking the forum staff here to deal with your problem rather than wasting your time on the phone, the phone service is absolutely useless. You stand some chance on the forum.

[parkodrive]

Appologies, I didn't read your name. I'll give that a go. 

Regarding Ofcom complaints though, I've found they don't side with the consumer .

[newapollo]

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@parkodrive wrote:

I just want to cancel my service as you are no longer financially competitive and your customer service is atrocious. 

I want you to have someone call me within 48 hours else on the day my contract ends I will cancel my direct debit and I will take you to court for failing to allow me to cancel.

---

Hi @parkodrive 

Sorry to see you are having problems trying to cancel.

You do need to give 30 days notice to cancel your account as per VM's Terms and Conditions  (once any discounts or minimum term is up you are then on a rolling contract)

Unfortunately the Forum Team are unable to process regrades, or cancellations, or callbacks.

VM along with other firms generally prioritise phone calls over other methods of communication, especially when busy.

Phoning is still the best way to cancel, however the ideal time to call is around 8am when lines first open and are least busy.

There are also the whatsapp service on 0730 532 7112.

Please be aware that replies aren't instant from whatsapp but the agents will reply as quickly as they possibly can. At the moment it's between 4 and 6 hours, although Forum Staff have suggested if it gets to 24 hours then close the chat and start again.

Or you can write and cancel. 

If writing send it by registered (signed for) post making sure to include your full account details to 

Virgin Media
Sunderland
SR43 4AA

[parkodrive]

So I finally managed to speak to speak to someone on the phone and I am far from happy.

My contract ends on the 28th of July 2022, or so I thought. When I had my services moved to my new address in march, the guy who actioned this signed me onto a new 18 month contract without my consent. I had no notification of this, no emails etc. The person I spoke to at the time did not mention this, he merely told me my current discount and contract would run through till the 18th of July as it should do.

I am fuming at the level (lack) of competent service that Virgin media continue to offer. For years I stuck with your products despite your failings in the services department as your broadband has alway been top notch with almost no outages (for myself) but this is just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Utterly atrocious that you (VM) think it's ok to recontract people without there consent.

 I will be switching to another provider at the earliest possible time and never looking back.

[newapollo]

Hi again @parkodrive 

I hope you are all settled into your new home and everything else with the move has gone smoothly.

I'm sorry to see you are still having issues. It sounds like the agent you spoke to has given out the correct information, but your account hasn't been updated correctly

When moving house, unless you make changes to your package/equipment then the current length of contract and discounts are carried over.

Usually a member of the back office team manually update the system so that you aren't tied into a new contract.

A member of the Forum Team should pick this up for you in a day or two and help rectify this issue.

[Matthew_ML]

Hello parkodrive, thank you for reaching back out and I am sorry to hear about this moving issues.

The way the moving process works here is unless you made any changes or updates the contact would of just carried on as normal with the ending date the same.

I can also see you have spoke to my colleague who has suggested you need to speak to the movers team.

Have you managed to do this yet? Thanks 

[parkodrive]

I managed to speak to cancellations who informed me that when my set ice was transferred to my new address, instead of the existing deal/contract running to the 18th of July as was supposed to happen, you applied my discount but set the contract end date to September 2023 without telling me. The chap on the cancellation team said I would need to speak to the movers team as it was their error, so naturally he transferred me to the retention team. They put me through to someone on the movers team who has issued a contract suppression to reinstate my original end date of July 18th. I was told that I will receive confirmation of this being processed in 24-48 hours at which point I need to call back and request the cancellation that I've been trying to contact you about for almost a week.

I did not request any further changes to my broadband package and was told that the existing deal would run its original agreed course till July as was detailed when I retained your services in February 2021.

Yesterday I spent over 90 minutes on hold over the phone and didn't manage to speak to anyone.  Your online chat service you claim operates till 10pm is not accessible at all online.

At this point there is nothing else you can do apart from ending my services with you. For years I have defended your poor customer services because your fibre products always worked without issue. Even when you cancelled my install on the day it was supposed to go ahead without telling me (I had to take 2 days off work unpaid because of this). Even when I arranged for my home move to go ahead on the Monday and you changed it to the Tuesday, again without confirming with me. Even when you do your utmost to ensure existing customers pay the worst possible prices for fibre and you make it impossible difficult to contact yourselves did I stick by your products because they were the best on offer. This latest incident is the straw that broke the camels back.

Given I can get fibre to the property with a raft of other providers, all offering the same level of fibre service (with far better symmetrical upload & download speeds I might add) for a much more competitive monthly cost than that you even offer to new customers, there is nothing more that you can say or do that will otherwise stop me from terminating my services and going elsewhere.