cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Charged an activation fee to fix a fault! Why?

phowarth001
Joining in

After weeks of poor service on broadband, dropping wifi and wired connections daily I gave up trying to eliminate the fault.

The VM agent agreed that as I had exhausted all the usual checks, that a new router was required (V3 model) as the previous unit had been in service for several years.

This was shipped out, I installed the router and spent hours re-configuring internet cameras, printers, and other LAN connected devices. I sent back the old equipment in the box supplied.

I reckon I did all the work required to get up and running again after suffering far to long with issues.

Then my next bill arrived - I got charged £35 for "activation". Activating what exactly? An existing service? Feels like I have been charge for a fault fix. So far as I'm concerned i did all the work so perhaps VM would like to compensate me for my hours instead?

I raised a complaint - and got fobbed off with some website help reference path that doesn't exist and told to call within 28 days if I wasn't happy of it would be closed. All the onus of this being pushed back to the customer.

Pretty poor all round. Fortunately my current contract can be terminated with zero notice as the contract term has long ended. Time to consider other options I think.

 

 

3 REPLIES 3

Beth_G
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hi phowarth001,

 

Welcome to the Community Forums! Thank you for your first post.

 

I'm sorry to hear you had some ongoing issues with your services and were charged an activation fee for a new hub - this definitely doesn't sound right. We'd only apply this charge if you have subscribed to a new service which requires activation/installation or your connection has been restricted and we have resumed it.

 

I'll pop you over a PM now so I can take a closer look into this with you. We're keen to help.

 

Thanks

 

Beth

Beth

Here’s the complaint reference and account to help locate the details - 

Customer account number: [REMOVED]
Complaint reference: [REMOVED]

The email response was as follows 

“We’ve looked into it and here’s what we found:
Thank you for writing to us. We understand your query is about the activation fees.

However, we would like to make you aware that the activation fee is a standard charge of GBP35 that we charge all our customers for the activation of the equipment it cannot be waived off.

Here’s what we offer as resolution:
Billing > Extra guidance on billing “

This is an atrocious response that basically says go read the website and the charge can’t be refunded - call us if you’re not satisfied or we’ll close the complaint 

[MOD EDIT: Personal and private information has been removed from this post. Please do not post personal or private information in your public posts. Please review the Forum Guidelines]

 

 

Hi phowarth001.

 

I have sent you over a PM so I can take your details and help you out in a private space 🙂

 

Please do take a look at the purple envelope for my message

 

Thanks!

 

Beth

Beth