Charged for entering my Pin

[Stv700]

I'm new to the way virgin media works but usually quite savvy, however I've just had to complain about a possible glitch on the Tv360 channel interface and I I'm writing this to hopefully stop others getting a excessive bill for something they've not watched.

I was looking through the adult channels as some are free to 5.30 in the morning, but others are not.

However when you channel hop and land on the channel you want you have to enter your Pin. Now some channels will be free and others will display a price of usually 6.99. However and to me this is plain wrong, the Very fact you have just entered your pin and been presented with a price is enough to be charged,

I back out of the channel when I see the price of it and Virgin charge you for the privilege of seeing the price and not progressing to the channel content!

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @Stv700 

Thank you so much for your post and welcome to the community forums, it's great to have you here. 

I'm so sorry for any confusion regarding pay per view channels, I've double checked and the price of any pay per view content should show before you enter your pin to accept. 

Is this only happening on one specific channel or if you try to view any pay per view content does the price not show first?

[Cardiffman282]

There's always "Great! Romance" on 424. 

[Stv700]

There are a block of adult channels and you have to initially enter your pin number to see what the channel is all about. There are two types of channel, 1) Will say something like "Congratulations youve got free access to 05:30hrs" and you have to re enter your pin to get access. 2) After entering your pin to see what the channels all about, you are faced with a home screen of that channel stating what it will cost youi to view, eg £6.99. Now at that point I have always exited that channel as I have no intention of paying for that service. But it seems that during my "Window Shopping" seeing what channels are free eg to 05:30hrs, simply seeing the channels pricing is enough to be charged £6.99 and I have been charged well over a £100 and have had no access whatsoever, except on the "Free" channels which could be randomised as to when they offer that free period of time.

If Virgin Media were to look at the logs of me viewing the pricing of these channels they would see that I did not proceed past the payment advertising screen. In every case I Exited that channel. Clearly there is an issue there and I'm not the only one to have experienced it.

If neccessary I will take this to the ombusman as I feel this is unacceptable, as you'll find buying a film or tv series from Amazon or other Film companies that the purchase mechanism is clear, with even a final confirmation for payment.

Here are just a couple of links to posts where other Virgin Media customers have suffered a similar if not the same thing.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/Adult-channels-i-think-i-have-accid...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-TV-360/Adult-Purchase-Unlocking-Channel-No-idea-%EF%B8%8...

[John_GS]

Hi @Stv700 

I'll send you a PM to assist further.

best wishes.

[Devlinl70]

 NO IT DOES NOT!!! False information! 

[Devlinl70]

Exactly what happened to my chap. After seeing 3 x £6.99 on my bill I rang VM. I was told someone had used an on demand service and told me it was an adult channel. The VM person said “well they put the PIN number in” well you do that for lots of programs on tv if you want to watch outside certain hours so why would you think any different! I wouldn’t mind he only briefly looked and didn’t even get £6.99 worth 😂 

SHAME ON YOU VM for this blatant scam!!