Contacting Virgin is not possible - Terrible Service

[DavePick000]

I have spent weeks trying to speak to VM and never managed to get through.

I did raise a complaint, and eventually managed to get put through to someone (Even the Complaints team only managed to do this on the 3rd attempt).

But despite being able to eventually cancel. I am still expected to pay the approx. 220% price increase!!!!! Even though we have been trying to cancel for months.

Now even the Complaints team are not responding and the Track Complaint is not working.

[Paulina_Z]

Hi @DavePick000,

Welcome to our Community Forums! Thank you for your first post and I'm very sorry to hear that you've been wanting to leave our services! I do apologise that you've had some trouble getting through to our team about your request. I'm glad that you've been able to get in touch and put this through. 

When you cancel by  giving Virgin Media the 30 days notice period,  you will still be billed up until the date of disconnection. In this time, if another bill has been produced before your disconnection date it will show that you are going to be charged for the month going forward. 

Once your disconnection goes through any advance charges on your account will be refunded back to you and you will receive a final revised bill with the correct amount owed, also known as the Final Bill. If you are left with any credits on your account after the disconnection of your services you will be sent a cheque refund 45 days after disconnection.

Sorry to hear about your Complaint issue! Have you been able to check your online account for any updates on this complaint? 

Please let us know if there's anything else we can do to help going forward.

Thank you.

[DavePick000]

Thank You for your prompt replay Paulina_Z,

The link to the complaints " online account " shows nothing.

My issue is we were trying to contact you to arrange a new contract or cancel well before the billing changed, so we would avoid the 220% charges.

Since it was not possible to contact yourselves, I do not believe we should be charged.

As an example - here is an example (over 1 hour today - it normally cuts off before then) of the time I am spending on hold. (A time when I cannot work or do other tasks):

Looking forwards you agreeing if :

1. this is fair for customers to expect

2. if you are able to do anything?

If we were able to speak at the correct time, we would have been happy to continue with services from yourselves.

Regards,

Dave

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

If you've got a formal complaint reference, then have you now had a "resolution" letter or email?  If you have, reply to VM rejecting their resolution and asking for a "deadlock letter".  When you get that, you take the matter to the industry complaints adjudicator, CISAS.  For CISAS, include as much detail as possible - explain the problem carefully, the effect on you, the outcome you now want.  Also seek compensation that covers the poor customer service, the poor complaint handling, and backdates the cancellation to the date you first tried to contact VM.  

I've seen repeated reports of difficulty when trying to cancel by phone, with customers being passed round multiple unhelpful staff, left on hold, disconnected, bounced from phone to Whatsapp and back again.  This is a flagrant breach of Ofcom's rules, specifically General Condition C1.8 specifically paragraphs 1.13, 1.14 and 1.15, so I'd recommend you complain to Ofcom.  They won't intervene in your complaint directly so do it as a summary, but Virgin Media are setting themselves up for a big fat fine over their repeated breaches of this rule.

[DavePick000]

Thank You Andrew G,

I appreciate your response and suggestions.

I will follow up. Yes - I have the Complaint references and other records to show the attempts at contacting them.

I expect this will be blamed on a 'Covid staffing issue' - but not good enough. It's just a shame its come to me having to escalate to a public forum.

But I expect so many people are getting hit with this kind of issue and giving up due to the effort involved in getting a resolution - I for one have lost hours tied up trying to get through. It has cost me more in time than they have over charged and not been contactable - so I need to follow this through based on principle.

Regards,

Dave

[Paulina_Z]

Hi @DavePick000,

Thank you for coming back to me about this ongoing issue. I do apologise that you're unhappy with your current complaint situation and that you're unhappy with your current billing situation.

As advised in my previous post, if you are overcharged for your last bill, you will be refunded the money back after your disconnection has been complete. I understand that this may not seem ideal, but as we charge a month in advance, our systems will need to calculate how much you are owed after your last bill is paid. 

I do apologise that you've been on hold for so long and had issues getting in touch with our team. Have you received a complaint resolution email as @Andrew-G advises?

Let us know if there's anything else we can do to help.

Thank you.

[DavePick000]

Thank You again Paulina_Z,

But I do not see this situation improving.

1. This not just about refunds at the contract termination date. It is for additional payments due to a prolonged contract - after we had no way to cancel.

2. The complaints system does not appear to work:

a. My 1st complaint was closed before I was put in touch with anyone who could help.

b. My account shows no Records of the complaints - despite me having had the original Auto Responses back from Virgin - Therefore, I have needed to raise 3 separate complaints about the same issue.

c. Replies to emails are unanswered.

From what I see - I have little option but to take this to  CISAS / OffCom, etc.

Regards,

Dave

[Matthew_ML]

Hey DavePick000, thanks for the update; we are sorry about your experience. 

I am going to send you a PM if that's okay so we can take a closer look;  please look out for the purple envelope. Thanks