Contract renewal

[Chris_Myers]

It is that time of year again where I needed to renew my contract. The VM system is such that you cannot contact individuals or departments directly but need to start with the standard helpdesk who eventually, having exhausted

The agent tells me he cannot contact another agent to see if they can send the email.  He cannot escalate to a manager or to operations, legal, and/or contracts departments. The last agent said he had fixed it and had generated a new econtract email which did not arrive. Three times he told me just to wait and it would arrive as “his system” told him it had been actioned. There was no email. Eventually, I had a call saying he had regenerated a new econtract document, and he would call back in 15 mins.  This eventually seemed to be corrected although it took the last agent 2 hrs, 4 phone calls and 3 attempts to reset the value back to the agreed amount (his perseverance and commitment is to be recognised and applauded).

Overall, it took 6.5 hrs, many phone calls, 4 departments, and a smattering of agents to resolve. It then took 24 hrs for my account to be updated with the correct contract (the account display (in My Account) provides 3 contracts starting 2 September – original with wrong amount, then copy and updated contracts with correct amount – in that (reverse) order followed by previous events (in calendar order).

all they can do, pass you on to another.

I spent 6.5 hours on the phone this week dealing with 3-4 departments and half a dozen agents. I received 5 contract changes as various updates were manually applied (two of which were accepted), each accompanied by a Contract Summary Sheet and a Contract information Sheet detailing the agreed position. This was then followed by a text message (in both cases) with a link to agree the contract.  Having accepted the contract, an automated email arrives with a contract change notice showing an entirely different value (i.e. twice that negotiated).  Each time I was assured the agent knows what is wrong (the automated system has not included any agreed discount) and will correct the error, only to repeat the cycle.

All because their automated system did not apply the discount agreed on the initial contract negotiation. Also, no-one I spoke to was able to escalate the issue to management, legal, contracts, or operations, or to consult with colleagues. Again, good staff, poor internal processes, but this one has legal overtones with it.

Looking at their community pages, over the past 2 years others have reported the same issue. Negotiated a contract at one price, agreed it, and being billed for a higher price by automated system which seems unable to process agreed discounts made by staff and agreed by customers.

I feel this needs escalating higher up the management chain, but there is no viable process to do so. You can raise a complaint, which can be escalated to OFCOM if not arriving at an agreed solution although they cannot deal with matters of policy or procedure.  Within the VM complaints procedure you can ask for senior management review – although my past experience has been such a request is just ignored or worse a call-back within 24-hrs promised but not delivered.

Just what must a customer (and, to a similar extent, internal VM staff) do when the issue is policy or procedural failure for which there is no escalation route or will to address at management level?  Worse still, what is a customer’s legal position if later down the line Virgin Media tries to enforce an incorrect (i.e. not that which was discussed and agreed) contract?

My concern is that the customer has, what they believe to be, an agreed contract which has been confirmed but other documents exist with entirely different values (older, incorrect versions, are not expunged).  These are legal contract documents that are incorrectly generated.

• What is the customers legal position should VM attempt to take the incorrect amounts going forward? (Is this bordering on an illegal act aimed at generating contracts above agreed amounts).

Its just a never ending cycle of inappropriate response and legal minefield. VM Management must try harder to manage policy and processes. Get it right or loose customers.  Give your staff the tools to do the job and a route to escalate if necessary, and have managers answerable and accessible. Not rocket science, just good business practice.  Perhaps Virgin Media could manage to respond atanagement level and assure the customer community this will be corrected and not repeated.

[Chris_Myers]

I see no-one from VM has grasped the metal, taken ownership of the problem or deigned to reply. Tell me again that the customer is valued. Just take the money and make placating and incorrect feedback.