EXACTLY 30 days' notice (no more, no less)

[iida]

My 12-month contract is coming to an end on the 29th of July and I am trying to make sure it does not continue automatically as the new rates are simply unaffordable. On the phone today, after a fair amount of queuing, I was told I need phone VirginMedia _exactly_ 30 days beforehand in order to avoid early disconnect costs or adiitional charges. This means I need to call them again on the 29th of June. However, that day I will be at a conference in Germany and really do not fancy calling an 0345 number and waiting in the queue for an unspecified amount of time because it gets expensice AND because I have better things to do that day. I cannot imagine why the cancellation period is set at exactly 30 days unless its intention was to deliberately make life difficult for people wanting to cancel - even if they happened to know they wanted to cancel 2 months in advance. This is very poor customer service in my opinion (unless there is a sensible reason for the 30 days - but why not more? Why not 30-60 days?). The online chat option is never available when I check.

On another forum post, I found an alternative: I could cancel my contract by writing to Virgin Media Sales Operation Support, Diamond Plaza, Daleside Road, Nottingham, NG2 3GG. However, it is not specified whether the letter needs to arrive there _exactly_ on the 29th of June, or it needs to be postmarked _exactly_ on the 29th of June. Could you please confirm what you need and when? I am incredibly frustrated by this nonsense.

[Martin_N]

Hi iida, 

Thank you for your post. I'm sorry to hear this. 

If you did wish for the 30 days notice to be put in on the 30 day mark then you would need to contract us on that day. 

^Martin 

[iida]

Hi Martin. How about if I cancel by post? Could you confirm how the timings work then? Is anybody reading mail on Saturdays?

[Lisa_CC]

Hi iida,

If you wish to cancel by post, the date will be when we receive it and stamp it.

However you don't have to wait 30 days and can give us notice of up to 60 days so you can contact us before you go.

Regards,

Lisa

[iida]

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for this. I did, indeed, call to do just that yesterday, but I was told on the phone that they could not do that without incurring additional fees for me, and that I would need to call back precisely on the 29th of June.

Was this customer service advisor wrong, or are you simply kindly making an exception for me?

In any case, a cancellation via Private Message would be very helpful at this stage. I will get in touch to arrange this.

[Lisa_CC · Accepted solution]

There should be no extra charges as we are simply booking/raising it for a specific date. 

Our system will let us raise a disconnect on your account up to 60 days so unless there is something stopping us, there should be no reason that an agent cannot raise it for you.

We're here to help on the forum so if we can do it for you, we will.

Please see your pm and I'll be happy to help with raising the disconnection.

Regards,

Lisa_CC

[Sololobo]

Refer to the Virgin Media Terms and Conditions https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/the-legal-stuff/terms-and-conditions-for-fibre-optic-services 

Under Summary of Terms - How long does your agreement last? - The minimum period: note the following:-

-  This agreement will continue for a minimum amount of time (the minimum period). We will explain the length of your minimum period to you before you start using any services or offers, and your minimum period will also be set out in your order confirmation. This minimum period will typically be 12 months but we may offer services with other minimum periods e.g. 30 days or 6, 12, 18 or 24 months.

-  If you want us to stop providing the services at the end of your minimum period you will need to give us at least 30 days’ notice as set out in Section N of the agreement.

It's clearly noted that at least 30 days notice is required, not exactly 30 days.

This information is repeated in Section N: 6 of VM's Terms and Conditions.

6. If we and/or Virgin Media Payments:

1. increase our monthly charges under this agreement;

2. increase any of our other charges that are you are required to pay under this agreement in a way which is likely to materially disadvantage you; or

3. make any changes to the terms and conditions of this agreement which are likely to materially disadvantage you; or

4. make any changes to the services which are likely to materially disadvantage you; or

5. if there is a permanent loss of the services,

we will notify you of this and you may cancel this agreement without paying an early disconnection fee by giving us at least 30 days' notice as set out in paragraph N.1. You need to give us that cancellation notice within 30 days of us notifying you. Any increased charges will not apply during your 30 day cancellation notice period.

Call Virgin media back to give them the required "at least 30 days notice", and if needs be point them to their own Terms and Conditions as noted above.

[iida]

Thank you! I hope VirginMedia might also kindly educate their phone customer service staff so that misinformation is not allowed to be transmitted. I should have, of course, referred to the contract itself, but I tend to believe the customer service advisor when I call the company I am dealing with...

[CapIsland]

I was also told it had to be exactly 30 days notice. PlusNet, on the other hand, bent over backwards to be helpful in cancelling my previous broadband and did not require me to ring back exactly 30 days before, and this is why I returned to them three months later. I can't see myself doing that with Virgin. The same rubbish is happening with my dad as well, who is with Virgin. I have introduced him to PlusNet.

Get your customer services sorted, Virgin, and stop being a pain in the neck.

[MasterMcIntosh]

Are these terms and conditions the same for all Virgin Media contracts? I want to cancel my Broadband and Mobile contracts with them - I am really not happy with the lack of clarity regarding leaving them. It was incredibly easy to sign up to Virgin Media... went to my local shop and had both contracts within the hour but I feel the leaving process is unnecessarily complex, even the shop advisor didn't even bother with me when I said I wanted to leave... just wrote the numbers I should call on the contracts and told there was nothing they could do. I think Broadband/Mobile suppliers should provide good customer service at the start until the end of a customers contract as this experience has made me reluctant to come back to Virgin Media if it is a hassle to cancel.