End of contract debt collection letter

[PMFH-SH2]

My contract was due for renewal end of May 2022.
Had the usual barrage of calls trying to keep me on, took the call as I had a spare 30 minutes.

CityFibre had just been installed, so I had something to compare with. (Part of Zen)
500Mb - £38

Speaking to the lady, I asked her for a price on 500mb. lots of to'ing and fro'ing and the price was approx £65.
I asked if that was the best she or VM could do and was informed that was the final price.

There and then I notified her that I WOULD NOT be renewing my contract with VM due to the higher cost, I would let it lapse.
She said she was sorry she could not help me further.

The barrage of calls ended as obviously a note had been made that I was not going to continue my service with VM.

Made sure my final Direct Debit was taken from my account, as I was officially out of my 18 month contract and removed the Direct Debit. I did check the end of my contract date online, before they revoked my access.

August I get a letter from BPO telling me I owe £223.57 - HOW?

Contract had expired, I did not sign up for anything further as I did not want their services any longer.
When I told the lady I was not going to continue, she just said OK, not you need to do this and this.

Where do I stand? I do not want VM's services any longer, due to the high cost.
None of my equipment is connected, the cable has been cut on my property so I could not get VM access even if I wanted to.

P.

[japitts]

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@PMFH-SH2 wrote:

There and then I notified her that I WOULD NOT be renewing my contract with VM due to the higher cost, I would let it lapse.
She said she was sorry she could not help me further.

The barrage of calls ended as obviously a note had been made that I was not going to continue my service with VM.

Made sure my final Direct Debit was taken from my account, as I was officially out of my 18 month contract and removed the Direct Debit. I did check the end of my contract date online, before they revoked my access.

August I get a letter from BPO telling me I owe £223.57 - HOW?

Contract had expired, I did not sign up for anything further as I did not want their services any longer.
When I told the lady I was not going to continue, she just said OK, not you need to do this and this.

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Just for clarity, did you specifically give 30days notice to disconnect? From your description above, this is an implication but I don't think it's explicit.

There is a popular misconception that telecoms contracts need to be "renewed" each 12/18months which is not the case - they are rolling contracts that have a minimum term but otherwise continue until you explicitly notify otherwise.

If you haven't done that, then your services continue regardless - which would explain the continued charges. Cancelling your direct debit does not cancel your contract - it's explicit notice to disconnect that does that.

[PMFH-SH2]

No, I did not say I was leaving there and then, as I knew my contract finished late May. I did say and VM confirmed it earlier today, that I would not be renewing my contract when it came to an end.
City Fibre also gave me 3 months free internet, so I was not worried.

However, what VM did not inform me to do was how to go about ceasing my services, correctly.

When I paid another contract off, my mortgage, i did not have to continue paying, did not have to notify them, they notified me and only took what was owed, not continually debiting my account after the end of the contract.

Hopefully by this time tonight I should have this resolved.

[Martin_N]

Hi PMFH-SH2,

Thank you for your post. I'm very sorry to hear about the debt contact. 

If there was an overdue amount on your Virgin Media account, you would have been contact via email/letter about the bill prior to it being sent to a debt collection company. 

^Martin

[Andrew-G]

PMFH-SH2 -  japitts is correct that the end of a fixed term contract simply means your initial fixed term period has ended, but there's still a need to give 30 days notice.  You've now got an additional problem over and above the debt collectors - VM will have marked this on your credit history as a default under a credit agreement, and that'll linger on for six years, with negative and potentially serious consequences for you. 

However, if you had retentions discussions and you told the agents that you did not require/want VM's services after the end of that fixed term, then it might be argued (a) that amounted to notice of termination, and even if not, there's a far stronger argument (b) that they should have identified that you wished to leave, and explained the process and handed the call to cancellations.  Failure to do that would seem to me to breach Fairness Commitments 3, 5 and 6.  Much will depend on the nature and language used in the contacts you had with VM.  An independent adjudicator might not agree at all, or might conclude that some of this is down to you for not being aware of the terms of a contract that you agreed to, however I think that there's the basis of a valid complaint here. In the best case for you, argument (a) would be be upheld, then VM certainly need to resolve the matter, cancel the supposed debt net of any fees for the balance of 30 days notice from that time, clean up your credit history and pay you a modest sum in compensation.  

I would suggest you initiate a formal complaint (in writing, recorded post) disputing the debt.  That should mean VM suspend collection action until the complaint is resolved.  You should argue (if you believe that it is the case) that you clearly stated that you did not want VM services after the end of the fixed term, and that your 30 days notice should be deemed to have started from that date - meaning that depending on the date of those calls, there may be some fees still due for a few days after the end of the fixed discount.  You should assert that VM's claims to try and hold the account as overdue/defaulted are primarily due to the agents failing to notify you that they would not act on your statement of no longer wanting VM's services after the end of the fixed term, failing to process that instruction or to advise you how to do that, or pass you to a team who could resolve the matter.  Ask for the debt to be cancelled, and for your credit history to be made good as the error is VMs.  State that if VM cannot agree to settle on your terms you will be seeking review with CISAS. 

VM's complaint handling is poor.  It is almost certain that you'll get fobbed off with a resolution letter that resolves nothing.  This doesn't matter because here and now, the formal complaint to VM is primarily an essential part of the process before you can take the matter further.  If that happens, you reply to that letter rejecting VM's resolution, asking for a deadlock letter for the purposes of escalation to CISAS, the industry complaints adjudicator.  With the deadlock letter you ask CISAS to review and resolve the matter, including saying what outcome you want.  They will seek from VM all contact information between you and the company, such as chat transcripts and call recordings.  Their professional adjudicators will investigate and offer a resolution - they can uphold your complaint entirely, reject your complaint entirely, or offer a compromise settlement.  That may or may not provide the outcome you want, but you can at least have confidence that your complaint has been reviewed by a competent and independent professional, and is probably the best option for you at this time.  Obviously, VM could concede the matter now, although I am not hopeful - if the forum staff can agree a settlement that involves some compromise on the outstanding fees, but does offer complete cleaning up of your credit history that might be something you want to grab with both hands rather than get into the potentially slow complaint and adjudication process.  

If you do end up taking the matter to adjudication but the complaint is not upheld by CISAS (ie VM "win") or if the settlement is a partial one and doesn't involve cleaning up your credit history then there's little else you can do in practical terms, but you would then need to investigate options for lodging a "Notice of correction" with credit agencies that explain your side of of the story.  You'll only have 200 words to do it, but if it comes to that, then it's your best option.