How to get confirmation of contract made by phone

[ourmailbox]

Just renewed my contract for 18 months over the phone.  How can I get a record of an answer given to a particular question I put to the agent?  I stupidly forgot to record the conversation.

In theory, I am happy with the deal and contract, but I don't want to find VM renege on the deal in a couple of weeks.

The contract doesn't include the offer made by the agent.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @ourmailbox thanks for your post here in the Community, although we're sorry to hear of the concerns you've raised here. 

Can you advise further on what issues you're having with the contract you've received, as opposed to what was agreed? What was different please?

Many thanks

[ourmailbox]

Hi Tom

My contract was due to end and hence rise massively, so contacted retentions on Saturday.  I actually spoke with two agents over the day, the first "Robert" couldn't conclude the process as servers were down.  But he, and the second lady, whose name I didn't get, both stated that with the new contract for eighteen months, there would be no further price rise in April as per email on my old contract.

But of course this is not stated on the actual contract, and in fact has the standard, "prices can rise any time"  clauses all over it.

How can I be assured that my new contract price is as agreed for the term of the contract?

Alan

[Andrew-G]

Did they mention the April 2024 price rise of RPI + 3.9%?  Due to changes to VM's T&Cs, and weak and incompetent regulation by the amateurs of Ofcom you won't be able to reject or renegotiate that.  A reasonable guess at RPI would be around 6% so the April 2024 price rise will be around 10%, but because that's applied to the undiscounted tariff, it'll be proportionately higher for customers on a discounted package, so assume a circa 16-20% price rise for 2024.  The bigger the discount the higher the effective price rise you'll be hit with.

As for getting a record of what you agreed, your best route is to ask for chat transcripts or phone recordings by making a DSAR, and you can do that here.  Anything you agreed to becomes a part of the contract, and would take precedence of VM's standard T&Cs, and would be enforceable under the terms of Consumer Rights Act 2015 if there comes a point where VM are no sticking to what was agreed.  And unfortunately there have been repeated instances where agents agree one thing, and the company tries to ignore what has become a legally binding contract.  I'm pressing VM to honour agreed terms in another thread today, where they're trying to ride roughshod over a customer's rights.

[ourmailbox]

Thanks for the reply Andrew.

Neither agent mentioned the April 2024 rise, and I only asked about the April 2023 one.

I've asked for the call records.  I'll update if I get them.

Alan

[Tom_W1]

Hi @ourmailbox thanks for your reply here.

So to be clear, many of our customers (including yourself) who join us take promotional offers for a period of time which will be fully honoured. These customers will all receive a price rise communication, but the 2023 price rise won’t be applied until after their offer price promotion ends. Their communication from us will explain this. 

I hope this helps.

Many thanks

[Andrew-G]

but the 2023 price rise won’t be applied until after their offer price promotion ends

So any new contract is fixed price?  I've been a customer of VM (and predecessors) for probably longer than most current Virgin Media employees have been alive, and I doubt that. 

Or, are you saying that any new contracts between now and April won't have an April 2023 rise, but that in April 2024 the customer gets the cumulative April 2023 and April 2024 price rise?  On a discounted contract that would be a brutal increase in April 2024, of potentially as much as 54%.   

[Alex_RM]

Hi Andrew-G,

Our new terms apply to those customers who have received written notification of the new terms. For other customers, their terms remain unchanged until we notify them otherwise in writing.

A customer’s bill will change from April each year in line with the RPI rate announced in the preceding February +3.9%. 

Alex_Rm