Judging from some posts on here, it does seem that VM’s procedure for acknowledging a cancelation is a bit vague, some claim they received an email conforming it, others claim they never. Some have said that in their my.virginmedia.com portal, they see ‘pending account changes’ which seem to correlate with the cancellation date.
I’m afraid it’s a case of ‘your milage may vary’! Even if they don’t confirm the cancellation, that’s fine, they received your instructions to do so (as proven by the signed-for receipt), they don’t have to acknowledge it, as long as they action on the date concerned, then that’s all fine.
As regard the increase in monthly payment, that’s actually understandable - VM work on the basis that you might cancel the cancellation at any point up to the deadline date, so the billing process works on that assumption. Porting the number away, by necessity cancels the telephony part of your package - now doing this might remove a discount hence the price goes up. The new price is indicative of what you will be paying each month if you decide to stay but without the telephony provision, if that makes any sense whatsoever?
Assuming that you don’t stay, then once the cancellation is actioned and you are disconnected in early October, then VM will generate a final bill, which may require you to pay them or them to refund you! It all depends on the dates of the billing cycle. Yes I know it all sounds a bit convoluted, but it is what it is. What I would suggest isn that you do not cancel the DD - if VM decide that you owe them (even 10p) and they can’t collect it, what they will do it add late payment fees, flag you as a defaulter and trash your credit rating. Not due to some act of revenge but rather it’s just how their automated systems work. So keep the DD in place, let VM take what they think they are owed, if the cancellation isn’t actioned, that’s when you can kick off to the regulator and demand compensation. But, for now, let’s work on the basis that it’ll all be OK!
