I called VM today to give notice on my account at my bill has rocketed from £79 to £147.50 per month. When looking into it, it appears my original 18 month term came to an end last month. By my understanding, VM were meant to notify you of any changes to your bill, or does it not apply to any ‘18 month promotional offers’? Regardless, I’d not had anything to advise of the change.
On the call I told the advisor I wanted to give 30 days notice. He questioned why, so I said because of the price hike. He said he would have a look at potential offers, however then said that because I had an overdue balance on my account, that he couldn’t see what deals would be available. I advised him I was fine with this, and that I was only wanting to process the cancellation as per the reasons for my call anyway.
The advisor then stated that because I had an overdue balance, I would not be able to give 30 days notice, and that I would have to make a payment before this was processed. I asked him to confirm that he was refusing to process my notice, to which he confirmed.
I politely, but firmly advised him that legally VM couldn’t refuse to take 30 days notice on my account, regardless of the balance on it, and that it was my duty to make sure any balance was cleared once my account closed. If the balance wasn’t cleared, VM would be able to pursue me for any monies owed. At this point, he put me on hold again (for the third time).
After a few minutes he came back on the line to tell me that because I was such a loyal customer for many years, he could offer me a superb deal, the same bundle I was already on for £100. I questioned why offering me the same contract for £21 more than I was paying previously, and £15 more than new customers was deemed as a superb deal, to which he couldn’t answer. I also asked why he was now suddenly able to offer me this ‘superb deal’, when 10 minutes prior he couldn’t do anything with my account due to an overdue balance. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t answer that.
I told him I wasn’t interested in any deals, any more lies, I just wanted him to process my 30 day notice. Surely being that he could now magically offer me a new package, surely he could process the 30 day notice? Wrong. Apparently at this point, his systems decided they were going to do an update (because major companies like VM schedule these for the middle of the day I’m sure), and said that I would have to call back later, or someone would call me, as he now couldn’t do anything. I told him I was not going to call back, and that he’d best simply process the notice. With no words or warning, he put me on hold again. I can only assume he was hoping I would hang up, however after coming off hold 5 minutes later, unfortunately for him I was still on the other end. He then begrudgingly confirmed he’d process my 30 days notice, however I still have yet to receive any form of confirmation regarding this.
I know from the past VM try some very shady tactics in order to keep customers and that people in the cancellation team are targeted on retentions vs cancellations, but claiming notice cannot be processed due to an overdue balance, and then that the systems are down and putting customers on hold without warning hoping they’d give up and drop the call is a whole new low.
Could someone from VM on here drop me a message to confirm if the notice has even been processed for me, and the best way for putting a formal complaint in order than ringing through to the normal number? Happy to confirm any details needed. It would be much appreciated.
