Overcharged and contract agreement not processed

[Jwicksy]

Hi, I contacted virgin on the 2nd of December as my contract was coming to an end, the colleague made me an offer that I accepted, and he sent me the contract documents.  When my next bill came in I was charged £60 more than my agreed contract.  I contacted virgin today by phone I spoke to a colleague who told me the contracted offered was not processed and they can't offer me it now, they told me I can't speak to a manager and that I had to speak to retentions team.

I was transferred to retentions who told me that they couldnt offer me the price of my agreed contract and it might be higher, I said no, I want the contract I have agreed.  They raised a complaint and said no one can help me till a manager calls me, within 7 days as they're so busy with other complaints.

They have told me that agents are not allowed to update my contract even though I have a contract agreement email, and that there is nothing they can do.

I spent over an hour on the phone and have been left with waiting to hear from the manager.

Virgin are surely in breach of contract and are not willing to discuss the over payment without me waiting for a manager to hopefully call me, by then the next payment will be going out and I will have been over charged twice.

How do I get this resolved? 

[Bing2707]

Seems to be a trend.- I have a contract agreed 18th November 2022 - was charged £185.00 in December and now £175.00 in Jan - was suppossed to be £90.00

Have tried making contact- just hangs up- was told by operator last month that the contract was not processed their end but they could see the new agreement but would be fixed  for Jan and a credit on my Feb account - not done.

I sent back confirmation of my new signed contract to them - my original contract was due to expire in December - I agreed to a new contract 21 days before this - so they cannot state it is more than 30 days as they have not actioned the new contract.so will be in breach .

Their customer service levels are just getting worse year after year - no idea what their customer retention rates must be - looks like call centres are outsouced with no accountability -  people are really struggling with the cost of living and they just deem it acceoptable to take monies from people accounts with no forewarning because they can't get their admin in order. 

[Andrew-G]

These "didn't get the deal I agreed" situations happen from time to time - in fact they happen regularly with Virgin Media. However, your legal rights are crystal clear - information provided by a company verbally or written is binding if the consumer relies upon it when entering a contract (Section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015), so VM have to honour whatever was promised, whether they like it or not. No matter what VM say about "not the right deal", "can't offer that to you", "deal not on the system", you agreed a contract with their agent, that is now binding . And perhaps they need to re-train some of their staff because yours is a regular complaint in these forums.

Hopefully the forum staff can pick this up and get it sorted - by which I mean that you get exactly the deal you were promised, suitably backdated to when it should have been effective, and an appropriate goodwill gesture (say £70) for the inconvenience and stress. That would be the cheapest and quickest resolution for both parties, and the best way of trying to recover some goodwill in a bad situation. If they can't get it sorted in that complete manner (and don't settle for miserly goodwill payment), you need read the Virgin Media Complaints Code of Practice and raise a formal complaint. I suggest in writing, by recorded post. Reject the contract they're trying to impose, and demanding that as per your legal rights the company honour what was promised, and pointing out that if the company can't honour its agreement you will escalate to Ombudsman Services as soon as permitted by the rules.

If VM still won't honour the contract despite the complaint, or issue a fob-off resolution that doesn't settle things acceptably, then you reply by rejecting the "resolution" and asking for a deadlock letter, with that you take the matter to the Ombudsman. If VM stall and you can't get a deadlock letter then (ignoring that it is a breach of regulations) then eight weeks after your initial complaint was received by VM you can take the matter to the Ombudsman without a deadlock letter. Explain the background and request that VM be required to give you the promised deal, fully backdated, and add on a request for compensation for the hassle.

Slow, but should be 100% effective.

[Jwicksy]

Thank you Andrew, that's incredibly helpful.  My hope is that virgin can resolve this without having to go through such a formal process, but it's great to know my rights should they not resolve the issue.

[Kain_W]

Apologies for the issues faced Jwicksy,

Welcome to the community.

Just to clarify on the offered package, does the original contract sent reflect this also?

Secondly is the £60 charge coming just from the monthly rate?

Regards,

[Jwicksy]

Hello, yes the contract stated the full package starting on the 2nd of December at £91, I was then charged £151 and told the agent has decided not to give me the contract he sent me that we agreed.

I have the official email confirming my contract, with the contract sheet number.

[Kain_W · Accepted solution]

Right okay,

We wouldn't deal with any package pricing on forums however so we can investigate this further I've dropped you a PM.

The message will appear within the purple envelope icon. 

Regards,

[Jwicksy]

Hi @kain_w,

This isn't a pricing issue, this is a breach of consumer rights issue.  Not only has the contract not been rectified yet, I received a call from virgin who said they know that I'm unhappy but they can make me an offer for £20 a month higher than the contract I was sent.  I obviously said no, and they said we can't help you then.

My internet has also been down for nearly 3 hours today too, just to rub salt in the wound, no contact from virgin to warn people. 

I raised an official complaint Thursday too, after I was told the managers are either not working or too busy dealing with other complaints to take my call, I was told it would be at least 7 days before I get a call, by which time virgin will have taken an extra £60 from me more than they should, and will owe me £120. 

I had assumed from your messages yesterday this would be resolved, it seems fairly simple, I have a contract agreement, virgin haven't honoured it, someone needs to process it now and back pay me for the overcharging, seems like it should take 5 mins to fix and yet it hasn't been?! 

[Kain_W]

Thanks for your cooperation over PM Jwicksy,

I'm just posting publicly so the team are notified of the progress made. 

I'm glad the team were able to sort the price out for you.

As stated also the extra amounts that you were charged for should be amended on the next produced bill.

All the best,

[Jwicksy]

Hi Kain_w, 

Whilst this query was resolved by the manager, it all seems like a huge waste of time as I received an email today saying as of the 1st of April my bill will increase by 23.6% double the reported average of 13%! 

Thank you for your help resolving the company breaking contractual law, but it seems Virgin will do anything to get the amount they wanted to charge me.