Promised monthly credit but still being charged full price

[kate_g]

Back in Jan I wanted to reduce my monthly spend so I rang VM to remove the TV packages from my account. This was agreed by the agent. A day later the retentions team in Cardiff rang me to offer me a deal, I could keep my existing TV package and internet and they would reduce the price to £66. This was a good offer so I accepted.

When the contract details came through I skimmed them and they seemed ok but the next day Sky Sports wasn't working, nor Sky Cinema. I rang up to be told I don't have them any more as I agreed for them to be removed. I had not! I asked for them to listen to the phone call to prove what had been agreed. The agent (Hannah) listened to the call and phoned me back to say she agreed that I'd been promised to keep my package the same but that there was no matching offer she could put me on, so she'd need to put me on the closest package which was £114 but that a credit would be applied monthly to reduce the price down to £66.

Well, we can all guess what has happened since then. I have been charged £114 per month with no sign of a credit nor have the notes in the account been updated to show this was agreed. I have cancelled my direct debit and refuse to pay until this is sorted. I spoke to another agent (Blessed) who at least kept his word to phone back, but he was unable to help and instead suggested I raise a Freedom of Information request to get my recordings as proof...I'm hoping someone here can get this resolved faster than me having to start going down the legal route which I will if not sorted before my account is suspended leaving me with no internet and unable to work...

[Andrew-G]

It's not a Freedom of information request, it's a Data Subject Access Request, and the form is here.  And what follows is so frequently used I have it on a macro:

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 failure to implement the originally agreed deal, the hassle and for the poor handling of the complaint

[Andrew-G]

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@kate_g wrote:

if not sorted before my account is suspended leaving me with no internet and unable to work...

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Even though VM are in the wrong, don't withhold payment - there will be no human intervention, nobody will notice, nobody will care, but the company's systems will report you as a late payer or defaulter to credit reference agencies and that'll cause you problems for the next six years.  If forum staff won't sort this out then the Ombudsman is highly effective although slow, but it's best to avoid the additional problems of a besmirched credit history, which becomes another problem to get the bunglers to sort out. 

[Vikki_M]

Hi kate_g

Thank you for your post and welcome to our community.

I am sorry to hear about whats happened.

I will send you a private message now so we can look into this for you.

Please look out for the purple envelope in the top right of the page and pop me a reply when you can.