Refund after being overcharged for 6 months

[Iainc12]

Same situation. Got overcharged. 

Error on subscription, took two very stressful weeks and countless customer service team members to sort. 6 months later, still paying the same. 

The most annoying thing is that high speed cable from non- Virgin companies are now available at almost half the price but I am tied into an 18 month Virgin contract (after already being with them for 8 years). 

Really shabby way to treat customers. 

[Gregor84 · Accepted solution]

The best way I found of dealing with this was to call customer services.  Speak to the agent and ask for the refund to be made immediately.  When they say they can't do that ask to speak to a manager.  They will say no one is available just now just say you will wait until one is available.  They will say that is not possible so I asked pointless questions until they had enough and put me through to a manager.  I asked them to give details of every bill I have had since I became a customer.  They got to the 8th bill then said the manager will talk to me now.  I spoke with the manager and again refused to leave the phone call until I had a guarantee that my money would be refunded.  I did this twice then I got a manager who spoke to the payments team and they issued my refund in full immediately via a cheque.  I accused them of theft and requested a full transcript of all my calls and messages from the live chat as evidence for small claims court.  I recieved a full refund and an extra £200 credit to my vm account.  Hope this helps

[Iainc12]

Thanks @Gregor84. 

Yes, my mistake in the past was to phone them. I go through the Whatsapp chat now, then I have a copy of what has been said. No more BS about 'do you have evidence we said that...'

I am on the chat with them now. Not going to play nice this time though. When they finally respond, I am asking for a Manager straight away.

The chat staff don't have the authority to help you that much when it comes to reinbursing or negotiating. So no point wasting your time with them, and you will be freeing them up to speak to someone who they CAN help (a technical or general enquiry).

It is kinder to them (as I am sure most are nice people that don't like giving people the scripted runaround)  and it saves you from needing therapy due to phone related PTSD 🙂

[Gregor84]

I did come across the have you got proof of us saying that once.  I downloaded the ACR PHONE app that allows you to record all conversations.  You do have to state that you are recording the call for your personal records (not for social media). They don't like that and are always nicer and slightly more helpful. 

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @Iainc12

Thank you so much for your post and welcome to the community forums, it's great to have you here. 

I am so sorry to hear that you have faced this issue with your bills and that we have not yet been able to correct this for you! 

Can I ask how your chat went and has the issue been resolved for you now? 

Thank you. 

[100rob]

I am having the same problem as iainc12 above - is there something malicious going on with all this prevarication and passing the buck, or are Virgin just very inefficient? For the fourth month in a row I am being billed around double what my contract says.

[Vikki_M]

Hi @100rob

Thank you for your post and welcome back to our community.

I am sorry to hear that.

Could you expand please on what's happened? 

What have the team advised regarding the billing please? Have they confirmed a discount is missing?

Please pop back to us when you can. 

[100rob]

Hello Vicki, and think you for responding.

My experience with Virgin over many years has been good - until this summer.

Sometime in June or July my phone stopped working, and I tried and tried to call you on my mobile -  sometimes someone answered and I was cut off - other times my mobile disconnected after waiting half an our.

Eventually I found one of your engineers in a street some way away and I asked him how to get in touch. He knew immediately what the problem with my phone was - he said that people had been moved to a different platform, but the notifications had apparently not been sent out so no one booked an engineer. He said he was overwhelmed with work reconnecting people. I eventually got an appointment, but it meant no phone service for six weeks.

During that time I realised that I did not use  phone that much, so I called to reduce phone and TV package and make some savings. I had originally been paying around £70 a month but that had crept up to £78. I received my new contract  (no 20/055244297/01) for £45 on 19th August. I was also to pay only £22 odd the next month as compensation for the lack of phone service.In August I received a bill for £84.25 plus £7.71 for the new package. Then £84.25 in September, £84.25 in October, £84.25 in November.. 

Then my TIVO box broke down. The agent I spoke to was very helpful and noticed the mistake - he said it was ridiculous. I was passed through three or four other agents, and all but on (who I could not hear because his headset was faulty) tried to help - but didn't. Then suddenly another contract for £44 turned up, along with an engineer and a new TIVO. The last agent said that they owed me a refund - but nothing seems to be happening.

I am of course rather angy - I had wondered if something had gone wrong other that administrative imcompetence, because I heard someone in the background discussing my contract and I think they said something like 'look, someone has cancelled that...' Anyway, I would quite like a refund and the contract to work properly. My bank tells me that Virgin may be breaking the Direct Debit mandate that they collect payments under, because they should have refunded immediately... I am going round telling people never to use Virgin! 

[Chris_W1]

Hi 100rob, thanks for the message and welcome back to the forums. 

I am sorry to hear that you are having issues with the billing and on multiple occasions this has not been rectified.

I will send you a private message so that this can be looked into further. 

Kind regards, Chris.