I'd really appreciate someone from VM getting in touch with me to try and resolve my issue, I'm getting nowhere with the WhatsApp chat, my complaint has apparently been resolved by someone parroting back to me the information on which my complaint was based, I've been cut off on the phone more times than I care to remember and nobody ever calls me back when promised.
To summarise, I received a re-contract offer email in mid-January offering me "the same great deal at the same great price". Naturally, I took this and completed the recontract process online, receiving contract docs and an order confirmation via email. All good, until I received my March bill for three times the usual amount. A bit of digging with customer services revealed that the new contract hadn't been processed at the VM end. Six agents later, someone finally agrees to match the recontract deal I was offered and sort out the overbilling before the direct debit was taken. However, the package price has now increased so a rolling bill credit needed to be applied to bring this down to the recontract price. Again, contract docs and order confirmation received by email on 12th March. I was assured repeatedly that my March bill would be corrected and I would only pay the recontract package price when the direct debit was due to be taken on 2nd April.
Shortly after, we settle down to watch Moto GP on TNT Sports and realise the channels have vanished. Whilst on endless hold to VM, a google search reveals that these channels are no longer part of any VM packages and is now only available as a paid add-on. I lodge a formal complaint regarding this (ref C-170324684), as my recontract offer was "the same great package at the same great price" and this is clearly not the same package with a number of premium channels removed. I understand why VM can no longer offer TNT in TV packages, my complaint is based upon the fact that I was effectively mis-sold the recontract deal as VM did not advise me that TNT was no longer in the TV package and so far, I've been unable to any anywhere in VM's T&Cs or on their website that this is the case, it's all been done very quietly.
I received a response to the complaint two days later advising me that TNT is no longer available, but I can add it to my package for £18 per month, and to ring them if I wasn't satisfied with this solution. Obviously I wasn't, so I rang - and got nowhere. I was promised a call back from a manager on two separate occasions, nether of them happened.
The chat was transferred back to WhatsApp where an agent agreed that the recontract offer was mis-sold and would add the channels back and apply a rolling bill credit to cover the cost. At this point, we discovered that the other rolling bill credits had not been applied as promised. The agent was then no longer able to help as the combined bill credits required were beyond his authority, and the shift was ending.
The chat continued the following morning with a different agent who repeatedly told me that TNT was no longer in the package and refused to acknowledge the mis-selling issue, and that you cannot advertise "the same great package" when it is NOT the same with key channels removed! I was told by this agent that my complaint was under manager review and someone would call me back within a day or two. Unsurprisingly, this hasn't happened.
Today, I received a text message from my bank advising that I was using the arranged overdraft in my bills account. Upon checking my statement, I can see that VM have collected a direct debit of THREE TIMES my agreed package price, despite being assured multiple times in writing that this would not happen. As I am now in my overdraft, I am incurring bank charges and have had to re-budget for the entire month. To say I'm furious is an understatement.
I've logged into my VM account and my old contract from September 22 is showing as the current contract. There is also no way to track my complaint, I am told there are currently no issues or complaints logged on my account. I've been a VM customer since the Telewest / Blueyonder days in 2002 and am utterly fed up with this situation. All I want is what my recontract email offered me - the same package, at the same price. What's so hard about that?
