Refusal to honour agreed package

[Weesue]

Hi,

On trying to leave virgin I was offered an upgraded package for £52 a month for 18 months. It took 5 days of endless upselling and difficulties in communication but was happy with the outcome. There were emails that seemed to just say 'it's sorted ', the hardware turned up, it worked and the first bill was different but first bills often are. A month later, happy with the service I logged on to try to add a new box and see the package is £67 and part of it is only valid for 3 months. I start a WhatsApp chat at 9.48am and by the time we finish at 5.40pm I have been offered various different prices but not the one agreed,  no movement on the TV discount ending after 3 months and told I can't cancel even though its not the contract I agreed to. They can see the offer written in the same whatsapp thread but have called it 'misinformation '.  There's no mention of it partially ending in 3 months but lots of other ts and Cs. Now I don't think this is legal. 

So what is the process to get my offer honoured? I have spent literally days on web/WhatsApp chat. It's affecting my work and I've never got through at weekends. Can this be resolved another way? I simply want what was agreed and my bill adjusted. Oh and another set top box that I'm happy to pay for.

Thanks

Sue

[Martin_N]

Hi Weesue,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community. 

I'm very sorry for any frustration you've had with your upgrade. 

We can certainly take a look into this for you. 

To confirm, do you have an email from ourselves that fully confirms the package you agreed too on your upgrade?

^Martin

[Weesue]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. Yes, I have it on WhatsApp and can take a screen grab

[Martin_N]

Thank you for that. Okay, what we can look to do then is take a look on our side to see what has gone wrong. 

What I will do now is private message you so I can get some details and pass data protection. 

^Martin

[d_andison · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing your experience...

I've been offered a deal from a sales person on WhatsApp and they have said the email will confirm a higher amount than what was promised and documented in what's app and that the manager will apply a discount to run over the 18 months.

I don't know, I feel this is a shady way of operating and I think I may just stop it now and go with sky. I've just moved to Sky Glass and also started to move Broadband to them.

The last day and a half has been a truly awful sales experience and I think I'd rather take slower broadband speeds and deal with a company that seems less fraudulent in the way they try to sign you up.

Edit, I should add that they were very insistent and I asked to be transferred to cancellations several times. I said I'd have no proof and the sales manager emailed me from a "moverswebchat" email address to say they would apply it. The more I think about it the more I want out from this company.

[Zach_R]

Hi @d_andison,

Thank you for your post. I'm really sorry to hear you're really unhappy with a deal you've recently been discussing and arranging with the team. If possible, I'd recommend reaching out to our retentions department on 0345 454 1111 (or 150 from a Virgin Media landline) and they can outline offers and options with you.

I can also see you've been discussing this matter with my colleague via private message. Feel free to reach back out to them if you have any further concerns about what you've discussed.

Thanks,
 

[d_andison]

Thanks @Zach_R  .... sadly, I'm now on with customer relations on WhatsApp... i.e. I have WhatsApp open and may at some point end up talking to them.

Unfortunately, Virgin Media is a little like hotel california... you can attempt to check out anytime you want but you can never leave.

I told the person I wanted Virgin Media Broadband and a Landline, they offered it for £34 I said no as it's on offer online for £25. Eventually we ended up at £28 and I accepted only to find out they would send all documentation saying £34 and that someone somewhere would magically make it £28... I just wouldn't have proof.

Now... I received an email saying £24.... with a pdf file saying £34..... and they've removed my landline from the deal?!? Seriously... they couldn't make matters worse if they tried. Well, actually they have. Someone at VM some how managed to do something that triggered Sky to cancel the engineers visit to install the service... seems like you may have refused to release the line or something.

When you ask to arrange a termination of account, you just get more offers you don't want... it's become impossible. I am now approaching the point of singing from the mountain tops about how bad this company is

I'm glad I have all this on WhatsApp... while VM won't take it as evidence, the Daily Telegraph "Money" would and it will be great advertising for VM. They like looking into underhand tactics of companies.

[Weesue]

Sounds familiar.  It was the retention team I was speaking to on WhatsApp before and its impossible to get through on a call at the weekend. They tell you it's a 4 hr wait, and to go on to WhatsApp. They didn't get back to me at all at the weekend and i had to start again on monday.

Even if they do it takes on average 1 -2 hrs to connect to someone and 15 minutes for a reply to each message, their argument being you can carry on with your day so it doesn't matter. Your day is swallowed up because if you dont reply you're disconnected and with small children  around I can't do this. Luckily I'm at a desk all day so although it interrupts work, the week is the only option. For others it just wouldn't be possible. 

I failed the security passes with your forum team member because I never get to use the password so I have no idea what it is and I can only guess I got the bill amount wrong  on the secondary security questions but I now have to wait for a letter to arrive with a password.

You can see how literally days disappear trying to sort out problems and this is why I wanted to cancel in the first place but im now locked into a contract under false pretences and have no choice. The website has broken links everywhere,  even the forum boots me out on my phone if I hit back too many times and don't save my password, something I never do. 

Whatever happened to the nice Scottish customer service team you used to talk to on the phone? Virgin's customer service years ago was excellent.

Sorry, rant over. 

[Zach_R]

Hi @d_andison,

I'm very sorry to hear you're unhappy with your experience. However, we cannot cancel appointments you have set up with other providers. You'll have to speak with them directly about that.

As advised, it would be best to contact the team on the number provided earlier as our retentions department will be able to outline all of our current offers and options for you.

Thanks,
 

[d_andison]

On this occasion... you did.

I spoke to Sky and because I asked to transfer my telephone number, they were unable to proceed as Virgin Media refused to release it and, as a result... they had to cancel my order as it was impossible to complete.

I have now had to re-place the order but this time, asked for a new number so Virgin can no longer trigger a cancelation by refusing to release the telephone number.

Edit

Oh... and I rang 150, pressing 1,4,4. They kindly listened to me requesting to cancel the service... tried to sell me a different package and then cut me off when I said I just want to cancel.

I then had to repeat the process again (inc 2x security & one transfer) and was told it would be cancelled in a very unconvincing way. Very little to no explanation as to what will happen. I don't think it will. No email confirming it, nothing. I'm starting to feel like I'm being held captive.