Virgin Media Community

[Riv2022]

I contacted virgin sales department in December 2021 about broadband and was met over the phone by a charming women and I explained that I wanted some information lon speeds in my area long story short I was given advice on a package and asked for my bank details to run a credit check to see if I had to pay anything up front as turned out I did, £25 which apparently would be deducted from my first bill! This sounded all good but as explained to the women I was only calling for speeds in my area and pricing at which point she started putting on a bit of pressure, telling me I should go for it now ect I then told her that I didn't have the £25 in my account to pay the fee that she said (according to my credit check I neede to pay before any contract could go ahead) to this she said if I went and put it in the account in the morning and called back she could go ahead and do that for me but she can only hold it the system for 24_48 hours! I obviously never did call back nor pay any up front fee and definitely never did sign up for/agree to ANY 18 MONTH CONTRACT! After I came back home after Christmas I found a box on my door step from Virgin, and when I opened my door I also found a letter on the mat from Virgin, and when I opened it it was a letter about my new 18 month contract to virgin BroadBand! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I had not agreed to nor asked for a contract and I certainly didn't pay any up front fee of £25 which apparently was necessary if I had wanted to sign up to virgin broadband, so how did this happen? Needless to say I phoned virgin straightaway I told them what was going on and how angry I was that this done in my name with my bank account at my address with out my permission, and the customer service person was apologising to me and agreeing this shouldn't of happened to me and asked me had i uses the broadband at all which I explained I'd only just got back home the router was still boxed and she said she could see I had never used anything so told me ( after 2 hours on the phone ) to return the router the contract was cancelled and not to worry, there is nothing to pay the first bill will be cancelled as I had not agreed to the contract and secondly and most importantly it had only been approx 10 days since the start of the contract so u a 14 day cooling off period anyway! I thought this was all sorted nice and easily (regardless of the two hours on the phone) . However to cut it short again I continued getting bill reminders and I continued calling customer care and I continued getting the BS apologies and the BS this all sorted now don't worry, and it shouldn't of happened! Fats forward 6 months, several calls to virgin, hours and hours on the phone at my expense, and stress, explaing over and over again sometimes to someone who wouldn't even listen to me examining I never took out a contract so no I don't have to pay £78 for a service I never used, never agreed to and was cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period anyway! Well all the stress all the money on phone calls all BS from the customer service ppl in God knows where.. and today I got a debt collection letter from BPO collections for £78 for a contract that I never agreed to and was fraudulent taken out in my name by virgin probably by the sales women for commission in Christmas pay check and now my credit score is affected on top of everything else!! I will be contacting customer service again and I'll be notifing them that I'll be contacting trading standards, and the police, and I'll go to the papers if I have to everything is recorded all my phone calls all the lies that it was taken care of and all the times I was told I didn't have anything to pay now because they'd sorted it while I was on the phone for hours at a time only to find out they were all lying or just didn't really have the authority in the first place,either way I am **bleep** off at virgin media!!!

If someone from Virgin media wishes to actually do something about this, who actually works in the UK and have an honest professional conversation about were this has gone way wrong, I'd be grateful because right now I do not trust a word that comes out the mouth of Ur call center workers in Asia!! 

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

If VM are maintaining that you agreed a new contract at some point, then they will have the records (call recordings, chat sessions, or paper documents) to prove it.  Based on what I see in this forum day in day out, I'm more inclined to believe your version of events, because unagreed contracts and unagreed contract terms are regular complaints here, thanks to Virgin Media's poor staff training, poor business ethics, poor compliance, and poor handling of complaints.

I would suggest you raise a Data Subject Access Request with VM, asking for ALL detail they hold on you including but not limited to call recordings, chat sessions, paper documents, and any proof of the contract they're now saying you have at some point agreed to.   See what turns up.  In the meanwhile, don't stop paying, that'll cause problems with your credit history, and even if VM are at fault, it can be even more stressful for you to sort out.

I'd suggest DSAR first, then follow VM's formal complaint seeking compensation (if you haven't already), and if VM don't agree to sort it out and settle on generous terms, reject the "resolution" their complaints team offer and ask for a deadlock letter.  With the deadlock letter you escalate the matter to CISAS, who take these matters a lot more seriously than VM's Laurel & Hardy customer service do.  In terms of the compensation, I'd be pitching for at least £500, given the seriousness of putting in place a contract you didn't agree and then the utterly farcical performance since then, I'd also demand VM clean up the credit history mess they've made.  I'd say you should complain to Ofcom (they don't intervene directly, but will review such complaints with VM, and also consider raising the matter with BBC TV's "Watchdog" or Radio 4's "You and yours".

Staff here may offer to sort this out, if accepting any offer, make sure any settlement is comprehensive, complete and extremely generous. 

[用心棒]

Consider doing both in parallel to avoid delaying matters further:

• Online Subject Access Request FAQs | Virgin Media Help
  Virgin Media have a calendar month to provide requested data or to request more time to do so
• How to make a complaint | Virgin Media Help
  if Virgin Media have not reached a agreed settlement within 8 weeks of receiving complaint or have issued deadlock letter then proceed to raise issue with independent adjudication

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[Molly_T]

Hi Riv2022 welcome to the community!

Thank you for taking the time to outline your recent experiences with us. Sincerest apologies for your experience with the agent, un-wanted services, and delay in getting the issue resolved!

I would like to help with this, and will need to investigate further to do so. 

I will also be able to help you raise a complaint so we have a record of your feedback and experience, and can explore what you are looking for as a resolution. 

We will need to send you a PM to confirm a few details so we can see exactly what has happened here, and offer further support. You will find the PM in the top right corner of the page, in your Inbox. 

We can return to the public thread with an update as soon as possible. 

All the best!

[Riv2022]

I have sent a DM this morning Molly thank you for contacting me about this situation

Best Regards Aaron 

[Riv2022]

Hi Andrew thanks for your help I will definitely take Ur advice on requesting all documents from there end Inc all call recordings I have copies of my calls ( that was one thing I knew to do right from the start was record all calls to VM the second I found out I had been signed into a contract without my knowledge) as for Ur comment about payment

"the meanwhile, don't stop paying, that'll cause problems with your credit history," 

This is something that is already to late I received a first month bill of £78.90 which I was told was already squashed on the very first phonecall to VM back in December 2021 a few days after the contract was set up and a router was sent out, as I'd not set up the contract but merely inquired about speeds and prices, and the contact was immediately cancelled by VM ( not under the reasons of a fraudulent contract set up without my consent but as a cancellation within the 14 day cooling off period, all though it was very much documented I'd set up the contract, which also voids any all payments owed) so I'd had no idea that this was not done and there was still showing an outstanding balance, which the next month I found out about and again contacted VM and agin told it was all squashed and apologiesed to, only to get an outstanding bill again couple months later (rinse and repeat) untill several months and several calls to VM and more assurances it had been squashed and also told I'd get a call about some form of comp' but neither actually happened, and not matter how hard I tried I couldn't speak to anyone outside of Asia and all they seemed to do was lie to me to keep me happy on the phone then did nothing they said they'd do after Id hung up! Now I have a debt collection letter for the £78.90 for a bill I'd been told multiple times by VM had been squashed.. I have never ever used VM broadband, I never took a single Mb of data, I've never even had an engineer come to my property to install a VM socket to plug the router even into! What really gets me is they cancelled the contract that was never an issue they seemed to of accept that there shouldn't of been a contract set up they apologized for the contract being set up but they still continued sending a a bill for a service I nether asked for nor used. It's like they just didn't know how to or wasn't authorised to do anything about the outstanding bill so they just told me it was being/ and had been squashed then did absolutely nothing.. Leaving me with the unimaginable stress of continually being back in the same position after hours and hours of phone calls and BS apologies and promise's by VM! And now to top it all off they've affected my credit rating!

[Riv2022]

I will do this thank you for Ur help 

[Riv2022]

My latest reply from VM 

"I can advise that your request of £500 compensation is above my limit and not a resolution that we can offer. 

I will be happy to process the resolution that was previously outlined to you by Molly. If you're happy with this, I'll be able to apply the credits needed and ensure that your credit score is not impacted by this and close the complaint.

However, if you're unhappy with this resolution, we can follow the customer ownership process and escalate this complaint further to my manager who you'll be able to speak to about this in more detail."

Any  advice?

regards Aaron

[John_GS]

Hi Aaron, if you reply to my colleague's PM, that'll be the next step. 

Best,

[Cardiffman281]

With respect I think Aaron was asking for a non VM perspective. 

Aaron up to you. Big companies generally work to a sliding scale of fob off responses. You are still at an early stage of this process. Bottom line is keep everything in writing. If you are not satisfied and believe that you will make no further progress with VM then ask for a deadlock letter and take it up with CISAS.