Sale women fraudulent set up contract

[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!! 

[spell]

VM have have adopted and use the attitude that they are in charge of developments - they are not - you are as the aggrieved and complainant party

[spell]

Further to Andrew_Gs excellent advice and having reread your posts I can identify that  criminal matters which are able to be processed through the civil court - in fact the circumstances would be an excellent topic for discussion in a law class - everything from theft and fraud to demanding with menaces by improperly instructing a debt collection agency. You seem to have a full evidence package and any phone recordings are like gold dust.

Just making you aware of this option and while not essential a review by a specialist solicitor or free Citizens Advice Bureau review may benefit if all else fails.You

• In the real world I cannot imagine VM paying an advocate to contest and lose the action.

In the meantime as you were with CISAS etc in the hope of settling with reasonable terms.

Good luck

[Riv2022]

I could not agree more with this statement they are acting like it's enough to not charge me for a service they set up without my knowledge! They even before this were trying to get me to agree (threw several messages) that they should go ahead and cancel, wipe the £78.90 from my "Account" but not telling me that that would of completely closed the matter and ended any future attempt of comp' as soon as I mentioned I didn't wanna go ahead and agree to them starting that if that essentially ending any chance of being compensated for all the trouble and expense on my part, which is when i got a new person dealing with my complaint, and u see there response!

[Riv2022]

I've been calling this a criminal matter from the start, a case for fraud is defiantly there..

If there looking for easy push over there gonna be unstuck I've been dealing with this for over 6 months 

"Just making you aware of this option and while not essential a review by a specialist solicitor or free Citizens Advice Bureau review may benefit if all else fails.You"

I'll be calling trading standards as well and speaking to a solicitor friend, i was hoping to just settle this amicably and quickly (as in it's already been 6 months and counting, and got yet another outstanding amount letter from vm Friday.

[Reece_MH]

Hi @Riv2022,

It looks like one of our team have responded to your PM in regards to this. I understand you're looking to get advice from a non-VM perspective, which is totally ok. Once you've made a decision on what you wish to do, please pop my colleague a response so we can get things sorted 🙂

Cheers,

[spell]

There is nothing preventing VM getting things sorted just because the OP is considering his options - in fact there is an obligation to do so rather than trying to use it as an excuse to either do nothing or just give a ridiculous option of not having to pay money which was wrongly demanded in the first place.

To the OP I will advise to keep an updated  copy of this thread

[Reece_MH]

Hi spell,

Although I can't discuss the contents of PMs, please be aware that we are still supporting the customer in regards to this. My post was not referring to the situation as a whole, but rather some of the issues the customer has raised, which an Agent is supporting with 🙂

Cheers,

[Riv2022]

@Spell

"To the OP I will advise to keep an updated  copy of this thread"

I have screen grabs of everything inc all private messages..

Regards A

[spell]

Just needs to reach the eyes of a manager who can recognise the serious implications of the issue and is in a suitable position of authority to be able to take appropriate reasonable action to resolve it to your satisfaction.

Good luck

[Riv2022]

it's just been escalated to a manger, now i need to wait on  a call, in the mean time i'm contacting trading standards and watchdog anyway. Thanks mate