Shocking customer service re package change - help required

[steve695]

Really need some help, I'm having a nightmare with the Virgin customer service people who have promised to call me back about my issue but haven't. I don't have any faith that this is actually going to happen.

Here's the story - my contact recently ran out so I phoned the call centre to change it. I asked for the Ultimate Volt Package that's on the website for £85 a month. I was told that this price was only for new customers but was offered the package for just over £100. Now, I'm not particularly happy that a customer for years is being treated worse than new customers but I accepted this since it includes Netflix and I didn't have that beforehand.

However, when the confirmation email arrived, it said that I'd only been upgraded to M600 broadband rather than the Gig1 that was quoted as part of the package I'd agreed on.

I contacted Virgin Media on WhatsApp only be told that this service was an extra £35! wth!

I then phoned retentions to be told that only new customers can get the Gig1 service. Well, if this is the case why was I not told this when I bought the package and why was I offered it for £35 on WhatsApp earlier in the day??

I went through to the next level of retentions people and spoke to someone else based in the UK who promised to sort the issue, send me the correct router and would call me back when this was sorted. However, I heard absolutely nothing!

What am I supposed to do now Virgin? I really am fed up with this. Does anyone know if Sky are actually any better?

[Ryan_N]

Hi steve695, 

Thank you for your post and welcome to the forums. 

I am sorry to hear of the experience you've had when trying to get your package/contract sorted here. Unfortunately we don't handle this on the forums and you would need to speak with the team that has been dealing with this already. You are able to contact the team on the WhatsApp messenger you've been using and also on the number of: 0345 454 1111. 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[goslow]

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@steve695 wrote:

Really need some help, I'm having a nightmare with the Virgin customer service people who have promised to call me back about my issue but haven't. I don't have any faith that this is actually going to happen.

<snip>

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You are, of course, correct that no one from VM is going to phone you back.

There is a good post here

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/Volt-contract-dishonouring-customer...

from customer bencowp describing a 'didn't-get-the-deal-promised' story and how he resolved by pointing out VM's failings wrt consumer law. VM don't seem to really understand this and frequently try to tie the customer in knots or throw up endless roadblocks in the way.

Of course, you will have to prove your word against VM's, so you may need to request call recordings and other customer data to help build your case. You can do that via a DSAR

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/dsar

This kind of issue is cropping up a lot recently on here as customers try to renew or cancel. While gathering your evidence for a complaint to VM, and then to CISAS, consider submitting a report to OFCOM about VM's renewal and retention practices

https://ofcomforms.secure.force.com/formentry/SitesFormCCTMonitoring

This is nothing more than a monitoring form, so won't help you individually, but will raise awareness with the regulator about VM's business activities wrt renewals and cancellations. Refer to the OFCOM fairness commitments

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2019/broadband-and-phone-firms-put-...

and VM's failings in points 1, 3, 5 and 6

[Anonymous]

Nonsense. Steve you formed a contract on your first call re the £100 1gb package. All calls are recorded. If the VM team on here are declining to lift a finger to support you on this then raise a formal complaint and also demand a copy of the original call recording https://www.virginmedia.com/help/dsar

[-tony-]

@Andrew-G is much better at explaining the ins and outs than me and i am sure he has a cut and paste which covers it but my understanding is your legal position is clear - if the deal offered was/is deemed reasonable - no naked women or membership of pole dancing clubs thrown in then VM must offer you what was agreed - your word against theirs is good enough - you dont have to prove it although it would useful if you had a mail or copy of any texts 

so wait for VM to discuss it - by discuss i mean sort out what you were offered not some lesser compromise - if that does not happen then you need to go to the arbitrator - put your case and you should win - add £50 or £100 compensation for wasted time and stress - again you should get that

and 1gig for new customers only is offshore rubbish afaik - if you want 1gig you should get it although if the quoted price was for less then pushing for that at this stage could complicate things

[goslow]

For anything going beyond VM to CISAS, evidence will be everything in CISAS coming to a judgement and, since DSAR access for things like call recordings is time-limited, steve695 should collect as much of that as possible, as soon as possible if it is likely to be needed as his evidence.

From

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/complainnow/

What information do I need to submit my claim?

<snipped>

Any documents you may want to include, such as bills, contracts, correspondence with the company (including evidence of complaint), media (audio/video), photographs, receipts, etc.

It is your responsibility to provide as much information/evidence as possible. You should submit a case when you have all your information and evidence ready.

If steve695 gets any more from a VM complaint than the usual automated cut/paste reply, then all to the good.

The reply at #2, and the description to date, doesn't offer too much hope of that though.