Trying to cancel, 3 months later still here, terrible customer service

[Frustrated_vm]

I have been trying to leave VM broadband since June 2022 as my bill was going to go from £21 to £47. Fast forward to today and I am still with VM and they are happily taking £47 from me.

Never experienced such terrible service from Virgin Media or any other company before.

You speak to the chat, they say to speak to the phone team, phone team suggest making a complaint, problem with the complaint, so speak to phone team, who suggest talking to the chat....Now time to talk to forum team... 

Timeline of events:

1. Tried giving my notice on the 27th June via the phone but on hold for over an hour, automated message suggests to use the WhatsApp chat. So I go through the chat, pass security and give my 30 days notice.

2. Hear nothing for a month, I call back on the 21st July and was told they don't have my 30 days notice from the chat. I was told to send a copy of the chat via email to a manager which I did. I was told if I provided evidence of me giving 30 days they would 'backdate' my notice and refund me any money after that date.

3. Hear nothing for a month, I call back on the 15th August, the assistant didn't know what was going on, asked it I wanted to complain, which I did. He made the complaint for me, I added the details and waited for a response.

4. Hear nothing for a month, I call back on 31st August and ask what is going on? I'm paying £47 now, why am I still being charged? The assistant effectively said I can't leave until the complaint is resolved....

5.Hear nothing, it's been more than 28 days and the complaint hasn't been looked at. So on the 14th September I make a new complaint, complaining about the 1st complaint (madness??)... 

6. On the 18th September I receive an email from Virgin Media (is it finally over??) It states "Thanks so much for the chat on 18/09/2022. We’re very happy to be able to resolve..."

...What chat? Apparently they gave me product 'information' and I was happy. The whole resolution and chat was a lie, it never happened. Oh and the 2nd complaint I made? Just closed down without any reason or response.

7. On the 18th September, I contacted the phone team and raised this false response to my complaint, completely goes against your code of practice.... A new complaint was raised and 'escalated' to a manager.... 30 mins later the assistant just hangs up... 

8. On the 21st September 2022, I contacted the phone team again, after the 1st assistant hung up, the 2nd one said there was no manager to help but I could join a 18 month contract for £27 I wanted...

Frustrated I thought why not give the WhatsApp chat a go... Passed from Toni to Vicky to Pavan and Lilli... I don't know if I was talking to a bot, the same person but just as before no conclusion.

Now it is time for the forum team... Can you help me?

All I would like is my original 30 days notice to be honoured, leave your service and all extra charges since then to be returned.

Find out why my complaint was falsely closed down?

[Frustrated_vm]

Well done, as others have suggested, I'm in a similar predicament, the staff at Virgin Media think they can treat customers like an afterthought and there won't be any consequences.

Unfortunately not all customers are the same, some of us have legal or law backgrounds and can collect all relevant evidence to build our case.

[Andrew-G]

1) Easy option, wait for the forum staff, they can probably sort this out, given that you've already told VM that you want to cancel ( hint to staff "we don't process cancellations in the forum" is the wrong response, notice has already been served, but not processed and this is the umpteenth time I've used this same text for exactly the same problem).  VM should also offer a goodwill settlement for the appalling service, but don't expect much - the company are misers, and you'd likely get a better settlement under option 2.

2) A more involved option is to either (a) reject any "resolution" communication from VM and ask for a deadlock letter, or wait until your first complaint is eight weeks old.  Once your situation meets one of those criteria you should escalate the matter to CISAS, asking for the contract to be cancelled, for this to be backdated to your first attempt to contact the company to achieve this, and for compensation for (a) the poor customer service, repeated failures to put things right, and the poor complaints handling (b).  Also list any broken promises (eg call back promises), any instances of rudeness, unreasonably long call wait times, staff rudeness or disconnections.  Those are important when CISAS evaluate compensation awards.

3) Regardless of whether you choose to let the forum staff deal with this, or take the matter to adjudication, you should also complain to Ofcom, and do it today.  They won't get involved in your complaint, but they monitor VM's performance on complaints and service standards, and by complaining you're helping add to the evidence that will hopefully result in a proper regulatory investigation, since difficulty cancelling is a repeated complaint round here (along with failure to properly process a cancellation request).  I'd suggest you comment in the Ofcom complaint that this fiasco around the supposedly simple business of closing an account is a particularly serious breach of Ofcom General Condition C1.8, which requires that cancelling a contract is quick, simple and easy.

[Molly_T]

Hi Frustrated_VM. Welcome to the community! Thank you for posting. 

Very sorry to hear your feedback of your experience. I can see you have also posted about your experience and issues in more detail on this public thread here: Trying to cancel, 3 months later still here, terri... - Virgin Media Community - 5127294. 

To avoid confusion we will stick to this one thread moving forwards so we can get you the fastest support possible. 

Hopefully you will see my responses to offer the support you need over there!

All the best. 

[Molly_T]

Hi Frustrated_Vm, welcome to the community! Thank you for posting. 

Thank you for giving such detail about your recent experience with us. Sincerest apologies that this has happened and for your difficulties throughout the process!

I will be able to offer support with your complaints, I will just need to send you a PM first so we can confirm a few account details. I can then do a full investigation into what has happened here and offer further support. 

I will also help process your cancellation if you still need support with this!

You can find the PM in the top right corner of the page in your Inbox. 

We can then return to this thread with an update where possible. 

All the best!