After 20+ Years with NTL/Virgin Media they put the price up too far so we finally decided to leave.
My wife (the account holder) contacted VM on the 19th March to arrange disconnection because of the steep price increases.
Usually she can "negotiate" a reduction with VM's disconnection people but the best their reps would offer her was £40 despite VM offering the same package to new customers for £26, this smarts a bit as we have been a loyal customer of VM/NTL for more than 25 years.
So my wife rang and spoke to VM rep Michael at 13.33 on the 19th March and said we were leaving and he gave her a service end date of the 18th April.
He said he would arrange the disconnection of our TV and Broadband starting from the 19th march but said that as we were taking our landline number to our new ISP (Vodafone) that that the landline part of our service couldn't be cancelled straight away we would have to wait for the "port" of the number to our new ISP to be complete, this was completed on the 9th April, 01633 66**** (previously an NTL number) is now on working on our new Vodafone service and Vodafone are billing us for it as well as VM!
She subsequently received an email from VM on the 20th March to say her *new monthly bundle cost would be £19.00* and that her next bill would be generated on the 18th April.
The email also said:
"Your new package now includes:
No New services have been added
We've removed:
TV: TiVo Monthly Fee - Mixit TV
Broadband: Volt M250 Broadband"
This made good sense up to this point.
On the 23rd March my wife gets another email from VM saying her new monthly bundle cost is £57.60 and that our "New" package is TV: Mixit TV & Phone Talk Weekends - Line Rental ?
So having agreed to one price (£19) VM simply Jack it up to £57? now it make no sense and smacks of sharp business practice.
To confirm my wife rang VM's call centre and was told our last bill would be £57.00 not the £19.00 as originally agreed with VM representative Michael on the 19th March.
Rang VM's call centre again and spoke to "Ryan" who said he couldn't tell her what her final bill will be "the system" wouldn't show him the bill because of the way the disconnection was done? and that she would have to wait for the email bill in about a months time?
So my good lady is fairly fed up with this at this point and raised a complaint through VM's portal, their response was contact the "customer retention team" so....
She contacted VM's "customer retention team" and spoke to their representative "Maika" at 11:05 on the 12th April.
Maika confirmed that our landline 01633 66**** was successfully physically ported to Vodafone on the 9th April, I can confirm the line is now working on the Vodafone network and that Vodafone are currently billing us for this service.
Maika said that Virgin Media's telephone number "Export Order" would take seven days to complete from the physical port date of 9th April giving a completion date of 16th April 2024, she also said I would get a bill then.
Maika's Call Reference Number: FOR0033175713.
Maika went on to say that the 30 day termination notice would start from the 9th April for *ALL* our VM services?
All this despite being given assurance by VM representative "Michael" on the 19th March 2024 that the 30 day notice for the Broadband & TV elements of my contract would start on the date of my conversation with him giving a cessation date for these elements of the 18th April 2024.
It gets worse......
New bill from VM received Fri, 19 Apr 2024 at 7:26
"Your bill
£62.95
Bill date: 18 April 2024
Payment date: 7 May 2024
You've chosen to pay your bill by Direct Debit. We will request £62.95 from your bank or building society on or immediately after 7 May 2024.
About this month's bill...
Let us break it down for you
Package changes: £0.73
You've made some changes since your last bill. To view your latest package and see a full breakdown of what has been added / removed, please use the red 'view this bill' button above to sign in to My Virgin Media.
Your package: £62.22
As you've made some changes since your last bill, this value might look a little different to last month. If you've added a service or changed your bundle, those changes will be reflected in this amount.
Your package includes your standard monthly bundle / package cost, plus any promotions and discounts applied. This month they cover your advanced month from 16 April.
Owed from last month: £0.00
Your Virgin Media account is up to date, thank you."
Other than the cancellation my wife hasn't made any package changes as noted in this VM's email and the bill amount is not that agreed with their representative Michael on the 19th March 2024..
But It gets worse still.....
Out of the blue my wife then gets a "Whatsapp" message from VM:
(Edited as it's rather long but a complete transcript is available)
19/04/2024, 16:42 - Virgin Media: Hi N*******, this is Virgin Media O2. We noticed that you have an open complaint on your account C-0904*******. ...........................
19/04/2024, 18:35 - Virgin Media: N******, Thank you for clearing the security on the account, and I really appreciate your patience. I understand that you are worried about the final bill, as you spoke in March about disconnection and were informed that on April 19, your account will be disconnected and the final bill will be 19.00 GBP. Still, your account was not disconnected, and you were informed that your account will be disconnected on May 15, and then your bill will be 62.00 GBP and you will get a refund of 18.00 GBP on your account. Please allow me to check on the account, and be assured that I am looking into the complaint right now to help you with a resolution. Kindly stay connected. It might take some time.
19/04/2024, 18:36 - N*******: Ok Im not going anywhere until I get a resolution to this fiasco
19/04/2024, 18:52 - Virgin Media: N******, Thank you for your patience, and I really appreciate your patience. I am sorry that it took me time to receive your complaint and account. I understand that you contacted me in March to request disconnection. However, only a homephone switchover request was taken, not the complete account. I am really sorry for that. I am taking ownership to make sure that your disconnection date is getting disconnected early and you will not receive the bill for 62.95 GBP on your account. As I have provided you with the resolution, I will close the complaint........
19/04/2024, 18:57 - N******: Can you tell me my disconnection date? will it revert to the originally agreed 18th April?
19/04/2024, 19:00 - Virgin Media: N******, Not to worry, as your account should get disconnected on April 18; hence, April 18 is already passed, so your account will be disconnected tomorrow. And as you are requesting an email confirmation, we will make sure that you receive an email confirmation with the disconnection date, which will be tomorrow.
Needless to say no email was received and the "closing bill still shows:
You can't deal with people like this saying one thing and then doing something different and then just blatantly lying to fob you off so they can close a complaint.
Disgusting shoddy behaviour.
Where can we go from here?
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
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