VM Ignored 2 complaints and staff lied repeatedly about Total Cost. Please HELP

[clarmrrsn]

Hello

Apologies for the long email, read it and you will be as horrified as I am.

I am almost at my wits end with the poor customer service I have received over the past week, I am really hoping someone from VM team on the forum can help me.

I initially called Tuesday 11th July to see about a new deal, I complained to the person I spoke to about the poor quality of the services I have been receiving from VM over the past 18 months, as well as the poor customer service, my Broadband has been offline many times, and the Wifi signal has been so poor from the VM router I had to invest in another (even with VM additional boosters).  I asked a manager to call me back on complaint 12072329 that was raised for me.  It appears this case # has disappeared completely, there was no action by VM, and no manager has ever contacted me (On complaint tracker this complaint is not even listed).

I waited patiently until Sunday when I decided enough was enough, initially when I called on Sunday it was to cancel my contract, but the person I spoke to on the phone seemed really helpful, really apologetic and promised he would get me a very good deal. I warned that in order for me to even consider staying the cost would need to be substantially lower than the previous offer of knocking a few pounds off.

He said that he could give me the same package as I am on now for £78 a month.  At least 5 times I asked him to confirm what the £78 included, and asked very clearly on many occasions for confirmation that this was the complete price including the o2 SIM, I was answered yes on more than one occasion so decided to agree to this new contract offer.   (The deal offered seemed very genuine as the new customer deal advertised is in the same ballpark at £85 a month (£60 to VM and £25 to 02))

I had the Ultimate Volt Bundle which included everything, also had the talk international add on, he assured me many times everything was included in this £78 monthly price exactly as I have at the moment.

When I got the contract confirmation through something did not look right with the pricing (I was expecting to see a split in the £78 paid to VM and o2 however this did not seem to be the case), also there were 2 different contract offers sent and both had things missing from them and didn't seem correct.

I went on the chat this morning to confirm that the person I spoke to Sunday afternoon had priced and put the contract through correctly.

After spending 2 hours and 10 minutes on the chat to Julie Ann this morning from around 8.30am I was eventually after almost an hour informed that the chap in retentions who had arranged the deal had told me a pack of lies.  The £78 was only for Virgin Media portion of the bill, there was still 02 part to pay.....

I complained like hell, and was so frustrated I cancelled my contract, Julie Ann offered to get a manager to call me (for the second time) so that I could discuss the misrepresentation (or lies to be more accurate) of the contract price.

Julie Ann raised the below complaint for me, I have sat in the house all day waiting for a manager to hopefully call and have just received the below email it seems from a Manager???

------------------------------------

"Complaint reference: C-170723337

Hello ***** **********,  

Thanks so much for the chat on 17/07/2023. We’re very happy to be able to resolve things for you.

Here’s a quick recap

Your complaint was:
Cable -> My Contract/Package -> My package isn't as described

And here’s what we agreed:
Billing -> Extra guidance on billing

Stay on top of your services"  

---------------------------------

Without any Manager even attempting to contact me the complaint has been closed with the very insulting insinuation that I should "Stay on top of my services"  This was Copied word for work from the email (except my name that is removed)

What the heck is going on here?

Is it normal practice for Virgin Media staff to Lie to customers about what their contract will cost, and then Managers to completely ignore customer complaints, even going so far as to blame the customer for issues he has experienced with VM??

I cannot believe this  response, is this the customer service I should expect from VM????

Please can someone help me end this madness, If I cannot get a manager to assist me then it seems the Forum may be my last option here.

PLEASE HELP

[goslow]

OFCOM will be interested in your experience.

OFCOM launched an investigation into VM last week specifically into VM's cancellation and complaints processes.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/bulletins/enforcement-bulletin/open-cases/cw_01275

Case ref. no. and an email at the bottom of the above page or submit with same info via the contact form

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

This won't launch an investigation into your individual complaint but will contribute to the OFCOM investigation into VM's activities and performance in this area.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @clarmrrsn thanks for your post here in the Community although we're sorry to hear of the concerns you've raised here.

Regarding any Volt SIM package, the price quoted is solely from the Virgin Media side and you receive a separate contract from O2 for the cost of their SIM, but we are sorry if this wasn't made clear to you during the conversation.
In terms of the O2 SIM itself, unfortunately we can't cancel the SIM once this has been sold - if you do not wish to have the SIM Card from O2, you would need to contact them directly and they can cancel this down for you on their side within the 14-day right to cancel policy.

It's not clear what has happened and caused the complaint to close down sadly without a conversation, this is not standard practice from Virgin Media and we are extremely sorry for this. 

Can you advise please what you are seeking in terms of a resolution and we can look into this further for you?
Many thanks

[clarmrrsn]

Hello Tom

Thank you for the swift reply.

I was looking for Virgin Media to honor the deal I was offered on Sunday Afternoon, as it was confirmed to me by the chap in retentions. 

I am fully aware that there are separate billed amounts for Virgin and o2, which is why I asked for confirmation so many times. 

I do not think this is an unreasonable request considering the circumstances. 

You have no idea the stress this has been causing and I would very much like to bring this nightmare to a close.

To clarify, £78 a month for everything that I have just now including the o2 sim. 

Best Regards

C

[Tom_W1]

Hi @clarmrrsn thanks for your quick reply here - understood.

Please allow me to send you a PM so I can look into things further for you.

Kindly expect the PM to arrive shortly and respond directly when you can!
Many thanks

[clarmrrsn]

Thanks Tom

PM Sent 

[Tom_W1]

Hi @clarmrrsn thanks for your reply - and received!
Just as a note, we don't reply to PM's in the later hours as we do concentrate on new incoming public posts, and our social media channels too which we also respond on.

I'm back responding to PM's from 1pm tomorrow for your information, so thanks for your patience until then!
Many thanks

[clarmrrsn]

Thanks for the info Tom

Speak to you tomorrow. 

[clarmrrsn]

Hi Tom 

A manager called me this morning. 

Looks like its all sorted

Thanks for the assistance 

[clarmrrsn]

Hello

I have just been looking through my bills from this contract change and it seems there is a mistake somewhere.

We have always had Talk International add on, my partner uses this to call her family in Poland on their mobiles, the exact same was supposed to have been included when I resigned the contract, I asked numerous times to confrim there were no changes and this was the same on the new contract.  Nothing has changed from our end, she calls the same number as she has the past 2 years.

I was horrified on looking at my first 2 bills I have been charged £27.57 on Augusts Bill and £42.76 in September Bill for calls to Poland that should be included.

Can someone have a look at this for me please and see what on earth is going on now.