VM ignoring their own contract

[Loyal_customer]

10 year plus customer of VMs, Last week of August I get an email from them with a renewal offer, £44 a month, 1gbps, 18 months, no up front costs etc.  I click agree, get an email back with the PDF contract attached, all looks good, get a start date of 1st of October.

9th of October, still no upgrade, email in only to be told the upgrade never happened, I launch a complaint and get a reply offering the package for £58 a month and £40 up front cost, obviously I'm not going to take this when I already signed a much cheaper contract with VM... I forwarded the PDF contracts back to VM, advising them to honour it or accuse me of forging the contract so I can move forward with my solicitor, I get no reply, but I do get a notification of a package change and an email about a new delivery via DHL (the new router).

I have now had a new super hub and my speed upgrade but have been billed for the router which was clearly started as £0 on my legally binding contract from VM, if I cancel the direct debit then my virgin media broadband will be cut off and il be unable to work and earn a living, which is unacceptable given my wife's 7 months pregnant and about to go on maternity leave, causing us both undue stress at the hands of VMs blatant lack of care for customers and contracts they provide in writing to their customers.

I don't want to pay the fraudulent fees VM are proposing, but I need the service I am contractually signed up to, however virgin are making me choose, pay what I don't owe, or lose the service I am in contract for, this to me is entrapment. 

I have only had automated replies to the complaint emails which I have been sending for month now, anyone in the forum's able to nudge the right person? This isn't a disagreement, it's a black and white contract which virgin are refusing to honour.

[goslow]

There have been a lot of these topics recently involving contract renewals which failed to turn into what the customer was expecting.

If you have complained to VM and they have failed to resolve (or the 'resolution' is non-sensical and irrelevant, as is often the case as reported on here), you can reject the resolution offer to you by VM. VM can reconsider its resolution or offer you a deadlock letter if VM does not intend to change its proposed resolution. With the deadlock letter, or 8 weeks after you complained in any event, you can go to arbitration.

https://www.commsombudsman.org/our-process

This is free to the customer and does not require use/cost of a solicitor.

You can share your unhappy complaint experience with OFCOM.

They launched an investigation into VM on 13 July 2023 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

Submitting information won't help your individual complaint but it will contribute to the OFCOM investigation and it sounds like your experience is directly relevant to the terms of reference of the investigation.

[Loyal_customer]

Thank you for your reply

Yes the replies are nonsense unfortunately, my problem is the 8 week wait to take up with the ombudsman,  within that period I even have to pay VM double what my contract states or get cut off and not be able to work. 

Can I afford the extra (fraudulent) charges in the short term? well this isn't really the point, if I couldn't afford the extra money outside of my contract, then what? Take out a loan? Or lose my job due to not being able to work when VM disconnect me?  

I just feel as a customer for over a decade, it means literally nothing to VM, and I'm struggling to think how a company could provide service any worse than this!

[goslow]

You are correct, the time of time you have been with VM means nothing in the grand scheme of things. You are simply another customer widget to be processed by the VM system as far as VM is concerned.

You don't have to wait 8 weeks if VM has given you a 'resolution'. Demand the deadlock letter from VM. If they fail to provide (or possibly do so in any case), speak to the Communications Ombudsman direct for further advice on how to escalate to them.

One of the VM forum team will reply here within a few days. They may offer to help or may just 'signpost' you back to the phones and Whatsapp route.

[Loyal_customer]

Ahh brilliant thank you, didn't think to demand the deadlock letter.

I'll give this a go,  thank you!

[goslow]

If you reject the VM resolution, and VM does not intend to modify its resolution, then VM should proactively offer you the deadlock letter

https://partners.ombudsman-services.org/resources/guidance-notes/eight-week-and-deadlock-letters-com...

The fact that VM is poor at doing this is part of the reason for the OFCOM investigation into VM's complaints handling.

[Loyal_customer]

Haha, thanks again for your help.

It really does say alot about them as a company that even their complaints process is under investigation due to the amount of complaints they have had about said complaints system.

I think we all know they won't be around in 5 years time when majority of UK properties have have fttp options outside of VM, which will be good riddance in my opinion.  I can honestly say I have never dealt with such a terrible company in all my life, nor have I met a single person with anything nice to say about them, says it all really.

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @Loyal_customer 

Thank you so much for your post and welcome to the community forums, it's great to have you here. 

I am so sorry that you have faced this experience with your service and I can fully understand your frustrations with this experience, also a big thank you to goslow for their help here so far. 

I'd be happy to take a closer look into this with you via a private message and see what we can get resolved for you. I will pop you a PM across now, please keep an eye out for the envelope at the top of your screen alerting you to a new message.
 

[stu001]

Hi - new to the forum but came here looking for advice as I have literally the same issue. Took out a new 18m contract on 12 Oct on the website, have the pdfs confirmation emails etc and they've refused to honour it. Multiple Webchats, WhatApps and even Twitter interactions and nothing. Cancelled out of frustration.

Going through the complaints process, one response so far which offered diddly squat, just the same info I've already had multiple times. Currently paying over double what I was before whilst this isn't being rectified.

I'll probably cancel the disconnection so I can keep my service and go to the ombudsman.

[Molly_T]

Hi stu001 👋 welcome to the community! 

Thank you for getting in touch and letting us know about this issue with your contract and package! Sorry to hear about your experience, and trying to get it sorted. 
I'd like to offer some help, so I will need to send you a PM to confirm a few account details and investigate what has happened here. 

You can find the PM in the top right corner of the page in your Inbox. 📩 We can then return to this public thread with another update when possible. Thank you for your patience in the meantime!

Wishing you all the best. 🌞