VM randomly decided to add £5 to my bill

[Solaris81]

Just thought I'd share my extremely negative experience with the VM call center this morning. 

I'd just received an e-mail saying my contract was coming to an end and the bill will rise from £110 which i'd been paying for 18 months to £147.50.

I immediately called up to tell them I can't accept this and it needs to stay at £110 or lower, and to removed or downgrade whatever was necessary to achieve this since I was on ultimate everything available at the time for the simple reason that it resulted in the lowest price they could offer me last time.

After multiple attempts to quote me a new monthly figure that was still above £110, the lady after putting me on hold several times said the lowest she can offer is the same package, just now even faster speed broadband, for £118, when I said what can I remove to bring it to £110 or lower she said if I remove the netflix on my account the price would be £108 a month.

I mentioned I don't and have never had netflix on my account. I said yes remove this from the option, 'm happy to be paying £108. She told me she can't remove it I have to call netflix to remove this. When I explained to her that since I don't have an account with netflix, how am I going to call them and ask them to cancel the non-existing account? She said she needs to speak to her supervisor and promised she would call me back at some point before the end of the day.

Later in the day after I realised I definitely wasn't going to receive any call, I decided to log into the VM app, and now magically my quoted bill for October is £115, despite every previous bill being £110, and despite the e-mail I received earlier in the day even quoting £110. Magically my account which had previously only showed broadband, TV and Phone, was now also showing "netflix" listed under my package.

The lady had somehow managed to add it to my account and increase my current bill, and then had hang up with a false promise to call me back later, claiming it was already there and she couldn't remove it.

This is just the latest example I've experienced of the incompetence and stupidity from this company. I have zero confidence in them sorting this out tomorrow.

After all that my question. Is there any way to get through to someone in the UK branch of the helpline, if it even exists any more? Or is it just pot luck and I have to keep hanging up until I get through to one? I've had multiple stupid things like this happen before and they are always fixed eventually by what seems like randomly finding someone with a UK accent on the other end.

[jem101]

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@Solaris81 wrote:

Just thought I'd share my extremely negative experience with the VM call center this morning. 

I'd just received an e-mail saying my contract was coming to an end and the bill will rise from £110 which i'd been paying for 18 months to £147.50.

No, no no, your contract is not coming to an end, what is happening is that the initial 18 month term is ending during which you got a reduced rate, so now you need to pay the full cost on a rolling monthly basis.

immediately called up to tell them I can't accept this and it needs to stay at £110 or lower

Yeh, well good luck with that one.

, and to removed or downgrade whatever was necessary to achieve this since I was on ultimate everything available at the time for the simple reason that it resulted in the lowest price they could offer me last time.

After multiple attempts to quote me a new monthly figure that was still above £110, the lady after putting me on hold several times said the lowest she can offer is the same package, just now even faster speed broadband, for £118, when I said what can I remove to bring it to £110 or lower she said if I remove the netflix on my account the price would be £108 a month.

I mentioned I don't and have never had netflix on my account. I said yes remove this from the option, 'm happy to be paying £108. She told me she can't remove it I have to call netflix to remove this. When I explained to her that since I don't have an account with netflix, how am I going to call them and ask them to cancel the non-existing account? She said she needs to speak to her supervisor and promised she would call me back at some point before the end of the day.

So they told you to call Netflix regarding a non-existant contract, yes? Why anyone might be forgiven for thinking that this was a load of BS just to get you off the phone

Later in the day after I realised I definitely wasn't going to receive any call,

Yes indeed that hardly ever happens, it's a ploy by customer services to get the annoying person valued customer off the phone.

I decided to log into the VM app, and now magically my quoted bill for October is £115, despite every previous bill being £110, and despite the e-mail I received earlier in the day even quoting £110. Magically my account which had previously only showed broadband, TV and Phone, was now also showing "netflix" listed under my package.

The lady had somehow managed to add it to my account and increase my current bill, and then had hang up with a false promise to call me back later, claiming it was already there and she couldn't remove it.

You don't think that possibly the customer service agent might have been (gasp) lying to to you, do you? Surely not, they are all highly professional and trained to the same high standards - well that's what we have been told!

This is just the latest example I've experienced of the incompetence and stupidity from this company. I have zero confidence in them sorting this out tomorrow.

Yes that just about sums it up.

After all that my question. Is there any way to get through to someone in the UK branch of the helpline, if it even exists any more?

Sorry no, the system just redirect callers to the first available 'agent', wherever they happen to be or indeed skill level  - no forget that, we have been assured that all VM's customer services staff have been trained 'to the same high level' - sorry Nat!

Or is it just pot luck and I have to keep hanging up until I get through to one? I've had multiple stupid things like this happen before and they are always fixed eventually by what seems like randomly finding someone with a UK accent on the other end.

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[Solaris81]

The contract length was 18 months and Octobers bill will be the 18th month. That's what I meant by my contract is coming to an end and spinning it another way that ultimately means the same thing doesn't really change anything. Other than that thanks for the reply. Just a note on their tactic to "call back later" to remove an annoying caller, I was extremely polite and patient during the entire call, but I'll bare that in mind in future the next time I'm promised a call back.

Has anyone had any luck with calling and repeatedly hanging up until they find a UK based person? I'm assuming they still exist since I've not dealt with VM since the beginning of my current contract term.

[Paul_DN]

Hi Solaris81,

Thank you for reaching out to us in our community and welcome back, sorry to see your bill was showing £5 more than previously advised and that you believe this was down to the Agent adding Netflix, when a contract is due to end the billing period may have gone a little into when the price increases and can cause extra on the bill, I will be more than happy to look into this for you especially with your concerns over Netflix.

So I can help I will send you an invite into a private chat, once received please click on the purple envelope to accept.

Regards

Paul.

[Solaris81]

Just an update I called again this morning and by sheer luck got through to a UK based person called Sean and he completely solved everything for me. The lady had indeed added netflix, he couldn't understand why or even understand the prices she was quoting me. He could also see my bill from October had jumped from 110 to 115 yesterday, but had zero clue as to how she did this as he seemed to think the netflix charge should have been higher, though he did suggest it could have been related.

For the actual contract renewal he said the first result for my current package plus the upgraded BB speed was showing as just £111, which actually did include netflix at no extra cost. He seemed genuinely confused at everything the previously lady had quoted me and how she actually altered my current bill.

I guess the moral is if you need to call VM, especially if it's regarding changes to your account, hang up if you don't get through to one of the UK based employees. It's literally like 2 separate companies one of which is completely incompetent. I'm not blaming the foreign individuals for any of this, this is obviously the company's fault as they believe this kind of lack of training or knowledge and complete incompetency is perfectly adequate.

[Paul_DN]

Hi Solaris81,

Thank you for reaching back out to us and for advising you have spoken to us and that everything has been resolved for you, if you do need any further support, please do not hesitate to reach back out.

Regards

Paul.

[Solaris81]

Another update. Despite what Sean said and the fact he managed to sort everything else out regarding my new contract, I was STILL charged the extra £5 on my October bill, for absolutely zero reason. 

[Lee_R]

Hi Solaris81, thanks for getting back to us.

I am sorry to hear that your billing issue has still not been resolved.  I would like to take a closer look on your behalf.  I am going to send you a private message. Please look out for the purple envelope in the top right of your screen.

Regards

Lee