When to notify Virgin about leaving?

[andybananas]

My contract is due to expire on 25 July 22.  In fact on my bill it says:

Welcome Offer - 18 Month Saving Ends on 25-JUL-22.

Im leaving VM as they are hopeless, I can never get through on the phone and had a nightmare setup problem.

I cant leave before the end of the contract as I will incur a penalty.  It also says I have to give them 30 days notice before going elsewhere.  I also dont want to pay more when I come off the 'Welcome Offer' which is in 31 days time.

Just wondered when I should tell VM when I want to switch?  I plan to use another provider and get them to do the switch for me - when should I instruct them to avoid stopping the contract early but also avoid paying the extra whaen I come off the Welcome Offer?

Many thanks!

[spell]

You can give notice of termination at least 30 days and up to three months before the termination date. It seems to be confusing for customer service staff who often say notice must be given exactly 30 days before date of termination. This has previously been verified by more on this forum.

[Akua_A]

Thank you for the response @andybananas.

I have been able to access your service on our system and I can see you recently got in contact with our team regarding this issue. Was the issue fully resolved with our team? Do you need any further help?

Thanks,

[andybananas]

So I finally got through after 45 minutes of waiting and cancelled the contract on 27 June, explaining that I wanted it done in 30 days or the 26th July.  This was agreed with the operator.

Interesting then that today, nearly 2 weeks later I get an email thanking for making changes to remove my landline.  These are to take effect on 2 August and that my next bill will be on 26 August with the next bill of £54.25, more than twice my current bill.

Im back on the phone now and got to the 45 minute wait time again.  Im concerned about being cut off as often happens about this time on the phone to Virgin Media.

Can someone please help from Virgin.  I am completely at my wits end and dont know what to do.  I simply cannot afford to pay £54.25 and just cannot get through on the phone.

This is causing me a lot of stress, can anyone help

[andybananas]

Sure enough, I just got to 65 minutes waiting and got cut off.

Please help someone

[Ryan_N]

I can see this has been ongoing for you andybananas and it's not good to see, I am sorry about that. 

I will send you over a private message so I can look into this for you. 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[andybananas]

So, another twist in the tale.  When I called VM on 27 June to cancel my contract, it was all good.  They said that the last date would be the 27 July.

I then went to Plusnet who couldnt be nicer.  I chose to transfer my landline to Plusnet which I checked on 25 July had been transferred.  All good.

Odd though that the VM box still worked and I still get wifi now on 29 July.

So, another wait on the hopeless phone line and, here's a new one!  Plusnet contacted VM on 5 July to get my landling transferred over.  The effect of them requesting my landline cancels my request to terminate the VM contract!  They told me this today on 29 July and there was no prior information in emails of this.

So, once again, VM, HELP!  You have sent me a bill for £54.25 for next month which I just cant afford to pay (as also paying Plusnet now (much less)).

- Can someone tell me where in the small print where is says "Requesting to transfer a landline will means your request to terminate a VM contract is automatically stopped and you will not be informed"??

- On the phone they said they now have to start the 30 days notice from now.  There is NO WAY to back date it and there is NO WAY to stop them billing me again.  I dont think this is very fair, can anyone tell me how I can get the money back or complain in a way they will listen?

[Ryan_N]

What you have been advised is incorrect. We had already spoke on private message and you didn't get back to me. 

I will send you over a new one to take a look. 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[andybananas]

Thanks for getting back, I got an email from VM resolutions as well so maybe check there

[andybananas]

So I finally did it, got out of Virgin Media.  For those interested or even planning on doing the same, my story is:

• 18 month deal ended at end of July so at end of June, notified VM I wanted to leave.  Reasons are mainly customer service (but thats another 3 page post!).
• Leaving requires 30 days notice.  If you go over that, they only charge you for the days over, not another full month.
• Leaving can ONLY be done over the phone.  Expect a tortuous attempt to keep you.  In fact, they did offer the same 18 month deal after a long phone call.
• Once you get past the non-UK call centre, they will forward you to a UK call cenre (but not pass on details why so you have to explain everything again).
• I gave notice at the end of June so expected to cut off end of July.  I also took my landline with me.
• End of July came and landline switched to new provider and new (phone line) provider up and running.  Similar speeds, happy me.
• VM box was still on so I tested the wifi and surprised to see it still working.
• Call VM end of July (another 40 minute wait) and told by non-UK call centre that contract still active.  Reason for this was that as I asked to move my landline, when the new provider requested this at the beginning of July, VM then CANCELS your request to leave.
• This isnt communicated to the customer and it was only out of interest that I caught it with the wifi still connected.
• VM then stated they wanted another 30 days notice and that my next bill would be more than DOUBLE my 18 month contract bill.  There was no budging on this and after being cut off a few times (another hour on the phone), managed to get the 30 days notice.
• Then had to complain that this was unaccetable behaviour and eventually managed to get through to the UK call centre who sorted it.

Everything could have been much easier.  I tried to complain about the whole process and being treated like a piece of dirt but as I am no longer a VM customer, I cannot.

I have contacted Offcom as dont believe the practices VM go through to end a contract are fair or acceptable.  The amount of hassle it takes to cancel a contract is beyond the limits of accetability.

Its so easy to sign up on the online form, set up a direct debit etc.  Why should it not be easy to end a contract an go elsewhere with an online form, tick box etc.  I know why they do it but why not make it fairer on customers to allow them to get out if they want.  Be interested on peoples thoughts

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

VM have committed to the regulator that leaving will be as easy as joining.  See commitment 5 in the Ofcom Fairness Commitments.  I will leave you to judge why VM do not bother to offer a simple online cancellation process, why there's regular reports of long delays, calls being transferred between staff who won't help, routinely poor communication, and botched disconnections.

A couple of things I'd correct:

You can complain to VM even as a former customer - just do it by post to the address on the complaints page.  Bear in mind that complaints handling is done to the customary Virgin Media standards of excellence, and you should expect a fob-off letter by way of response.  If you aren't happy with that, then you escalate the matter to CISAS, the industry complaints adjudicator, noting that you have to either allow VM eight weeks from your complaint to the company, or before that date you have to reject the "resolution" and demand a deadlock letter.

You can also cancel by post without the misery of calling VM.  That is a specific and legally enforceable requirement from Ofcom, and involves writing to the same address as before (see VM's cancellation page).  Unfortunately as you've found VM handle cancellations outstandingly badly and with a poor grace, meaning that you're more than likely to end up with a formal complaint and a trip to CISAS.

Ultimately, I blame both VM's management and the regulator Ofcom.  VM management run their business on a 1990's business model of cheap offshore and outsourced call centres - that's all they understand, they think that's entirely adequate, and they treat Ofcom's regulations like the Pirate's Code*.  Meanwhile Ofcom make little or no effort to check that their many rules are being adhered to, and they do next to nothing to enforce them, despite having ample powers to do so.  

* "And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.  Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner".  I must say there's a certain resonance between Virgin Media and the Black Pearl, that being a chaotic ghost ship crewed by drooling, mumbling zombies, inflicting harm on all who unwittingly come into contact with them.