Virgin Media Community

[Deanl81]

I recently made a complaint about customer service, basically two people said they would do something and then did something different. One person said I could have a new hub as my old one had a fault and then another person refused to let me have one. And at a later date one person said they would send me a v6 to replace a faulty old tivo and they sent one of the old ones instead.

I contacted customer services when my complaint was ignored and the advisor I spoke tried to resolve the issue by sending me a new v6 box and arranging a new hub to be sent out. I thought everything had been resolved until the next day when I received an email telling about £135 of charges that were being added to my account that I wasn't told about and would never have agreed to.

I requested a call back to resolve this as customer services said that even though I wasn't told of any charges that the charges are somehow still valid. I didn't receive a call for over a week so I chased it again myself and was told by customer services that I would get a call. When I did get a call it was from an engineer who had been told I had poor broadband speeds. 

Does anyone at virgin media actually care about resolving customer complaints? Does anyone know of anyone specific I can email to get a satisfactory response to this? 

[JitteryPinger]

Find the complaints code of practice here: https://www.virginmedia.com/content/dam/virginmedia/dotcom/images/shop/downloads/Code-of-Practice-Ap... 

[Andruser]

So, to elaborate, if VM can't or won't resolve a complaint to your satisfaction, then you can escalate to the industry arbitration scheme, CISAS, where it will be reviewed by a trained dispute resolution professional.  There's no cost to you (whatever the outcome), VM always have to pay the fees, and the data CISAS publish shows that VM compromise or concede the vast majority of complaints as soon as they are escalated to CISAS, and of the fraction they choose to dispute they lose the majority of those.

However, from your initial complaint, VM have eight weeks to resolve the complaint before you can escalate to CISAS (unless they admit they aren't going to concede and issue a deadlock letter, which is very rare).  The eight week clock starts ticking from when your formal complaint is acknowledged by VM, so this isn't a quick fix, and there's be a further few weeks for CISAS to process and then direct VM although it is very likely to work in your favour.  If you need to escalate to CISAS, read their customer guidance carefully and follow it - so clear explanation of the background, details of contacts with company and outcomes (noting any incidence of rudeness), and then specify what outcome you want.  By that stage you'll have long ago been charged the £135, and so you'll want that back, plus compensation for the wasted time and hassle.  CISAS ruling are binding on VM, so they can't say "nope we don't agree".

For both you and VM, the best solution is that the forum staff pick this up, get it referred back into the complaints team as a priority, and that £135 charge is cancelled or credited back.  Don't accept any half baked compromise - if they didn't clearly state you were being charged they can't charge you.

[Deanl81]

Thanks very much for that, some very useful and interesting information. I would prefer of course if someone would just call me to resolve it without having to resort to that.

[Beth_G]

Hi Deanl81,

I'm terribly sorry to hear about this experience you've had and the confusion this has caused you. I can certainly understand any frustrations that have come from this.

We do not charge for faulty equipment replacements, so I'm interested to see why you have been charged this amount and what's happened here. 

I'm going to pop you over a PM so I can look into this further. Check out the purple envelope for a message from me.

Kind regards,

Beth

[Mbenbow]

They ignore it and reply saying my service is fine and telling me I need to call. If you can actually get through 8th Feb I was waiting 2hrs then was told they are now closed its appauling don't respond to letters either 

[BeardedBlunder]

There is much to be said for registered post & / or recorded delivery & old-fashioned letters (and keeping copies), it's slow, but it gives you a trail of correspondence courts/regulators & arbitrators will accept. A company's registered address (see companies house) is always a legally valid destination for such correspondence, no matter how much a company like Virgin hates the administration involved, unlike wasted time on calls which get cut off & denied.