Worst customer service received - ever!

[robbond55]

Hello all and forgive me as this is my first post on here but I just need to vent about this absolute nightmare of a company!

I have recently left Virgins full fibre broadband service due to the price rises and despite many issues finally getting that sorted (which I will not go into here ) I was finally given a date to leave and had my new fibre install done before the cut off date.

Someone then called me from the retention team to offer me a better deal a few days after agreeing to leave and I told them I will think about it over the next couple of days but requested an email to cover what was discussed.

A day later I found without my consent they had signed me up to a new 18 month deal which took a couple of hours on the phone to get sorted and requested a call back from a manager.

True to form with this shambles of a company this did not happen so tried again but this time two days later I got a call from a manager who said they will look into the issues and understood why I wanted to leave and would give me £20 for inconvenience (this had  gone on for three weeks and totalled up hours on the phone which was 11 by this stage!)

My deal was a discounted rate of £26 per month for 300 Mbps fibre on volt and because I left due to the price increase there was no cancellation charge and was told I would be charged pro rata for what I had used that month which is entirely fair, and my contract ended on the 6th April.

Yesterday I checked my bill and found I had been charged £63.20 - £57 for the month and £6.30 additional services whatever they are so immediately got on the phone and the operator said that was correct  - I pointed out that my contract which was due to end 6th July was at a rate of £57 per month.

He told me yes I will be refunded £48 of this to take into account the pro rata payment but I asked why was I not told this initially - I had not expected to pay more than my £26 (or less) which was my contracted amount at the time.

I pointed out that I do not work due to disability (I have Multiple Sclerosis) and had not budgeted for this amount and it had made my bank account take a hit and asked to speak to a manager.

The usual story came back that it takes up to 14 days as they have to email them and cannot speak directly to a manager but at this point, I was polite but insistent and stated that I feel that, given the issues I have had and have now I would like to speak to someone sooner rather than later to resolve this.

He said he would try and, to be fair, the person I spoke to on this occasion seemed to be trying his best to help and after a few minutes he said he has spoken to his manager (thought they could only email them!) 

He came back and said that he had spoken to his manager and that they have agreed to pay the £48 back on a one day service and will send me an email of what they are going to do and what was discussed.

With that I thanked him for his time and felt happy that at least some resolution was forthcoming.

Now this is the next day, 24 hours later, no payment and no email (and yes, I have checked the junk mail!) and now kicking myself for believing that Virgin had been able to sort out an issue.

On the phone today, no joy so I am writing to BBC Watchdog about this absolute shambles of a company who seems to offer zero customer service and even has members of their team lying and signing you up for contracts without my consent.

Sorry everyone for my ramblings but I feel I needed to get this off my chest and Ihave to laugh when I read this quote from Richard Branson - "listen more than you speak" as for Virgin Media to listen to their customers - well that is a laugh in itself!

If Virgin came along and offered me the full package for free , I have to be honest, on principle I would say no and would rather give what money I have to a trustworthy and reputable company and would never, ever touch these with a barge-pole again!

Rob

[robbond55]

Hi there - just joined the forum to vent about this company but when I was leaving my full fibre contract I had a call from someone in their retention's team to offer me a deal - it was very good on paper but I was reluctant as these are the worst I have experienced on service and I said can you send me an email with the details in and I will let them know in a day or so whilst I consider it.

The person said sure, gave me the number he called on as he said he realised I have had issues before and we lest it at that.

Next day - email received signed up to a new 18 month contract without my consent. Tried calling number he gave me and guess what, no reply!

Took two hours of phone calls to resolve it and three days for a manager to get back to me about it as I said they have basically made changes to my account without my consent.

Still have issues now with final payment as last day of contract 6th April so I would leave this absolute shower of a company as they are not to be trusted!

[robbond55]

POST ON VIRGIN FORUM

Hi all...

Just need to vent about this nightmare of a company.

I have left the broadband service due to the price rises and despite many issues finally getting that sorted (which I will not go into here ) I was finally given a date to leave and had my new fibre install done before the cut off date.

Someone then called me from the retention team to offer me a better deal a few days after agreeing to leave and I told them I will think about it over the next couple of days but requested an email to cover what was discussed.

A day later I found without my consent they had signed me up to a new 18 month deal which took a couple of hours on the phone to get sorted and requested a call back from a manager.

True to form with this shambles of a company this did not happen so tried again but this time two days later I got a call from a manager who said they will look into the issues and understood why I wanted to leave and would give me £20 for inconvenience (this had  gone on for three weeks and totalled up hours on the phone which was 11 by this stage!)

My deal was a discounted rate of £26 per month for 300 Mbps fibre on volt and because I left due to the price increase there was no cancellation charge and was told I would be charged pro rata for what I had used that month which is entirely fair, and my contract ended on the 6th April.

Yesterday I checked my bill and found I had been charged £63.20 - £57 for the month and £6.30 additional services whatever they are so immediately got on the phone and the operator said that was correct  - I pointed out that my contract which was due to end 6th July was at a rate of £57 per month.

He told me yes I will be refunded £48 of this to take into account the pro rata payment but I asked why was I not told this initially - I had not expected to pay more than my £26 (or less) which was my contracted amount at the time.

I pointed out that I do not work due to disability (I have Multiple Sclerosis) and had not budgeted for this amount and it had made my bank account take a hit and asked to speak to a manager.

The usual story came back that it takes up to 14 days as they have to email them and cannot speak directly to a manager but at this point, I was polite but insistent and stated that I feel that, given the issues I have had and have now I would like to speak to someone sooner rather than later to resolve this.

He said he would try and, to be fair, the person I spoke to on this occasion seemed to be trying his best to help and after a few minutes he said he has spoken to his manager (thought they could only email them!) 

He came back and said that he had spoken to his manager and that they have agreed to pay the £48 back on a one day service and will send me an email of what they are going to do and what was discussed.

With that I thanked him for his time and felt happy that at least some resolution was forthcoming.

Now this is the next day, 24 hours later, no payment and no email (and yes, I have checked the junk mail!) and now kicking myself for believing that Virgin had been able to sort out an issue.

On the phone today, no joy so I am writing to BBC Watchdog about this absolute shambles of a company who seems to offer zero customer service and even has members of their team lying and signing you up for contracts without my consent.

Sorry everyone for my ramblings but I feel I needed to get this off my chest and Ihave to laugh when I read this quote from Richard Branson - "listen more than you speak" as for Virgin Media to listen to their customers - well that is a laugh in itself!

If Virgin came along and offered me the full package for free , I have to be honest, on principle I would say no and would rather give what money I have to a trustworthy and reputable company and would never, ever touch these with a barge-pole again!

Rob

[Kath_F · Accepted solution]

Hi robbond55, 

Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

We're sorry to hear about your experience. I know you've posted about a few different things but it sounds as though things are sorted now and that you have been able to get your disconnection sorted apart from the latest bill charges.

During the notice period, your billing will continue as normal so any time after the disconnection may still be charged if you're in the middle of a billing cycle but once your services have been disconnected you will receive a final bill a few days later. This includes any pro rata credits for time you were previously billed too. All bills are generated in advance of any payment being taken so you will be aware of the amount before it's taken. 

Once the final bill is generated, if you are due a refund this will be held on the account for 35 days to allow for any unbilled charges before then being either refunded by BACS or being sent via cheque. 

Hopefully this explains more about what's happened but if you have any further queries or questions, please let us know. 

Thanks,

[robbond55]

Hello Kath...not sorted at all...my bill should have been £26 which was my discounted price until July 6 but have been charged £57 instead ..I know they said I would receive £48;back but that is no good when I was expecting a maximum of £26 to go out on my final bill day .

Also the customer service team said it would be refunded quicker and put through next day - which has not happened and also I would receive an email about it being sorted - which again u have not received so am still short of money thanks to virgin and also as you can see it is not resolved whatsoever.

There is no mention of the £ 20 payment I was also meant to receive to compensate and management or anyone senior is completely unwilling to discuss this directly ...I have had one conversation with a manager , that's all .

If virgin were at all interested then I would be able to get someone in a senior position to call me back.

Lots of people I know are on virgin however now city fibre is up and running I have told them to switch provider as soon as their virgin contract expires!

Rob

[japitts]

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@robbond55 wrote:

Someone then called me from the retention team to offer me a better deal a few days after agreeing to leave and I told them I will think about it over the next couple of days but requested an email to cover what was discussed.

---

Also to add, retentions offers - especially those from outbound - are very much of the moment. If you don't accept the offer there & then, you should consider it lost.

Requesting offers to be confirmed by email is not something that VM do - you are often better to accept an offer made, and then rescind under 14day if you change your mind.

[robbond55]

Well why did they agree for me to think about it for a couple of days and also why did they go ahead and start a new contract at the discounted rate without my consent?

This is why I am certainly taking this matter to the adjudicator service and also have emailed BBC watchdog about this and you have not been answered.y question about the unexpected high bill!

[japitts]

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@robbond55 wrote:

This is why I am certainly taking this matter to the adjudicator service

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Make yourself familiar with the complaints process first. VM's ADR scheme is now Ombudsman Services, but they only accept individual complaints once you have exhausted VM's complaints process or reached deadlock. You can't go directly to them.

https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/consumer-complaint-resolution-code-practice 

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/how-it-works/process 

[robbond55]

Also Kath do you think there is even a remote possibility that someone from the virgin team could contact me directly via private message in here as I know it is a long shot getting a reply from someone from Virgin which will actually listen and sort out a problem that they have promised to do but would like to see someone make an attempt to resolve my issue now please.... 

[Kath_F]

Hi Rob, 

Thanks for coming back to us on this. 

We can take a look further to make sure things are correct but we're not able to change processes so if what I've mentioned above is what's happened, we wouldn't be able to change this. 

In order to look into this further, I will need to confirm some information with you to pass security. I have sent you a direct message to allow us to do this with you in a private space. Just click on the little envelope at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox.

Thanks,