Worst ever customer service experience

[Wunga]

Well, as the title says, I’ve just had the worst ever call into VM to ask why they are charging me £79.50 per month as of 13th May, as opposed to a letter which states my contract is rising from £60 to £69 per month.

I couldn’t remember my “memorable word” and no matter how much other info I provided, she would not let me proceed towards resolving my query. It was like speaking to a robot and literally left me furious as to how or what I could do to move forward on this.

Ended up telling her to cancel my 20 year account, but she wouldn’t let me do that either without this “memorable word”.

If anyone from VM is reading this, please get in touch because I’ve had it now with your service.

[VMUser1812]

From VM’s perspective, they do have to be sure that the person they are taking to is who they claim to be. Fair enough. The main means of doing that is via the ‘memorable word’, or letters from it, however it should be accepted that not everyone will remember this and so the agent should ask for alternative details, date if when the DD is taken, how much, details of your current contract etc. Now the fact that in your case, despite you being able to answer these, it still wasn’t accepted, and assuming that you gave the correct answers to the questions, it does emphasise the lack of, or indeed, any training for the agents.

In the meantime, if you can log into the my.virginmedia.com portal, there is an option somewhere in it to reset your memorable word. I would suggest that you do this and then wait a day before calling VM again. Even if a member of the forum team here were to contact you by direct message, they will probably want details of this phrase to pass security, or at least, to be able to legally argue that they have taken reasonable steps to check that you are who you claim to be!

As for why they are charging you £10 more, I couldn’t say, may be a perfectly valid reason on a one time only basis, or possibly they have horribly messed up. Unfortunately can’t tell until you manage to get in touch with them.

[Wunga]

Thanks for your feedback and advice, very much appreciated. I’ll give this a try.

cheers

[Zach_R]

Hi @Wunga,

Thank you for your posts and welcome to our community forums. We're here to help.

I'm so sorry to hear you've had some trouble speaking with the team to discuss a billing dispute. As has been mentioned in this thread, it's a requirement that security is cleared successfully before we discuss any account specific information or make any account adjustments which is why the team couldn't offer further assistance with your queries.

Have you checked the account and the bill itself to see what the additional charge is in relation to? If so, what does it say?

Thanks,
 

[Wunga]

Hi Zach,

Thanks for your feedback.

The bill had no extra charges on it, basically, I’ve had a letter saying it’s going up from £60 to £69 per month, yet, the emailed itemised bill now states it will be £79.50 per month.

The call to VM last night left me in an endless loop whereby without knowing my memorable word, it appeared I could not proceed in any circumstances. I was so annoyed with the agent parroting the same line that I ended up telling her to just cancel my 20 year service with VM, only to be told I couldn’t do that either without (yep, you guessed it), that elusive memorable word. At that point, I just hung up.

An absolutely abysmal experience

[japitts]

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@Wunga wrote:

The bill had no extra charges on it, basically, I’ve had a letter saying it’s going up from £60 to £69 per month, yet, the emailed itemised bill now states it will be £79.50 per month.

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Post up a copy of your bill, with personal details blanked out.

CS, rightly, won't discuss anyone's account without being sure they're speaking to an authorised person. Perhaps a view of your bill may enable others to advise.

[Zach_R]

Hi @Wunga,

I appreciate that the experience may be inconvenient and irritating for you, and I apologise for that. However, it's absolutely correct that an agent cannot discuss billing with you and/or arrange a cancellation if you've failed to clear security. This is to keep your data safe and secure.

Has the bill of the disputed amount been generated yet? If so, you'll be able to view this via the My Virgin Media online account and it'll detail what any additional charges outside of the bundle cost are for.

Thanks,