disconnection team complaint shocking customer services

[Grahamdonaldson]

I HAVE BEEN WITH NTL THEN VIRGIN FOR ABOUT 17 YEARS AND HAVE BEEN TREATED SO BADLY TODAY I HAD TO WRITE . IT APPEARS THAT SOMEONE SIGNED ME UP FOR A NEW CONTRACT IN JANUARY WITHOUT MY AUTHORISATION. Back in January the best they could do was £55   per month for just basic services , because I wouldn't enter a contract, she also confirmed I would have to give one months notice,  so we left it at that and decided to look at other providers for broadband and TV.

IN MARCH 23RD I CALLED TO GIVE ONE MONTHS NOTICE, THE VIRGIN REP SAID I WAS IN A CONTRACT THEN THEY CHECKED AND THEN SAID NO I WASNT.  SO I FULLY EXPECTED TO BE DISCONNECTED WITHOUT ANY PROBLEM.  TODAY 17TH MAY I RECEIVE AN EMAIL FOR UNPAID SERVICES FOR 2 MONTHS FOR OVer 100 pounds.  So I call virgin,  Laura says no I entered a contract and would have to pay the disconnection charge £280 and the 2 months that I haven't paid.  After about 20 minutes of explaining (Laura and Mark her manager were not listening) even when I asked to then speak to Mark the Manager, he was not available. The call ended with me very upset, telling her to disconnect everythingg right now,  and I would not be paying them a penny more, she hung up.   I'm left so stressed with no one to contact, does anyone know what I should do

[Travis_M]

Hi @Grahamdonaldson

Thanks for posting on our community forum

I'm sorry to hear about this, we do not handle disconnections via the forum like this. I would suggest raising a complaint surrounding this via our complaints code of practice here - I do apologise for the inconvenience experienced, if the team have deemed you liable for the early disconnection fees after reviewing the account then these would stand but one the case is raised, our team would fully investigate the whole situation.

Regards

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

If VM are maintaining that you agreed a new contract at some point, then they will have the records (call recordings, chat sessions, or paper documents) to prove it.  Based on what I see in this forum day in day out, I'm more inclined to believe your version of events, because unagreed contracts and unagreed contract terms are regular complaints here, thanks to Virgin Media's poor staff training, poor business ethics, poor compliance, and poor handling of complaints.

I would suggest you raise a Data Subject Access Request with VM, asking for ALL detail they hold on you including but not limited to call recordings, chat sessions, paper documents, and any proof of the contract they're now saying you have at some point agreed to.   See what turns up.  In the meanwhile, don't stop paying, that'll cause problems with your credit history, and even if VM are at fault, it can be even more stressful for you to sort out.

Not exactly the same, but near enough similar issue here.  I'd suggest DSAR first, then formal complaint seeking compensation, and if VM don't agree to sort it out and settle on generous terms, reject the "resolution" their complaints team offer and ask for a deadlock letter.  With the deadlock letter you escalate the matter to CISAS, who take these matters a lot more seriously than VM's Laurel & Hardy customer service do.

As a note to all interested including VM staff, it's what, the third time today I've offered similar advice to customers over botched cancellation requests?  I hope that Ofcom wake from their slumbers and take VM to the cleaners over these repeated breaches of General Conditions.

[Grahamdonaldson]

Thanks for the advice, ready to do what ever I need to get at least some sort of full aplogy

[Grahamdonaldson]

Sounds as though you work in the same office as Laura and Mark, very poor reply 

[Nathan_B]

Hi there @Grahamdonaldson, apologies for the experience you have had with trying to get your complaint addressed and resolved.

I would be happy to have a look at this further for you so I will send you a PM to confirm your details.

Regards

Nathan

[jem101]

@Grahamdonaldson fair enough, but the members of the forum team here, unlike myself and the other VIPs are VM employees, so you will understand for them to openly admit that VM’s customer service provision is fundamentally incompetent and broken, although I’m sure they secretly fully accept the truth of it, is somewhat of a career limiting exercise!

[ALF28]

WHAT BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!

The experiences of customer services are horrendous reading recent reports of termination of services, but virgin may have to improve soon as the new Ofcom regulations to move in 24 hours where technically possible under the new one touch switch which commences in April 2023.

This is now more  relevant due to the cost of living increases in 2022. and everyone is reviewing costs.

I have kept monthly to avoid contact penalties but termination notice has to be given between 60 to 30 days to terminate and avoid extra charges.

There should be a simple system where the contract can be changed or terminated online without having to do battle every time with sales people to get disconnected and avoiding being tricked into agreeing to a contract with huge exit penalties.

Virgin will loose customers with this poor service, perhaps they need to improve?, the Trustpilot reviews are poor with 61% bad and only 9% good on 19/05/2022.

alf28