Contract start date?

[gkdave]

As I was ordering broadband, I read the following (and have checked today it still appears on https://www.virginmedia.com/join/installationSelection page (once you go through the options)

"When does my contract start:
Your contract starts from the day you have your services installed, either by one of our engineers or when you plug in our self-install kit. Your contract start date is also the day your bills will start from, but you won't receive your first bill until a later date."

Based on this, I continued with the order and delivery was set 1st June. I received it 2nd June due to Yodel delays.
When I'm logged into my account, it says the "Services will start date" as 1st June.

I don't intend to connect the Hub until towards the end of June when I existing broadband contract runs down.

I've searched the forum and online and there are contradictions, so I'm wondering, will my contract only start when I plug the kit in and get connected and can I do this at a later date? I don't want some kind of automatic activation since now the delivery has arrived (late).

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Can-I-delay-activation-for-several-weeks/...
This seems to reassure me
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/When-do-charges-start-being-calculated-delivery-d...
This is a contradiction
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/Charged-before-setting-up-internet/td-p/4944930
This one contradicts what I read when I was ordering. I mean, there is a workaround by me calling up Virgin Media and saying I didn't want to activate until later and getting a pro-rata refund.

I just think that the ordering page - this is the stance it should take else it's quite misleading.

[jpeg1 · Accepted solution]

From previous cases I believe they will start charging a couple of days after the self start equipment has been delivered.

In any case you don't want to wait until the old service finishes. You need to allow your 14 days cancellation period to start before then in case you are unhappy with the VM service. 

[gkdave]

Just an update, I spoke with Virgin Media via Whatsapp and the solution they provided was similar to https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/Charged-before-setting-up-internet/td-p/4944930 which I am happy with.