Help! Virgin have started a new contract!

[batunkhal]

I’ve been out of contract for a couple of years and have procrastinated about either striking a new deal or finding another provider.

I’ve noticed I’ve received emails for the last month saying that I’ve changed my contract (they want feedback on the experience!). All that I can see is that they’ve simply put me on contract. There’s nothing added. Apart from they’ve upped the price!

Before I phone up someone, can they do this? Am I forced to be on contract if I’m out of contract? Will they try for fees if I try to leave?

[-tony-]

they can only start a new contract if something changes and only you can initiate that - they do [wrongly] start a new contract sometimes if you move house - again that should only happen if you change anything on your package as you move

there is a price increase this/next month but again that should not start a new contract

have you spoken to CS or retentions recently - agents can and do change things that were discussed but not agreed

post some screen shots from your account - make sure any personal info is blanked out

[Andrew-G]

All customers are always in a contract, most of us use "in contract" as shorthand for being in a fixed term contract under the standard T&Cs.  VM cannot start a new fixed term contract without your permission.  Any notable change by you (eg speed and most bundle changes) will start a new fixed term of 18 months, but that has to be brought to your attention at the time.

I'll flag this for the staff to advise - I'd suggest waiting on them rather than chancing VM's crummy telephone options, but the choice is yours.

[Molly_T]

Hi batunkhal, welcome to the community! Thank you for posting, and thank you to the community for their support! 

What may have happened here is if you have been out of contract for such a long time that you were on a legacy package, you may have been moved over to a package one under our new titles and terminology. This will not have put you into a new fixed term contract with us. For example if you used to have a 'Big Kahuna' Bundle, this is now the equivalent of our 'Bigger Bundle'.

I will happily look into this further for you to check, but we will need to confirm a few details to do this first. I will send you a PM to get the additional information we need - you will find the PM in your Inbox in the top right corner of the page.

We can return to the public thread with an update as soon as possible!

All the best.