Account set up in my name fraudulently

[Aylwindaniel]

Hi, a virgin media account has just been set up in my name which I have nothing to do with. I have received emails to my I cloud email account with installation dates account details etc. I live in East Yorkshire and the address for installation is in Manchester. Bank details are not mine and so the account is just in my name using my Email. I have been in touch with virgin but they seem to pass me off to someone else. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on a quick resolution. I upgraded my I cloud usage last night and as soon as I did this happened using my iCloud email. I have subsequently changed my Apple ID password I just need to cancel this virgin media set up. Thanks in advance. Daniel 

[Carley_S]

Hi Aylwindaniel

Welcome to community. 

Sorry to hear that of your concerns over an email received for an installation in your name. Please join me on private message so I can take the details of the email. You can see your private messages at the top of the page, in the envelope icon. 
 

[Carley_S]

Thank you for joining me on private message Aylwindaniel. Please let us know if you are having any further issues or have any questions at all. We'll be here to help on the community forums if needed :). 

[Mrgreen201]

Seems like lots of DATA OF CUSTOMERS HELD BY VM is being used in breach of the GDPR when will this end . Can’t wait to see a full exposé on the way int call centers work how the few £ commission is so important to them . We forget that it may only be £10 commission but those £10 are a lot of £ in these countries. 

[Matthew_ML]

Hey Mgreen201, thank you for reaching out.

We take these sorts of issues very seriously and we work with the customer affected to get this resolved if this was the case.

We can also see you are PM with someone from our team, and we can assist further from here.

Is everything okay with you, do you need any help with anything at all? Thanks 

[jem101]

It is stupidly easy to immediately jump to conclusions and start thinking ‘data breech’ or ‘corrupt employees’, when more often there is a more straightforward explanation.

If we look at the first post here, the poster has signed himself as Daniel, and looking at that plus his username, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what his full name probably is. So we use perfectly legitimate tools and see if there are any people with similar names living in Manchester, and find that there are. It is fairly easy to mistype an email address and find that messages intended for you end up going somewhere else as the address you mistyped is valid but someone else’s.

As he says, the bank details were not his, so this is almost certainly a simple matter of ‘fact finger syndrome’

Lastly as an aside, and I’m certainly not casting any aspersions, but I’m always astonished by the number of people who scream ‘GDPR violation’ who don’t seem to actually understand what the GDPR rules are! A bit like the people who insist that ‘I know my rights’. Hint : you probably don’t!

[Listric]

My experience is that Virgin Media initially failed to provide any of my data in contravention of the UK GDPR. It totally ignored the time scale its own promised time scale. In order to even get some of my data I was forced to set up an account with a company I did not wish to be associated with, namely Liberty Global in order to gain access to data I only provided to Virgin Media.

My personal experience with Virgin Media is that Virgin Media personnel, at every level within the company lie repeatedly to customers. Even the Virgin Media 'Exec team' lied to me about the use of my data and who has sight of it.

For example, in my direct experience, Virgin Media directs customers who call its primary UK contact number to various foreign locations These include sites in India and the Philippines. The Virgin Media Customer Service agents in those countries told me repeatedly that, although they are employed by Virgin Media, Virgin Media did not allow them to see any of the communications Virgin Media sent me through their computer systems. This makes it very difficult to have a properly informed conversation about those emails, many of which contained outright lies by various Virgin Media 'teams". None of those 'Customer Service' agents would or could direct me to any Virgin Media employee anywhere in the world who did have sight of the emails Virgin Media had sent me. 

Every one of those 'Customer Service' agents then refused to help me until I read out the 'private' contents of the emails from Virgin Media that Virgin Media does not allow them to see for security and privacy reasons.  This makes a complete mockery of the reasons given by them, as employees of Virgin Media, not to be able to see Virgin Media emails to Virgin Media customers. 

I have documented all of this consistent, appalling behaviour and urge every Virgin Media customer to do the same and forward the factual information to all the appropriate regulatory authorities should you encounter the same behaviour.

[Megan_L]

Hi Listric, 

Thanks for using the forums to get this poor experience voiced publicly, I am truly sorry you've been told these things.

We give our agents access to all the tools needed to affectively and efficiently deal with a customer's issue within their department. So some tools may not be needed in certain departments, where as they are an intrinsic part of another part of the business. I understand this may cause limitations to how some teams may be able to deal with your request if you have contacted the wrong department, this is why we have options on the phone line to make sure you can get to the correct team for your query. 

I hope this helps to shed light on the situation you may have found yourself in and I do apologise for the frustration and confusion caused.

Thanks,

Megan_L

[Listric]

Hi,

Unfortunately, your reply is entirely in keeping with the documented, lying behaviour of Virgin Media I have encountered from the top to the bottom of Virgin Media (assuming the 'Exec Team' has any connection with any top 'executives' of Virgin Media).

Every single overseas Virgin Media 'Customer Service' agent I was sent to by Virgin Media and who I asked, all told me that they are employed by Virgin Media but Virgin Media did not allow them to see any copies of any email communication Virgin Median sent to me for reasons of my security and privacy! They all stated that they could not see copies of any emails that I had sent to Virgin Media. This was always after I had successfully completed all the security questions I was asked about my account. All those Virgin Media employees then consistently demanded that I read out the supposedly private and secure contents of Virgin Media emails to them and refused to help me until I did so.

This clearly and demonstrably flouts any notion of data security or privacy within Virgin Media.

I notice that you talk about 'tools' but never actually say what 'tools'. Why would so many Virgin Media Customer Service tell me that they are not allowed to even see what Virgin Media has sent me if they had the 'tools' to see the content of any of those emails? Are they all lying, in your opinion or not following the correct procedures? Your answer simply does not make any sense, given the documented reality of what Virgin Media 'Customer Service' agents actually and consistently do, day after day.

In relation to your "Exec Team". As you know, I was not allowed to know who is in that team or what 'executive' position they hold, if any. As you will also know, any actual directors found to be deliberately lying during the performance of their official duties would not normally be considered to be fit and proper persons to be directors in many countries, including the UK and in the EU. Can you therefore please provide me with the names of all the 'executives' in the 'Exec Team' of Virgin Media who responded to me as soon as possible? Can you also please tell me in which country my data has been held as soon as reasonably possible or explain why Virgin Media refuses to tell me?

I am sure that every actual executive in Virgin Media would agree that it is essential to hold all executives, in every company trading within the UK and the EU, to account for every deliberate policy and practice within those companies. I am sure that every actual executive in Virgin Media knows and ensures that every responsible person within Virgin Media is aware of all the relevant and serious responsibilities the UK GDPR and the GDPR places on those 'executives' and what penalties are available when the responsibilities are systematically flouted.

I am sure that every 'executive' of Virgin Media would want to ensure that every adversely affected customer brings every breach of the UK GDPR and the GDPR to the attention of the relevant regulatory authorities on every single occasion.

[Listric]

I bet that they probably do know their rights and I am sure that you do want them to know all their rights in full, so that Virgin Media can be fully held to account for its actual behaviour on every occasion it chooses to lie to customers and chooses to breach its own Customer Complaints Code, UK law, including the UK GDPR and the GDPR.