More cold calls from "VM

[brian5]

And so it begins....so much for the "28 Days" to stop cold calls from the Indian subcontinent after I change my settings.

Call from 08001836411 on my mobile today at 12:43, a woman with a thick accent asking to speak to "Mr Brian", mumbled away incoherently, and when i asked what the call was regarding, she asked me to confirm I was the account holder, I hung up.

I have already complained Multiple times about these cold calls from "VM Sales", they sound like scam calls and yet again, I will never give my details to anyone who cold calls me, I dont care who they are.

VM are absolutely no help with this whatsoever, their answer is to "opt out", which I did the day I signed up to VM, literally DECADES ago, And that it could take up to 28 days for any changes to take place, and calls to stop, well the last time I complained was in october this year, and we are now into december, maths was never my strongest subject at school but I'm sure that's more than 28 days, and the calls have started again, I am certain that this is just the first of many similar calls I will receive over the next day, weeks and possibly months.

I await the usual scripted response from someone at VM telling me they are very sorry for the inconvenience and that I should simply go to my profile and change my preferences, but that it could take up to 28 days to take effect.

[carl_pearce]

Block the number?

[brian5]

Now why didn't I think of that 🤔......I have been blocking numbers for years, every time the calls start again, it's from a different 0800 number, or should I just block EVERY 0800 number.

[goslow]

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@brian5 wrote:

Now why didn't I think of that 🤔......I have been blocking numbers for years, every time the calls start again, it's from a different 0800 number, or should I just block EVERY 0800 number.

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Report VM to ICO

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-texts-and-nuisance-calls/

for any that really are from VM. If those receiving endless marketing calls from VM did that it might eventually shame the ICO into some sort of action. (They just fined VM for emailing customers who had opted out of email marketing)

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Community-Natter/Spam-Emails-Oops/td-p/4882897

If you are receiving calls claiming to be from VM from ever-changing 0800 numbers, then some of those are very likely to be scam calls rather than the real VM. The real VM numbers are fairly well-documented on the forums so you could block those (but caller ID can be easily faked, so endless blocking of individual numbers is a pointless exercise)

For calls on your landline use a device which screens calls (as opposed to trying to block numbers)

https://www.truecall.co.uk/category-s/116.htm

For mobiles I have not comes across anything similar by way of apps that screen calls but there are plenty of anti-spam/scam call apps which seem to mainly be based on large-scale shared lists of likely scam numbers. If you are using a smartphone, see what features the phone has to deal with unwanted calls such as Apple's 'Silence Unknown Callers' by sending them to voicemail

[brian5]

All of the calls I have received have been from legit VM numbers, ( I am aware that scammers can clone numbers ), they seem to use a particular 0800 number for a period of time, then switch to a new one, every time I get multiple calls, and every time I actually answer, I tell them to stop calling, and I have even got verbally abusive in the hope they will take the hint and stop calling. I have opted out of phone contact, but not emails or text messages, but sales never contact me on these.

The latest number to call is 0800 183 6411 called yesterday, 15/12/21 and again once today, so far....

in October I got 11 calls from 0800 052 1251 ......on the 4th 1 call, 5th 2 calls, 6th 1 call, 7th 2 calls, 8th 1 call, 13th 1 call, 27th 3 calls I told them on the very first call that I was not interested and to not call me again, I rejected all calls after the first until I answered the first call on 27th and told them again not to call me, after that call, I finally blocked the number, and my fone still lists 2 further calls that day that were auto rejected.

I have no logs of the calls from VM before October, but they have been numerous.

Not only are the continuous calls harrassing, but the callers all seem to be barely able to speak english, with thick accents and possibly worst of all, can't even understand MY accent.  So I fail to see the point in even calling.

one more call and I am def going to the ICO.

[newapollo]

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@brian5 wrote:

 I have opted out of phone contact, but not emails or text messages, but sales never contact me on these.

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Hi brian5,

if you have both mobile and TV/broadband/landline with VM then you need to sign into both to change your marketing consents.

https://mobile.virginmedia.com/ecare/login   and https://my.virginmedia.com/  for the marketing preferences

I notice you say you've opted out of phone contact, but not emails or text messages. When you alter the marketing preferences there isn't a distinction between phone, text and emails, you can only opt out of all three and not individually as per the screen shot below.

preferences

[brian5]

I have just gone into my account to check and it appears VM have decided my choice of NO CONTACT wasn't good enough and they have changed it to say, I am happy to receive ALL forms of contact from them.

It used to give you the option to opt out of each sector, I know it did, because, every time I got pestered with calls, I checked my preferences, and I had NO CONTACT ticked, but now the choice seems to have been changed by VM on my behalf and it is now to be All or nothing, well, Virgin Media,  now I dont want so much as a leaflet through the door.

To be honest the only reason I am even with Virgin is for the broadband, The TV is crap, the Landline is actually surplus to requirements and we dropped them as a mobile provider years ago after pathetic customer service from them when trying to upgrade both mine and my wifes mobile contracts and that was at different times years apart, same crap service.

My bank was also bought over by Virgin last year, and since then the serivce there has also gone down the toilet.

[goslow]

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@brian5 wrote:

<snip>

It used to give you the option to opt out of each sector, I know it did, because, every time I got pestered with calls, I checked my preferences, and I had NO CONTACT ticked, but now the choice seems to have been changed by VM on my behalf and it is now to be All or nothing, well, Virgin Media,  now I dont want so much as a leaflet through the door.

<snip>

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Kudos to @newapollo for the double-check suggestion. Hopefully that should stop the calls.

And you are correct, the options used to be to opt out of different marketing areas rather than everything.

Am now going to double check my own settings (if I can actually log into a working MVM, that is!)

[newapollo]

Hi again brian5,

Thanks for replying.

Sorry to say it looks like you will need to opt of marketing again, and this can take up to 28 days to take effect again, so you may still be plagued with calls for the time being.

Sadly turning off marketing doesn't stop VM sending literature by post to the householder, however there shouldn't be any literature addressed to your good self in your name.

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@brian5 wrote:

My bank was also bought over by Virgin last year, and since then the serivce there has also gone down the toilet.

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Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money are all one bank now, and have nothing to do with Virgin Media.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank (CYBG) agreed a £1.7bn deal in 2019 to purchase Virgin Money, the Virgin Group’s financial services brand. I believe it was completed in 2020. CYBG also agreed a £12m deal with Virgin owner Richard Branson to license the name.

In 2006  Virgin Mobile purchased NTL:Telewest . As part of the deal Richard Branson received 6.6 million shares in the business. Later that year everything came full circle when NTL:Telewest licensed the Virgin name in a 30-year agreement, at a cost of £10 million ($12m) a year, and in early 2007 rebranded as Virgin Media.

Richard Branson has nothing now to do with the running of either Virgin Media or Virgin Money, although he still holds shares in the brands and  he signed agreements for licensing the Virgin brand name for all his current and former companies, which brings him millions every year. He's a very shrewd business man.

[coenoby]

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@newapollo wrote:

In 2006  Virgin Mobile purchased NTL:Telewest . As part of the deal Richard Branson received 6.6 million shares in the business. Later that year everything came full circle when NTL:Telewest licensed the Virgin name in a 30-year agreement, at a cost of £10 million ($12m) a year, and in early 2007 rebranded as Virgin Media.

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And just to add to newapollo's excellent summary. The next chapter in the Virgin Media saga came in 2013 when the American cable TV and broadband giant Liberty Global, bought Virgin Media in a cash and stock deal worth $23.3bn (£15bn).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21347814 

Of course, once again, there was a lengthy licensing agreement with Richard Branson and the Virgin Group for the continued use of the Virgin name.

Coenoby