Virgin Media Community

[padrewill]

Welp. With the new price rises, and the offer to get out penalty-free, I think I'll avail myself of that option.  I've been with Virgin broadband for five years, which has included an O2 Volt bundle since Summer 2022.  I'm sat waiting on the online chat to respond – this could be hours – so thought I'd ask some questions while I wait! 

Because I want to keep my three mobile numbers – we have three O2 lines in our family connected to the volt package – I want to make sure I have time to get a PAC code for them.  I also want to ensure I have another broadband provider in place before Virgin goes dead.  Can anyone comment whether the service ends immediately after requesting cancellation, or whether it lasts till the end of the current billing period?  

Also ... related ... does anyone have any experience with cancelling more than one SIM connected up through the Volt package? They all get Volt benefits, and they all were bought when I signed up for the bundle. But only one of them actually *says* Volt.  Am I going to be able to cancel them all?  O2 has been profoundly mediocre in many ways for the entire time I've used it – I really regret leaving Vodafone – and I really just want to get out as cheaply as possible.  

[Koolmacher]

You have 30 days from serving notice of cancellation to sort out a replacement service as for O2 good luck they'll insist you'll have to pay early termination charges and it will say that when they send you the PAC codes even though virgin sold you the sim and it'll take best part of a day getting kicked from one department to the next and being put on hold alot. Best of luck! 

[padrewill]

In fairness, being on hold and getting kicked around has largely been my experience with VM and O2 customer service, so if it has to happen one last time, I can probably live with that.  That said, has anyone managed to find the correct way through to cancelling the O2 portion of the Volt Bundle penalty-free?  I can confirm I've had the email with the correct magic words:  

If you're not happy with any of the changes announced in this email, including those to our out of home WiFi hotspots and pricing terms and conditions, you can change or cancel your package, including your Volt O₂ sim, any time before 4th April 2023, without paying any cancellation fees.

... but I've not seen the outcome on any other thread on this topic. A couple of people have been taken to PM by Virgin community staff, but no report on the results. 

[padrewill]

Has anybody had any luck with the O2 end of things? I've seen it raised in other threads, but the people complaining have been taken to PM by the Virgin community staff, and I've not been able to see how it's been resolved.  The letter is clear, though -- at least mine is -- so it should be resolve-able. 

[-tony-]

theres a post somewhere where an O2 agent said that the fees would be refunded after 14 days - i think thats still 10 or 12 days into the future so not a fact yet - VM [here] seem to have washed their hands of the problem with all replies telling users to contact O2 so the merry-go-round continues - not seen posts going to PM but i would doubt agents have done anything other than suggest a call to O2

not much help - a complaint to O2 and VM could be a start then when it all goes wrong as 99.9% of complaints do you may be able to go to arbitration

if you have links to pm conversations  pm to the customer side of that conversation might get you some info

expect nothing from VM it seems they do not see it as their problem even though they sold the bundle - there is a post from Andrew-G somewhere that says legally VM are responsible and contact with citizens advice would be a good next step - thats a statement from memory so apologies to andrew if i have it wrong 

[johnnygal]

I started a thread about this too, asking for advice. I am in conversation with a Virgin forum team member, who has relayed my request to cancel to her contact at O2 but it's been a week now with no update. Can't say I'm very hopeful of getting a good result really. I may have to do what Koolmacher has done and spend half a day on the phone with them (O2), and then only to hope they honour this 'credit shuffling'.

I feel really aggrieved by it, seeing at though the SIM was sold to me by VM as part of a new volt contract.

[padrewill]

For what it's worth: you've got farther than I have. I'm on a WhatsApp chat with VM that nobody has responded to except for a bot that turns up about every four hours to say, "Gosh, you've been on here for hours! Are you still having a problem where you actually need to talk to someone, or shall I just end the chat now?"  That's since about mid-day yesterday.  

I keep saying "yes", but at this point it feels like I'm just doing it on principle. 

[padrewill]

It's been a full 24 hours now that I've been on the WhatsApp chat (and two or three hours before that I was on in-house live-chat before they transferred me to WhatsApp).  The bot has already checked in with me twice today offering to cut me off if I didn't reply.  I've gone the "Raise a complaint" route now on the assumption that 24 hours of waiting for contact raises it to adequate complaining level.  Still keeping my head on straight and cool; I'm being very polite, and just spelling out exactly what it is that I want:  (a) cancel my contract broadband contract without penalty; (b) cancel my O2 Volt Bundle without penalty; (c) PAC codes; (d) no haggling with customer retentions. 

We'll see how it goes.  I'll update y'all if anything happens. 

[padrewill]

And the saga starts drawing to a conclusion.  

After 44 hours, I finally got put on with a VM agent via their WhatsApp chat.  Having said I wanted to cancel and not haggle, he continued to try to haggle with me through about 4 or 5 more exchanges before I could get him to believe what I said the first time:  I really wanted to cancel, and there's no deal to be done. As others have noted in this and other threads, these guys at this level have no control over what happens over at O2.  

Therefore, having won this round, I went over to O2 live chat.  I have three lines on Volt Benefits, and – unlike the experience of others here – O2 *were* willing to cancel penalty-free the line they consider the main line.  They others they said would have to stay or take the cancellation penalty.  Problem was:  that's not the line I consider the main line.  (I could have lived with keeping the other two if I could get my main one free.)  

I protested that they were all on Volt, so should all be freed.  Then I asked if I could swap two of the numbers as the main account number so I could free up the one I really wanted.  They said no, but let me escalate that to a manager quickly.  The manager said there wasn't anything he could do about it directly, but offered me a fudge:  that he could hand me over to contracts, they could swap my long-term contracts for a 30 day rolling contract, and then I could cancel and get PAC codes once that was actioned.  

Sounds very weird to me, but I double-checked that he was saying what I thought he was saying.  Then let him hand me over.  Practical upshot:  after going through a really long-@ss legal script, I got all three numbers moved over to 30 day contracts – checked several times that there wouldn't be a penalty for changing contracts – and now I'm just waiting for that to be processed.  I was given order numbers, so I can follow that up if something goes wrong. And I've done all of this in writing, so I can have a record to follow up with if it all goes pear shaped.  

This solution is more on the lines of "pragmatic" than "principled" – i.e., they gave me an unexpected workaround, rather than waive the terms of the contracts – and it may or may not cost me an extra bob or two.  But, assuming what happens is what they promised, I'll be out of the contract without penalty.  

I'll let you know if it doesn't work or if I have to do any more arguing.  But, for now, I'll say it was time-consuming, but simple enough.  

[johnnygal]

Thanks for the update. Good news that they agreed to cancel at least one of your lines penalty free. I wonder if the fact you are keeping two lines with them has helped.

I may try again then tomorrow with O2 and see if I get further than last time. Maybe the news is filtering down that they need to release people from these volt bundles penalty free now, due to the price rises.