Cancellation of Volts Bundle due to price rises - O2 want an early contract termination fee!

[johnnygal]

Hello all,

I am currently on a Volts Bundle: TV, Phone and Internet and a Volts O2 SIM.
Given the recent price rises email received (and the terrible O2 data speeds) I have dedcided to cancel my package.
I have been with Virgin, NTL, Nynex (any other owners!) for about 26 years, and it's been pretty reliable for that time. I don't use the TV or landline much, so can get a much better broadband offering elsewhere.

The email I received from Virgin Media states:
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 23rd March 2023, without paying any cancellation fees.

I cancelled my TV, Phone, Broadband part ok, giving a termination date of 18th March and was told I need to contact O2 to cancel the Volt SIM side of it.

However, when I contacted O2 I was told there was a early termination fee to pay, basically the cost for the remainder of the contract. When I quoted the email from Virgin, about being able to cancel without charge, I was told the operator had 'no option on the system' to do this. I asked to be put through to her supervisor, and after ging through the same set of questions and explanations, he seemed unsure too. After several times on hold while he 'checked something out' the line went dead during one of these holds. So what is the position, should I get Virgin to sort this out? It was sold to me as a Volt Bundle including the SIM, and the email from Virgin states I should be able to cancel the O2 sim without penalty. I mean, Virgin Media and O2 merged - how difficult can it be!

[enlli]

Usual misinformation from Virgin. At this stage Virgin Media and O2 run on two separate systems. Virgin have offered customers a get out of their contract re Broadband, increases O2 hasn't so it's not going to appear on their systems.

Not sure how you get round this one. Volt has been one big mess from the start.

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @johnnygal 👋,

Welcome to our Community Forums and thanks for your post. 

I am sorry you are leaving us and for any issues you have had cancelling your O2 sim.

Some customers who bought both elements of their Volt bundle together will have a Right to Cancel period for both the cable and mobile elements. If this is applicable to you, we would have notified you within our communication. I understand you received an email advising this. 

I haven't been able to locate your details on our systems so I am going to pop you a PM now to confirm these and we can take a closer look into this for you. 

Thank you 

[johnnygal]

That's great news Ayisha. I have replied to your PM.

Thanks.

[Haggisman1]

Having the same issue here - I've had that email with the same wording.

O2 are adamant I need to pay the early termination fee, and tell me I need to speak to VM as that's who the email was from.

VM transfer me straight through to O2 as that's who my mobile contract is with.

I've been on the phone since I received the email at 11:09 this morning, (so almost 2 hours), probably about 1hr 45 mins of which has been on hold. What an utter shambles 

[Ayisha_B]

Thanks for your time via PM @johnnygal

As soon as I have an update, I shall follow up with you 🙂

Thank you!

[archercj]

Is this price rise applicable to all customers?

I have a similar Volt package to you - broadband, TV, phone (which I dont use) and O2 Sim and havent received an email from Virgin.

[johnnygal]

I believe Virgin are sending out the price rise emails in a few batches, so yours may come later. My O2 SIM was taken out at the same time as getting the Virgin bolt bundle. I believe you could also take out the Virgin bolt bundle if you already had an O2 SIM, and link the two together. Maybe that makes a difference in the ability to cancel the O2 SIM when cancelling the Virgin bundle.

I

[Andrew-G]

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@Haggisman1 wrote:

Having the same issue here - I've had that email with the same wording.  O2 are adamant I need to pay the early termination fee, and tell me I need to speak to VM as that's who the email was from.  VM transfer me straight through to O2 as that's who my mobile contract is with.

I've been on the phone since I received the email at 11:09 this morning, (so almost 2 hours), probably about 1hr 45 mins of which has been on hold. What an utter shambles 

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Try speaking to Citizens Advice.  There are applicable rules around bundle selling, and if they apply to you then your cancellation rights (without termination fee) can be enforced against O2.  I'm sure that (like many selling regulations) VMO2 play fast and loose with those, but it's an area I'm not knowledgeable enough to offer clear suggestions.  Is anybody surprised that Virgin Media have managed to turn the Volt offer (which in concept terms was a very smart bit of marketing) into a chaotic, poorly administered, customer unfriendly mess?

[DInkle]

Hi I am having same issue have spoken with o2 who are adamant that can not cancel without paying exit fee but the email clearly states there are no cancellation fees should I want to cancel does anyone know if this is correct or not as can’t get a proper answer from VM or o2.

thank you