Virgin Media Community

[davidfried1234]

I have been a virgin media customer for the last couple of years, with my last contract coming to an end this month (may 2022), it was surprising to get an email from virgin wanting to put up the price for a new contract to almost double the amount (new customers being offered better prices than existing ones), I called to cancel my subscription, it didn’t seem to bother them and were quiet happy to lose me as a customer, i received a call the next day from virgin offering me a deal to stay with a deal, (although more than i had been paying) but close enough to the original amount to make me want to stay and not have the hassle of changing providers.
However when being sold the new contract, the lady on the phone mentioned virgin had now merged with 02 and that the existing virgin sim card i had, would need to be changed for a new 02 sim card (i had never used the original virgin sim card and i didn’t want/ need the new 02 sim card), however the lady said it would be "cheaper to take the sim card" with the deal she was offering me,
I had never paid a monthly fee for my virgin sim card, so didn’t even assume i would need to pay for the 02 sim card seeing as virgin & 02 had merged, there was no mention of a monthly fee for the new sim card at any point , if there was i would have not accepted the offer and moved provider, after all i was not happy to be spending more than my last contract.
It seems to me from what i have found on the virgin community site and other sites i have looked at , this seems to be a common problem with other users not being told about the monthly charge for a sim card we don’t want or plan on using.
I have spent hours trying to speak to both virgin and o2 and i am being fed the same excuses and lies from both of them, 02 say it’s a virgin's issue as the contract was made via them, virgin say its o2 and i need to cancel it with them, in the meantime after countless hours waiting on the phone to try and speak to a human, i am stuck with a sim card i have no use for and monthly charges i never agreed to ,

Utterly appalled by the customer service from Virgin.
CAN ANYONE HELP ME ???

David 

[enlli]

First off, at the moment Virgin Mobile and O2 still run as two separate companies. A full merger of the networks will take some time.

The problem is that Virgin have closed the Oomph package (and with it the free SIM) to all new and renewing customers.

Technically it should be possible to switch to a standard broadband only package but customers are rarely offered that, instead they are offered Volt which requires being on both Virgin and O2.

Your situation has come up more than once and it seems the agents are mis-selling and, although reported, they are not being held to account.

I have Volt, but that is because I already had broadband which has 12 months to run and an O2 SIM so for me I got double data on O2 and my broadband has gone up a level. It's a win , but that is one of the few occasions it is advantageous. Not the case for Oomph customers who don't need a SIM.

[-tony-]

bottom line is the mis selling is not your problem - VM or O2 must honour what was offered - if they failed to mention the cost of the sim then thats their problem not yours 

staff here may help but on previous experience they will send you back to O2 even though it was VM who sold you the sim

so play their games if thats what they insist - put in an official complaint thats likely to be closed quicker than you can blink but again its all games to get rid of you - have non of it - if they close the complaint demand a deadlock letter or wait 8 weeks and take it to CISAS - fill in their paperwork stating you want the deal s sold to you add a couple of hundred pounds for upset and hassle and wait for CICAS to find in your favour - thats not 100% guaranteed but pretty much so

to add if all what you log happened within the last 14 days just cancel the lot if you want - thats your right

[Kain_W]

Hi davidfried1234, 

Apologies for the issues faced and welcome to the community.

Just to clarify regarding the package, the payment for the SIM and the package would be seperate, however did you use the previous SIM? 

If not our team should be finding a package that doesn't include a SIM.

Thanks,

[Raichu · Accepted solution]

Went through same thing. If customer service keep sending you round in circles whack in a complaint. Took me months of going round in circles but got there in the end. Now have Utimate Volt Bundle for £75pcm with o2 seperate.(Was £95+o2 before when missold)

GL

[Kain_W]

Thanks for posting your response Raichu, 

I'm glad your package is now sorted.

Take care,