New contract without my permission after house move

[jamestw1]

Hi,

I have been a loyal and satisfied customer of Virgin Media for almost a decade. In November 2023, due to personal circumstances, I moved to a short-term let with my family, knowing that by the end of March 202, we would be relocating abroad and so we were moving to a new property for 4 months. My contract with Virgin Media was due to expire at the end of 2023, and I wanted to move our service over to the new property as I have done in the past when I have moved properties. Nothing about my package was to change, and I certainly had no wish to sign up to a new contract.

I promptly informed Virgin Media of my move, requesting the transfer of my services to the new address. This process was completed without issue; at no point during that process was I informed of any changes to the terms of my agreement with Virgin Media, specifically that a new 18-month contract period would commence following the move. As far as I knew, Virgin was simply helping with the move of the kit to the new address and ensuring that I was set up correctly. 

About 2 months ago, upon contacting Virgin Media to notify them about my move abroad and to terminate my services, I was shocked to learn that I was apparently bound by a 14-month remaining term on a new 18-month contract I hadn’t agreed to, with an early cancellation fee of £491. This was the first time I became aware of such an extension, which I never agreed to or was properly made aware of. The purported contract was supposedly sent via email, but this crucial information was not made clear or emphasized, an oversight that feels misleading and deceitfully designed to lock customers into prolonged agreements without their explicit consent.

I am shocked by the lack of transparency and clear communication regarding this significant change in contract terms, especially from a company that is meant to be a reputable service provider. Had I been informed of the initiation of a new 18-month contract, I would have chosen a different arrangement suitable for my short-term housing situation, such as a month-to-month plan or a different provider altogether. Why would I ever sign up to an 18-month contract when I was only going to be in the country for another 4 months and without any change to my package? 

Furthermore, my attempts to seek clarity and resolution have been met with considerable resistance, involving being passed around various departments. I spoke to one man from Virgin Media, and when I relayed the situation to him he said that it’s unlikely I would remember what I had agreed to 4 months ago. When I stressed that I didn’t agree to anything and that is the issue here, he remarked that equally Virgin could say that I had agreed to something because it is a simple case of their word against mine. If the call was recorded, there will be a transcript to show this.

I find it absolutely shocking to be experiencing that level of service and to have that retort to my complaint. In all my years with any service provider, I have never experienced such a consistent and blatant misuse of customer trust. 

The Virgin Media representative then continued to pressure me into agreeing to disconnect the service, which I refused to agree to as doing so would start the process of triggering the 14-month early cancellation fee and suggest that I accept the terms. I stated that I would dispute this and take the matter further; it is likely that if this is affecting me it is affecting other people — it is unethical, unprofessional and should not be allowed to continue. 

Following that conversation, I received an email stating ‘Thanks so much for the chat on 25/03/2024. We’re very happy to be able to resolve things for you’, followed by ‘Here’s what we agreed: New contract agreed’ suggesting that I had agreed to the new contract which I absolutely had not and could not have been more clear about this on the call.

One of the key points the Virgin Media representative made on the call was that because I had been sent a new contract via e-billing and not challenged it within the 30-day window I had essentially agreed to the new contract by default and the contract is now binding. The point I made was that because I had never had any conversation about a new contract and had not agreed to sign up for one, I was not expecting to receive any documentation about it and so was not looking out for the terms in my inbox. The fact is that I never saw that email so had no opportunity to challenge it. Either way, that contract should never have been sent without my clear consent to sign up for a new agreement.

I have subsequently been trying to resolve this through the Resolutions team via email, but each message is met with a reply about the increase in monthly fee and how Virgin is sorry I am not happy with that, despite me continually saying it has nothing to do with the monthly fee raise and everything to do with being signed up to a new contract without my consent. 

Trying to find any department or channel to resolve this is proving impossible. This is my last attempt to try to resolve this before taking the matter to Ofcom and Trading Standards.

It is not surprising to me to see many others in this position (https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/New-contract-without-my-permission-...)

And to see that Virgin is the most complained about telecoms provider this year because of customer service (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2024/latest-telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints-revealed)

Any advice on next steps on how I can get this resolved much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Alex_RM]

Hi jamestw1,

Thanks for posting and welcome to our community 😊

Sorry to hear there's been some confusion with your contract since moving, I've popped you over a private message to get a few more details from you.

Alex_Rm