Renewal shambles.....

[wrmel1]

Well here was me thinking being able to renew my media package online would be a lot easier than having to do it all on the phone as per previous years, how wrong can you be.....?!

A very brief summary -

1. Have always been on top package with all sports (including TNT), movies, Gig1 broadband etc.

2.  Contract up for renewal September, pleasantly surprised to see I could renew online, and the price was cheaper than I was currently paying.  Took the deal obviously as it stated categorically "Choose this deal and keep your current Virgin Media plan without losing anything."  I have the screenshot to prove this.

3. Change went through for the agreed price, but I then discovered that TNT sports had been removed.  I understand this is no longer part of 'Maxit' apparently, but I was never told this.  Plus when I click on the Maxit link on my account, it still shows TNT sport as part of it.

4.  Sent said screenshot via Whatsapp to the Virgin team, and was then told TNT would be reinstated for free.

5. Got new bill in few days later, being charged £18 for TNT sports.

6.  Queried again, told all was good and my account was being credited with a rolling £18 credit that they could see at their end, but I couldn't on my account.

7.  Next bill due shortly and still showing no credit.  Queried yet again, hours and hours on phone/whatsapp only to be offered a deal far worse than the one I am currently disputing, and no £18 credit....!

8.  Sent formal complaint to virgin, once the submit button pressed, it just disappeared, no idea if it went or was received, but I got no acknowledgement or anything.

9.  Gave it 2 weeks and heard nothing.  But on checking my account few days ago, a new online offer was there, slightly lower price than before and it definitely included TNT sports.  Was this Virgin acknowledging their mistake and even taking a few pounds off for all the inconvenience, hurrah!

10.  But alas, no apparently.  I accepted the new offer, got the pre contract documents, accepted them, then got the email confirmation of the renewal confirming the cost and the package.   But a few days later, still saying on my account that I need to renew.  The same deal is still there so I queried whether the renewal had in fact gone through?  To be told, no record of any new contract at their end, despite me having documents and emails confirming the renewal.

12.  Out of curiosity, processed another renewal just now, and all gone through again at same price, same package but I suspect this is another 'phantom' renewal.  Meanwhile, I'm still being charged for TNT, what a shambles......

I really can't be bothered sending another complaint to Virgin to probably just be ignored again.  Any advice anybody, can I go straight to Ombudsman as this is ridiculous and I have a stack of screenshots, whatsapps and emails to back up my arguments.  Or do I need to give the Virgin team another chance?

Happy days!

[scrd01]

hope thats not the case for me....got tnt on my current contract too and just signed up for same current package... but cheaper, without losing anything

but i've got bigger problems 

[Steven_L]

Hello wrmel1,

Welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post here on the forums. I’m sorry to hear of the issues that you’re having with your contract renewal, this is far from the service that we should be providing to any of our customers.

Your original contract offer should have been honoured by the team, when you first spoke to them and a rolling credit should have been applied as agreed to cover any additional costs that you shouldn't have been charged. We apologise that this hasn't happened, the times that you have been in touch with us and raising your complaint.

If you have taken a new offer online, this can take up to 14 days to be added onto your account, this would be the case for all online renewals and you would continue to pay the price of the existing contract until the renewal has been added to your account. How many renewals have you tried to put through online, since the latest offer became available?

Kind Regards,

Steven_L

[wrmel1]

Thanks for quick reply Steven.

I first accepted the latest offer just on Monday there (7 October), and have all the pre contract documents and confirmation email.  The pre contract documents are sent once you tick on your intention to accept the offer, and they set out in detail what you are signing up to and the cost.  If you're then happy with what you say, you tick another link to confirm your agreement, you then get a screen confirming you've renewed your contract and your new contract will be sent to your email.  I received an immediate e-mail confirming the new contract and, to be fair, it did say it might take 7-10 days to activate.

But, the fact I have not received a new contract yet, and my online account is still showing out of contract with the new renewal offer still there (still there this morning), allied to all the  hassle I've already had re missing TNT/non existent rolling credits, means I have no faith in anything I am being told (verbally or electronically).

So thought I'd query it yesterday to check, only to be given the run around again and offered a deal far more expensive than the one I'm currently disputing!  In advance of contacting virgin yesterday, I put through another renewal just to confirm it was still being offered, it was.

Then after the unsatisfactory contact, I put through another renewal just to check it was still there after being told they had no record of it, it was.

Finally, I found a different link/route last night to renew (a retention specific link), again it went through!

So, in summary, original renewal on monday, and 3 different renewals all went through yesterday, all for same price/package!

I appreciate what you're saying re taking up to 14 days to process, but I have zero faith this will happen despite all the evidence I have to the contrary.  But happy to wait and see if that's what you're suggesting?

But can I come back to you directly if (when?!) this doesn't go through in the next 14 days?

Thanks.

[Lee_R]

Hi @wrmel1 please feel free to come back to us.  It would be best to be done publicly, the agent who picks it up can then reach out to you privately and take things from there.  

Can you confirm that when you tried the new retention link that went through, did you receive further pre-contract documents?  As this may extend the time period of the deal being applied. I cannot say for sure, but I'm concerned this may supersede what was previously applied for/accepted.

Regards

Lee_R

[wrmel1]

Hi Lee.

Well it may just be a big coincidence, but I have now had an email confirming the renewal has gone through effective today!

And it's for the agreed package price so all appears to be good, though I will be paying very close attention to my next few bills....!

So it appears that all's well that ends well, but I have to say the whole experience has been pretty awful.  It has taken me approx 5 weeks to get this sorted, and even yesterday I was still being told that the best deal I could get was £X more than the price I was already disputing.  

The staff I've spoken to and interacted with on the phone/live chat/Whatsapp etc have never been anything other than very polite and I do believe they're trying to be as helpful as they can, but it is very frustrating to be passed from pillar to post, and offered nonsensical deals which totally go against what you're being offered online. 

But clearly (I think), different people have different levels of access to different information or, at the very least, the systems do not 'join up' immediately leading to confusion and contradictory information all round.

Anyway, rant over, it is what it is, happy with the ending so thanks for taking an interest in my case, same to Steven.

Here's to the next 18 months!  Cheers.

[Lee_R]

Thanks for getting back to us @wrmel1

Has your online account been updated to reflect your new package?  Or would you like us to take a look on your behalf, for reassurance?

Regards

Lee

[wrmel1]

Hi Lee,

my new contract is now showing in my online account so no need to do anything else. 

Cheers.

[Lee_R]

That's fantastic news @wrmel1 

Remember, if you ever need assistance in the future, our fantastic community and forum team are always willing to lend a hand. Please bear in mind, you can manage your account from here. Your online account, will give you access to your bills, show your package details, diagnose any possible faults and monitor any orders and appointments you may have. 
Regards
Lee_R