Reverting back to rolling contract

[ColinM9991]

Hi,

I've been a VM customer on the same line since around 2020. Recently I renewed my contract, via the VM website for a fixed 18 months. At present, I am still within in the cooldown period.

Since doing this, another infrastructure provider (CityFibre) has signalled that they are now wiring the complex up to their infrastructure. With that in mind, what I'd like to do is cancel the 18 month fixed contract to revert back to a rolling contract with Virgin Media - the key point here is that I'd like to keep the services. This is so I can sign up via another ISP to receive FTTP at which point I'll cancel my VM services.

I've phoned the support team who are adamant that I can only cancel my services entirely rather than simply reverting the contract renewal back to a rolling contract.

Is this true? Is my only option at this point to cancel the services entirely? Surely it is a valid request to ask that my contract is cancelled and reverted back to the more expensive rolling contract.

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @ColinM9991 👋

Welcome back to our Community Forums and thanks for your post.

There is a 14 day cooling off period if you change your mind. 

If you would like to revert back to your previous package, I'd advise giving the team another call on 0345 454 1111 who will be able to assist further.

[ColinM9991]

Hi Ayisha,

Thanks for confirming that.

Is there a combination of menus and submenus that I should navigate through, on the phone, to get to the right team? Today I spoke to the cancellation team but made it clear that I did not wish to canl my service, just the contract.

The person on the phone informed me that they are only able to cancel services and that, because I did this online, I can only do this via the live chat system.

[WhiteRose12]

Alas there is only one ‘team’, it is a bit of pot luck if you happen to get through to an agent who knows what they are doing - most simply have had a bear minimum of training and are simply left to ‘make stuff up’ otherwise.

The other thing you ‘could’ do is to write to VM at their Sunderland office, in this letter, then you make it clear that you wish to exercise you statutory right, (ignore whatever rubbish you have been told on the phone, because it is just rubbish) to revert to your previous contract, include your name, address, contract number etc.

Send this letter by signed for (recorded) delivery and keep a copy.

Now there is no guarantee that VM will accept or honour it, however, legally you are now covered and absolutely will win the inevitable ombudsman service case.

[ColinM9991]

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@WhiteRose12 wrote:

Alas there is only one ‘team’, it is a bit of pot luck if you happen to get through to an agent who knows what they are doing

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My exact thinking. Whether it's via phone or live chat, it's the same company and there's no reason why orders would be segregated based on how they're placed.

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@WhiteRose12 wrote:

The other thing you ‘could’ do is to write to VM at their Sunderland office, in this letter, then you make it clear that you wish to exercise you statutory right, (ignore whatever rubbish you have been told on the phone, because it is just rubbish) to revert to your previous contract, include your name, address, contract number etc.

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That's a good idea. I'll make it official by sending a letter, tracked with signature as you suggest. I'll try the phone team again tomorrow and then send the letter if I make no progress over the phone.

[Akua_A]

We can understand your frustration and only want to best help. We can see you recently contracted our team regarding this. Can you confirm if the issue was resolved with our team? Do you need any further help?

[ColinM9991]

Hi Akua,

I phoned this morning and got through to somebody who was very helpful.

Although I have no email confirmation, they've put me back on a rolling contract thus cancelling the fixed term contract. Is this something that you could possibly confirm? Please feel free to PM me and I'll send over any relevant details.

[Akua_A]

Glad to hear this. We can take a look into this for you and resend the confirmation. I am sending you a private message. Please keep an eye out for an envelope at the top right corner of your Forum page. Let me know if you have any issues locating this.

Thanks,
 

[ColinM9991]

Providing an update:

As mentioned above, I reached another support rep on the phone during Monday morning. They were very helpful and went the extra mile to sort out the cancellation of the fixed term contract. They event went and gave me a discounted rate anyway on the rolling term contract just based on my previous 7 years of being a customer (VM, VMB and then VM again).

Many thanks also to the forum team here, Ayisha and Akua. Akua double checked my account to ensure the contract changes had indeed been applied.