Rep deceived me into a new 12 month contract : what to do?

zedsbb · 03-04-2009, 19:16

Hi,

I've been a long time customer of VM, orginally on the 3 for £30, but with the squabble over sky channels, I went down to just 2MB BB alone @ £10/month with ebill, with TV from Sky and phone from BT.

About 6 months ago, I was about to leave VM and go to an ADSL provider, mainly as I had purchased a notebook and ADSL providers offered me the same BB speed as I was getting with VM for less price with a free wireless router.

I got a call from retentions who offered me a free wireless router, and I stayed at £10 for the 2MB BB. Now my bill for 2MB BB has gone up to £18/month as my previous "deal" has ended. I decided to cancel as I had a number of cheaper options namely:

1) O2 8meg @7.50/month
2) Orange 2mb @ FREE with a mobile contract
3) TalkTalk 8meg + Phone line @14.99/month

I called up to be told that I would have to stay for 12 months from the date I received my "FREE" router @ £18/month (soon to be £20/month) or pay £40 pounds for the router.

I had not been informed by the guy from retentions at the time the FREE router was offered to me that I would be in a new contract or would have to pay money for the router if I left earlier. If he had informed me, I would have rather left VM and if I had stayed I would have bought a decent router for less than the £40 that virgin want for their WGR614v6.

I am really unhappy that this is the way I have been deceived by VM retention reps. What can I do?

chickendippers · 03-04-2009, 19:20

FWIW I would instantly discredit Orange as they've just come bottom of uSwitch's Broadband Customer Satisfaction Awards

dd11 · 03-04-2009, 19:38

I had Orange...originaly when its was Freeserve...then it was Wanadoo...now its orange and it was never reliable on & off etc!

O2 has some great reviews.

There should be somthing that you have to sign before a new contract is added.

Martyn · 03-04-2009, 19:53

if they alter the contract, you have the right to cancle... they changed the price, you can cancle..

zedsbb · 03-04-2009, 19:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickendippers

FWIW I would instantly discredit Orange as they've just come bottom of uSwitch's Broadband Customer Satisfaction Awards

I've done the research from when I was going to leave VM 6 months ago and know that Orange is not the best, I'd probably go with O2 and as I only live 500m from the exchange so am sure I would get a good speed as neighbours get great speeds with BT. I am a low user TBH, and don't need anything more that 2MB, I really don't need the 10MB upgrade that VM are going to give me and rather not pay the £20 when there are better cheaper alternatives.

But that is another issue. My main annoyance to put it mildly is with the VM rentention rep, and him deceiving me into another 12 months contract!

---------- Post added at 19:59 ---------- Previous post was at 19:56 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martyn

if they alter the contract, you have the right to cancle... they changed the price, you can cancle..

I can leave but have to pay for their router! If they had told me this, I wouldn't have stayed with VM, and if I had I'd have bought my own wireless router and a decent one, not the overheating, connection dropping tat that is the WGR614v6....

Martyn · 03-04-2009, 20:15

send router back to them, say your not using there service, the router isnt required.. they can try re-sell it, but i doubt it.. lol... an just buy one, my one i brought a good 3-4 yrs ago... cost me 75£ i talked 5£ off because it was my birthday... lol

zedsbb · 04-04-2009, 01:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martyn

send router back to them, say your not using there service, the router isnt required.. they can try re-sell it, but i doubt it.. lol... an just buy one, my one i brought a good 3-4 yrs ago... cost me 75£ i talked 5£ off because it was my birthday... lol

They won't allow me to return it, I asked them about that too...

frogstamper · 04-04-2009, 01:42

Basically I believe your best bet is to keep plugging away at them, from what you have told us ie paying £10pm for 2mb BB you have obviously been decieved.
I'd tell them, in a calm respectful manner, that I have not got what I was promised ie a £10 monthly bill so therefore I want to cancel, that is of course unless you [VM] keep their intial side of the agreement.
It may take a few phone calls but in my opinion you have right on your side, good luck.

Martyn · 04-04-2009, 01:49

send a complaint via there web form your get a nice english chappy phone you

Noggo · 04-04-2009, 11:56

As you've got Sky TV, you might want to check out what Sky can offer.

**Kymmy** · 04-04-2009, 13:10

Never had a speed/technical problem with orange, used to get 7.5Mb sync with about 6.8Mb speedtest all day every day.

BUT (and there's always a but) thier FUP is 40Gb a month and they do enforce it with 512/128 speed limits if you go over that figure.........

Martyn · 04-04-2009, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Never had a speed/technical problem with orange, used to get 7.5Mb sync with about 6.8Mb speedtest all day every day.

BUT (and there's always a but) thier FUP is 40Gb a month and they do enforce it with 512/128 speed limits if you go over that figure.........

But its free with a monthly contact no..?

Ignitionnet · 04-04-2009, 14:07

Invent a fault then when you get an engineer round hold him ransom until they release you from the contract.

zedsbb · 04-04-2009, 14:19

I think I'll put the voice recording of him giving me the free router on here, maybe someone will recognise the voice. To add insult to injury, he said he would give me a £10 discount to buy the USB Wifi dongle and then preceded to send me the USB dongle and charged me £20 for it!

zedsbb · 19-04-2009, 19:21

As promised you can listen to the file by clicking on the file below. You will notice he does not mention anything about having to stay with Virgin for 12 months or anything of the sort or having to pay money back if I leave within 12 months! Why does Virgin not tackle these rogue retentions personnel?
This was recorded using my sony phone and will play with media player classic. The date and time stamp is 1 october 08, 15.25 hours.

http://www.mediafire.com/?4480tj4tnx3