VM have reneged and stolen our money

[NTLVictim]

Calm, must remain calm.........

The details;

We were offered a ten meg for ten quid a month deal for a year which started last October. (Before the occupants of viaducts dive in, they phoned us, what were we meant to say, "no" ?)

The only bills we have received are for £10.48 credit each month, the early bills said it was for "dummy TV". We have BB only, so we thought it was a billing system workaround, as VM's billing system has more wrinkles than Yoda's niagras.

We also had a £35.00 credit added to our account for another matter, so we weren't too concerned about the weird bills, they also said our account was in credit.

Then we check our bank statements...you have to guess what happens next.

They've taken two lots of £37.00 for this month and last, and without billing us for it!
My other half phoned them the other day (the account is in her name) to sort it out. She was using a speaker phone, so I could hear it out in the garden where I was working. It suddenly dawned on me that I kept hearing the holding music guitar riff..it's from Dire Straits "On Every Street", if you are interested.

I walked back in and looked at the clock..Herself had been on the phone for three quarters of an hour!

She was also getting nowhere, here's some of the conversation;
"I can only credit you one month, you should have phoned up as soon as you got the bill"

"we didn't get a bill for £37.00"
"yes, but you should have phoned up as soon as you got the bill"

"we didn't get a bill for £37.00"
"you should have phoned up as soon as you got the bill"
"we didn't get a bill for £37.00"

.....Get the idea?

I took over the conversation before She Who Must be Obeyed cancelled VM forever and a day, I wish I hadn't!

Then this ..person starts telling us our retention deal doesn't exist;

"That deal was offered to people for three months only"

"Our offer was for a year, the representative was called *** *****"

"That deal was offered to people for three months only"

"No, it was for a year, it is still current."

"That deal was offered to people for three months only"

At that point I asked to speak to a manager.

....More Dire Straits....

No manager is available! Well, well!

As a parthian shot before we gave up, I asked to be dropped to 4 Meg while we get it sorted or contact trading standards, etc..

Remember those "Heroes" on here I talked about on another post?

Are there any still working for VM, or have they legged it?

Mayday...Mayday...

[Russ B]

You know the score...PM me your details and we'll get our guy on to it.

[etccarmageddon]

the 10meg for £10 deal did exist last year cos I was on it until they did the same to me as they have done to you - suddenly my direct debit increased to the full amount - this was because the computer system was unable to keep a deal running for year without someone reapplying the deal every 3 months.

they told me they'd lost all records of my account notes re the retention deal due to the merger with Telewest so could no longer honour the deal.

[goldoni]

In short I had a retention deal and VM have done everything to get out of the original deal. They have tried to put the price up, they have tried to change the time scale and worse still they have tried to tell me I have agreed to another 12 month contract. I was even told the person who made the offer was not authorised to offer such a deal and she has since left the company. The problems started when VM changed the system software.

I told them quite firmly that is not my problem as I have an email from VM laying out the retention deal and if you want to push it that it was never said I like you record telephone conversations so can give you chapter and verse. Then we have the note pad from Outlook with times dates and names.

In short I’m still on the retention deal and they did refund two months overpayment. And I had it confirmed I’m not on another 12 moth contract.

Like you said stay calm, believe it or not there are a lot of good people in customer service who are there to help.

[NTLVictim]

PM sent. Ta very much.

I used to like that Dire Straits track....

[Russ B]

Email sent, keep us update in this thread please....

[NTLVictim]

Originally Posted by Russ B

Email sent, keep us update in this thread please....

Will do!

[BenMcr]

unfortunately until the changeover to VM billing system this sort of thing was possible because of the discount codes avaliable (and the lack of automatic discount checking)

As part of the change all these 'special deals' thatwhere identified, although possible and not official, are being stopped. Any accounts that have discount applied that are not valid for the services will be identified and corrected.

Whenever i get a call like this i will always try my best but it is not always possible to do it because of the validation checks now built into the system

[N00N00]

Virgin are notoriioos for doing this sort of thing. I managed to get my deal reinstated. so don't take no for an answer. Afterall, it is your money they're stealing.

It annoys me how if you are late paying then all sorts of fees can be charged by Virgin but not vice-versa. These things should work both ways IMO - perhaps worth reminding them what would happen if it was you owing them money.

[NTLVictim]

Don't worry, if I get no joy, it's legal time! As far as I'm concerned theft is theft.

Just to add insult to injury, we got a letter the other day from Sheila Burgess, Head of customer relations saying; "We're chuffed to bits you're staying with Virgin Media"


The left hand really doesn't know what the right is doing does it?

Calm..remain calm....

But the key thing here is that within the contract it says something like that any special pricing is just that and it can be removed at anytime. bla bla bla, You get the point. BenMCr is right. Especially with getting the XL bbi for £10 a month. it would now require a rolling credit which has got to be authorised by a manager and theres not much chance of that unless you have othere services.

[NTLVictim]

I was told ten meg for ten pounds for twelve months. I expect them to keep their word.

And I agree with you. I was just pointing out that fact. The last time a read a contract was last Oct and at the time I was quit supprised at it. Not read one since but i would presume the Virgin contract follows the same lines.

[BenMcr]

And I would be very suprised if you phoned up now and said 'Can I have XL Broadband for £10', VM would say yes.

They are more likely to tell you (in a polite way) where to go.

None of the old style ntl offers (ie the one we are discussing) tied anyone into a new 12 month contract. Therefore VM would be in there rights to credit back one month of the overcharge and then withdraw the offer (therefore giving 30 days notice as its stated in the T&Cs)

Paragraph J1 'After the end of all relevant minimum periods, any party may end this agreement by giving the other 30 days' notice'

The new VM Customer Relations bundles if and when offered, DO tie people into a new 12 month contract. All customers placed onto a new Customer Relations bundle are send a letter confirming this. Therefore at any point everyone knows what should or shouldn't be charged

---------- Post added at 11:37 ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 ----------

And actually there are still two cable companies. Virgin Media and WightCable/Smallworld

[NTLVictim]

As you say Ben, we are not talking about now, we are talking about then..They made a promise, so they should keep it! It's not as if we have even seen a bill for anything like the amounts they are now taking, and we received nothing about the deal being ended prematurely.