Online discount not being applied to my bill

Gambit37 · 19-01-2008, 18:34

I have a bit of a problem.

On moving into a new rented flat back in October 2007, I took an online package deal with Virgin media. My initial welcome letter states this as: Telephone line rental £11, Talk Unlimited £9.95, Broadband XL £37, online order discount £20, Installation charge £25.

Now, the actual package I ordered is pretty close to that, but it was part of a special deal that gave the first year broadband at a discount of either one third or one half, I'm not entirely sure. Why aren't I sure? Because stupidly I never actually wrote down exactly what I ordered -- I had assumed I would get an email confirming it all but I never did.

The package itself included TV Medium for free and as I also chose the quickstart option (I'd install it myself), I shouldn't have been charged the installation fee. I've queired that and it's been refunded.

The problem is that I distinctly remember calculating my monthly payment for the package in question at £45. My current bills are coming in at around £55 which is definitely wrong, though it appears more or less correct with the prices listed above.

The contract states "if you subscribe to one of our special offers, it will not be shown here, however you will be billed at the appropriate discounted rate and this will be shown on your bill." I remember being reassured when I read that because I was concerned that the contract was showing figures higher than I had calculated.

I've received three bills now and they all have been charging me the higher rate, not the discounted rate I should have got from the package I ordered. The trouble is, I have no proof. I tried looking at the wayback machine but it only goes up to July 2007 and I ordered the package in October.

If I challenge this, I need to be sure I am correct. How can I find out exactly what packages were available around October 2007? If I phoned Virgin customer services, would they actually have correct records showing what I ordered? Maybe there is only a simple mistake in the billing not being updated with the correct discount?

Any thoughts or help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

PS: I haven't actually sent back my contract yet, I keep forgetting -- so in theory I could leave them at the drop of a hat (and obviously they could terminate my services without warning). Does not having a signed contract put me in a very bad position, or a very good one? (I guess it depends on your point of view...!)

BenMcr · 20-01-2008, 00:34

Customer Care have full records of what offers were avaliable when, going right back to the launch of Virgin Media.

So if you phone them and ask, they would be able to check what options you could have had with the services you ordered at the date you ordered.

But based on what you have it would probably be the 2 for £20 with TV M, TU and XL Broadband which works out at £46.95. Because you are in Brighton you should have one bill of £9.95 (which is the TV and phoneline rental @ £2 and TU at £7.95) and one bill per month of £37 (the broadband)

---------- Post added at 00:34 ---------- Previous post was at 00:29 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gambit37

PS: I haven't actually sent back my contract yet, I keep forgetting -- so in theory I could leave them at the drop of a hat (and obviously they could terminate my services without warning). Does not having a signed contract put me in a very bad position, or a very good one? (I guess it depends on your point of view...!)

Not true. According to distance selling regulations HERE

Quote:

If a consumer cancels an order, written notice must be given to you by:

goods – seven working days from the day after that on which the goods are received by the consumer;
services – seven working days from the day after that on which the consumer agrees to go ahead with the contract.

So even though you haven't signed the contract, you are still bound by it. Virgin also have a full copy of the contract they sent you, and can resend it if it is not received, and if you have sent it back, when.

Gambit37 · 20-01-2008, 02:54

Thanks for the info, I guess I'll ring customer service and follow it up. Just wanted to get my facts straight first.

I must remember to update my profile -- I don't live in Brighton anymore, I'm in London now.