my virgin media rant

[dan dority]

last year i was with sky for tv and virgin for my phone i also had a setop tv box from virgin which i never used[free basic chans}
so when i phoned virgin about getting vip package they told me id get it for £82 a month for 6 months then it would be £89 and id get broadband free for 2 months . they said i couldnt get 2 months free with tv as i was already a subscriber to tv.they also promised me free caller display.
they sent me a contract through the post which to my annouance i never paid it much attention as when i ordered my vip bundle the c/s was so nice and very clear to me.
then my first bill came through and it was for £93 so i phoned up virgin c/s
only to be told that virgin had no idea what i was talkin about. they said they had no record of the deal i struck over the phone with c/s originally .obviously they had some record of my deal but none of the perks i had negotiated.
so obviously i asked to cancell all my virgin services , only to be told i couldnt cancell as id agreed to a 12 month contract .
but my biggest shock came when the c/s accused me of trying to re negotiate my contract after signing it .
i then asked her if my original phone call to c/s had been recorded and if so could they listen to it and i could prove my point.
i was told that virgin dont record their phone calls with customers and that there was nothing i could do.
so i seethed with rage for a few days and then i gradually calmed down.
this all happened in january of this year and i wish i new about this forum back then then maybe i might have got the correct advice to deal with this.
rant over

[darkan9el]

I'm so glad I read these forums, Customer services (that term is used very loosely) seem to promise the earth and because of peoples apathy get away with removing any verbal agreements.

Well I will not be using a Virgin media, they are con artists, which is a shame as I used to have NTL and didn't have a jot of trouble, no billing errors, nothing, my BB was rock solid and I got what I agreed.
Since then the sharks have obviously moved in. If these people who take the calls can't have the decency to uphold their verbal agreements they shouldn't be taking calls.

People, if you really have to have Virgin, record the conversation, ask for that deal in writing and read the contract cover to cover, don't sign and make amendments based on the verbal agreement, photocopy it and send it back unsigned. THis is rip-off britain aptly acronym'd R.O.B

I'll stick with bog standard freeview HD and keep my life, I've yet to see anything on Virgin or Sky that would justify the cost.

Just had my mate on MSN ranting about a bill she's had from VM lol! they can't seem to account for the charges hahahahaha effing muppets.

[Donny1]

They've pulled this stunt with me aswell.Making out they have looked at the notes and there is no mention of the discount i'd arranged with them.They tryed to con me before to keep me as a customer but i'd already got sky at the time so cancelled anyway,this time the person was so polite and i thought they did things differently nowadays i thought i'd have no problem.How wrong i was,the robbing gits caught me out as i'd cancelled sky this time. Funny as before i had nothing but praise for virgin and defended them with people and even recommended them but not anymore.

[darkan9el]

I think we as the consumer, have a right to enforce a verbal agreement. I think the person dealing with you should give their full name or employee number or whatever id they care to use to uniquely identify themselves,

A copy of the conversation or deal should be sent via email to your email address of your choosing and if you are near the PC at the time you can read the deal and confirm, that becomes legally binding to them and they have to adhere to that deal.

I challenge Mr Branson and virgin media to apply this idea, to show the customers past present and future you will be true to your word

Under the distance selling act I think you have a cooling off period, even if you sign the contract, although virgin will try to persuade the person with more false, deniable deals, if that doesn't work they will try to intimidate the person by giving incorrect information about your obligation to their contract; even though its based on deceit; way to go Mr Branson, you employ some really nice sales people... NOT.

My friend has spent the best part of last night and early morning trying to work out what virgin have charged her for and how. The call centre customer service person blatantly lied and created multiple fake reasons for the cost, she couldn't believe this incompetent fool was even employed by virgin as a customer services rep. In the end she just disconnected the call out of frustration.

She's worked it all out now, all she has to do now is explain to Fraggle Rock < (New name for Virgin Non-customer services) (VNCS) what they have done and how to rectify it.

So to summarise, keywords that describe virgin:

• Deceitful - vncs lie blatantly because they haven't got a clue what they are doing!!!
• Incompetent - they haven't got a clue how they charge you so can't explain it clearly - this is meant to be like this to confuse you the customer.
• Con-artists - they tell you you are getting one thing but give you something different and less.
• Fraudulent - They take money that is not there's to take and obtain it through lies and deceit and misinformation.
• Unprofessional - What the verbally agree they don't do, they don't keep detailed correct notes, they don't admit they promised you something apologise and give you what you agreed.
• Disrespectful - See all of the above, respect and common decency is something all customers should be given.

I don't tar all employees with these company attributes, I tar virgin, how you act under its banner is up to you.

[adzii_nufc]

In my time with Virgin All my bills were 'Itemised' and Completely correct, I do know that in your first bill you pay double to get a month in advance.

Have you taken that Into consideration.

[darkan9el]

Yes she has taken all this into account and her bill wasn't itemised, thats why she was asking what the amount was for. Unfortunately CS didn't know either; which I think is very odd, but the problem really started when the CS advisor started making stuff up to account for the cost, this just incensed her, so she disconnected.

I think the problem here is a poor communication system, with no verifiable details for the customer. When the customer then gets a bill they didn't expect you have the ensuing CS phone call, and more poor communication, this becomes an escalating problem caused by VM and not the fault of the customer.

VM should do as I challenge in post #4 it would dramatically reduce the ensuing confusion, in addition to this they should also itemise the process of payment for the year ahead both of these documents should be posted or emailed to the customer prior to signing a contract, this will enable people to budget and keep a track of what they should be paying and not have to deal with large initial bills like a lot of people on here seem to be getting. Obviously depending upon the package there will be variables but these can be accommodated pretty easily with a plain English explanation and not a * at the side of a bill entry.

This is just common-sense, a kid could see this would sort so many issues with trust, billing and package deals agreed by the sales team.

Why does it take a non virgin customer, with a bit of a brain to see something that highly paid VM employees can't see. I tell you what, I'll take 10% of the savings my idea creates, I think that's pretty cheap, deal Mr Branson?

[adzii_nufc]

Without Proof of any sort of deal happening between the OP and Virgin its just one word against another.

You say the bill came in at £93

Your deal was £'82' for the first few months.

Installation Fee's?
Advancement Fee's?

Considering your supposed to be a Month in advance the bill could well have been £186

Although I do believe every word you say when you claim you were offered a deal, as ludicrous as it sounds this is a technique to get you to 'sign' for them. Once its done its done and the chances are like in this case you will recieve no deal whatsoever.

The whole 'we dont record conversations' is false. It clearly states that 'your call may be recorded'

This is just to try and figure out where the extra £11 came from.

Line rental or the above as I have suggested. Its extremely rare Virgin media make a big billing issue.

[RobboEdin]

I think that the darkan9el needs to post the detail from the Advance Charges section of the bill and then people will be able to help. The bills are itemised.

[darkan9el]

Hi all, She has spoken to a UK call centre and VM have admitted incorrectly charging her, they are going to credit the next bill due on 6th August with the over charge, so we'll see what happens on the 6th August.

[adzii_nufc]

Nothing from the OP Suggests His/Her bill was correct then.

[dan dority]

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc

Nothing from the OP Suggests His/Her bill was correct then.

this happened 6 months ago and i assure you i was robbed rotten
i didnt phone up for the vip bundle as i wanted just a v+ with xl and sports and movies , 10 meg b/b and free evening and weekend phone package but i was advised by the c/s to take their vip bundle.

free broadband for two months
£7 discount for 6 months
free caller display

all of the above they reneged on.

i was told no installation fees which was correct
and phone line included in price.
i would have posted this when it happened but as i said in my earlier post i was not aware of this forum then.