Free to XL customers Super Hub cost me £75

[boxo]

I'm a Virgin customer which previously was NTL and prior to that it was northants cable - i've always had cable tv. My services are XL broadband, XL TV and XL telephone. I have 2 V+HD boxes and one V HD box.

My wi-fi router was dying and i was looking around at a replacement. I saw something about the Virginmedia Super Hub - modem/wi-fi all in one box - ideal for me, replaces two electrical sockets.

I logged in to my account online and selected the page showing possible upgrades to my package - and there down the page was the hub.
i clicked the button and checked the details on the right hand column to see what it was going to cost me and was very happy to see that it was a free upgrade for XL Broadband customers; it showed £0.

There was a red box on the right of the page in the pricing column, stating I would get a call to confirm any changes to my account within 48 hours.
I didn't get a call but thought nothing of it, as the site was quite clear on the £0 charges.

The hub arrived a couple of days later, it had instructions and a warranty but no legal stuff. It took me 15 minutes all told to set up and call for the MAC address It's been fitted and running for almost a month, it's very good bit of kit.

I got an email to tell me by bill is ready but it looked very high indeed. They've charged me £75 for the super hub.
I called 151 to ask about it and was told that they have done away with the 20mb xl broadband (although both my account details and tested line speeds shows me still as a 20mb XL customer), and they have replaced it with XL30 (30mb) and therefore the hub is free only to XL30 users.
She couldn't tell me when that happened, she couldn't tell my why the website made no mention of that when I ordered it.

I've not previously been told that my 20mb service will cease, or that I should upgrade to XL30 to keep my broadband (neither was I tonight) - so my guess is that existing 20mb customers will remain so unless they ask to upgrade and the XL30 replaces the old 20mb for new customer activations.

I was just told over the phone that i can either pay £75 to keep the hub, or upgrade to XL30 and keep it for free. However I explained that the website made no mention of different XL speeds, merely that as an XL customer, the hub was free. She kept repeating the same message, insisting that it was my fault and i ought to have known as an XL20 customer that it would cost me £75. The first time I had heard either of XL20 or XL30 as phrases was when she used them during the telephone call.

I told her to pick the thing up tomorrow, i'll leave it on the doorstep. The woman (who was in india somewhere), got upset with me and asked if i thought she was profiting in some way over this decision.
I told her no, obviously - but that as the rep of the company trying to con me into paying for something that was free of charge at the time of ordering it, she was perfectly placed to hear my complaint.
She couldn't tell me when the 20 was phased out. She insisted the upgrade website made it clear that it was free only to XL30 customers - I could not see for myself as it obviously will not give me the option to upgrade to something I already have - but I remain adamant that when I ordered the Hub, the page made no mention of different XL grades, merely stating the Hub was going to cost me, an XL customer, £0.
She did let slip that because the company have stopped offering new customers the 20mb service, the website ordering form automatically assumes that as an XL customer, you are already on the XL30 broadband and it leaves the amount to pay as £0. The price is only corrected later via billing.

I told her to come and get the hub, remove the £75 from my bill, amend the direct debit accordingly - and while she's at it she can have the 3 VHD boxes too and to cancel my account/services immediately.

Apparently she can't do that - she can't even send an email mentioning my complaint and told me I must call disconnections in the morning - but the hub will be collected on the 12th july in any case. She did promise to amend the bill, however.

I will call customer services first, then, if no reason is shown towards me, i'll call disconnections and drop the lot.

I'm a bit cross. Anyone else had similar with this? I'm keen to read your experiences/solutions.

Cheers.

[Jameseh]

It is a fair mix-up as they were in the middle of a transition but if they haven't offered you your money back or only refunded £45 just put you on 30mb (as per the upgrade deal) it is quite shocking. I'm sure retentions would be quicker off the mark to offer you that and stop you leaving.

[mark1234]

Just to back you up here, I've just looked and the upgrade page very clearly says the Super Hub is free, and at the top of the page it even shows me as being on the XL20 package, so it knows the difference between XL20 and XL30. Sounds like dodgy advertising to me and you should be able to insist on getting the hub for free.

[boxo]

Hi, thanks for your replies.

I called disconnections this morning and explained what had happened last night, I told them I didn't particularly want to leave but that I was prepared to.
Went through the whole thing again, this time including mark1234's confirmation of what the upgrade page had said which was very handy, thank you.

The refund has been confirmed and the hub is mine to keep.
She did say that as an XL20 customer, I wouldn't need the super hub unless i upgraded and the ordinary hub would do - I told her there was no option for anything other than the super hub in the on-line upgrade menu and incidentally, the only broadband upgrade on offer to me on that page is for 50mb. the slide shows my current XL of 20mb and an upgrade to 50mb. 30 and 100 are not shown.

She didn't offer me an upgrade to 30, though Jameseh - I'm still on the 20 which suits me to be honest. However, out of interest can you run through the 'upgrade offer' you speak of please? Cheers.

[Stephen]

Every XL 20mb customer can upgrade to 30mb XL and get the superhub for only £30. No change in the monthly rental either unless you are on a deal.

[boxo]

Stephen;
Thank you for responding. I have to wonder then, why I was not given that option - or at least had it explained in the same way, I might have been more amenable. However I do think it is a problem with the way the upgrade page has been designed, in that an existing 20mb customer isn't catered for. Also as I mentioned earlier, my own upgrade page only gives me the option of the 20mb I'm on already and an upgrade to 50mb. there is no mention of upgrading to 30 or 100 on my personal page.

[Charliedontsurf]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

It is a fair mix-up as they were in the middle of a transition but if they haven't offered you your money back or only refunded £45 just put you on 30mb (as per the upgrade deal) it is quite shocking. I'm sure retentions would be quicker off the mark to offer you that and stop you leaving.

I agree with Jameseh, this is SHOCKING from Virginmedia.

[boxo]

I think the problem, as I said earlier, is that the upgrade website has been re-written without the inclusion of the 20mb service and assumes everyone is on the 30mb one. So the option to select the old 20mb hub is removed, there's nothing to do with the 20mb service at all. That's why I was able to apply for the (wrong) 30mb+ super hub and be informed at the point of purchase on-line that it wouldn't cost me.
I was and am still unable to select any speed other than 50mb on the upgrade page (no 30 or 100mb shown).
So the lady in India was simply following the script, in that I had received the hub without upgrading to 30mb. I hadn't taken the upgrade offer (despite not being offered it on-line or even being aware of it) and therefore the cost to me was £75. She told me I needed to pay the £75, or upgrade to 30mb (she didn't tell me how much it would cost) or hand the thing back. I was outraged, as I felt I was being forced to pay for something I had been given free on-line. I wasn't offered a swap to the older hub but then I guess Virgin no longer stock it, given that they are going through the process of completely phasing out the 20mb service. My complaint was that I felt was being corralled into paying for an upgrade I hadn't requested, felt I didn't need and given the circumstances, believed to have been done dishonestly.

Retentions the following day didn't offer me the opportunity to upgrade to 30mb either but they did admit fault immediately after I'd explained the situation and offered me the hub for free.

It's all a bit of a cock up and I would be interested to learn if this has got back to the company and if anything has been done to remedy it, as the promised customer service feedback email has not arrived.