Imaginary T&C's

[A$h X]

Quick rundown on the situation:
I was out of contract for my triple package. I rang VM to report a fault and somehow got talked into upgrading my BB to XL from L. Within 24 hours I decided that I did not want the upgrade so I rang up VM to cancel the service. The upgrade was cancelled, and i was told my BB had reverted to the old L service, and i was not under the new XL contract.

Now today i rang up to cancel my VM services as I am moving to sky, but I was told i am still under contract for BB! :erm: I informed them I had cancelled the upgrade within 24 hours, and was back on my old service. When i asked why i was on a new contract for my OLD service, I was told "because you didn't return the wireless router".

Now i told the person i spoke to in cancellation I was most unhappy and I have written a letter of complaint. Here it is for your consideration:

"I am making a complaint regarding your terms and conditions regarding equipment given as part of of a new contract. I cancelled a broadband upgrade within the 7 day right to cancel period via telephone. I was told my upgrade had been cancelled and my service had reverted to it's previous state, which meant i was no longer under contract. At any time NO mention was made about the return of equipment by the virgin media employee who took my call and arranged the cancellation.

I recently contacted virgin media to cancel my services, when I was informed that I was still under contract with respect to my broadband service. When I enquired why this should be as I had already cancelled the service, I was told that i still was in possession of a router, and this meant I was still in contract. I enquired why was I not informed of this condition when I cancelled the upgrade, and I was told I should have been informed – this means your employee has neglected to properly specify the terms & conditions of cancellation, and thereby I should not be subject to its limitations and liabilities.

Secondly, I refer to the terms and conditions as stated on the right to cancel statutory notice received on 31st march 2010:

“If you have received any equipment under this contract before cancellation, you are responsible for returning it to us at your cost. If we do not receive the equipment back from you, we may arrange for collection from your home at your cost.”

This is quoted verbatim from your own right to cancel statutory notice. It makes NO mention whatsoever about a clause stating: “ If you cancel a service but retain any equipment sent as part of the service, failure to return will result in a new minimum term contract being entered into.”

This is an blatant falsehood, it is not mentioned in the right to cancel statutory notice, nor in the virgin media terms and conditions available online via your website. In effect, your employee has either been misinformed or was intentionally misleading customers.

I await with keen interest your response on this matter as I will be forwarding the complaint to OFT, OFCOM, and any other regulatory bodies who will undoubtedly take a dim view of such flagrant dishonesty and misinformation.

Regards,
A$h X"

Well, what do the VM staff on here reckon? Making up conditions which don't exist in the T&C's is clearly bad form don't you think?:D

[BenMcr]

I would agree you should not be under contract if you cancelled the new service within the 7 day RTC period

[martyh]

I would agree you should not be under contract if you cancelled the new service within the 7 day RTC period

unless the CS thought he meant he wanted to cancel the new XL contract but start a new contract with his old L package it could be interpreted that way reading the post

[A$h X]

unless the CS thought he meant he wanted to cancel the new XL contract but start a new contract with his old L package it could be interpreted that way reading the post

Why would I want to start a new contract on an existing service? I gain no benefit and the CS rep did NOT specifcally ask if i wanted a new contract on the existing L service. They didn't even TELL me I was on a new contract! :erm:
And more importantly, why when cancelling the upgrade, was I not told a new contract had been entered into and would remain even after the upgrade was cancelled unless the router was returned? Again, no mention was made by the CS rep.

I am very disappointed in VM's attempt to enforce non-existent clauses in their T&C's, I am going to phone cancellation again tomorrow and ask them to point where it says I agree to a new contract if I do not return their router (which i have even offered to do)

[pip08456]

unless the CS thought he meant he wanted to cancel the new XL contract but start a new contract with his old L package it could be interpreted that way reading the post

I certainly didn't read it that way.

[Maggy]

Neither did I.;)

[Raistlin]

So, you took out a new contract, then cancelled it within the appropriate time frame.

Then, you receive equipment only sent to you as part of the terms of the contract you cancelled (meaning you're no longer entitled to it).

Instead of returning the equipment you keep it.

Then you wonder why Virgin want to hold you to the contract?

I think, but I'm prepared to be proven wrong, that under contract law if you accept (or continue to receive without rejecting) any service (or part of a service) then you are deemed to have accepted the terms of the contract covering that service. If that's the case Virgin don't need a clause, you've accepted the contract just by keeping the router.

Like I say, that's my understanding - I could be wrong though.

[Maggy]

I can see VM's position BUT I also think that maybe they do have a rather laid back approach to returned equipment and it should have been made clear to the OP(and anyone else in the same position) that retaining any equipment will negate an agreement and lock them into a new contract.

It's not a point I was aware of myself.If VM would just make it easier to follow rules and were hotter on getting equipment back there might be less room for misunderstanding.

It does seem sometimes that VM do make it up as they go along..and I like them.

[A$h X]

Well, i have to admit VM are very efficient when it comes to dealing with my complaint, well mine at least. I received a call form the complaints department around 9am and they were very apologetic, they admitted I should not be in contract and have restored my previous out-of-contract status. All within 9 hours of sending the complaint via e-mail :D
Goes to show, don't take what you are told as gospel, and be prepared do some research and stand your ground.

[pip08456]

Glad you're sorted, they can get it right when the correct people get involved.

Hope you're going to be a happy chappy with Sky.

Get back sometime and let us know.