Virgin Mobile Credit checks issue

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by servius7

I was not talking of Virgin media, I was talking of Virgin mobile who always want your virgin media account to verify your details. They do this every time with me. It is standard practice when applying for a phone contract with them. Now if you are separate business WHY DO THIS. THIS DECEIVES PEOPLE INTO THINKING YOU ARE ONE ENTITIY. And then confuse virgin media members by asking loads of questions. So please virgin media/mobile staff member please do not try to defend your selves from a situation that has been apparent for a long time and deny any confusion caused when you could correct the problem easily. Your are not a Quad service but a service of which causes great frustration.

As I said we on the Virginmedia side do not ask for any account details whatsoever if you are calling over a Virgin Mobile issue regardless of the fact that you may be a Virginmedia customer as it just wastes the customers time and annoys them once transferred that the Virgin Mobile agent has knowledge of who they are as we just cold transfer them.

Now if a Virgin National customer were to call then their account screen pops up and we can then ask for their details and inform the agent of the customers name before transferring them but we cannot get any further into their accounts either.

[huxleypiguk]

Just as an addition to this, I ordered a phone and they ran a credit check and it failed. For info I have a 500+ credit rating with Equifax, however they cancelled my order and didn't inform me. Result: someone waiting in all day for a phone which never arrived.

An e-mail is currently sitting in Neil Burketts inbox. I await a reply with interest.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by huxleypiguk

Just as an addition to this, I ordered a phone and they ran a credit check and it failed. For info I have a 500+ credit rating with Equifax, however they cancelled my order and didn't inform me. Result: someone waiting in all day for a phone which never arrived.

An e-mail is currently sitting in Neil Burketts inbox. I await a reply with interest.

Did they give you a delivery date before running a credit check, that dosen't make sense does it?

In my experience most companies confirm delivery details once the order has been fully processed, ie you have met the criteria but obviously not with VM Mobile.

On a sidenote the rating you refer to is a bit of a red herring, a marketing tool if you like to flog their paid for credit file services. It is merely an indication of how healthy Equifax consider your file to be but it is the credit provider that makes a decision based on a number of factors. Equifax merely provide them with details of the information they hold. As far as I am aware there isn't really such a thing as a numeric credit rating, certainly not an external one anyway. Organisations like Banks often have internal ratings for customers though, I know for a fact Lloyds TSB do.

I hope you get the problem sorted out.

[servius7]

Originally Posted by huxleypiguk

Just as an addition to this, I ordered a phone and they ran a credit check and it failed. For info I have a 500+ credit rating with Equifax, however they cancelled my order and didn't inform me. Result: someone waiting in all day for a phone which never arrived.

An e-mail is currently sitting in Neil Burketts inbox. I await a reply with interest.

Yes ok. What will happen is that Neil will send you a message stating that your complaint has been sent to their Executive Office and a rep will contact you. Mine is Simon. Now despite how nice they are, they are also tied up with policies that are outdated and crazy and simon will admit this. Having said that they do have more high end contacts to resolve the issue. Now Simon and James Clarke (Executive Team manger) who is also dealing with my problem has told me that Virgin Media and Virgin Mobile are one and the same company. They have merged the companies with the intention of making the policies uniform. Simon has instructed me and confirmed the Email that I received that Virgin Media Customers do not require a credit check. However they still with the system have to do it because they don't have the ability to override the system. They now accept I do exist and indeed at the address of which I want the phone sent to. This is after sending a email with a photo of my passport, bank details and address and driving licence and Virgin Media Customer later with these details on. Now Friday 14 (over 3 weeks later) a decision to override the system has gone to the top Executive Director of Virgin Media/Mobile to override the system. So they will help you and try to resolve. But what a lot of hassle when all they need is some common sense and this is what Neil stated to me in an Email. Now things I believe will get better because of the Merge but alas this does not help us. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhg lol

---------- Post added at 14:25 ---------- Previous post was at 14:22 ----------

Originally Posted by mersey70

Did they give you a delivery date before running a credit check, that dosen't make sense does it?

In my experience most companies confirm delivery details once the order has been fully processed, ie you have met the criteria but obviously not with VM Mobile.

On a sidenote the rating you refer to is a bit of a red herring, a marketing tool if you like to flog their paid for credit file services. It is merely an indication of how healthy Equifax consider your file to be but it is the credit provider that makes a decision based on a number of factors. Equifax merely provide them with details of the information they hold. As far as I am aware there isn't really such a thing as a numeric credit rating, certainly not an external one anyway. Organisations like Banks often have internal ratings for customers though, I know for a fact Lloyds TSB do.

I hope you get the problem sorted out.

Yes they did confirm a delivery date depending on the time in the day of the order it came be next day or the day after.

I do not train their staff I doubt if anyone does. (Mere sarcasm)

---------- Post added at 14:34 ---------- Previous post was at 14:25 ----------

Originally Posted by Masque

As I said we on the Virginmedia side do not ask for any account details whatsoever if you are calling over a Virgin Mobile issue regardless of the fact that you may be a Virginmedia customer as it just wastes the customers time and annoys them once transferred that the Virgin Mobile agent has knowledge of who they are as we just cold transfer them.

Now if a Virgin National customer were to call then their account screen pops up and we can then ask for their details and inform the agent of the customers name before transferring them but we cannot get any further into their accounts either.

Well you should soon be able to, because Virgin Media and Virgin Mobile have merged into one company as it should have been from the start. This was something of which OFFCOM stated to me would have been the wisest approach as they do not prevent this within their guidelines. So it is likely that most of Virgin Media or Mobile staff may not be aware of. However this was stated by Simon at Executive Office (Mobile) and James Clarke (Executive Manager). So this crazy situation should be resolved and as Simon stated to me 'No Virgin Media customer requires a credit check for a mobile phone.' He also stated on the phone, 'This situation is crazy', James stated 'Crap', and I have every confidence this situation will eventually be resolved for all customers who are wasting their time dealing with this at the moment stupid situation.

[Mungojerrie]

Hmmm, so "No Virgin Media customer requires a credit check for a mobile phone"? Strange, then, that I have tried numerous times to get a pay monthly one, having been a Virgin Media customer since the merger with NTL and and a PAYG one with Virgin Mobile for almost seven years, and on three occasions have been turned down! A few times I tried on the website, it would let me get so far and then tell me to ring instead (I knew it might be because of credit problems as my late husband left me deep in debt, so I didn't bother ringing), another time I tried on the landline after paying off said debts - all went fine, including a delivery date being arranged, and then the saleswoman suddenly said "Oh, I'm sorry, you've been refused"! She was very apologetic, but there was nothing she could do, obviously. So I left it for a while and tried yet again by 'phone, this time with a woman who had a heavy Asian accent and who also had problems understanding me, so the call took twice as long as neccessary, but with the same result - except this time she refused to tell me that I couldn't have the 'phone, she just suddenly said "I need to transfer you to my supervisor", then an Asian man came on the line and told me that there was a problem and that someone would ring me the next day with an explanation. Needless to say, no 'phone call ever came!

Just over two weeks ago, I lost my PAYG mobile, so decided to try one more time, again on the website. To my utter amazement it all went through without a hitch, money was taken from my account for delivery and confirmation and delivery emails were received, although I was still dubious - until the 'phone arrived on the Tuesday!

I couldn't be happier with my new HTC Wildfire, but still feel slightly miffed that, despite never paying one Virgin Media bill late and always having the money in my account to meet the Direct Debit every month for years, I was turned down so often and was treated without respect on the last unsuccessful attempt. Still, that's life, I suppose - chances are it's a new rule that's only been brought in recently!

[huxleypiguk]

Well I am still blocked. Two years ago we had a phone which didn't work in our house - no signal. They took it back. However there was £1.20 worth of use on it which they said would be written off. They didn't. So now every time I try and get a Virgin Mobile contract, it blocks.

I have switched my son to Tesco and the rest of us have upgraded with Orange packages to suit our needs. Virgin Mobile lost five potential customers thanks to their inability to communicate and press a 'delete' key.

[Ignitionnet]

For better or worse it's much easier to get a huge bill on a cell phone contract than on cable, especially when you are paying the vast majority of the costs, the monthly fee, in advance rather than arrears while on the cell contract all is in arrears.

Miss a bill on the cable payment you are just starting to clock up arrears, they can remind you then take further action, miss a cell phone payment you're already a full month of unpaid usage in and rising.

In addition with a cell phone contract there's the matter of the hundreds of pounds worth of phone they provide as well - cable doesn't have this either as they continue to own virtually all hardware they provide so no big outlay at the start of the contract.

I have no idea why Virgin Media customers should be exempt from credit checks with Virgin Mobile, taking one or a subset of services paid for in advance shouldn't have any bearing on a service like the Mobile side of the operations any more than having a prepay phone and making the minimum top-up for your inclusive package each month would.

Appreciate I'm being harsh but being cold and calculating about things that's pretty much the way I see it. VMob give you an expensive phone, bill you in arrears, VMed give you virtually nothing and mostly bill you in advance. Quite different risk levels.

[Mungojerrie]

Yeah, I can see your point, but as my VMed bills are always £60+ each month and I have a V+ box as well, yet my VMob bill will be less than £20 (I rarely use it for anything other than texting, and ordering cabs & using the internet while out, and those come included in the tariff free!), they would lose much more if I had ever defaulted on the VMed side than on the VMob! Co-incidentally, I have also just applied for (and received) my first and only credit card since paying off all the debts, so maybe that had more to do with it than any change in Virgin policy?

Whatever the reason, I'm just glad to have the 'phone as I was lost without mine for three days (I also use it to let me know when to take my meds and when my hospital and docs appointments are, as well as it being my music player) and couldn't have afforded to buy such a good one outright, let alone get it in two days as I am disabled and not always able to leave the house on bad days, so I'm not complaining really!

[ontheball]

I think the issue here is virginmedias appproach. Just recently received a leaflet in the paper heres the wording.

'calling all new and existing customers add a mobile to any bundle for just £10.21 a month'

Now an existing customer all they want is to pick up their landline and call virgin and get the mobile service added. In the same way we can add premium channels, faster broadband and indeed premium landline features. The common argument is that virgin mobile and media are seperate. However broadband, landline and television have somehow managed to be merged into the one entity so its only natural for customers to expect mobile to be merged as well. Indeed mobile and broadband have a closer relationship then the landline so would make a more natural fit. Making existing customers undergo a credit check for a mobile is not very efficient. The argument that customers could steal the phone or run up huge bills makes no sense because their consequences for both. That being losing all virginmedia service or facing legal action for recovery of charges.

[Gavin78]

But to be credit checked shows what type of person you are, I wouldn't want to be paying higher mobile phone costs and extra charges for a new phone because all those with bad debts or con artists are ripping off the phone companies.

So while the phone companies are putting £1000's into court action to recover the money from lost contracts and £400/£500 phones the rest of us would have to pick up the tab.

I know bad debt is not always the persons fault but some people are bad payers which is why I think credit checks to a certain level are a good idea

[MartJ]

I had a similar problem last year, I have an good credit record so I expected no problems.

I went through Virgin Mobile's Credit Check with no problem, they gave me a date for delivery, then as there was a delivery charge asked me to pay by Credit or Debit Card, this is when the problems started. I used the same card that I use to pay for items as Tesco, Amazon etc too my surprise this card was rejected and as a result they cancelled my order. I questioned the reason why if I could pass a credit check that I could then fail on a Credit Card which had a zero balance as I pay it off every month, I demanded an explanation and I was subsequently contacted by someone else in Virgin Mobile who said it was declined because of my postcode. As a postcode is shared between more than one property, it appeared that there had been some problems with my postcode. My suspiscion was the bedsit flats over the road which have the same postcode. I argued that I could not be responsible for what happened at other properties and if I passed the credit check then I should receive delivery of the phone.

As a very long serving customer I threatened to cancel or my services and that Virgin Mobile would be responsible for the loss of income to Virgim Media all over a £4.99 delivery charge. Not long after I had a call which reinstated my order and phone was delivered next day.

So was the failure due to a credit check or postcode check for delivery