Court: Virgin illegally incentives staff to discourage customers from switching
- Thread starter Brendan Burgess
- Start date
Another update on this case.
www.breakingnews.ie
Virgin Media must amend training to deal with customers who want to switch provider | BreakingNews.ie
The judge found that Virgin had breached obligations in the way in which its phone agents dealt with customers seeking to switch
www.breakingnews.ie
And somehow I ended up received 2 x €100 vouchers.
Trust you
I was due a voucher too, many years ago, through a boards.ie offer, and had to hound them to get the voucher.
Interesting thread.
VM score 1.2 on Trustpilot. Dire. (Vodafone score 3.9)
We signed a new contract last June, adding Sky Sports and TV (we've been with Virgin for years for BB and landline only). The total was/is €109 per month. Almost immediately, I started being overcharged. Eventually, their complaints department sorted it and we've been charged €109 since. But, another (identical) contract appeared in my inbox in September - totally unsolicited - for €131.50 per month. I queried this and never heard back. Since we are being charged the original amount I let it go.
But, I will be phoning them in mid-May to cancel the mid-June contract. It will be interesting to see if they raise the September contract then.
SIRO has put manners on Virgin. I note they're not even competing on the SIRO platform in some areas. Unfortunately, SIRO is not in Dublin 14 yet.
D.
VM score 1.2 on Trustpilot. Dire. (Vodafone score 3.9)
We signed a new contract last June, adding Sky Sports and TV (we've been with Virgin for years for BB and landline only). The total was/is €109 per month. Almost immediately, I started being overcharged. Eventually, their complaints department sorted it and we've been charged €109 since. But, another (identical) contract appeared in my inbox in September - totally unsolicited - for €131.50 per month. I queried this and never heard back. Since we are being charged the original amount I let it go.
But, I will be phoning them in mid-May to cancel the mid-June contract. It will be interesting to see if they raise the September contract then.
SIRO has put manners on Virgin. I note they're not even competing on the SIRO platform in some areas. Unfortunately, SIRO is not in Dublin 14 yet.
D.
That was my understanding too. Virgin have their legacy coaxial network in many urban areas. And now they have their own fibre network in many areas. So if you go with VM for fibre then you're on their fibre network. But if you go with any of the other fibre service providers then you're on a different (SIRO/NBI?) network.
Having said that I had a first time fibre installation last year so they (KN Circet - on behalf of OpenEir) brought the fibre from the roadside into the house and installed the ONT (Optical Network Terminal). I had signed up with Sky so they also provided the Sky router and activated the service. But it was a disaster so I cancelled in the 14 day cooling off period and instead went to Eir. I expected that they would just provide a new router but another KN Circet/OpenEir guy called and replaced the ONT and also provided the Eir router and activated the service.
If I switch to VM fibre when my current Eir contract is up I'm not clear in what will happen. They'll run a new fibre cable from the kerbside into the house? Or will they patch things in the manhole? And will they replace the ONT again and give me a VM router?
Yeah, I'm hoping that that'll be the extent of it. I certainly don't want a second fibre cable coming to the house. I guess I'll see. Almost certainly I'll be switching from Eir when my 12 months is up (the service and support has been excellent but I don't want to end up penalised by the loyal customer rates that all providers impose) and it's quite likely that I'll be moving to VM...
LarryScott
Frequent Poster
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I wonder if the reason for the "disaster" was the first ONT was faulty or of lower standard.
Maybe Eir have different standards, or there was a report on the connection that it had had issues.
My contract with pure is coming to an end in March so we're upgrading to full fibre
Pure wont offer me any deal as I not a new customer but will renew my current package at new customer rate
So rang Eir to see what they would offer and was told "Nope we can't offer you any fibre packages at this moment in time"
But followed it with "if you get one of the other providers to connect you, we can then offer you a package
So yes Eir do have a "different standard" to other providers
Will probably go with Sky as their offering a fairly good package with BB, sky stream and Netflix for €45
No. The problem was external to my premises.
LarryScott
Frequent Poster
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Fair enough, lucky that you spotted it within the cooling off period.
It wasn't hard to spot. The service simply didn't work a day after they installed it.
balders93
Registered User
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- 194
I would love to have some legislation akin to California's Automatic Renewal Law, there's much more to it but crucially if you signed up online they'd have to give you a method to cancel online too:
oag.ca.gov
Attorney General Bonta Issues Consumer Alert on California’s Automatic Renewal Law
Law makes it simpler to manage, cancel subscriptions OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a consumer alert to remind consumers and businesses that California’s Automatic Renewal Law (Schiavo, 2024) gives consumers important rights when it comes to the renewal of...
Donal O'Keeffe
Registered User
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- 12
12-month contracts for energy, internet, etc with increases when you remain are very irritating and should be banned. I make a point of doing a search each year, and will change supplier for one Euro difference in annual cost. AI is great for finding the best deal. You just have to formulate your question properly.
How I deal with the difficult people they have on the cancellation team is by refusing to engage; when they ask "why are you terminating the contract" I say "no reason". Similar answers to every other question, this messes with their strategy and leaves them no place to go, except cancel the contract.
How I deal with the difficult people they have on the cancellation team is by refusing to engage; when they ask "why are you terminating the contract" I say "no reason". Similar answers to every other question, this messes with their strategy and leaves them no place to go, except cancel the contract.
I don't see why 12 month contracts should be banned. Maybe you can explain?
Brendan Burgess
Founder
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Make it illegal to offer new customers a better deal than existing customers.
Alternatively, make it mandatory that all offers are available to existing customers.
Alternatively, make it mandatory that all offers are available to existing customers.
For me the issue is not the new customer discount and the subsequent price hike it's the barriers to switching. Reduce that and it's up to people to be inert if they choose.
Firms can offer teaser rates because of the many households that don't switch. I don't see why those who actively manage their subscriptions and get the best deals should be effectively pushed for other people's lazy behaviour.
Banning discounts would just discourage everyone from shopping around. It compounds the current problem and I don't see how that's a good outcome for society.
Firms can offer teaser rates because of the many households that don't switch. I don't see why those who actively manage their subscriptions and get the best deals should be effectively pushed for other people's lazy behaviour.
Banning discounts would just discourage everyone from shopping around. It compounds the current problem and I don't see how that's a good outcome for society.