Virgin Media - General observations....

D

Dinarius

Registered User
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I signed a new 12 month contract with VM in June.

Since then, I received two bills for the correct amount.

Today, I received an email saying that the next bill would be €30 more.

Between waiting for my call to be answered and speaking to their rep, I've wasted almost an hour of my day sorting this mess. ("An accounting error" at their end.)

The bill is due to be paid on September 22nd. I hope I don't have to phone them again.

I just checked and Virgin Media scores an execrable 1.3/5 on Trustpilot. Appalling. But, tells you all you need to know.

The sooner SIRO is installed where I live the better.

Caveat emptor.

D.
 
Having spent about two hours dealing with VM via X and by phone regarding being overcharged for the third month running: I checked my credit card this morning to see that I had been overcharged. The bill wasn’t corrected, as promised. This is the third month in a row I’ve had to chase them about this, though the bill was corrected before being drawn down on the previous two occasions. They appear to be incapable of setting their system to charge me the agreed monthly amount.

Is consistent overcharged billing grounds for cancellation of contract? If so, I’m very tempted. Dealing with Virgin Media is too time consuming.

Thanks.

D.
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, it’s a credit card DD.

If a DD from a current account can be cancelled by me alone, then I’ll switch to it.

Been waiting almost an hour now for them to answer the phone….

D.
 
After fifty minutes “Joyce” answered the phone.

Apparently, the sales person back in June gave me the wrong information about the Sky Sports deduction. This is the first I’ve heard of this after chasing down overcharging the last three months. So, I’m now to be charged €8 more than agreed in June. VM will not take the hit for their salesperson’s incompetence.

If I want to cancel the contract, I have to give thirty days notice and I will be charged €150 cancellation fee per product. A total of €600.

You have been warned.

D.
 
Dinarius said:
Yes, it’s a credit card DD.
Click to expand...
I don't think that this is correct. If the payment is linked to the card then it's almost certainly a recurring card payment and not a direct debit. These are different sorts of payment mechanisms and, according to the thread that I linked to above, a payer may not be able to cancel a recurring card payment unilaterally. Unlike some or all DDs.
 
Dinarius said:
Apparently, the sales person back in June gave me the wrong information about the Sky Sports deduction.
Click to expand...
Do you have evidence of what you signed up for at the time and how the cost of that differs from what they're charging you now?
 
I have the email confirming the new contract back in June.

If I changed my payment method to a DD from my current account, will I be able to cancel that payment unilaterally?

Thanks.

D.
 
But is that by mutual consent only because it’s a credit card? And wouldn’t they be entitled to take the €600 first? Thanks.

D.
 
I had similar issues of overcharging by Virgin Media earlier this year, 3 months in a row. I made a formal complaint to them on their website, following by a formal complaint to ComReg when Virgin didn’t respond to my complaint in time, and the net outcome was Virgin refunding me the overpayments and giving me the next 3 months completely free. It’s worth making the formal complaints.
 
Thanks for that. They’ve just emailed me new contract that is €45 more than my existing one. Apart from not asking for a new contract and simply wishing to see out my existing contract to next June, this is seriously heavy-handed behaviour by Virgin Media. Thuggish, indeed.

Thanks.

D.
 
I am with VM for nearly 10 years and I am conscious they are probably by far the dearest for TV/Broadband.... think I am paying €110 per month for 2 TVs. It is just not that easy changing provider. I tried to change to Eir 2 years ago and they sent out a technician that wanted to run a cable from an external box on the left hand gable wall, all around the back and into an entry point on the right hand gable wall. I told him Stop.... no way was I having cables defacing the external walls and I cancelled immediately. Funny thing is though, they had not warned me about this when I tried to sign up.

We are always told to change utility providers every year but apart from electricity, health insurance.... it is just not that easy!
 
jfrank said:
I tried to change to Eir 2 years ago and they sent out a technician that wanted to run a cable from an external box on the left hand gable wall, all around the back and into an entry point on the right hand gable wall.
Click to expand...
Was this fibre perhaps? First time fibre installations require this sort of work but normally the installer will discuss it with the householder to figure out the best/cleanest way to do it.
 
Virgin media advised me that if I changed providers, there would be a lot of hassle like that referenced above. I dont want loads of wires moved again. And I've heard a lot of negative comments about eir. Has anyone switched from Virgin media to Vodafone? Did that involve similar problems with rerouting wires?
 
I’ve discovered that we pay our DD via my wife’s current account and not via credit card. My bad. But, good news because I’ve also confirmed with her bank that a DD can be cancelled without the recipient’s agreement.

I’ve also confirmed with the VM rep on X (the woman on the phone was obnoxious) that we will be charged the correct amount on the next bill.

Will keep my powder dry until the next bill arrives.

D.
 
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