is this odd?

[biddysmama]

i signed up for virgin media yesterday, gave details including my mobile number, the salesman told me there was a £25 deposit which i didnt have straight away so he said they would contact me for it before installation, i said monday, thats pay day, no problems..

i got a text from the salesman saying they were finishing the offer i signed up for soon so he's paid the deposit and i can just pay him back when i have it

would you find that a bit odd or nice

i figured hes just making sure he gets his commision?

but still feels a bit odd

I think its high pressure sales techniques to ensure you complete.

I reckon he's just saying that so you don't change your mind cos you'd feel guilty.

Am I the only one thinking CONMAN?
I have never heard of having to pay a deposit to secure a telephone package.

The thing that rings alarm bells is that you had already signed up to it and agreed a payment date, and they had your bank details for your direct debit.
So you had already qualified for the "offer". You had given the company access to your account to take any money you owe them on a set date.

He has gone out of his way to "pay it for you" and you can just pay him back?!
I bet Virgin Media are not aware of this "offer" or set up fee!

sorry, the deposit comes off the first bill, sky did the same when i signed up but i had the money then, this wasnt budgetted for because i had only stopped to ask what deals they had and hadnt told my husband

*sorry - have you set up a direct debit?

Gosh! I have never heard of that before. If I was you I would call Virgin and find out. Better to be safe than sorry.

odd and as a result of his liberty i would pull out. virgin media are bastards for there heavy text sells. I had began signing up with them and pulled out before instalation as I had realised that they where not going to give me what they offered and at the price they offered, I looked into it and thought they where wrong and had under calculated the quote, i copuld not get a straigt answer as to what I would be paying so pulled out. For weeks I got text messages from the "engineer" who was in the area and could sqedule installation and also kept getting tesxt messages to call virgin instalation to confirm dd set up for x date, so Id call and explain I cancelled and then was subject tyo heavy sales pitches.

Was the salesperson in England could you tell? We have Virgin (no deposit to set up ), but our fitters never turned up on the booked date, after much calling and email berating we got a local rep out who tracked down the issue as our house not being on the cable system (new build) but Manila had stuck the contract on some other poor buggers address with my account details just together the commission they wouldn't have got as my house didn't show up!

According to him the Manila callcentres have no clawback of falsely paid commission so will pull every con in the book. This is a virgin rep talking about virgin, such high standards

im cancelling, just had a look and the quote he gave doesnt cover what he said i was getting, the package he sold me doesnt have all the channels i want and it would be £22.50 more for them!

exactly what happened to me aside from the egineer paying, but wrt the pakage and contract not adding up. dont pay them the deposit either, cheeky fuckers.

It was years ago but I recall being offered something similar by a Virgin rep too. I was but it was ok

I would find it very odd and him doing that would make me want to pull out of the deal - which I would do and explain exactly why. If he has not done what he agreed and taken money before was agreed (let alone telling a load of lies about the package he had signed you up for) then there's no way I would carry on a contract with them.

If the offer had been going to be removed then he could have contacted you to see if you wanted him to do this - would maybe have been annoying or useful but you could see it as him providing a nice service and keeping an eye out for his commission; a win win thing. But to go ahead and just do it - absolutely not.

Be very, very careful with door to door virgin media sales staff; I uasd to work for Virgin and they generally lie their faces off to get customers to sign up. It's often too late for the customer to do anything about it when they realise.