To be fuming at Virgin Media

[ImNotAFlower]

Signed up with Virgin Media seven months ago for fibre optic broadband and tv, really pleased with the service, and then found out our landlady was selling our house.
We have ended up buying a new build property (long story) We knew that there was no fibre optic availability on the new estate yet but that broadband was available. No problem we thought, we will downgrade (who can see what is coming next?)
Oh yes there is broadband availability but not with Virgin Media. So we contact them to ask what next. They advise we close the account then talk to the finance department about how to repay them as we are required to pay until the end of the contract. Felt a bit put out by that- they can't provide the service but we still have to pay.
Anyway we come to terms with that only to find out tonight that we had to close the account because we moved BUT because we closed it and weren't in any arrears we cannot pay them back in instalments they want the whole lot within a month.
The only way to pay in instalments is to let it go to debt collectors.
I am so angry. My husband has taken to twitter to try to solve it but seriously I would like to throttle the person who wrote their policy!!!

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

How about if you cancel your cancelation. If you know of anybody who could use the service then transfer the boxes to that house and just continue to pay your regular amount.

[ImNotAFlower]

Hobbes- keeping account open was described to me as fraud and they seemed adamant that the people who brought the rental we lived in could have used the account even though we took the box and router with us (I got confused around then )

[Sallyingforth]

OP I hope that vawnsm can help you as promised.

As for people saying that moving house isn't breaking terms, that's nonsense, as I'm sure you understand. You have a contract with VM to supply you with a service at one fixed address. It's shitty that you have to move house, but that's not VM's fault any more than it's yours.
I hope you can get this sorted.

[19lottie82]

Roses....... Sorry but you are 100% wrong. Please stop providing false information.

Scrambled...... Yes the OP does have the right to move house but she doesn't have the right to escape penalty free if she does this. this is CLEARLY explained in the T&Cs when you agree to a VM contract.
And yes, it's not their fault VM don't supply the new house, but it's not Virgins either.

[19lottie82]

OP can you not transfer the contract to someone else? (Long shot I know......)

[Sallyingforth]

Flower you couldn't take the boxes with you, they are still owned by VM.

[Jayzee89789]

I reckon what VM has done may be a breach of either their own t and cs or at the very least UnFair Contract Terms Act. If neither of these. I would Google to see whther anyone else has had this problem and whther they identified a reputable legal basis on which to challenge this decision.

Read the t and cs very carefully. It may be that you are required to pay back the full amount owed under the contract but it may be a breach of contract (or as I say, another law) to require you to pay the full amount back at once. Thinking about it logically, why, if the contract is paid in still installments, must the debt be paid back all at once if the contract is cancelled?

I am very busy until next Tuesday but message me if you want help with this. I have a knack of resolving these types of situation!

If so, and even if not, I would write a letter asking to the Managing Director's office explaining the issue and that this may affect your credit rating and asking, if you are still required to pay back the full amount, that it is not reported to a credit reference agency. Ask for written confirmation. Threaten legal action in the small claims court too. That seems to work well!

Good luck!

[Jayzee89789]

Here is an link, I think, to the relevant t and cs. I have not had the time to read through all the clauses, but I looked at clause L and it does not make mention of an ability by VM to require repayment in one lump sum.

Check these are the right t and cs for your service and then read the, through very carefully. If there is no express basis to do what they are trying to do, you have your victory


store.virginmedia.com/the-legal-stuff/terms-and-conditions-for-fibre-optic-services.html#suspending

[Jayzee89789]

I'm running a bath so is is very much done on the hop but I think clause K and J2 are the relevant ones and while you may have to repay this doesn't sound like you should have to repay the cost of the entire remainder of the contract:

J2:

If you end one or more services during the minimum period for such services (other than in the circumstances outlined in section K or paragraph J3), or if you break this agreement and we and/or Virgin Media Payments end this agreement under section L (including for non-payment of charges) within the minimum period applicable to those services, you must immediately pay (to Virgin Media Payments) an early disconnection fee in respect of each cancelled service by way of compensation to us for ending those services early. You can find details of these charges on the Virgin Media website. The early disconnection fee will not be more than the charges you would have paid for your chosen services for the remainder of the minimum period less any costs we save, including the cost of no longer providing you with those services.


I would therefore argue in a letter to the managing directors office that the repayment should be the early disconnection fee only as they will not be providing you with the service and therefore don't bear that cost. Phone the, tomorrow and ask the, how much the disconnection fee is then write the letter and ask for confirmation that this is all they require

[ImNotAFlower]

Thank you all for your responses. Lottie you seem fixed on my not wanting to pay, I am not saying that at all but being on stat mat pay and having just brought a house I do not have a few hundred pounds this month, although clearly you feel I should and to be frank any month it would leave me pretty skint.
Yes I did bring the box with me with the expectation of reusing it! as we cannot, I have sent it back to them. I am not trying to get out of paying I just need time.
To the person who said we should have thought about our letting contract before we took it out, oh come on so we should have lived with no broadband or phone line just incase?
Thank you so much to all who have offered help especially Vawnsm and Jayzee. Jayzee my morning coffee will be with that document

[londonrach]

We move all the time. If i remember rightly one provider couldnt give us continued broadband at new address so just cancelled contact no penalty. Have you seen cab. You certainly should be able to pay instalments if they cant cancel it. Sadly you cant keep the contact going if not at address as next person could use it and if they used it for bad reasons you in trouble as your broadband.

[19lottie82]

OP - Sorry, I'm just getting frustrated with all the people who are advising (wrongly) that you should be able to get out penalty free because you're moving house. I appreciate this isn't the point of your post and apologise for hijacking the thread .

[ImNotAFlower]

No problem Lottie .

[KatoPotato]

To be fair to vm, anyone and everyone could say they were moving house/leaving the country to get out of contracts. Hopefully they can goodwill something for you but as others have said, that's the terms of the contract!

[ImNotAFlower]

I can prove that I have moved to somewhere they don't supply?

[chickenfuckingpox]

when i moved house to an area they didnt supply they offered to give me a landline phone and internet down the phone but they told me it was not as good as the service i was getting in my old home therefore they offered to break my contract early because i have been a valued customer of theirs off and on for 15 years and they know as soon as i move again i go back to them again (and i did)

the thread has been put on twitter by the way my tech savvy dd did it she thinks its disgraceful

[madreloco]

It doesn't matter. The only way to get out of paying is by the discretion of the company. Bad mouthing them online (and now on twitter...bad move) is not going to get you off the hook.
You signed the contract, you owe the money. It really is as simple as that.

[TaintedAngel]

It's in your t&c's that if you change the contracted agreement then your in breech and therefore liable for any charges. It is annoying that you need to pay the full balance. I don't think that's really fair but even taking to twitter won't change that. it's all an automated process. the system holds your debt for so long then it's automatically forwarded on to Moorecroft debt collection. Even after it gets sent to Moorecroft VM can't take any payments from you unless your clearing the full balance - payment plans need to go through the DCA. I think any impact on credit rating can be reversed upon request though once balance is paid. VM have a department for that.

[ImNotAFlower]

I have said this a lot now. I am NOT disputing giving them their money. I agree I broke the contract. my problem is the lump sum that I cannot afford. I WILL pay them somehow but I feel it is unfair that if I had been in arrears I could have had a payment plan.

[ImNotAFlower]

Chicken- these tech savvy kids scare me

[madreloco]

You might have convinced them to give you a payment plan but now this has been tweeted I doubt it!

[TaintedAngel]

also in response to another poster they do not have a responsibility to move with you if you change address. the t&c's state that they will move with you if your moving to any UK serviceable property. it's not VMS fault if you move somewhere they don't service. Your contract was for that address. if you change the address you change the terms of contract. That's why when you move house you enter into a new 12 month contract (unless you are able to wangle a shorter length).
VM don't waive EDF'S unless it's a very exceptional circumstance.

[ImNotAFlower]

Tainted it will be on the credit rating for seven years the VM person confirmed that.
This thread was really a vent about the "fuck off pay me" attitude of VM. At no point have I said I don't want to/ feel I shouldn't have to pay/ or won't pay them. I will find a way.
I am impressed at how many people would just suck it up and pay them, I take on the chin that in my first AIBU post I am indeed being unreasonable

[ImNotAFlower]

Tainted it will be on the credit rating for seven years the VM person confirmed that.
This thread was really a vent about the "fuck off pay me" attitude of VM. At no point have I said I don't want to/ feel I shouldn't have to pay/ or won't pay them. I will find a way.
I am impressed at how many people would just suck it up and pay them, I take on the chin that in my first AIBU post I am indeed being unreasonable

[chocolateyy]

It's my understanding that all T&C's have to be fair and reasonable.

So, had you not cancelled, VM would have expected to get monthly fees from you until the end of your contract period, therefore, it doesn't seem unreasonable that you would continue to pay monthly until the date that your contact would have ended.

If you pay it in a lump sum now, they will effectively make more of a profit than they would have expected to.

I would send them a letter, stating that you accept the fees are due, and that you are willing to pay them at the same amount you were paying until you cancelled, on the understanding that they accept this, and therefore no adverse information will be passed on to any Credit Reference Agencies. I would also copy that letter onto Ofcom.

Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA