To think virgin media are massive scammers?

[PlainJaneSuperBrain99]

Im on the cusp of a Falling Down type moment, all because of Virgin bloody media. Ill be interested to hear other's experiences, and whether any of the other providers are any better.

We have VM TV, broadband and landline. I'm on the basic package. It's fine. Anyway, I'm basically being hounded by VM. I get at least one call a day, always trying to convince me to upgrade.

That is annoying enough, but what really boils my blood is that I feel they are being purposefully deceitful and trying to lock me in to contract paying more, but without explicitly telling me so.

Example: call centre dude says "i see you are currently on blah blah package with sleventyblahteen megabytes (i cant remember the correct numbers/terminology) per month. As you're such a loyal customer, I'm going to go ahead and boost you up to fliftyflooflah megabytes." He phrased it as if this was a gift from them, but as I've been caught out by them using this technique before with movie packages, I clarified "are you telling me you are upgrading my broadband at no extra cost?" ...Akward pause..."I'm not in the billing department so I can't tell you if it will cost more than you pay right now. I can't call through to billing and find out... there's no one in billing available right now...So I'll go ahead and boost your broadband ok?" "Er no you won't pal. Leave my package as it is and stop calling me".

Just had another call now, this one to upgrade my whole package. Again phrased as "because you have been such a loyal customer, i am going to upgrade your package for you today." Again, I said "will that cost more money?" Again awkward silence. This time some honesty "well, it is an upgrade, so it will cost extra, yes..."

If I don't ask if it will cost extra, they won't tell me. I've learnt my lesson after being told I was being "given" extra movie channels that were all rubbish and I had to pay for it!

Which makes me wonder how many people are being duped by VM. Surely this is illegal/against some kind of trading rules?! They're a huge company and using really dodgy sales techniques.

The persistent calling is also Really annoying. I keep telling them to stop calling but it makes zero difference. I'm looking at leaving my contract but am worried the other companies might all be the same.

I hate them. When we moved we didn’t realise that put us back into month 1 of a new contract. They decided, despite us having been with Virgin for a decade and having paid by direct debit throughout, that as we were “new” customers they would not allow us to run up too big a bill in case the “new” direct debit bounced. They didn’t tell us this.

I had a long work phone call and went way over this secret limit and they stopped all outgoing calls. Next day the phone wouldn’t make calls, no dial tone and we couldn’t understand why. Burglar alarm wouldn’t work because it had to be connected to the remote centre. They sent out engineers three times, none of whom could fix the “problem”, before someone took us that in fact this was deliberate. I asked if I could be reconnected by paying the bill immediately over the phone. No.

we are still stuck with them because they are the only fibre broadband where we are.

I had incessant calls and finally had a bit of a tirade about GDPR and that I'd never consented to marketing... and the calls stopped.

They even dropped my monthly cost when it came to renew without me asking, so I can only assume my file is marked "more annoying than our own call centre"

So next time they call, you could try that and also maybe mention telephone preference service?

Yes - I know neither are strictly relevant when it's a service you've signed up for, but it has seemed to work!!!

OK so it seems that the majority have found VM to be shite.

I will look at my marketing preferences if I can figure out how.

I want to leave but all these tales of woe about returning modems is putting me off.

I had to end a contract in January 2021, and it was just awful. No possibility of phoning, kept getting cut off online chat, even though they acknowledged I wanted to leave, and after more than a week of trying I cancelled the direct debit, as the last payment would more than have covered the notice period.
They didn’t action the cancellation and it was only done finally because the incoming occupant brought his service from VM with him.
They would only accept cancellation from the date of changeover, and harassed me for ages for a sum of around £12. They finally agreed to ‘waive’ it. In fact they should have refunded some of the money I had already paid, but I just couldn’t face the argument.
I had to cancel at another property a few days ago, and after navigating the site I phoned the cancellation team and got through straight away.
I dislike them because they treat existing customers so badly. My basic contract cost nearly double that being offered to new customers - and was more than the out of offer price, when it reverted to ‘standard’ rate.
They couldn’t match the offer, so I got a much better deal with Talk Talk.

That's the reason I'm with Sky, my mum is with Virgin & when they stopped most of the channels that my mum watched & she wanted to cancel her contract it was a nightmare. Sky have been great with me even when I was on the bones of my arse & couldn't afford my bill, they helped me sort out a payment plan & didn't cut me off, I paid what I owed over 6 months.

I've seen people do the cancel the DD thing but I couldn't risk tbe hit to my credit score.

They have always, always been a terrible company in my experience (since before they adopted the Virgin brand).

My personal experiences with this company have also not been good down the years and I now avoid them. I am also migrating away from O2 now that they have merged. That is all I am prepared to say 😡

I’ve now blocked their number. We’re out of contract and I checked the options on my account and a new contract deal saves us around 50p a month, so I won’t be bothering to get tied down for another two years.
Unfortunately they’re the only option here unless I want internet with the speed of a snail.

Now can someone please stop British Gas from calling me too?

They're terrible for things like this. I've been offered loads of "amazing" packages which mean I'm getting less but paying more.

The worst was at work. I work for a small construction company. We sold our office and decided to WFH/work from a portakabin on site, so we had no need for fixed broadband anymore. My boss also sold one of his business properties and tasked me with cancelling the Virgin for both. What a bloody palaver. They "forgot" to cancel both contracts multiple times meaning we had to wait another 90 days disconnection period each time and keep paying £100+ monthly for services we couldn't even use.

Their whole business model is based on ripping off customers who aren't carefully checking their package and making it incredibly difficult to switch deals or cancel. I've got a great package at home but it took a lot of arguing with a moronic woman on the phone and plenty of threatening to go elsewhere.

I’ve always found them to be ok but not great. Every couple of years when our contract ends I call and say I want the cancellation team and once directed to the retentions one they always offer a good package if you’ll sign up for 2 years. They have the best broadband in our area so it’s worth a bit of aggravation once in a while

I don’t like them either although it’s not 100% their fault. When DH was with his ex he used to pay his bill on demand for some reason, not by direct debit. When he moved out after the split, he thought he’d paid the last bill but the ex didn’t pass on the bill. Due to a £28 unpaid bill, it ended up going to debt collectors and having a negative effect on his credit score for 6 years!!! It actually prevented us buying a house as our score was so low. He was blissfully aware for a couple of years until the ex deigned to pass on the letters and also we found out about the low score. £28 fucking quid though!!! He could have paid that instantly if they’d just called him, they had his number on file.

Also, they’ve always got an ‘exclusive’ offer if you agree to stay. I wish they would treat their loyal customers properly rather than making them play this silly dance with them every 18 months, pretending they’re going to leave.

*blissfully unaware

I’ve also been with VM for 15 years and have never had this. I ring them every 2 years to cancel, end up on the phone for 2 hours and end up with a drastically reduced bill for the next 18 months. Currently paying £35 for phone, fastest internet and basic TV.

Had an awful time trying to leave VM, they just hung up everything or passed us to the wrong department. In the end I had to write a physical letter and send it recorded delivery, plus a complaint. Then they did let me cancel , still wanted to charge me an extra month which they would then refuse by cheque when they felt like it, I just cancelled the DD to stop that

The people that are phoning you may actually be scammers & not actually work for Virgin

I've received the same scammer calls. They start by talking about Virgin, but they are nothing to do with Virgin.
A real Virgin person would ask you for your account number, password & package

VM are awful but our only option for Fibre here.
At one point it was so bad that the engineer was here weekly and we got quite friendly with him. He gave us his mobile and if there’s an issue he just pops in and sorts it when he’s got a minute. We don’t pay him or anything and he assures me he won’t get into trouble

We are with VM and they never call us. We do screen our calls though. They might be one of the numbers we don’t recognise who don’t leave a message.

One of the very worst companies for customer service. They’re appalling.

I'd say it's not Virgin calling you and your number is on a database of people who actively engage with scam callers hence the high volume of calls you receive hoping to crack you into giving some details and/or paying a card payment at some point in a fake process