Virgin Media bill jumped from 7 to 110 pounds

[Soggyday]

I'm desperate and out of my depth. My elderly mother has a contract with Virgin for a mobile phone with internet access that her carer uses. She also has (I think) a separate Wifi account with them. She was recently persuaded to sign a new contract with them and was charged an £80 set-up fee.

I think that the mobile internet data allowance was reduced to 1GB so she has been charged £3 a day for going over it. I don't know what to do, I have tried talking to their helpline and they weren't at all helpful.

Ring Virgin up again and have your mother beside you. Put your mother on the phone and tell her to say she gives you permission to discuss her account. Virgin should then be willing to discuss matters within you. If they have sold her an unsuitable contract query their policy on dealing with vulnerable customers and dammed she is moved to a more suitable tariff.

Would advise you get power of attorney for her to cover future issues. It’s a very straightforward process. You can do it yourself online.

@Soggyday you need to call (or ask to be put through) to the complaint team, not the customer service team. They are separate and you need to ask to get through to the right person.

You'll need your mum beside you and a notebook. Keep a note of the date and time of the call and what you said. Get your mum to give her permission to deal with her account.

This is the most important part: tell them that your elderly mother is a VULNERABLE CUSTOMER and did not understand what new terms she is on, and is reaching the point where she cannot deal with her affairs. (As the PP said, it may be time to get a power of attorney organised quickly; there's sadly never as much time as you think there is).

Telecoms companies that offer consumer contracts are often authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (who are very hot on vulnerable consumers and treating consumers fairly). If the complaints team find that the new contract was unfair because she is vulnerable and cannot understand it, they can put her back on old terms.

However if this contract - or brokering the deal - is an activity regulated by the FCA, you have more follow up options, such as going to the financial ombudsman service with your complaint.

Hi.
Just to let you know virgin don't have a complaints department. What you need to do is just ask to speak to someone about it. Don't go in all guns blazing. You don't need power of attorney to talk about it. As long as you have the password. Then if they can't do anything then you ask to raise a complaint.
If you get nowhere please let us know.

I have had a letter completely ignoring the fact that my mother was mis-sold the contract in the first place and merely reiterating that it was because of the overuse of data.

Mobile is always a little more difficult, I'd give them a call and say you want to raise a complaint and ask for the case number. I'd also put a cap on the account to stop any more bills. In the complaint say you belive your mother was missold and you would like the call listened too.

Thank you for your response.

Did you get anywhere?

If she previously has a mobile contract and upgraded then virgin should have looked at her previous usage before upgrading her contract. If they have moved her into a lower data tariff then she has been missold.

Yes, I have received a bright and breezy response saying 'Sorry we messed up' or words to that effect so I am going to complain to all and sundry.

Glad you got somewhere, best of luck with the complaint

This may be a bit of a red herring, but why is her carer using her internet access anyway?

One of the biggest telecommunications companies

They definitely have a complaints department

Virgin media is owned by Liberty Global & recently merged with O2

They definitely don't have a complaints department, and OP how did you get on