Tweet
I'll try & make this post as short as I am able to to explain the shocking situation I am presently having with Virgin Media.
I live with my partner, who has been the Virgin account holder for the last 9+ years at our home address & we have always been pretty happy with Virgin broadband / TV service. However our contract came to an end & we wanted to reduce costs / package.
We chose a package suitable from their available packages from their website, however as “existing” customers we were told some were not available to us & then they were - but at a MUCH higher price? We had SO many mixed messages. Obviously I do realise new customers are always given better deals btw, but the deals we were offered were way way higher than those advertised for new customers.
My partner decided to cancel the contract & place his 30 days cancellation notification. At the same time he also made an official complaint to the executive office as the whole procedure was just ridiculous - told one thing by one person, yet another thing from someone else. All varying prices, all WAY higher than a new customer. We decided that I would simply cancel my account & a few months down line my other half can reconnect in his name.
Couple days later we received a call from an agent who claimed he was from the Virgin retention team. As I was working & my partner had authority to discuss the account I asked the person could he call my partner. And he was fine doing this.
When he spoke to my partner he asked why was calling from a mobile phone & the retention rep explained that he was working from home & he did indeed work for a Virgin. After going through our account details he obviously was aware of our present package etc & account details, so my partner was happy to talk to him. As he didn't offer anything different in pricing to previous retention calls. My partner requested to continue with the disconnection & that he will reconnect in his name later down the line as a brand new customer.
Surprisingly this guy offered to do this for him & said he could even offer me a better deal than just going via the website? My partner asked how that is possible if my partner’s Virgin account is still active. He explained its common & he would be able to do this no problem. My partner thought ok we will do that.
After going through the deal & making the order, the representative stated you should have received an email with the order documents etc (which I had) but he stated the order will be “temporarily” placed using your neighbours address as we are unable to place an order at an address that already has a Virgin Media account. I found this VERY odd but he assured me this is standard practice when situations like this occur. He assured me it would transfer over to our own address after activation. I asked him about Credit Check. This will be using my own address surely? Yes I was told.
About 5 days later I went to collect my new equipment from the click & collect store and set everything up. Everything setup easily and quickly - disconnecting our old router / tv boxes & activating the new Virgin account. New broadband 1gig speed was instantly activated as was the downgrade of our TV package.
Everything seemed fine, until we received a call from the Executive Team regarding the complaint I placed. A lady called Debbie who was calling in follow-up to our complaint. I explained to her the troubles we have had & she went on to offer us a retention deal to stay? I was confused & explained the retention’s team had already called? My virgin account is being closed & my partner (as a new customer) has been offered a package.
Infact it's activated right now we told her - everything is plugged in & working? Debbie seemed very confused…until that is I explained the whole thing and what the retention guy offered & the order initially placed under neighbours address. I explained he was calling from a mobile, but was fully aware of everything on our account & he certainly sounded legitimate. She immediately explained this seems very odd and upon her checking it turns out my account is registered in my neighbours address afterall?? It also seems as though they did a credit check using my name but at my neighbours address ?? How on earth that passed a credit check is beyond me??
She stated she will need to investigate this fully & apologised for this mess up. Arranging to callback when she has done so.
Two days after I spoke to Debbie, the same retention’s guy who initially had placed the order called me again - again from a mobile number, but this time a different number?? He said he was calling because he understands I have a problem with the order, I said to him I'm sorry but I don't feel comfortable speaking to you after speaking with the Executive Team & can I speak to his manager please? He became extremely rude and shouted Debbie doesn't even work for the Exec Team she's with retentions (I can confirm Debbie IS with the executive team & that was a lie). I told him again I wanted to speak to his manager & the reply I got was “you got the package you wanted didn’t you??” and before I could even reply he shouted “F*** Y** Mother***** and put the phone down on me??
I was completely gobsmacked and couldn’t believe what I just heard. I immediately called Virgin and spoke to someone in the retention team called Graham - a really nice guy who immediately apologised & said this whole thing sounds like fraud and suggested referring this to the fraud team. But how could it be fraud if this guy knew everything about my partner's virgin account package? I explained the executive team were presently dealing with this but he referred it to the fraud team anyway & they would work with the Exec Team. He stated because of the nature of this he went offline to raise it with his manager. He was a really nice guy but understandably he said although he can't directly help (above his pay grade so to speak) he would call me at the end of the week to make sure both the Exec Team & Fraud team get back to me.
Couple days later, Debbie from the Executive Team calls back stating she is going to get everything transferred to my correct address and also get my neighbours address removed from my credit file. (I subscribe to notifications whenever anything changes on my credit reports & my neighbours address has been added!)
I asked her what's going on with this whole fraud situation. She stated it isn't fraud and she doesn't understand why Graham suggested such a thing?? I then asked, does this individual still work for a virgin or can you atleast confirm he is/was working for Virgin? ? She said she couldn't go into that with me but assured me the whole situation will be resolved and continually apologised for the whole mess.
I’m very sorry the post is long but wanted to give you the full picture as best I can. Obviously they are transferring the address to my correct address etc which is great (thank goodness) and they are going to investigate the retention’s employee who placed the order in the first place & his use of abusive language towards me.
As a good will gesture they have offered to clear my last bill (£40) & 3 months free on my partner's new account for all the hassle. My partner spoke to them and highlighted that not only did your retention’s advisor credit check me at my neighbour's address (knowing I didn't live there!) offered me a price £5 cheaper than I ultimately got, made me think we could have been a victim of fraud and on top of all that verbally abused me using a mobile number which we can only assume was not recorded. Virgin will not go into whether the employee does / does not now work for them for privacy reasons. They have since increased their goodwill to 5 months free service.
I'm just looking for advice as this whole situation seems absolutely shocking and the whole thing has been very frustrating. It has involved lots of time making calls etc to resolve, not to mention the worry/concern about possible fraud. It certainly comes across as though Virgin don’t really deem this situation that serious & my partner believes we should escalate this to OFCOM
Again sorry for the long post, should we just accept this and put this down to a bad experience or pursue this further. Personally I was just going to accept the goodwill of 5 months (and adjusting the contract to the correct amount of £5 less) as essentially this is our word against the word of the retention's advisor? I mean he called from a mobile so absolutely no chance of a recorded call etc.. However my partner (who ironically works in customer relations himself) sees it differently and he thinks we should be financially compensated for the distress & inconvenience caused.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Ste
Comment