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Hi. I work as a support worker for vulnerable tenants, some of whom occasionally sign up for Virgin Media services. In addition, I myself worked in their customer services department 10 years ago (when they were called Telewest). From both these experiences, I have noticed the following pattern.
In my experience, The Virgin Media sales team appear to almost always quote a small price for a package, get customers to agree to a 12 month contract, then once the bills start to arrive, these bills are much higher than what was originally agreed, either because of hidden charges which were glossed over during the original telephone conversation, or because the Sales team have "accidentally" placed them on a much higher package (presumably then claiming the commission for a higher sale). When customers dispute this, if they are angry enough to wish to disconnect their services, they are then told that they have to adhere to a 12 month contract, there is nothing that can be changed, and there is no getting out of this. They say this, even though no contract has actually been signed. Usually, after every new contract is entered into over the phone, a paper contract is subsequently sent to the customer who is supposed to sign it, but whether or not the customer signs and returns this contract does not seem to be make any difference. In short it appears that the sales team take advantage of telephone based sales calls where no agreement is signed in writing at the time, and the customer has no means of proving what was said in the original call.
My question is, is a contract legal, even if it has not been signed and it has supposedly been agreed over the phone?, or is the contract not legally binding until a paper copy has been signed?, in which case presumably if the case went to court, the onus would may be for the company to provide a recording of the original sales conversation?
Thanks a lot,
Alex.
In my experience, The Virgin Media sales team appear to almost always quote a small price for a package, get customers to agree to a 12 month contract, then once the bills start to arrive, these bills are much higher than what was originally agreed, either because of hidden charges which were glossed over during the original telephone conversation, or because the Sales team have "accidentally" placed them on a much higher package (presumably then claiming the commission for a higher sale). When customers dispute this, if they are angry enough to wish to disconnect their services, they are then told that they have to adhere to a 12 month contract, there is nothing that can be changed, and there is no getting out of this. They say this, even though no contract has actually been signed. Usually, after every new contract is entered into over the phone, a paper contract is subsequently sent to the customer who is supposed to sign it, but whether or not the customer signs and returns this contract does not seem to be make any difference. In short it appears that the sales team take advantage of telephone based sales calls where no agreement is signed in writing at the time, and the customer has no means of proving what was said in the original call.
My question is, is a contract legal, even if it has not been signed and it has supposedly been agreed over the phone?, or is the contract not legally binding until a paper copy has been signed?, in which case presumably if the case went to court, the onus would may be for the company to provide a recording of the original sales conversation?
Thanks a lot,
Alex.
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