Virgin Media contract.

[peed 'orf]

Hi Guys.
Just a quick question!
My sister is 5 months into a 12 month contract with Virgin Media. It's a Phone, tv & broadband package.
Her son's lost his job, so money is tight.
Virgin say if she cancels there will be a cancellation fee, which is £10 per month, per service, totaling £210 so she can't aford to cancel it.

My question is: If she has to cancel due to hardship, can they charge her that much?

Thanks PO.

[Guest]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Does she pay £30 for the contract now? There are no specific rules regarding hardship and contracts such as this.

It may be possible for her to reduce or remove services on the account in order to reduce the monthly spend, but the short answer is, she is bound by the terms and those terms will include some form of cancellation sums should she wish to terminate early.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Does she pay £30 for the contract now?

Not sure what you mean!

Her monthly payment is £55 per month.

Cheers.

[Guest]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

In that case, I would imagine that she could reduce the level of service that she currently has. For example, does she have the XL TV package? If your sister were to cut that back, along with the broadband package and telephone package she may well be able to reduce the monthly payment to cosiderably less than £55 and possibly less than £30 for the remainder of the contract.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

She asked about that, and they said ther would still be a cancelation fee for breaking the contract!

[Guest]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Have your sister look here for details of changing the package.

Account management - National - Help - Virgin Media

According to that page, customers can do this once a month.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Thanks Cet,
I'll pass it on.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Hi Cet.
I though this one was sorted, but.....
In December she sent back the box her son was using (2nd box), and down graded her package.
She phoned Thursday (4th April) to cancel and was told that because it was a new contract, they would charge her £180 to cancel.
She's given me the paper work that she has, and there is a letter saying they've changed her package, and she has 7 days to change her mind.
She thought this was just an acknowledgement, but it appears it was a new contract!

It does say on the website customers can change their package once a month, so can they just chuck in a new contract.
Presumably by not responding, she has agreed to this. But due to her mental health at the time, she just didn't relialise what was going on, and took my word for it when I said she could downgrade without any comeback!

I'll try and put in a copy of the letter.

Thanks PO.
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------

[Guest]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

I do not believe that Virgin Media are being honest with her. If you look here, in particular at section H paragraph 1 Virgin Media: Company Terms and Conditions (On Cable) you can see that you do have a right to reduce the services and no mention is made of that forming a new contract. The letter you have included also states that "Apart from these changes, your existing contract with us continues as before."

There is no mention of a new contract having been started.

Therefore, she should mention this in the letter that she (or you, on her behalf) sends to Virgin. It is no good speaking to call-centre monkeys, they have neither the authority nor intelligence to act and even if they did, they will only operate in the best interest of Virgin, not the customer.

If you get stuck with what to write, come back here and ask.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Hi Cet.
Thanks for the info.
I'd appreciate some help with the letter, my 1st attempt was a bit wishy washy!
She has about 2 months to run on the old contract, is there any way of terminating that due to their "mistake"?
She's on a free dept management program, but still finding it difficult to cope.
Thanks PO.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Hi.
Quick update.

Having checked through her paperwork, the last "contact" was exactly the same letter, just with a different date!

We sent a letter to Virgin, as follows:

Dear Customer Support Team.

I am writing to inform you that there has been an error on your part. On the 21/12/2009, I downgraded my account, as per my terms and conditions of my original agreement, these terms and conditions are also available on your web site (http://www.virginmedia.com/help/national/account-management.php) also see enclosed appendix 1.
In a letter sent by you on 22/12/2009, confirming this down grade (enclosed appendix 2a), on the reverse of this letter (appendix 2b) you have turned this downgrade, which I was perfectly entitled to do, into a new 12 month contract.
I was unaware of this until I came to the end of my original contract, and no longer wished to continue with the service, and was informed by your customer services that I would be charged £10 per item per month as a penalty for ending the contract early.
After seeking advice, the new contract as of the 21/12/2009 is NOT legally binding as I used a Term in the original contract. I hope you will rectify this mistake, by obliging the original contract and terminating the agreement as, of the original date, which would have expired on 30/04/2009 as subsequent contracts have been issued in this same manner.
I look forward to a speedy reply.

Received a reply....




She's paid up to 20th May 2010 and can't afford to continue.
Her mental health is iffy to say the least, and a bombardment of treatening letters could cause her to fall apart completely. She's not tough enough to go to (or threaten to go to) court.

Please help!

Thanks PO.

[Guest]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

I will need to look again at the T&Cs to be sure, but I imagine that Virgin are trying it on. If it were not so, then each and every change to a customer's package would trigger a new, twelve month contract.

Tell your sister not to worry, this will be easy to fix.

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Hi Cet.

The next payment is due today and she's cancelled the direct debit, presumably she'll now have a late payment fee, and anything else they can throw at her.

Should she unplug everything, pack it up, and tell them to collect it?

Cheers PO.

[Guest]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

If she believes that her contract is at an end, then yes. When did she take out the contract, presumably from your initial post, it was June or July last year. That being the case, it should be at an end now or next month at the latest. Has she given them the required notice of termination?

[peed 'orf]

Re: Virgin Media contract.

Hi Cet.

The original contract was May 2008, but they used one of these letters to extend/renew it in March 2009, then again in December.

If these were genuine new contracts, would they not have charged the fees they're threatening to charge her now to end the contract as none of them ran to the full year from issue.

She hasn't given them any notice, as they're threatening "early cancellation" fees of nearly £200 and she doesn't have it.

If they're making her believe she's under contract when she isn't, surely she should be able to leave under something like "obtaining money under false pretenses"?

Cheers PO.