I have just joined with virgin media, had the service for just over 3 weeks, and my current balance is £194, and that was after i paid £34 for a first bill that i shouldnt of got til my 2 months free had expired.. They cut my services off after 3 weeks and demanded a £34 payment to be paid!! i also recommended a friend who is angry with me cause the same thing has happened to her! I left sky for these people, now i wish i hadnt! Ive just missed the 28 day cancellation time barrier, even though i have verbally taken the contract out can i still cancel without a written or signed contract??

I recommend anyone reading my post and are just about to sign up to virgin DONT!

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but it seemed just as appropriate as making a new thread. Has anybody had any luck with Trading Standards and Virgin Media?

I had such bad experiences that I set up a website for people to independently review Virgin Media. So far my Virgin Media Review Site has had 12,500 words of complaints written about VM. I never got Trading Standards informed as the bills were not in my name making it very hard to claim. I have a friend who was forced to sign up to Virgin as there was no BT landline in the appartment. Needless to say the experience he has received has been truly shocking. He was talking about contacting Trading Standards, but I'm not sure how much they can do.

Does anybody have any advice?

Thank you.

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They ususally do do this but my issue was that I was not advised and have since had someone at VM tell me that the sales person should have broken down exactly what my first bill was to be and how it was worked out. This did not happen but not a sniff of an apology from VM.

In other news Trading Standards are now advising that they can do nothing for me.

Ah well back to making a nuisance of myself!!

Are the initial bills for most such services not usually a month in advance plus a pro rata amount for the time to the standard billing date? That is, if the company bills you every month on the 5th and your service goes live on a 2nd, your initial bill will be one month plus three days. But if your service goes live on the 7th then your initial bill would be one month plus ~twenty-six days.

Or is that not your situation?

Of course, the billing has all gone to pot and that loss of service is wrong. But a first payment being larger than one month's is not unusual.

Just thought I'd take a few minutes and post a wee update on my ongoing Virgin related saga.

Well - I have now been forced to pay the double bill just to maintain my services.

I have written e-mails to the CEO of VM complaining about the service (or lack thereof) and been passed on to a lackey who has essentially used the "It's our ball and you're no playin" defence only to then close my case.

They have repeatedley demanded money that I have already paid - I have only just discovered that they applied it to someone else's account. I have been without services for 5 days while they have been trying to sort this particular goof!

I have had someone at VM admit that my case has been handled appallingly from start to finish and yet am still awaiting any form of an apology.

They have closed my complaint despite my having advised them that I was unhappy with the outcome and was taking the matter further.

I have now involved Trading Standards who feel that I have an excellent case against them and will be contacting them forthwith.

Watch this space!!

Well they have definately not fulfilled that particular obligation!

Wouldn't want to be whoever I get on the phone at VM tonight.

ross_h_1977:

Landshark:

ross_h_1977:

Well this causes another problem - I don't recall ever seeing or signing a contract so I wouldn't have thought they'd have a leg to stand on? and I definatley was not advised that the first billwould be double.

The problem I had was that I already had phone and b/band with them and tv with sky. I didn't have a bt line and virgin are the only cable supplier in my area so this package is technically about £40 a month cheaper than what I was paying before (barring the double bill!). Hence my feeling that it was a good deal.

I know it's not the best one out there but it's the best that's available to me.

Perhaps in future limit your posts to what will actually help people as your advice seems good. Rather than taking the proverbial out of people getting a raw deal.

Sorry you don't have a sense of humour for VOLUNTEERS but hey ho ...

You will have a contract of some kind as this is mandatory. It may have come in on the back of either an e-mail or as part of the Welcome Pack.

SHARK!

SOZ! Just a bit of a sore point at the mo. Cheers for the advice.

Think I'll give them a tinkle and read them a few pages from the riot act!

You could TRY to use the Sale of Goods Act on them in that it must be plainly obvious what the price is for the goods offered and that other costs are explained UP FRONT before the transaction is regarded as valid. Just a thought ...

SHARK!

Landshark:

ross_h_1977:

Well this causes another problem - I don't recall ever seeing or signing a contract so I wouldn't have thought they'd have a leg to stand on? and I definatley was not advised that the first billwould be double.

The problem I had was that I already had phone and b/band with them and tv with sky. I didn't have a bt line and virgin are the only cable supplier in my area so this package is technically about £40 a month cheaper than what I was paying before (barring the double bill!). Hence my feeling that it was a good deal.

I know it's not the best one out there but it's the best that's available to me.

Perhaps in future limit your posts to what will actually help people as your advice seems good. Rather than taking the proverbial out of people getting a raw deal.

Sorry you don't have a sense of humour for VOLUNTEERS but hey ho ...

You will have a contract of some kind as this is mandatory. It may have come in on the back of either an e-mail or as part of the Welcome Pack.

SHARK!

SOZ! Just a bit of a sore point at the mo. Cheers for the advice.

Think I'll give them a tinkle and read them a few pages from the riot act!

ross_h_1977:

Well this causes another problem - I don't recall ever seeing or signing a contract so I wouldn't have thought they'd have a leg to stand on? and I definatley was not advised that the first billwould be double.

The problem I had was that I already had phone and b/band with them and tv with sky. I didn't have a bt line and virgin are the only cable supplier in my area so this package is technically about £40 a month cheaper than what I was paying before (barring the double bill!). Hence my feeling that it was a good deal.

I know it's not the best one out there but it's the best that's available to me.

Perhaps in future limit your posts to what will actually help people as your advice seems good. Rather than taking the proverbial out of people getting a raw deal.

Sorry you don't have a sense of humour for VOLUNTEERS but hey ho ...

You will have a contract of some kind as this is mandatory. It may have come in on the back of either an e-mail or as part of the Welcome Pack.

SHARK!

Well this causes another problem - I don't recall ever seeing or signing a contract so I wouldn't have thought they'd have a leg to stand on? and I definatley was not advised that the first billwould be double.

The problem I had was that I already had phone and b/band with them and tv with sky. I didn't have a bt line and virgin are the only cable supplier in my area so this package is technically about £40 a month cheaper than what I was paying before (barring the double bill!). Hence my feeling that it was a good deal.

I know it's not the best one out there but it's the best that's available to me.

Perhaps in future limit your posts to what will actually help people as your advice seems good. Rather than taking the proverbial out of people getting a raw deal.

Well, that's a first and no mistake. Someone who thinks that Virgin Media is a good deal!

You'll have to check out the Ts and Cs of the contract to see what charges are stated, but in essence if you were not advised of the size of the first bill, I would be screaming from the top of the mountains.

Virgin is a good deal ... still cannot get over that one - did you get that out of a cracker?!

If you got this through a reseller, I would also take this up with them.

Virgin = good ... my sides are aching!

Happy New Year - you made this shark's day!

SHARK!

I recently took out virgin's VIP package at £85 per month for all singing all dancing phone, tv and broadband package.

I was very pleased as I felt I had got myself a good deal.

That lasted until I got my first bill through and instead of the £85 + the installation fee of £25 I got hit with a bill of £205 right at xmas when I had not budgetted for this at all.

They seem to be billing me for a month in advance.

So my question is why do they do this and when can I expect to see this month in advance back?

Has anyone else had a similar problem with Virgin as I just feel that they are trying to get an extra month's money out of me for no apparent reason!