Reclaiming Charge From Virgin Media

[ClockworkBanana]

Do we have a case for reclaiming charges from Virgin Media. I see a lot of people attempting it and I remember a succesful case last year from Martin against Telewest where funnily the settlement check had bounced.

 

I am refering to both the non DD charge and the last payment charge of $10.

 

However the sticky thread about non DD charge does not look promissing:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed-broadband/74802-penalties-not-paying-direct-3.html

 

I would also like to point out the following:

 

- For a year I had no idea these charges were levied since Telewest were hiding them. They never appeared on the breakdown of charges up until about a year ago, it was simply $10 added to the total.

- The date by which the payment had to be in was never on the bill. How would you know you were late without this infomation?

- I have been unable to pay my bill through their automated system FOR YEARS and it's infuriating. You have to go through the whole process only to be told "sorry I did not undertand that" at the last question!!! This has been going on for more than 3 years!!! This company makes it very hard to pay your bill!!

- Finally last time I was disconnected, Customer Service screwed up my payment. I was told that their system were down but I could leave my payment details and it would be processed. It obviously never was processed and I ended up without Phone/TV/Internet at a time were I really needed it. I complained but not only did they ignored it, the guy on the phone was playing games with me disconnecting the line every 10 sec and finally hanging up!!! I reported this guy but they never got back to me.

 

I think this will come as no surprise to VM customers. Their service is substandard from every angle you look at it. And of course I have all my bill going back more than 3 years to prove the above mentionned points.

 

These charges look very much like penalty charges to me despite what Trading Standards had to say.

 

And for those who think DD is convenient you probably never had the headache of trying to recover funds erroneously taken from your account. Once they have the money there are companies that will only offer you credits for future services unless you threaten them with court action.

 

I simply don't understand how they can claim non DD payments cost them more to administer, they don't even bother fixing their automated payment system!!! For the last 3 years!!!!! If that's not a problem, non DD shouldn't either.

 

Does anyone believe this will work for both charges?

[buzby]

Right up until June, I had all these additional fees refunded. They now refuse to do so, saying there is no discount code that will allow the credit for the £60 annual hike for NOT paying by DD.

 

On 1st August, I sent them a letter (by recorded delivery) stating that I did not accept the charge and in view of their impressive record of only managing 1 correct bill in every 3 it would not be appropriate to allow them access to my funds due to their earlier track record. Since I am no longer able to obtain monthly rebates, I will be requesting them bi-annually (every 6 months) along with an update on how many bills were correct during the intervening period. I then expect to be reimbursed in full for the prepayments, and in these are not forthcoming as a bill credit within 28 days, an LBA will be sent prior to formal recovery.

 

I'll let you know what their reply is!

[ClockworkBanana]

Thanks for the reply Buzby

 

I'm sending them a preliminary letter tomorrow Monday or on Tuesday depending on when I have time to go to the post office.

 

I'll keep you posted on the progress

[karen654321]

Hiya thanks for the link. I have already sent the the prelim which i did get a reply back from saying that they would contact me within 15 days.

Didnt get contacted. Sent the lba. No response. i stated that if they couldnt refund these charges could they give me a breakdown of how they are made up.

Guess what no response.

Spent a lot of friday on the phone to them. They have refunded one charge but my total charges are 215.00. They have said they cannot and will not refund any more.

 

I believe court would be the next thing to do but dont feel very confident doing this.

 

Good luck to you with vm and i will keep watching to see how you are getting on.

 

karen

[ClockworkBanana]

Haha I finally got a response to my letter... after 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

In the meantime I got two "we're so sorry for the delay in replying but we're so busy" letters and messages on my answering machine about my letter but nothing actually mentionning ANY of the issue and strangely no "you can call me back at this number". At the general switchboard they were clueless... as always.

 

Surreal don't you think? Imagine phoning someone with whom you're trying to solve an issue and leaving a message saying "I'm calling you about you problem... goodbye."

 

Anyway in a nutshell it's a blank refusal to deal with any of the issues.

 

Planning the next move which will probably be a list of charges and the threat of court action.

 

In the meantime broadband national outages continue. 2 of them last week alone!!

[karen654321]

Hiya clockwork banana. I really wish you luck. I seem to be stuck in the same position. They never reply to my letters apart from the standard letter. They never return calls. They are an absolute joke. I have done the lba and i got the standard letter back ( were a little bit busier than normal). Never actually got a full reply back.

 

Will watch your thread with interest

 

karen

[Stillborn Crisps]

I got a reply to my prelim letter within 14 days offering £30 for the stress I'd experienced, but explaining in the usual parrot fashion that the only way to avoid the charge was to pay by DD.

 

This week I've sent a LBA saying I accept it as part payment but want the full amount (£60) within the next 14 days. Will have to see what happens...

[Stillborn Crisps]

Just to update I got a phonecall today from Virgin asking to talk about the matter/explain that they are only offering £30 as OFCOM have said the charge is fair [have they??!] and 'the only way to avoid the charge was to pay by DD.'

 

I told them if they didn't pay by the 14th day I will proceed with action and the court will decide if the price of the charges is fair compared to Bank Transfer costs, and that obviously Virgin will be made to reveal their costs as part of this process.

 

The guy said he'd speak to his manager and see if there's any way to sort it. I said 'put me on to your manager and I'll explain it straight to him' but he wouldn't - he said they'd get back to me. :D

[Stillborn Crisps]

OK, Virgin have had over a month to get back to me since my LBA, and all I've had is the above phonecall, and a letter over three weeks ago saying they're really busy but will be in touch in 14 days, maybe longer. (Yeah, thanks...)

 

So, I'm ready to file a claim. Errr..... can anyone help me?!!

 

Any example POCs I can use?

 

Also, they've credited my account with £30. Do I still claim the full £60?? (in my LBA I said to keep the £30 if it got to this stage.)

[Stillborn Crisps]

End of thread hijack! Phoned the customer care dept today and spoke directly to the person named on my previous response, just to see what the status of my complaint was (check an offer wasn't stuck in the post).

 

After she quickly read up on it, I then said 'Obviously I don't want to proceed to court and waste their time needlessly.... but I'm just about to in light of no response... etc..........' - and she sheepishly refunded me the remaining £30. Yayyyy.

 

So my whole year of charges paid back! She said 'but you're still going to continue getting charged unless you sign up for DD........' - but I just said 'That's ok, this complaint is now closed. Thanks a lot, bye.'

 

I couldn't be bothered to say that obviously I'll be doing this again in 12 months, which left her a bit flustered and bewildered. Very satisfying!

[karen654321]

Congratualtions........... really please for you

 

karen

[Stillborn Crisps]

I was totally spurred on by your story (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/102043-me-virgin.html). I think the secret is to phone a direct person on the customer care team.

 

If you PM me Karen, I'll give you the direct number, extension & name of who I spoke to, perhaps she can explain the status of your complaint to you and why your LBA has been ignored. You have the winning hand in this situation, because they can see that due to their incompetence you're at the point where you can file a claim that day if they turn you down.

 

Once she'd quickly read my correspondence on file she was very matter of fact and procedural. She didn't try to fob me off or make it sound like they were doing me a favour.