E-mail away.

Unfortunately it came out fairly long, and I'm aware that longer mails tend to lose interest, but I was as to the point as I could be whilst remaining polite/friendly (I always find that being this way tends to get better results than coming across as angry/aggressive), and I wanted to ensure that all of the details were there.

Mr Mockridge,

 

Regarding Account number -

 

I have been advised to contact yourself in order to look into having an issue we are currently experiencing with our Virgin Media package resolved. My apologies if you and your team are not the correct people to contact in relation to this matter, and if that is the case it would be appreciated if you can advise me whom to contact after reading the details of the issue below.

 

On Sunday 27th September we undertook a Friends and Family offer from Sky for the provision of Internet, Telephone and Television services. I must stress that we were not unhappy with the service provided by Virgin Media, we merely wished to reduce the monthly outgoings. As this was a Friends and Family offer we assumed that Virgin Media would be unable to match it, and so agreed with the new provider to undertake services with them. The agreed service was for Unlimited Fibre Internet, Sky Family TV and Phone Line Rental for a cost of £26.40/month.

Following this, on Wednesday 30th September we received a call from the Virgin Media retentions team to discuss retaining us as a customer and discussed a reduction in the Virgin Media bill to approximately £24.50/month in order to retain the current 100Mb Internet, current M TV package and to upgrade the Telephone to the XL package for 12 months, after which we would be able to call again and have the discounts applied for a further 12 months. We were very happy with this offering and agreed to remain with Virgin Media and cancel the changeover to Sky.

 

Unfortunately, the following evening we discovered that the available TV channels on our Virgin Media box had been removed with the exception of BBC1 through to Channel 5. On logging onto the online Virgin Media account we found that whilst the telephone package had been upgraded as agreed, the TV package had been completely removed and now showed as having no TV subscription.

We made contact with Virgin Media customer services the following morning, Friday 2nd October, in order to discuss this issue, unfortunately we were advised that the only ones who could resolve this issue was the original team who agreed the package who could not be contacted directly as they were only able to call out, so we could not be transferred directly to them. The advisor I spoke with passed through a contact request form, however I outlined that the availability of someone in the house to receive a call was not good through the weekend due to prior existing commitments.

As no call was received we called once again on Friday evening to further discuss the issue. This advisor informed me they would directly e-mail the retention agent I had spoken with, advising them of our availability times.

 

Unfortunately no call was received through the available times and so on the afternoon of Saturday 3rd October I once again called and spoke with another agent whom offered an alternative solution. This was to downgrade the telephone package back to its original status and re-add the M TV package to our account, for a monthly price of approximately £26.80/month. We were happy to proceed with this as it was still a significant reduction in our previous price and would provide us with the services we required. We were advised that this process would take 24-48 hours to complete.

 

However, and the reason for my e-mail to you today, this process has not been carried out. On checking our online account there is still no TV package showing and the phone package is unaltered, and as of yet we have not received the promised phone call from the retentions team. Unfortunately there is now nobody available in the home for the week due to prior arrangements, however I am able to be contacted on my mobile phone, the number for which is .

Due to intermittent mobile phone reception in the area which I am currently working however, our preferred method of contact would be via reply e-mail. This also ensures there are no further mis-communications or mis-understandings.

 

I look forward to hearing from you and your team and to a speedy and acceptable resolution to this matter which is acceptable for all parties.

 

 

Kind Regards,

So we'll wait and see what the response may be.

I've already discussed the possibility of new contract/cancellation period with them and confirmed that the cancellation period ends on 20th October, so at least once everyone is back home. The issue with me calling them is that I can't speak to the person I need to speak to, they themselves have told me that the person/department needs to call me. I'm happy for them to do this, I can just provide them with my mobile number (and look to record the call this time).

Should they be inflexible on that then we'll take the view that the contract has been breached due to them not providing what was agreed and we will follow through with a formal complaint as required.

Thanks! I'll drop him an e-mail outlining the situation and hopefully we'll get it resolved quickly.

In the past VM have been pretty quick/good at resolving the few faults we've had, so in general my parents were happy with the service, they just wanted to reduce their monthly bill a bit. Unfortunately we just seem to have gotten caught in some issues this time around.

Hi all.

Recently my parents decided to move their Phone/Internet/TV over to Sky from Virgin Media, as there was an offer available from Sky for Free Family Package TV, £10 Unlimited Fibre Internet and £16.40 Line rental per month, so basically £26.40/month as opposed to the £56/month they were paying to Virgin for 100Mb Internet, basic TV and Phone calls/line rental.

The day before Sky were due to install the TV, and a week before they were due to take over the phone line, my parents got a call from Virgin Media and handed it to me (as I tend to do all this kind of thing for them) and it was someone from a retentions team. I discussed the package we were going to get with him, and he offered to lower my parents monthly bills to £24.50/month for the same Internet and TV, but upgrading the phone package to the top XL package. We weren't too bothered about the phone upgrade, and my parents weren't bothered about the Sky Family package, they were fine with the basic Virgin TV package (basically Freeview with catchup), the whole point of the exercise was to save money. Plus the Virgin Media broadband was 100Mb rather than 40Mb from Sky, so we agreed to stay with Virgin Media and cancel the Sky installation.

However, the following day my parents turned on the TV and found that all channels except 1-5 were now greyed out on the Virgin Media box. Upon logging onto the online account I found that the TV element of their package had been completely removed when the phone package was upgraded.

I immediately called Virgin Media up, explaining the situation to them, however the person I spoke to said that the only ones who could do the package for the agreed price were the retentions team who spoke to me originally, however they could only call out and I couldn't be transferred through to them. He advised he could see the notes on the account fo what was discussed and there was no mention of TV, which there wouldn't be as we never discussed altering it at all. All he could do was send a form requesting they contact me within 48 hours. This was a bit of an issue as availability at home was going to be spotty over the weekend, then during the week everyone was going to be away from home. There was no call that day, so I called again the following (Saturday) morning, spoke to someone who said they'd mail the person I spoke to directly in order to advise them of our availability and again explain the situation. No call again late that afternoon, so I called once more. This time the person I spoke to discussed with me the possibility of re-adding the TV package as it was before, and downgrading the phone package back to what it had been previously, at a price of £26/month. I agreed to this, though asked for the contact request for the original person to be left open. The advisor assured me this was now all done and the TV package would be back in 24-48 hours.

However, today, More than 48 hours later, no TV package showing on the account when I login online (and now nobody at home until Friday evening).

I suspect the cause of the issue is simply some misunderstanding or mis-communication, but the main problem is the poor service I've received when attempting to resolve the issues.

I know I know, should've recorded phone calls or got confirmations in writing and the like. Well that's exactly what I intend to do now.

Does anyone have a good Virgin Media e-mail address to contact to explain the situation and attempt to get some resolution to this? E-mail contact is going to be the only viable option for the week anyway.

Who did you purchase the washing machine from?

Was this who you contacted and told you that you'd need to pay?

Or did you go straight to the manufacturer?

Your claim will be against the retailer, not the manufacturer. (Unless they're one and the same)

Also, how did you pay?

If by Credit Card (Or if you paid at least £100 by credit card) then your credit card provider will be jointly liable.

The rise was recommended by Ofcom, and independent body, not the government.

jesus christ whatever next

A ban on smoking in public places such as parks and high streets would be a good start. It'd stop issues such as this from happening in the first place by making what you can/can't do rather more clear and at the same time keep me from getting a lungful of smoke everytime I go shopping or for a night out.

You shouldn't be putting cigarettes out on the ground though, they should be stubbed out on things like bins that are designed with a cigarette stub on the top, etc.

If one of those isn't around, then don't light up in the first place until there's somewhere to safely extinguish and dispose of the stub.

Even if you had been able to grind it up, you still would have been committing a littering offence though and so would/should be liable for the penalty.

What part of the Consumer Rights Act do you believe entitles you to a refund within 6 months?

6 months is just the period during which a fault is assumed to have been present since purchase and so the onus is on the seller to prove otherwise. During this time though it's up to the retailer whether they go with repair/refund/replace.

As I understand it, typically a deposit would be non-refundable outside of any specific terms and conditions in the contract allowing for a deposit return or there was a case of something along the lines of mis-selling (ie the item that you ended up ordering was different to the item you were led to believe you were ordering).

However, if you just changed your mind and the contract did not have a cooling off/change of mind period, and the item you've ordered is exactly as described, then to the best of my knowledge the company would be entitled to keep the deposit.

Happy to be corrected though.

Nice to know that in America you can just pay a fee to end a criminal inquiry rather than the person who gave the go ahead facing any kind of punishment themselves besides maybe losing their job, but no doubt getting a generous severance package and cushy pension.

I'll just leave this here for anyone who fancies a really good laugh

http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm

Did you buy them direct from GHD? Or from a retailer such as Argos/Currys etc?

Your action will be against the retailer, not the manufacturer, unless they're one and the same.

It's also not up to you whether you can get a refund, repair or replacement, that decision lies with the retailer. It sounds like they've offered to go with the repair option, which they're perfectly entitled to do so.

They can provide it though, they just need a reasonable amount of time to be able to provide it.

Here's the item,

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/microsoft-surface-pro-3-12-128-gb-10026197-pdt.html

The main image does not show it with a keyboard. It looks like a single one of the screenshots does show it with a keyboard, but all of the others don't.

Also, if you check the Specifications tab, under Keyboard it does say "Available Separately"

i would take the vouchers and run...

 

last time i read their agreements they didnt cover theft at all so getting vouchers might be a mistake on their end or it might be the irish ones are differnt

Agreed, theft is typically excluded from these policies. The whatever happens policies are normally for things such as accidental damage. Events such as theft and loss would not normally be covered as you would be expected to have your own insurance for this. If it was stolen in Athens then you should have claimed through your travel insurance rather than PC World.

Yes you have a contract with them to provide broadband, but 3 days notice is hardly reasonable. Home moves typically need to have a few weeks notice if you were wanting the switchover to be immediate. The fact that they need to make an appointment with Openreach is entirely relevant. Openreach do the work at the exchange for all ADSL providers and so they're always busy, hence the need for advance booking of appointments.

The £100 moving fee however seems excessive. Is there no active phoneline at the new address? That sounds more like the fee to connect a new line than to simply transfer over services to a new existing line.

I'm sure they'll be getting huge payoffs and a pension most of us could only dream of as well.

This sort of continuous authority/automatic renewal is completely standard in the Insurance industry these days. You typically have to explicitly opt out of it, or you get automatically opted in.

I think you'd also need to leave the original Polo/Love Hearts wrapper ontop of the foil as well if there's multiple layers of packaging. You can add more packaging on, just not remove anything.

That's how I understand it anyway.

I guess it depends who has the V5, OP or his wife. If OP has the V5 then surely he can just complete the change of registered keeper slip and send it off

No live tv whatsoever, only catchup tv after it has been broadcast through, itvplayer and 4od. It's not possible to watch live tv on either of those as far as I am aware.

ITVplayer does have a live tv option, at least through the website, so that's why I wanted to check after you mentioned that service

My son has a TV but it has NOT been used to watch live tv for the past two years since the aerial broke and we never got it replaced. He only uses it to play on x-box and watch films on netflix. I do watch programmes but this is on my tab through itvplayer or 4od.

 

I didn't sign anything on the doorstep. I told the guy I didn't have a tv and he said in a very intimidating way, I need to come in and check. I said to him, sorry but you are not coming in and I don't have to prove anything to you. I also told him if TV licensing want to take me to court, that's ok with me.

 

The letter received gave me the impression that I should have contacted them. The first line reads "you have failed to respond to any of our letters", blah blah blah.....

 

As long as I am not breaking the law by not informing them, I'm not worried as I have absolutely nothing to hide.

You say you're watching programmes on your tablet. Are these live? Or just on-demand after the live transmission?

You still need a license if you watch live programmes on a device other than a TV, such as a PC or tablet.