Virgin Media Another penalty charge?

[theshuffler]

Hi all i have just recieved an email from Virgin Media advising me of a new charge , now this is a small charge 1.25 a month for recieving a paper bill. The wording below has been cut fro their email , i believe it to state blatantly that this charge is a penalty for not helping them save the planet . This might seem petty to some , but i see it as another penalty charge regardless of the cost . Let me know what you guys think.

 

 

Get paperless bills and save £1.25 per month ( slightly misleading statement , as you are not saving they just arent increasing your bill by £1.25 a month ) To encourage even more people to choose ebills and reduce our impact on the enviroment, we are introducing a £1.25 charge for paper bills .

 

Now isnt that nice of them to encourage you by charging a fee ? I have emailed them and told them not to worry about me because i recycle my bill anyway , so i already help and would it be possible for them to encourage me a bit less by reducing the fee . I also told them i would he;p more by requesting that they stop sending me advertisements and reminders about my bill . Im sure i will get the usual brush off , but folks i would like to encourage you to email them , by introducing a charge of £1.25 if you dont lol.

 

I will post their reply

[buzby]

It is. I'm looking forward to the argument when they levy a late charge on my account because I didn't agree to paying a further £18pa to receive their bill. This is also a material change so can be used as an excuse to terminate your account in advance on any minimum period commitment.

[theshuffler]

Well my expected fobbing off email hasnt arrived as yet , such a disapointment , i was feeling a bit down today , could of done with a laugh.

[theshuffler]

Just spoke to one of the customer service staff , told them i wanted to cancel my services and was giving them 29 days notice, and not their required 30 days on the grounds that they had changed my contract . Apparently whether true or not the paper bill charge has been levied by offcom and it is now a legal requirement . . I quizzed him about the wording of the email and how badly it reflected on VM because it looked to all intents and purposes it was them who levied the charge and not offcom . He told me that it was worded like that for damage limitation purposes lol. Too late mate damage done. Why would a big company want to take the flak for another organisation ? Its beyond me im afraid , a bit of digging around might reveal something. If anyone knows anything please post.

[mo]

are u sayin ofcom are charging this 1.25?

[buzby]

Did you record the call?

 

'OFCOM' "levied the charge"? That is absolute bunkum. You are being lied to, and for them to mention 'damage limitation' makes me wonder if it was actually VM you spoke with.

[theshuffler]

No i didnt record the call however i fired of an email to their billing dept and the general enquiries office hopefully they will email with the same response i was given on the phone.That was VMs stance that it was now a legal requirement on them to charge the £1.25 fee . I dont believe it myself , but i cant argue with them at the minute without ammunition . Strange though that VM was giving a 50p credit to customers that recieved ebills whilst Bt gave 1.25 back in 2008 , seems now that VM like BTs price for a paper bill.

Edited April 22, 2009 by theshuffler

[theshuffler]

Would they have actually had to sign something ?, he says he hasnt signed a thing since his original connection 15 years ago , he only ever had telephone nothing else.

[theshuffler]

Quickly back to the VM bill charge , i recieved an email from them today saying that it cost money to produce bills hence the charge , this is a far cry from encouraging us to be green by charging a fee , and the absolute cracker that ofcom had made it a legal requirement . I have remailed them again asking which answer i should take or maybe they have another 1 or 2 little gems up their sleeves , I wish i had of recorded that call , but wonder if its worth someone else ringing to see if they get the same response i got , now that would go down a treat.

[ebbb]

I pay my virgin media bill via direct debit as a consequence they are required to provide notification of their intention to collect £x from my account each month. Should they be allowed to charge to notify irrespective of the method used? Does it impact the DD guarantee?

"

The Direct Debit Guarantee:

If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, the organisation collecting the payment will notify you normally 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed":confused:

[buzby]

No it doesn't - because if you switch to the 'free' online billing, the charge is waived. Additionally, they've been quite clever here, as they still comply with the DD requirement, by notifying you your bill is ready to review, this confirming that a debit is imminent.

[indebtstudent]

"i recieved an email from them today saying that it cost money to produce bills hence the charge"

 

I agree it costs them money but this has been an accepted fact of commerce for centuries. When you go to the garage they don't go well that £100 for the part £50 for labour of and £2 for the invoice. Its all included in the price, everybody knows and accepts this.

 

Only nowadays more and more companies are deciding the price is not the price. You know what really ticks me off???

 

Some companies, like ticketmaster and Easyjet levy a charge for card payments. I believe the true cost is somewhere close to the 50p that IKEA charge. Yet these companies charge several times that.

 

Anyway back to Virgin we have a £5 non-dd charge, and they insist withouth proof this covers thier costs. Now they can't be bothered to send a out a bill they want to charge £1.25 for the privilage. This has NOTHING to do with the enviroment and I'd wager nothing to do with OFCOM.

 

Perhaps the chap in the call centre had been told this by someone, lets give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

I've been double screwed because I signed up for paperless billing in order to save £12 per year. Only now they say I was a few days too late and so I merely avoid the £1.25 charge. Cosmic.

 

Total charges in excess of the price £75 per annum, and these are thier genuine costs? Yeah right.

 

Surely, if the charges are permissable by law, there must be SOME cut off point. Otherwise they can just claim it costs them £50 quid a month to process my bill and payments and they are in the money.

[pelham9]

The next move is to charge you for using the website!

 

The banks tried the same game over ATMs

 

ATMs were installed to save the banks the high costs of doing business with over the counter staff. The motive was to make extra profit. They were of course installed 'for the comvenience of customers' - and it is true that they are very convenient.

 

Wasn't long before they tried to make customers pay for the convenience of ATMs. Alternatively some banks tried to charge for counter use.

 

Same principle.

[pelham9]

I have just searched the Ofcom website.

 

It would seem that on 29/12/2008 Ofcom stated that a £1.50 charge by a telecom for each paper bill would not be considered unfair.

[Archway]

I too contacted Virgin over this. They rhymed off some spiel about how much other companies charge. I continually told him I wasn't interested in other companies as I was, for the present, a VM customer. Cue more **** from "customer services". (How can those words go in the same sentence as Virgin and Media).

 

I can't change. There is no BT line in my place, VM know this, they told me. To get one put in would cost £125-00, I aint paying that to become a customer...

 

This, to me, is yet another money making [problem] by VM.

[buzby]

Well, I only pay £1.50pm for my non-DD charge (reduced from £5) as I told them I was terminating. It is shown as a credit for this very purpose! Now, whilst I was preparing court papers to get my additional £60pa back, it would be very difficult for them to prove that it actually cost them that much - but at £1.50, this puts the onus on me. I still do not think this is right (or indeed fair) that consumers have ever become liable for the costs of maintaining differing payment methods - but until OFCOM get their finger out, we're stuck with it. In the meantime, I'm holding on to all the bills that show the extra payments, ready for a reclaim.

[indebtstudent]

If Ofcom state that £1.50 is a reasonable charge for a paper bill does this mean the companies can back bill us? (joking)

 

But seriously though if the line rental etc paid it before how come it suddenly doesn't now?

 

I got a letter saying it would save £12 per year, got the discount for three months only to be told I signed up too late (a week or two after the letter).

 

Re the environment they keep sending me junk mail with the bill so they can't care all that much about it. If I wanted a Virgin Mobile I would surely have acted on the 12000 flyers they have sent me previously.

 

Idiots.

[theshuffler]

complain , kick up a stink , i got my bill reduced by £5 a month and my services upgraed for free , on the basis i wa entering s into an 18 month contract, i agreed and warned them that if they cange the contract i was within my rights to cancel. I have a few fights on my hands at the min , but once they are finished with i plan to take VM for all their unfair charges.

[buzby]

Hopefully, by that time OFCOM will have said these charges ARE 'unfair'.

[indebtstudent]

I am not getting the charge because I signed up for paperless billing. However disagree with it and think I was mislead by the info which indicated you'd get a £1 discount for 12 months.

 

In a responce to my e-mail they stated, in essence, I signed up to late (it was only on for a short time!). I am giving serious thought to changing the lot, but I doubt I could get a better deal because of the outcome of my previous complaint re the non-DD charge.

 

I get XL tv, broaband and home phone for £30/month. This has just gone up to around £34.50.

 

I believe it would cost to get a BT line in and there is ample evidence they are inept.

 

I'm so pleased we have these companies competing to set new standards for service and keen pricing in telecoms

[theshuffler]

I have rewritten to them again recently to beseech them not to send me anymore advertising literature as i am trying to save the planet. Seems like it is ok for them to send out tons of unsolicited mail for free , but they expect us to pay for a paper bill.

[indebtstudent]

Don;t suppose we can charge then £1.25 per month for recyling thier junk mail :~o