Virgin Media Contract

[Hustler68]

Hi all..

 

Just looking for a bit of advice really if anyone can help me..

 

The wife and I were on Virgin Media for the past 5 or 6 years.

 

Earlier on in the year I became ill and had to give up work and so we cancelled the Virgin services.

 

The wife has now gone back to work part time so now we can afford to have the internet again, which is all we wanted.

 

We called customer services and we spoke to a guy and told him we would like the broadband as before as we now had a new income coming into the household.

 

You could hear him tapping away on his computer and he came back and said 'Right as a thank you for coming back to Virgin I can offer you 6 months broadband (10meg) for £7.50 a month and then the final 6 months at £20 a month..

 

Great we thought, so he said your contract and accessories will be with you in the very near future..

 

A few days later we had the modem, router etc.. delivered and the contract which we signed and then send the other half back to Virgin.

 

True to their word we had a bill for the first 2 months, as you have to pay a month in advance, for £15 making £7.50 a month.

Then the other day we had our ebill come through and it was for £36.25..

We called them and we said it was supposed to be £7.50 for 6 months and then £20 for the final 6 months.

They said the guy who sold you the package shouldnt have done it for that price, its only when you take out another service you can have it for that price.

I told them that I have the contract here which states the original deal and she said well you have got to pay £20 a month and thats it.

 

Is what they are doing legal?

 

I mean can they charge me the full £20 a month when the contract which we signed and sent back states £7.50 a month?

 

I feel like ive been screwed over again.

 

Thanks guys for any help

 

All the best

 

Sean

[Hustler68]

Anyone???

[nstaudt]

If you have a copy of that contract, then I guess you'll need to look at the small-print and see if it allows them to modify the charge... that sounds like a very poor business behaviour and I can understand that you must be very frustrated

 

It doesn't sound right to me that they think they can change the amount they're charging like that... but I'm far from being a legal expert, sorry

[Conniff]

No it's not legal. I was reading the unfair contract regs the other day and I remember reading that you can't get out of a contract by saying 'they never had the authority'

 

I will do my best to find that as soon as possible so you have the exact wording.

[Hustler68]

Thanks Conniff that will be great