Virgin media been taking £20 from me for 3yrs after cancelled contract

[dstafford]

Hello everyone, new here so sorry if I'm posting in the wrong section.

 

My problem spans across a number of years and also relates to my times as a student.

 

While in my last year in university

i took out the 9 month student deal with virgin media for there internet package.

 

I was only at the property 10 months and before i left the property the phoned to make sure that the contract had ended.

 

I believed it had ended, and seeing as it was only a 9 month contract i believed that it would end after that amount of time regardless.

 

That was around 3 years ago,

 

iv recently bought a house with my girlfriend and while sorting our finances out

i discovered that they had been taking out £20 a month for the past 3 years!

 

I quickly got on the phone to them to resolve this issue and explained my situation,

they said they had no record of me cancelling the contract

and that if i didn't phone to cancel it they it would carry on,

hence the 3 years of £20 payments.

 

They had trouble finding my details on their system as i didn't have any account numbers or letters off them

but eventually found it.

They cancelled the contract and told me that no more payments would come out.

So far they haven't.

 

Now my girlfriend works for a bank and told me about a direct debit indemnity,

 

i am yet to speak to my own bank about this

but was wondering if anyone has any experience with this,

or has been in a similar situation and what was the outcome?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you. Daniel.

[dx100uk]

hi and welcome

smart little cookie you've got there

keep ahold of her!

 

yes you can get the money back

 

under the DD guarantee scheme

 

phone your bank and get it moving

 

virmin should have been contacting you EVERY month to advise you they are taking the sum.

 

dx

[ghandi]

ratna.bagchi@virginmedia top lady

[porkyp1g]

Surely this only applies if they are in the wrong.

 

How are they in the wrong here?

 

No contract terminates at the end of the term, unless cancelled by the user. A

 

lso, not checking bank accounts in 3 years??

 

Just asking for trouble.

 

You will be lucky to get anything back here I'm afraid, no matter how high you go.

 

Dx,

I'm on paperless billing, I get an email once a month telling me my bill is ready.

 

Were they ignored as well?

[ghandi]

hi, i am not really on this site to judge whether a person is looking after his/her financial affairs properly or not,

i gave an contacts email address, she sorted out a problem for me immediately. regards; ghandi

[porkyp1g]

Fair enough if the company is in the wrong, but I doubt your contact will be able to help in this case.

[andydd]

Im unaware of any Phone/Bb packages that would run for a set period of time and then end, it is far more likely that it would run for 9 months at a reduced price and then increase to the standard rate. No company would sign someone up for only 9 months when there is the oppurtunity of keeping them for longer.

 

Your only chance is that you can prove that you contacted them to end the contract, I dont believe the DD indemity applies in this scenario otherwise anyone could claim years later that they didnt agree to the debits and demand their money back, it is worth investigating though, you may be lucky.

 

Andy

[Macaria]

I think these fixed contracts are a complete con. If you are employed on a 'Fixed Contract' your employment ceases when the contract period runs out and you do not get paid. Yet when you sign up for a service for a 'Fixed Contract' - the service continues forever and they will keep taking your money! So how can this be called a 'fixed' contract?

[BazzaS]

I think these fixed contracts are a complete con. If you are employed on a 'Fixed Contract' your employment ceases when the contract period runs out and you do not get paid. Yet when you sign up for a service for a 'Fixed Contract' - the service continues forever and they will keep taking your money! So how can this be called a 'fixed' contract?

 

The minimum term is fixed.

 

If the express terms of the contract make this clear, and both parties agree (and meet the ideals that form a contract ; offer, acceptance, intent to be contractually bound, and consideration) then it isn't wrong - it is just that the terms are different to your employment example.

 

With the employment example there is nothing to stop the parties agreeing a contract extension during the contract.

With the "fixed minimum term" contract there is nothing to stop the customer cancelling the contract as at the end of the minimum term (and could do so on the first day of the contract to end it at the expiry of the minimum term)

[porkyp1g]

I know this site is about helping people, but this kind of thread is common. People not taking care of their own responsibilities, realising they paid for something they didn't use and then trying to sue to high heaven because the company don't agree to pay the money back. It's wrong and if that is the case, surely the best advice is leave it to save mental and possible financial loss trying to fight it, when the poster is the one making the error. Surely telling them to invoke clauses that are not applicable here is the poor advice.

[BazzaS]

I know this site is about helping people, but this kind of thread is common. People not taking care of their own responsibilities, realising they paid for something they didn't use and then trying to sue to high heaven because the company don't agree to pay the money back. It's wrong and if that is the case, surely the best advice is leave it to save mental and possible financial loss trying to fight it, when the poster is the one making the error. Surely telling them to invoke clauses that are not applicable here is the poor advice.

 

I'm unsure who you are suggesting "hasn't taken responsibility" : The OP stated they'd cancelled the contract, so surely they are entitled to recover the unfair charges?.

Again, I'm not sure who you are suggesting is "telling them to invoke clauses that are not applicable here is the poor advice" : some context / quoting would make your post more helpful ?

[porkyp1g]

The op hadn't checked their account in over three years. Who does that?

 

Dx suggested claiming back from the bank, how is the direct debit code relevant here?

[BazzaS]

The op hadn't checked their account in over three years. Who does that?

 

Dx suggested claiming back from the bank, how is the direct debit code relevant here?

 

It may be that they had checked their account, but thought the payment was for something else: Who knows what other services (virgin mobile for example) the OP may have thought they were paying for instead.

 

Alternatively, if virgin hadn't complied with their requirement under the direct debit scheme to notify the OP of each payment due, then the direct debit guarantee is indeed applicable. In that case it may be that the OP had been careless, but that wouldn't absolve Virgin of their responsibilities under the direct debit scheme.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I do find it odd that one would not miss £240.00 per year disappearing from a bank account, this also highlights the dangers or attempting to cancel contracts by phone it so often does not work.

[dx100uk]

be mice if rob or porky or whenever usernames they had here over the years,

actually helped people rather than diss'n most of the advise on this forum

for once

 

dx

[porkyp1g]

I do help if you check my posts, but I don't tell people to sue, sue, sue, or claim, claim, claim when they in the wrong. The site is very useful for those in need or advice, but some people shouldn't be told they are right when they aren't.