What would you do? (Virgin Media)

[Ladyin_blue]

Hiya

 

I'm stuck wondering what my options are, what i really want and what i should do about it. A part of me is telling me to leave it alone and the other part is saying i shouldn't let them get away with this.

 

heres the story...

 

 

In Dec i got a phone call from a VM sales rep offereing a free Tivo box and the only difference to my account was that it would increase by a pound an something to 28.59p) . So i agreed. in Jan my tivo box was installed and in fed i received a bill of over 34 pounds. by May it had gone upto over 43 pounds. when i called last week to find out whats going on i was told that they had a price increase in feb and that i had a 10 pound discount for 3 months and the price of my line rental is 43.09p. Further more when i asked to close the account i was told i was in a contract.

 

Now the person i spoke to was daved Aka Mr Unhelpful and he had enlightened me of all this which i was furious about because i did not know i was in a contract. Further more after specifically asking him not to make any changes to my account as i intended to complain, he went and changed it and signed me up to a new contract of 29.99.

 

Now i would like think of myself as an honest person. They said they had sent out a contract in the post for dec and maybe they had but i had not received a contract or saw a contract of any form But i did see an e mail that explained the changes to my account and on the top it says "This is not a bill or a contract"

 

So now the new one that Mr unhelpful signed me up for. when i called Yesterday and spoke to an Allen and another person, they told me that my account had been changed and i said "I had not asked for my account to be changed but asked for him to leave it as it is for i am going to complain" now instead of both of them saying, ok she didn't ask for it, lets change it to the way it was, they left it.

 

Today i got a phone call from someone called Mathew who was from a different deparment who had come to make me a nice offer but upon reading my account that i was in a new contract (Thank you unhelpful) and further more was receiving a good will gesture from VM of a 7 pound discount for the first 4 months (he thinks) he could not make me any nice offers.

 

Now what is this good will gesture that i've suddenly heard about? i haven't a clue.

 

 

i haven't a clue what to do. what i want tho is all this time that i thought i was paying 28.59 to be refunded the difference which comes up to 56 pounds.

 

Tell me, what would you do? what can i do? what should i do?

 

 

Sincerly

 

A confused sister

[rebel11]

Hi Ladyin_Blue

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Hi badmoneyethics

 

I would escalate the complaint.

 

I would write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened, how they have let you down and what you want them to do about it. Tell them you want to be compensated for the poor customer service.

 

Send it to:-

 

Mr Tom Mockridge

Chief Executive

Virgin Media

tom.mockridge@virginmedia .co.uk

 

Let us know how you get on.

[Ladyin_blue]

Hi Rebel. thank you for your reply.

 

this is what i've written so far. i haven't sent it yet. i know if this was to ever go to court they could use my e mail against me so i want to make sure i've worded it right. How much should i ask for in compensation and how would i write that in the letter. Should i just say i want to be compensated for the poor customer service i have received or i "would like" to be compensated.

 

 

----------

 

Dear Mr Mockridge

I am making a formal complaint agenst Virgin Media for the way i have been treated by members of your customer service team. In Dec i got a phone call from a Virgin Media sales person offereing me a free Tivo box and the only difference to my account would be an increase by just over a pound. He even incurridged me to accept it. He failed to mention it was a contract i was entering, failed to mention the price he quoted me was only for the first 3 months and it would increase by £10 there after. I received no contract in the post and only found out i was in a contract when i called customer service on the 3rd of june to close my account as i could not afford the amont the service had risen to (from £28.59 to £43). The person i spoke to (David) informed me that i was in a contract starting from Dec and that i had a 3 month discount and that there was also a price increase in feb. I was very angry that i was not informed of this in dec by the person i had spoken to. An offer was made to me for a smaller packedge for the price of £29.99 but after finding all this out i asked David to leave my account as it was as i intended to complain yet he still went ahead and made the changes even though i was VERY clear i did not want it and wished to complain.

 

On the 11th of June i called again to get information on how i can make a formal complaint and the persons i spoke to informed me that i was in a new contract for £29.99 and i informed them both that i did not concent to it and asked for my account to be left as it was as i wish to make a formal complaint yet both of them did nothing about this.

 

On the 12 of June i got a phone call from a Mathew who worked in the upsale department and called to make me an offer or deal or something but upon reading my account that i was in a new contract (Thanks to David) and was receiving a good will gesture from Virgin Media of a £7.74 discount for the first 4 months (he thinks), that he can not do anything for me and like before i continued to protest that i did not ask to be in this new contract nor was i informed of any good will guester.

 

 

------------

 

sound alright?

 

Thank you for your kind help

[rebel11]

Hi Ladyin_blue

 

I've corrected spelling errors, added a line about compensation. Otherwise it's good.

 

 

I am making a formal complaint against Virgin Media for the way I have been treated by members of your customer service team. In December I got a phone call from a Virgin Media sales person offering me a free Tivo box and the only difference to my account would be an increase by just over a pound. He even encouraged me to accept it. He failed to mention it was a contract I was entering, failed to mention the price he quoted me was only for the first 3 months and it would increase by £10 there - after.

 

I received no contract in the post and only found out I was in a contract when I called customer service on the 3rd of June to close my account as I could not afford the amount the service had risen to (from £28.59 to £43).

 

The person I spoke to (David) informed me that I was in a contract starting from December and that I had a 3 month discount and that there was also a price increase in February. I was very angry that I was not informed of this in December by the person I had spoken to. An offer was made to me for a smaller package for the price of £29.99 but after finding all this out I asked David to leave my account as it was as I intended to complain yet he still went ahead and made the changes even though I was VERY clear I did not want it and wished to complain.

 

On the 11th of June I called again to get information on how I can make a formal complaint and the persons I spoke to informed me that I was in a new contract for £29.99 and I informed them both that I did not consent to it and asked for my account to be left as it was as I wish to make a formal complaint yet both of them did nothing about this.

 

On the 12 of June I got a phone call from a Matthew who worked in the sales department and called to make me an offer or deal or something but upon reading my account that I was in a new contract (Thanks to David) and was receiving a good will gesture from Virgin Media of a £7.74 discount for the first 4 months (he thinks), that he can not do anything for me and like before I continued to protest that I did not ask to be in this new contract nor was I informed of any good will gesture.

 

I wish to be compensated for the poor service that I have received from Virgin Media.

[Ladyin_blue]

thank you. E mail is sent

 

You wouldn't by chance have contact details for someone in sony? This is turning to be a bad month for me. I sent my phone to sony for repair. It had a lose charging port which I wanted to claim on warranty as it happened 3 months after I got my phone and waited for a quote for the cracked screen which happened months after that. Ok, so I wasn't happy with the quote, I'm cool with that.

What's bugging me is, as soon as they received my phone the status of it was "in repair" I thought "great! They are repairing the screen for free" after 8 days, yes 8 days I receive a quote of £121.12.

 

Ok 121.12 for just a screen I thought that can't be.possible. Got in touch with CS and was told it is for the screen and the charing port would NOT BE FIXED UNDER WARRANTY UNLESS THE SCREEN IS FIXED.

 

Ok so I rejected the quote, paid 14.40 for the phone to be returned and waited 2 days to.receive an email mail that said "your phone has been repaired and is on it's way" once again happy and thinking " great they did fix my phone after all" got in touch with CS again to confirm and was told "your phone has been repaired".

 

My phone came back yesterday. Almost 2 weeks without a phone. Why, why, why tell me my phone has been repaired when its not!

 

Even more annoying is the back cover of the phone has come back to me broken.

 

This just isn't my month

[rebel11]

Hi Lady_blue

 

I would write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened, how they have let you down and what you want them to do about it. Tell them you want to be compensated for the poor customer service.

 

Send it to:-

 

Mr Christopher Bowen

Managing Director

Sony UK

[email protected]

[Ladyin_blue]

Thanks rebel

 

here is the reply i got

 

Dear Mr. Xxxxxxxxxxxx,

 

We would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us today.

 

We are very sorry to hear that you are unhappy and we will endeavour to resolve your issues as soon as possible.

 

Tom is currently not available to deal with your complaint personally; however we have passed your email onto a member of his team, and they will be in touch with you as soon as possible in order to assist you with your queries.

 

We look forward to discussing this matter with you in the future.

 

On behalf of Tom Mockridge.

 

 

 

 

interesting.... I wonder what makes them think i'm a man

[rebel11]

You would think they would get that right, maybe not.

 

Thanks rebel

 

here is the reply i got

 

Dear Mr. Xxxxxxxxxxxx,

 

We would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us today.

 

We are very sorry to hear that you are unhappy and we will endeavour to resolve your issues as soon as possible.

 

Tom is currently not available to deal with your complaint personally; however we have passed your email onto a member of his team, and they will be in touch with you as soon as possible in order to assist you with your queries.

 

We look forward to discussing this matter with you in the future.

 

On behalf of Tom Mockridge.

 

 

 

 

interesting.... I wonder what makes them think i'm a man

[Ladyin_blue]

Good afternoon my friend and how are you?

 

well, this is what i've written for Sony

 

I wish to make a formal complaint against Sony. On the 2nd June 2014 i sent my phone out for repair. I was having trouble charging my phone and it started 3 months after perches. 2 months after the problem started i cracked the screen on my phone. I assumed what ever was wrong with the charging would be fixed on warranty and if the quote for the screen repair was reasonable i would accept it. Before i sent the phone i chatted with 2 people from customer service, and i did mention the screen was cracked but both of them failed to mention that what ever was wrong with the charging would not be fixed as long as the screen is broken. As annoying as that is, my real complaint is the lack of professionalism after i sent the phone. On the 5th of June the status of my phone changed to “in repair”. If my phone is not being repaired so why does it say “in repair”? that is misleading. After 5 days i received a quote for £121.12 which i thought was nonsense for just the screen. I spoke to customer service again who only then told me that without accepting the quote the charging problem would not be fixed under warranty. I rejected the quote and paid £14.40 for my phone to be sent back to me. The next day i received an email stating my phone had been “repaired” and was on its way back to me. I was very confused as i had rejected the quote and so once again chatted with customer service to confirm this and was told “your phone has been repaired”. My phone came back to me on the 14th June still with its cracked screen and not charging but also with a broken back cover. My question is this, why say something has been repaired when its not? why is the back cover of my phone broken when i did not send it out this way? and why does it still say in Mysupport "cost of repair £14.40" when my phone was never repaired?

 

I'm honestly dismayed and shocked by the lack of professionalism from such a big company and wish to be compensated for being misled.

 

 

-----

 

 

sound ok?

[Ladyin_blue]

From VM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your email regarding your complaint.

 

 

Firstly please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Craig, and I work in the Chief Executive Office on behalf of our CEO and Executive Directors at Virgin Media. My role is to ensure the appropriate resolution is reached for any complaints they receive.

 

 

I have assigned your case to one of our specialist complaint agents who will assume full accountability to ensure your complaint is resolved quickly and to your satisfaction. They will be in touch within the next 24 hours.

 

 

Whilst we do aim to resolve all issues as quickly as possible and usually within 5 days, the agent dealing with your case may be required to investigate your issue further. If you’d like to speak to us while we are handling your complaint then please don’t hesitate to call us on 0800 052 1569 quoting your reference number provided at the top of this email.

 

 

I would like to take this opportunity to say how sorry I am you have had cause to complain, however I can assure you we will do our utmost to resolve this to your satisfaction.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Craig Langdale|CEO Case Manager, Virgin Media

[rebel11]

Hi Ladyin_blue

 

I've amended it slightly.

 

 

 

I wish to make a formal complaint against Sony.

 

On the 2nd June 2014 I sent my phone to be repaired.

 

I was having trouble charging my phone, 3 months after purchased. 2 months after the problem started I cracked the screen on my phone. I assumed what ever was wrong with the charging would be fixed on warranty and if the quote for the screen repair was reasonable I would accept it. Before i sent the phone I talked with 2 employees from customer service, and I did mention the screen was cracked but both of them failed to mention that what ever was wrong with the charging would not be fixed as long as the screen was broken.

 

As annoying as that is, my real complaint is the lack of customer service after I sent the phone off. On the 5th of June the status of my phone changed to “in repair”. If my phone is not being repaired so why does it say “in repair”? that is misleading. After 5 days I received a quote for £121.12 which I thought was nonsense for just the screen. I spoke to customer service again who only then told me that without accepting the quote the charging problem would not be fixed under warranty. I rejected the quote and paid £14.40 for my phone to be sent back to me.

 

The next day I received an email stating my phone had been “repaired” and was on its way back to me. I was very confused as I had rejected the quote and so once again I talked with customer service to confirm this and was told “your phone has been repaired”.

 

My phone came back to me on the 14th June still with its cracked screen and not charging but also with a broken back cover. My question is this, why say something has been repaired when its not? why is the back cover of my phone broken, when i did not send it out broken? and why does it still say in My support "cost of repair £14.40" when my phone was never repaired?

 

I'm shocked by the poor customer service and misleading information from Sony.

[Ladyin_blue]

Bless you Rebel.

 

so this is the latest from VM, any advice?

 

Thank you for your email dated 16 June 2014 regarding issue’s you have had with the customer services team and the package changes made on your account. I am really sorry that you are unhappy. I understand that this issue has upset you and caused you some inconvenience.

 

I would have loved to have spoken with you, but I have not been able to contact you with your contact numbers. I wanted to sincerely apology for the way you strongly feel mistreated by our customer services team. This was never intended and our customer’s well-being is of paramount importance to us.

 

To safe guard our customers against unconfirmed changes to their accounts, we always automatically send out an email and letter every time a package is changed on their accounts. Your current registered email address is ... Please could you check the emails on this address and you will note that each change has been confirmed to you including the contract lengths on each occurrence.

 

While there is a possibility the contract length may not have been confirmed during the telephone conversations, there is no doubt that any change was immediately confirmed through to the registered email. Please could you ensure we have the most up to date contact details including email addresses. This can be done through Ebilling. Should you have any issues regarding this please contact our customer services team on 0345 454 1111 and they would be more than happy to assist you on this matter.

 

Can I also take the opportunity to have you call me on the number below so that we can discuss your account in detail and ensure that a suitable package for your needs is correctly applied first time round. If you wish to discuss this, please feel free to contact me directly by telephone. My number is 0345 234 0037 and my extension number is 5097. I am available most days between the hours of 9am and 6pm. By discussing this over the phone, we will avoid making any more unwanted changes and also allow us to give you the best possible package costs at the time.

 

I am sorry to confirm that we will not be giving you any financial compensation for the issues you have raised. We apologise for the inconvenience caused, but this shortfall in customer care does not warranty a financial payment to you. Please refer to our terms and conditions for the type of financial compensation we would likely provide on a residential contract.

 

These terms can be found on our website. All the data raised in your complaint is fed back into the business to make sure we continually improve our services. If you have any other questions or queries you can visit the Virgin Media website or call our customer service team for free by dialling 150 off your Virgin Media Landline.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Jabu Ndlovu

E-Contact Team

Virgin Media

Edited June 17, 2014 by Andyorch
Paragraphs added

[rebel11]

Hi Ladyin_blue

 

Write to them, tell them it's good that they want to improve their customer service as a result of the poor customer service and misleading information you have received.

 

Tell them you have had to spend time dealing with this matter because their customer services has been poor and Virgin Media employees have mislead you. You will not be spending further time speaking to them over the phone because you can not trust Virgin Media employees over the phone, they can tell you what they like without any direct consequences to them.

 

Explain that you've read the Virgin Media T & C's, nowhere does it say that Virgin Media are entitled to provide poor customer service and mislead customers. Explain that it is disappointing that they will not compensate as a gesture of goodwill, that in itself is poor customer service. A gesture of goodwill says 'we understand, we got it wrong'.

 

Explain that you want to carry on with your complaint, could they kindly provide details.

 

End with 'I look forward to hearing from you'.

[Deadyankee]

Regarding thae virgin media complaint that is cobblers about compensation. I've just had a free month of broadband because of intermittent issues with our broadband service. We've had lots more credit over the years for bad service and they have never battered an eyelid in giving it.

 

Regarding sony, I know from personal experience that the charging blocks on them are weak, I think sony will assume that isn't a manufacturing defect due to the fact it's been dropped. They will not be able to tell if the charging block was broken before or if they were done at the same time, but now that the screen has been broken it will have invalidated the manufacturers warranty on the phone. You might be best getting these repaired locally as it will likely be cheaper than paying sony to fix the phones screen, even if they did the charging block for free.

[Ladyin_blue]

hi Deadyankee. I've been with VM for over 5 yrs and have had no problems. They are being really uncooperative now.

 

Sony... is annoying. I tried to get it fixed down the market first but no-one had the replacement screen. thats why i sent it to them. customer service there is bad too, caz they wont give you any details of price except 14.40 to get your phone back if you reject the quote. Looks like i'm going to have to buy the screen from e bay and ask my dad to fix it since hes back from holiday.

 

 

what i've written to VM

 

 

I’m glad that you want to improve your customer service as a result of the poor customer service and misleading information i have received. I’ve had to and continuing to spend time dealing with this matter and researching my options because your customer services has been poor and misleading. i will not be spending further time speaking to you or any other Virgin Media employee over the phone because I have lost trust, you can tell me what you like without any direct consequences to any of you.

 

I’ve read the Virgin Media T & C's, nowhere does it say that Virgin Media are entitled to provide poor customer service and mislead customers. it is disappointing that you will not compensate as a gesture of goodwill , that in itself is poor customer service. A gesture of goodwill says 'we understand, we got it wrong'.

 

I would like to carry on with my complaint, could you kindly provide details.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[rebel11]

Hi Ladyin_blue

 

Update the thread when they respond.

[Ladyin_blue]

Thanks rebel. 8 days, no reply. I know i'm asking this reeeally late but should i stop direct debet? I was thinking to wait till next week mon to see if they reply. Give them 14 days to be fair.

[Ladyin_blue]

so its been 14 days. Is this ok to send

 

--

 

As further proof of poor customer service the person that has been appointed to deal with my complaint has failed to respond to my email. It is a shame that good customer service skills are lacking in all departments.

 

Could you please provide me with details as i wish to further my complaint.

 

--

[rebel11]

That's fine, just changed it to 'disappointing'.

 

so its been 14 days. Is this ok to send

 

--

 

As further proof of poor customer service the person that has been appointed to deal with my complaint has failed to respond to my email. It is disappointing that good customer service skills are lacking in all departments.

 

Could you please provide me with details as i wish to further my complaint.

 

--

[Ladyin_blue]

i got this 7 days ago and i replied but heard nothing back. what can i do now

 

----------

 

Thank you for your email.

 

I'm really sorry you're unhappy, Tom is currently unable to deal with your complaint personally; however so that his team can help you quickly, please reply with either your Virgin Media account number, telephone number or full address and postcode details and we'll get straight onto it.

 

on behalf of Tom Mockridge

 

---------

 

 

will be calling sony today. someone from CS called me (can't remember date) and 'strongly advised' me to send the phone back and said "we have been known to fix minor cracks for free" and if i'm not happy with cost of repair, he would make sure i wouldn't have to pay return fee. Well, well, well. i have 90 days to pay return fee...AGAIN

[rebel11]

Hi Laydin_Blue

 

Virgin Media provide them with the requested info, they have it but do it anyway, they are being silly.

 

With Sony, send the phone back, speak to them, ask for them to refund all postage costs, get it in writing.

 

i got this 7 days ago and i replied but heard nothing back. what can i do now

 

----------

 

Thank you for your email.

 

I'm really sorry you're unhappy, Tom is currently unable to deal with your complaint personally; however so that his team can help you quickly, please reply with either your Virgin Media account number, telephone number or full address and postcode details and we'll get straight onto it.

 

on behalf of Tom Mockridge

 

---------

 

 

will be calling sony today. someone from CS called me (can't remember date) and 'strongly advised' me to send the phone back and said "we have been known to fix minor cracks for free" and if i'm not happy with cost of repair, he would make sure i wouldn't have to pay return fee. Well, well, well. i have 90 days to pay return fee...AGAIN

[Ladyin_blue]

i did provide them. its been 7 days.

[Ladyin_blue]

Ok, so I have been patient. Almost 2 weeks and I have not heard anything. That's 4 weeks all together of them ignoring me. What actions can I take to be heard. I think they are ignoring me because they are still getting the monthly amount by direct debt. I'm scared to cancel it in case it gets me in trouble. If this were to go to the small claims court what chances are there that I could win.

 

 

I'm up to my nees in work. I'll deal with Sony over weekend. I sent my phone to them weeks ago

[rebel11]

Hi Ladyin_blue

 

Follow the guidance here:-

 

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/complain/phone-and-broadband-complaints/sales/

 

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/complain/phone-and-broadband-complaints/customer-services/

 

Ok, so I have been patient. Almost 2 weeks and I have not heard anything. That's 4 weeks all together of them ignoring me. What actions can I take to be heard. I think they are ignoring me because they are still getting the monthly amount by direct debt. I'm scared to cancel it in case it gets me in trouble. If this were to go to the small claims court what chances are there that I could win.

 

 

I'm up to my nees in work. I'll deal with Sony over weekend. I sent my phone to them weeks ago

[Ladyin_blue]

bless you Rebel.

 

i informed ofcom before i joined here

i will e mail now asking for deadlock letter.