Virgin Implying Fraud

[flexeh]

Hey All,

 

Right here it goes, this is a bit ridiculous.

 

in 2013 I had virgin and experienced problem after problem, i moved address 6 doors down and continued to have problems. In the end they gave me the option to go so it took it. 2 years later (now) i decide to shop around, i email the team again to say I'm curious about coming back etc.

 

I get a phone call from the Chief execs team called James who was really nice and advising they have come along way now etc and should be able to provide me a better service than they did previously and would welcome me to speak to sales to see what can be done. I cancelled my Sky and looked forward to rejoining.

 

a few days pass and i'm trying to sort something with Sales but something kept going on. Yesterday had a nice guy look into it and said its got a fraud marker on my account. He told me not to worry as he will look into it and see what's going on as he can see i haven't moved from my address. and cannot understand it.. Get a call back last night he's still working on it.

 

Today i decide to speak to Chief execs team again to see what's happened, the guy asked me to give him some time and he will look into it. He called me back and advised unfortunately they cannot give me services. I question why and he said that because i raised 5 complaints previously being a customer Virgin do not think they can satisfy my expectations so will not be willing to offer me services. I said that James had advised things had improved now, but he stood by it and said they cannot offer me nothing. I asked if it was just me as a customer or my partner as well. He said just me but then said he will put a block on my address.

 

I did say that i was not happy that its been listed as fraud as its quite slanderous, and that i cannot believe that i get a call asking me to rejoin and selling the service to me and now your declining me. He said its their final decision and James will have some further training, as he should of saw the marker on the account...

 

 

So there i am cancelled my sky and now virgin are doing this!

 

Ridiculous, surely a customer is allow to raise complaints about paying for a service they are not getting at the time. I said id understand if I had rejoined and the same thing happened. He just said they cannot and wont invest the costs to install as they lost money on me last time...

[Consumer dude]

A/ Rejoin sky ?

 

B/ Put in a formal complaint to Virgin ?

[flexeh]

It was the chief executives team at virgin and he said its their final decision - I did ask if i can appeal and he said no

 

EDIT: to add the complaints were about my Tivo i had 3 boxes in 6 months due to faults with them. So moral of story is guys do not ever raise any concerns or dissatisfaction with Virgin..

[Consumer dude]

I would consider getting them to confirm in writing anyway as to me they have implied you can have a service then changed their mind because of a fraud marker. You also cancelled sky services in the expectation of services being offered ?..

[unclebulgaria67]

Same with any business, they don't have to accept you as a customer.

 

BUT if they are putting a fraud marker on your account and blocking services to your address, you can now take your complaint to the relevant ombudsman. They will look into what has happened with Virgin.

 

http://www.cedr.com/cisas/

 

Virgin Media i think is now owned by some billionaire American and they sometimes have a different attitude towards customers. If they are not helping them make money, they are not interested.

[AndyOrch]

Hi flexeh

 

I dont suppose you happen to record the calls ? I doubt very much they will confirm the above in writing.Have you not read our customer service guide?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?439552-Guide-to-dealing-with-Customer-Service-Departments&p=4676004#post4676004

 

Regards

 

Andy

[martin2006]

Uncleb, virgin are now owned by Liberty Global, an American company based in the uk.

[unclebulgaria67]

Uncleb, virgin are now owned by Liberty Global, an American company based in the uk.

 

They are now headquartered in the UK, but their President is quite interesting, if you read his wiki.

 

Not anti American, but not a fan of their cut throat business practices which they export abroad.

[BazzaS]

They are under no obligation to offer you a service.

For it to be defamation (under the new rules) they would have to "publish" the statement & it cause you serious harm.

 

So, there is little you can do. Go with Sky (& get them to offer you a good deal!)

[martin2006]

 

Not anti American, but not a fan of their cut throat business practices which they export abroad.

 

Hmmmmm, you mean like..........PRA !!

[flexeh]

Thing is skys been great, but broadband sucked, recently openreach was up the pole testing lines for new customers and disconnected me. Took a week to resolve it. other companies reliance on openreach is the thing that puts me off

 

The guy last night said its a fraud marker and the guy todays tryed saying its not. But when i said im being labelled as fraudulent thats slanderous. He said its not as we havent disclosed that to anyone. I said you have to me. He then said well hows it make you feel then.... I just said peeed off.

 

At the end of the day they say under their code of practise they want feedback so they can improve. I gave mine now they wont tocuh me with a barge pole. Ive wrote to everyone listed on their management board.

 

Andy i didnt record it as i didnt think the call would eb this ridiculous. I thought a genuine mistake had happened. Normally if any inkling to something i would do via email. Ive posted a long email stating whats exactly happened. they probs will ignore me

[flexeh]

Well ive recieved a response from my email

 

Dear Steve,

 

We will not be able to supply you with service. This has been discussed with my colleague, Ramon, earlier today.

 

You have received our final position in regards to this complaint. Going forward we will not provide you with any further response.

 

 

Kind Regards

[flexeh]

cant use CISAS because would it not be - Business decisions a company has made on whether or not to provide a product or service, and the terms under which they will provide a product or service?

[Consumer dude]

Go on social network and have a pop at them that way but stick to the truth..

[flexeh]

this is what i sent -

 

Afternoon Virgin Media Management team

 

Firstly let me apologise for contacting you all, as I had hoped this had been resolved, but unfortunately it has not and it appears I cannot appeal to the better nature of some of the employees in the priority complaints office. I want to start as well by saying thank you for reading this as there is a bit of detail in this email which I'm hoping you will look into as I've never heard of a company punishing someone for having a genuine complaint. Ref .

 

In 2013 I was a customer with yourselves over 2 addresses. I moved services with me when I moved and continued being a customer. However there was a number of problems experienced by me and my family involving the TiVo service. The TiVo constantly went down and as a result we ended up have 2 boxes in 6 months. I made complaints about the box going down and constantly loosing shows i had recorded, which I would of thought as a customer I would have been right to do. If something is not working as described then surely I should be allowed to express my dissatisfaction.

 

I wrote to Mr Mockridge and got a response back from him team about the problems. There was alot of back and forth with a Mr Dugdale, as i was also disatisfied that i was being ignored and not being called back when advised. after numerous emails with no resolution, my account a was then closed. I was offered the chance to stay with just broadband but at the time I declined as I felt that my initial concerns were not being taken seriously.

 

I then went with another provider, to which I had a good experience with. However as my time was coming to an end, I thought I would get back in touch with Virgin, to see if progress had been made with the services and possibly look to see what would suit me and my now bigger family.

 

I wrote to the Priority complaints team again to ask about any changes and highlighted the bad experiences I had previously as a customer. I wanted to make it clear that I do understand things do not always go to plan but give people another opportunity to in effect make things right and give a better experience.

 

A guy called James from the Executive team gave me a call on the 22nd and wanted to chat to me personally. He advised how improved the TiVo has become and that they would like to show me that they can provide me a better service than what I had experienced before. He said he wasn’t a sales man and I would have to speak with Sales but he would like me to consider re-joining.

 

I spoke with Sales who at the time could not really do much for what I wanted. I decided to cancel my sky and give it a few days before speaking with sales again to see what could be offered. As most the deals were for 1 box only and we would like 2 in our house. I left it for a couple of days while I decided what I wanted to do.

 

Easter Weekend I called again and spoken to someone on sales. The call was a bit weird as she didn’t really progress anything further but asked me a number of questions such as how long I had lived there etc. I did explain that I was a customer previously so not sure why I’m being asked these specific questions. I asked if it was for a credit check as she had not advised me they were going to do one. She then said a message had popped up on the screen advising of another team who should be able to sort a deal out for me however they will not be back in the office until Tuesday, so she said she would call back Tuesday.

 

Tuesday came and I did not receive a call back from this lady. I then called again yesterday to speak to someone about joining. After 10 minutes I got through to someone, who then transferred me to someone else without advising me who then transferred me again without advising. Eventually I got a really nice guy called Mike West. Mike looked into it and saw the issued I had before and tried to sort it all out for me. I explained about the failed call back and had hoped he could finally assist me in re-joining as a customer. I explained about the call from James who had almost welcomed me back and really sold the company and wanted to make amends for the bad experience I had suffered. Mike went away and came back advising that for some strange reason a fraud marker had been put on my account, but he didn’t get why as he could see that I was previously a customer and had lived at the properties for the duration required. Mike went off and said he would contact me back either late evening or the next day. Mike called and advised he had no further progress at this time, but wanted to let me know he had sent the emails off. I asked him to check when the marker had been added and he said it looks like when my initial account closed which didn’t make sense. He said he would continue to try and get answers and call me back tomorrow (Wednesday), I did advised I would speak with executive team again and see what’s happening.

 

Today I spoke with executive team and spoke to Ramone, I explained that I had received a call from James a few days prior and that he had said that TiVo had improved and pretty much to try you guys again, however when I’ve tried I was advised a fraud marker had been placed on my account. Ramone advised he would look into it and call me back.

 

Within the hour Ramone called me back with news that was hurtful if I’m honest. He said that the marker had been placed on due to my complaints previously. He said that in 10 months I raised 5 complaints and they didn’t feel that they could offer me the expectations I had. I explained that the complaints were to do with the same thing and the only expectation I had was working services which at the time I was not receiving. I also said that James had invited me to come back and give me a better experience. Ramone said they will speak with James as it’s a training issue, however Virgin will not provide me any services due to the complaints. I said that if he’s confident that improvements have been made then I don’t know what the issue is here. He advised that virgin lost a lot of money on me before and they are not prepared to do this again.

 

Naturally I was not happy with this, as surely I should be allowed to make complaints if something isn’t working properly. I said that I feel hard done by here and that the service has improved according to James. Ramone confirmed the service had improved but they will not provide me services. I told him I’m aware of people [causing problems] virgin by changing name and they seem to get services but here I am, I had a genuine issue and I’m being refused service. I asked if it was just me which he confirmed. I advise di would speak with my partner and he then said they will block my address.

 

I do think all this is terrible, especially after your customer charter advises customers to feedback issues and faults so you can review and improve the service. Can you please at least look into this before dismissing me, as Ramone did say its Virgins final response on the matter. I did stress I was not happy with my account being listed as fraudulent as that implies I have committed fraud and feel it is slanderous.

 

I look forward to hearing back from you. Can I also note that Mike West is a credit to you guys, he was very courteous and police and welcoming. It’s a shame the previous call handlers did not show the level of expertise and professionalism as he did. Please make sure that this is fed back to him.

 

Regards

 

 

Looks like ICO as well as CISAS and Social Media

[Consumer dude]

Just do it, you sound as if you have been reasonable.

[unclebulgaria67]

Flexeh

 

A bit long winded. They won't respond. It will go in the bin, as they have issued their last response.

 

You would be better getting to the point.

 

A member of staff at Virgin has suggested you have a fraud marker on your record, because you made five complaints to them, when you were a customer. As this is unacceptable, you will now go directly go CISAS, as Virgin have issued a final response.

 

Then send a complaint to CISAS.

[flexeh]

Unclebulgaria67 - That long winded is what Al Ahmed responded to. Was just showing what i had sent to get that reply.

 

asked about a sar and Had a response

 

 

Dear Mr Ahmed

 

Can you please provide me details of where to send a subject access request to so i can obtain all information on my account. including the alleged fraud marker that has been placed on. Can you also advise me of how much Virgin Charge for this?

 

regards

 

Steve

 

 

Dear Steve,

 

We'll process this for you as per your email, you don't need to send in a further request.

 

Please allow 40 calendar days to receive the documents in the post, however we will aim to get this information to you much sooner.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Ive send him another email with a SAR letter attached - because i dont want them taking over my SAR and sending me selective stuff.

 

Spoke to ICO as well briefly and they have advised they would be interested, even if its written "investigated fraud marker in notes"

[flexeh]

Well put it on social media as suggested. VM wanted to webchat as they said we do not believe they would do that. He read notes, and said no mention of fraud (convenient) he just said Matt:

It doesn't say anything about fraud on there. It says we acn't meet your expectations and won't risk any recurrance of your dissatisfaction. and i cannot help you any further.

 

He then went silent and didnt answer. - I then emailed CEO team again afterwards and made a point that i request the calls be saved immediately before they disappear as my notes are not being kept up to date.

[martin2006]

ALL calls are recorded at virgin, dont let them tell you any different, they use randomly selected calls for agents feedback but ALL are recorded as a matter of course.

 

They also have a dedicated "Social Media" Team so anything put on any social media network will be picked up

[flexeh]

ALL calls are recorded at virgin, dont let them tell you any different, they use randomly selected calls for agents feedback but ALL are recorded as a matter of course.

 

They also have a dedicated "Social Media" Team so anything put on any social media network will be picked up

 

Any idea how long they should keep them?

 

Also if they don't send them do I then complain to the icon that the SAR has not been completed

[martin2006]

If you were specific in your SAR request then yes, take it further if they dont comply

 

Not sure how long they keep calls for, when i worked for them it was at least a year, i had feedback from calls that old and possibly older

[flexeh]

That's fine then as my SAR was very specific. Will post it if u want but then followed it up with a email to tell them to make sure

[martin2006]

Wait n see what comes back

[flexeh]

Virgin have been nice enough to send me my SAR for free - It sounded like they send them all Free now, so make sure you Sar them every so often if thats the case lol.

 

On first look, there are some interesting things listed on here - I can see notes about a fraud marker, I can see notes from someone from the CEO office inviting me to rejoin as a customer. but the best one is theres a email from one of their engineering supervisors who came to sort the tivo out.

 

This supervisor, had emailed the CEO office explaining what he had done at my house. He also emailed a conversation i had with him, about a recent thing involving a present to my partner. This conversation he twisted and has used against me and isnt true at all (i have proof to back up). I thought accounts have to be factual, but surely someone cannot come in your house then email their company about what you have spoken about which have no relevence to the issue???

 

Havent listened to the call logs yet... Just wondered if the email sent by him would be another thing interesting to the ICO.