Telewest (Now Virgin Media)

[skyeley69]

sEND THEM A SAR TO :

 

 

ntl/telewest

Customer concern

Po box 333

Ntl

Matrix court

Swansea

Sa7 9bb

 

YOU SHOULD GET A REPLY WITHIN 10 DAYS AND ALSO SOMEONE WILL PHONE YOU UP AND TRY AND HAGGLE BUT TELL EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK AND KEEP THEM ON THE LINE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. !!!

 

Is there a number i can ring them on? or should i just wait?

[skyeley69]

I have just rung them up to be told that no letter has been recieved and also advised that they will charge me £2 per bill. I advised that the maximum statutory fee was £10 and the woman was adamant that they could charge me £2 per bill.

 

Anyway... she gave me this address to write to..

 

Virgin Media

Matrix Court

Llansamlet

Swansea

SA7 9BB

[buzby]

It's true - the fee is £2 per bill, but that's not what you're requesting. Your SAR has a maximum fee of £10 and within it you receive all your accounting information - there are not bills, but are just as useful as.

[complete]

Be Aware: As of the 1st May 2007 Virgin Media will no longer be billing your telehone calls on a per second basis, but rounding charges up to the next minute.

 

See: http://www.virginmedia.com/changes

[B1nary]

Be Aware: As of the 1st May 2007 Virgin Media will no longer be billing your telehone calls on a per second basis, but rounding charges up to the next minute.

 

See: Changes

 

...is this not going back to the 'old school' of billing! get charged a whole minute for a call that lasted 5 seconds dont see the point, glad I'm not with VM..

perhaps their new mobile phones will come with 20 metres of extra twine for long distance calls .

 

SCI FI Tech | SCIFI.COM

[buzby]

They're just following BT, who've done the same. Incredible they can get away with it... especially as they have the ability to charge by the microsecond, yet the round up to the minute like the only cellular calls did in the old days!

[complete]

They're just following BT, who've done the same. Incredible they can get away with it... especially as they have the ability to charge by the microsecond, yet the round up to the minute like the only cellular calls did in the old days!

 

On the letter i received it gives an example of a call lasting 5mins 50 seconds, will be charged as a 6 minute call.

 

This spin does sound better than a 5 minute 5 second call will be rounded up to 6 minutes.

[buzby]

Or a 2 second wrong number hang-up being charged a full minute! Since the networks imposed a 'connection charge' for initiating a call in the first place (because of per-second billing), why am I not surprised that the connection charge AND minute rounding are remaining it place? Talk about a rip-off.

[skyeley69]

apparently the Oftel told BT that it was unlawful for them to go back to thier old ways of rounding up.... gonna look into this one!

[skyeley69]

Quick update, just called to chase up the SAR, and she said that they only hold information for 2 years, as this is all they are legally required to do. She also advised me to send SAR to

NTL Matrix Court,

PO Box 333

Swansea

SA9 3SE

 

 

Any Thoughts?

[buzby]

She's wrong. The '2 years' is they time VM have to hold onto your IP address logs and emails for inspection by the security services. Your SAR is all-embracing and requires them to disclosed ALL data held by them. There is no cut-off point. If the data is there, you must receive it. Sky gave mine going back 7 years - when I first joined.

[skyeley69]

great thanks!

[skyeley69]

Right, just got this throught the post this morning....

 

Click small pic to make it big enough to read...

 

 

So i thought i would reply with this...

 

 

 

Dear Mr Dugdale,

 

Thankyou for responding to my Subject Access Request dated 20th Febuary. I have found the print out you supplied very useful, however, not complete as I have had an account with Telewest ( Virgin Media) longer than since December 2006.

As I am sure you can see from your records there was a change of address in November 2006 and then again in December 2006 but as far as I am aware, the same account number was kept in both these instances.

Please fully comply with my Subject Access Request and send to me a "screen print" backdating fully to the date I commenced recieveing a service from Telewest. I estimate this date to be around 2001/2002. I am sure that your records will be more accurate than my memory.

You mentioned in your letter my request for copies of all bills, and I am fully aware that these come with a charge of £10 each, however, I am requesting ALL information held by your company under the Data Protection Act Subject Access Request, incluing but not limited to all bills or statements.

I have noted all previous addresses underneath as to make it simpler to locate all statements/bills, but please note, all items will be under the name ( my name ).

 

 

(previous adresses)

 

I look forward to your response.

 

(my name)

 

Any thoughts?

[skyeley69]

I assume then, that no replies means this letter is okay and guess i will send it later on today

[emmaf01]

As me and my husband have had MANY late payment charges ( almost one per month!), I am watching your thread avidly.

 

As the account is in my husband's name, and as Telewest/Virgin's service is deteriorating daily, I will be SAR-ing them in his name soon.

[Bookworm]

I assume then, that no replies means this letter is okay and guess i will send it later on today

 

Seems fine.

 

How far are you into the 40 days? I would remind them they have x days left to comply / x days over the allowed perio of time, and step up the pressure a bit. Have a read in the Library of the DPA non compliance letters, and use accordingly.

[skyeley69]

this was a result of a non-compliance letter as i stated i sent the the original SAR on the 20th feb, non-compliance on 25th may, so they are well over thier 40 days.

[skyeley69]

oops double post

[Fletch]

I have had long drawn out correspondence with Virgin Media since Sept 2006 when the then NTL cocked up its Broadband and TV services. After complaining I was offered a special deal of £25.25 for TV, Internet and Telephone package. Great you may think but in spite of receiving this offer in writing it was never implemented and they haven't managed to get a bill right since. I have now cancelled the contract. However they still reckon I owe them money!

 

The following is a draft f a letter I am about to send. Any suggestions as to how it can be tweaked will be gratefully received.

 

Chief Executive Office

Concord Business Park

Threapwood Road

Wythenshawe

Manchester

M22 OBA

 

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

Concerning my account XXXXXXX Disconnection Date 18th June 2007.

 

 

Having informed you of my intense dissatisfaction with the conduct of the above account I received a letter from yourself dated 7 June stating that “We’ve set up a priority phone line as we would really like to speak to you about your letter” in order to “resolve them (issues) as quickly as possible.”

As a consequence on 8 June I telephoned the number given, quoted your reference 441283441283, and spoke to Caroline who was very pleasant but had nothing to offer by way of resolution beyond platitudes.

 

I have since received unwanted phone calls from your Accounts Dept requiring payment of £246.71. I obviously dispute this figure and have asked that you provide a written and intelligible explanation of how this sum has been arrived at.

 

On 13th February 2007 I received written confirmation of a previous oral agreement to establish the monthly charge for my Television, Telephone and Broadband package at £25.25. I would like you to please explain to me why this variation in our contract was never honoured? On 29th May 2007 I received a phone call from Anthony in your Teeside Customer relations who implied that the £25.25 package had been too generous and offered me a new deal of £30 (not backdated).

 

I have now written in excess of a dozen letters to your Customer Services Dept and spent hours on the phone being shuttled between various Departments. I first wrote to you giving notice of my intention to cancel the agreement on 15 January 2007. I therefore do not consider myself liable to any costs arising after the expiry of the 30 day notice period, ie after 7th February 2007.

 

 

On 28 April 2007 I wrote to you in the following terms:

 

 

“I am very dissatisfied with the service provided by Virgin Media and am now looking to change my cable, internet and telephone service provider. However, before doing this I would like to give you the opportunity of explaining to me exactly why the issues complained of have arisen and how you might intend to improve the service given.

 

In addition I would be grateful if you could provide me details of the following:

1. Virgin Media’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy.

2. Virgin’s procedure on securing a Data Subject Access Request. I require Virgin to provide me with a copy of all data you have on file about me, from copies of any agreements to my dealings with customer services- to include copies of the last three bills issued to me. This request is also to include a 'screen grab' of my account data taken from your computer files.

3. Can you please confirm that you are a member of ISPA and CISAS ?

 

I received no satisfactory response beyond the automatically generated “We’re on the case blah blah……we will be in touch shortly.” None of the information requested was provided.

 

Under Contract Law where a price has been agreed as part of the contract, the consumer is not obliged to pay any more. The Consumer is entitled to compensation for any foreseeable losses suffered as a result of a breach of contract.Where a deadline for the carrying out of the services has been agreed and has not been met or the service is not of a unsatisfactory quality or doesn't match the seller's description, the consumer is entitled under the Sale of Goods Act to reject and to recover any money paid.

 

In respect of my complaints I suggest the following extracts from your terms and conditions of service are germane:

 

F 1: “Virgin Media Payments agrees to collect and process all payments made by you to it promptly and ensure that they are applied in settlement of the charges to which they relate.”

 

F4 d: “If any cheque or Direct Debit of yours is cancelled or is not cleared by your bank or building society, we are entitled to charge you a default fee and the provisions of paragraphs F3 and F4© will also apply.”

 

J4 “If we and/or Virgin Media Payments break the terms and conditions of this agreement, you're free to end this agreement. But we'd love the chance to put things right first. So we'd ask you to give us reasonable time to do that before you end this agreement.”

 

R2: “We are fully committed to addressing all complaints, fully and fairly, and in a reasonable time frame. If you'd like to find out how we do this, please see our Code of Practice which is available on our website or ask our team.”

 

Virgin Media has twice presented incorrect Direct Debits in respect of this account which have led to my incurring banking charges. If you are entitled to levy charges in respect of any uncleared or cancelled Direct Debits then I suggest that I am entitled to do the same. I have now secured the termination of the service agreement after providing you with a reasonable time to address the issues of concern. You have not adhered to your own Codes of Practice and have failed to furnish me with details of your Dispute Resolution Policy.

 

Concerning “Late payment fees” and “Non-Direct Debit handling charge” both of which were levied during my period as a customer with NTL and subsequently Virgin Media. I now understand that these charges may be regarded as a penalty charge and unlawful. There is no provision anywhere in the terms of the contract between us for the levy of a “late payment fee”. Furthermore, were there such a provision, it would not be binding upon me as a consumer, under Regulation 8(1), Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI No. 2083):

 

(1) An unfair term in a contract concluded with a consumer by a seller or supplier shall not be binding on the consumer.

 

Because of the irretrievable breakdown in the contract between us I am of a mind to seek damages for such losses as may fairly and reasonably be considered as having arisen from the breach:- These would include but not be limited to loss of bargain or wasted expenditure, time spent engaged in fruitless written and telephone correspondence, costs incurred, and restitution for loss of service, having to seek alternative supplier etc. The issue of late payment fees and Non-direct debit handling charges would also be raised. In any case I am sure that the damages, when properly calculated, would not amount to less than the £246.71 presently being sought by Virgin Media. I would therefore ask you to reconsider your position regarding this charge.

 

I enclose a £10 cheque in respect of handling charge for a Data Subject Access Request. I require Virgin Media to provide me with a copy of everything you have on file about me, from copies of any agreements to my dealings with customer relations(time /date/details). I would like you to advise me of other companies within the Virgin Group with whom you have shared my subject data. This request is also to include a 'screen grab' of my account data taken from your computer files and an itemised account of all extraneous charges applied to my account since it was opened (ie Late payments and non-direct debit handling). You have 40 days to comply.

 

If you intend to pursue your claim for any outstanding balance please provide me with an explanation of how you see yourselves as having conformed to our earlier agreement.

 

Yours sincerely,

[buzby]

Having deal with them (in Manchester) on at least 3 different occasions, you might despair that your well-crafted letter may not receive the attention it deserves. I have found you will not receive a written response, but a telephone call, asking what you require to resolve the issue. Yes, you may have stated this in your letter, yes you will have asked for your SAR, but it appears an attention span is not something the graduates at the Manchester centre are blessed with, so if you hadn't written such a comprehensive letter, I Would have advised you simply bullet point your demands and concerns and await the phone call.

 

I've no doubt the issue will been resolved, but without paying them £10 in a SAR fee.

[Bailiffchaser]

If you know what you are doing it is easy peasy

[buzby]

And if THEY knew what they were doing.....

[karen654321]

just wondered if there was any update?

 

karen