telewest /virgin lba sent

[coldcarpet]

lba sent today to telewest/ntl/virgin for refund of non direct debit fees + few late charges, did have a poor english speaking guy call this week trying to advisie fees part of terms+ conditions advised chappie to sent as been with telewest before fees added and i was given a choice how i wanted to pay (i used to go into telewest offices in sheffeild and pay over the counter when we 1st got cable ) he offered 30 pound reduction thanked him and said i continue with court action

[buzby]

How was the £30 worked out - covering the fees charged, or ongoing to repay the fees as they occurred....?

[coldcarpet]

no he wanted me to accept 30.00 only then still keeping charging the 5.00 on a monthly basis

[buzby]

Ah - I was credited the fees and asked to call back quarterly to request a refund of £12 (now £15) to cover the 'overpayment'. At my last call, I was told that it might be unlikely that my next request for a credit would be met. I asked for my account to have the note added if that was the case, it would be highly likely I would resort to the courts for the money to be refunded on a quarterly basis.

[MARTIN3030]

I too had another 10.00 late payment charge......I called customer services and the woman said I will refund this as a one off but all future charges will stand.

I said its ok ...I will just take them to court again.....The woman was in hysterics laughing and said she had never heard of this...

[buzby]

Tell her to get out a bit more..... that's all they'll be doing in the next few months. Actually, I see Trading Standards (whoever that really is) today have said publicly BTs imposition of non DDM charges is apalling. Why they don't DO something still surprises me.

[meagain]

Can we pursue TS for negligence if they haven't acted?

[MARTIN3030]

I think we will see more involvement from them,but these things take time for implimenting.

The publicity recently may force them to do this sooner rather than later.They do act where there is a complaint....but as far as the recovery of the charges go,then its something that you can easily do yourself.

Lets not forget tho......there are 100s of others just as guilty and I suspect are looking at their terms and conditions closely.

More blatent is those who have always operated these charges yet now decide to INCREASE them.......the mind boggles.

[buzby]

Yup - and Sky is long overdue to ramp up the charge as the £4 has been in place for ages, they're in danger of being left behind!

[Milo19]

does the stuff you get from TW/VM show the non DD charges as well as the late payments?

[Bookworm]

If by "stuff", you mean "bill", yes, they do.

 

Today noticed another cute novelty from VM: T/West used to send you a reminder telling you they would charge you if you didn't pay within x days, they'd charge you £10. VM sends you a letter saying they have already added it, making the letter rather redundant.

 

I am gettign more and more disgusted with VM by the day... but since I don't want a BT line, and like my BB unlimited, what are my options?

[buzby]

Not here in ex NTL over the border. The VM letter I get (issued 21 says after the bill, but in reality. for all dates on invoices or reminders, they do not arrive for SEVEN days after the date of creation), states;

 

If you've paid your bill in the last few days, please ignore this letter.

It is important you pay the outstanding balance ASAP or you will be charged a £10 late payment fee, AND IT COULD AFFECT YOUR CREDIT RATING (My emphasis).

 

Also, the company you pay is called 'Virgin Media Payments' interesting, that they've hived off even the organisation you pay into another company!

[ASIIndustries]

Not here in ex NTL over the border. The VM letter I get (issued 21 says after the bill, but in reality. for all dates on invoices or reminders, they do not arrive for SEVEN days after the date of creation), states;

 

Hi buzby, because all invoices are done in one go per area number, before a single invoice is posted, actually the whole area number are posted in one batch!

 

Are you still paying 3 months via S/O? If yes can you confirm if you are like me paying 7 weeks in advance rather than the standard 4 weeks?

 

My date of service is 16th - 15th, but invoice date varies between 21st - 27th and my credits disappear on the invoice date and not the date of service, so i am effectively paying at least 7 weeks in advance.

 

I normally pay a year in advance (£300), but for now just 3 - 4 months in advance since i became aware this [problem], please check your balance before your date of service!

 

As for non-DD fees i have had all returned since November 04 and today i got 1 years worth of non-DD of refunds, until February 08 although i have only paid until May!

 

Virgin Media (Telewest Scotland)

0800 0730399

 

Always ask for a superviser if its about Non-DD refunds or late fees, as level 1 bods will usually add a note to your file not to pay any more again.

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ASI Industries = As i in does tries!

[Bookworm]

Damn, I wish I had seen this last bit 1/2 hour ago. Just got exactly that answer from both level 1 and her manager! And yes, in Scotland.

 

They have pushed once too many, new thread coming up shortly. Enough is enough.

[buzby]

I had to stop paying in advance as the arrival of V+ meant I had to wait for the bills to settle down again, unfortunately since its provision they messed it up big time (charging £15 for V+ and £15 for the retained box) it should have been £15 for both!

 

Goodness knows, the last invoice from them was £149.99 when it should have been £66 - so no wonder I don;t give them a DD!

 

The posting dates for invoices is an interesting one, as the billing date and the posting date - being 6 days later, mean that the 28 days they supposedly allow you to pay your bill is only from when they print the bill, NOT when you receive it. Normally this wouldn't matter if a day or so, but when it is held up for a week, it makes a considerable difference.

 

Even DD customers are required to be given 10 days CLEAR notice of any debit. can anyone actually confirm they get this?

 

Every time I receive a Virgin bill my heart sinks - it means another hour or so decoding it and fighting for the correct amounts to be applied.

[ASIIndustries]

Hi Bookworm, remember there is at least two shifts per day sometimes 4 at VMs call centres.

Level 1 = bods with no authority, but can add notes to your file.

Level 2 = superviser with some authority, authorise deals, change or agree with bods.

Level 3 = manager with most authority, almost all issues will be sorted.

Level 4 = senior manager with full authority of the whole call centre.

 

When you ask level 1 for the manager, you get level 2 and so on, and it is also good to have a free phone number!

 

Busby, i see what you mean, just for interest do you have more than 2 services and have you made any changes like remove a service?

 

Also the level codes above are for all departments (retension) deals!

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ASI Industries = As i in does tries!

[buzby]

I have Phone, TV, BB and the addition of V+ caused the problem.

[ASIIndustries]

Yep thats the old TW issue add or remove a complete service to an existing contract and they never seam to do anything else but bork the whole thing up!

 

I had similar had 2 phones lines & tv on DD, 1 phone line was canceled except they canceled the DD for all phone lines back in 99, they arranged to setup another DD, also a friend offer to pay via card, all failed due to they were different names from mine eventually after 9 month later i canceled TW completely!

 

Sometimes it would be better for VM(TW) to cancel your existing contract and give you a new one with all the bits on it.

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ASI Industries = As i in does tries!