me v virgin

[buzby]

Basically, yes - however you have to give them the opportunity to explain the charge is justified before you can move on to the reclamation phase. Point out the total costs you've incurred and ask them to confirm their costings for process your non-DD payments. When they don't, you then send them your LBA and start the ball rolling.

[buzby]

Great. Keep us posted!

[buzby]

You did get a receipt of posting for your LBA? And you did send it to the Matrix address in Wales? If so, you are good to go - but if not, you really need some proof that your final demand letter was ignored.

[buzby]

As I use the Scottish procedure, I can't help with Mcol as we don't use it. However, you just state the nature of your complaint, just the brief facts, what you are claiming for, and leave the rest to the court. VM will most likely settle on receipt of the court documentation.

[buzby]

Karen - Don't Panic! The charge was well promoted, but that's not the point, it was applied to your account without your express agreement. You didn;t ask for it, it was imposed. Ireland has already prohibited firms from charging different amounts depending on payment method, if it's good enough for them - then clearly it is good enough for us.

 

You have the right to control who has access to your bank account, Virgin Media has no track record to speak of - say you'll reconsider in 12 months, but only if their billing system has not created incorrect bills during the period.

[buzby]

There is always a cost, their description of 'free' however needs to be qualified slightly - they receive the full value remitted by the customer (or in reality, taken by them). This also hold true for money paid over the counter (if they had one) or remitting by cheque. All other card payments are paid with a percentage taken off for processing by the finance house, so VM do not receive full value of the payment. HOWEVER there is a good argument that since these costs are those incurred by VM it is they who should pay the fees as a consequence of doing business.

[buzby]

Unfortunately paying by card is just as bad than providing a DD - with the latter you at least get a laughable 'guarantee' that can sometimes be used to enforce a repayment. With cards, they can pretty well manage to empty your account and you have to sort out the mess with them, not your bank! There is also the additional problem that they will have retained this card number, and if you are late or don't pay they'll debit the card again without giving notice.

 

You may have to go the MCOL route (as I did with SKY) but if your reason for NOT giving them DD access to your account is because of their inaccurate billing, it is very hard for them to justify their penalty charges for non DD!

[buzby]

The full story is here;

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-consumer-issues/29691-sky-subscriber-services.html?highlight=sky+subscriber+services

 

There appears to be only one department capable of resolving these issues at VM, and they are not 'customer facing'. It is only when you get close to taking them to court, or have raised a formal action do you get on to these folk, who have the power to right all these wrongs fairly quickly!