Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

More of the story over at the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22283453

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I have to agree that this is a awful incident that should never of happened. I hope VM find out why this happened and makes sure it can NEVER happen again.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

l agree 100% as there is no excuse for this.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

A year or two ago someone was on Watchdog with the same problem along with a few others expressing it had happened to them too. So if they have not stopped it happening in all that time, I don't expect they will any time soon.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Ok if you say so, what do you expect us to do, may be get down on one knee so you can get your pound of forum induced pitch forking :) .

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Just providing the facts ;)

I would have to be careful not to damage you too badly with the pitchfork...your next of kin could possibly get one of these letters too :angel:

To some extent all companies will have some issues with recent deaths, its just how they deal with this once advised by their family.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Qtx just wanted to use it as a way to bash Virgin.


Using a distressing situation to try to score some points against an organisation he seems to hate? Doesn't seem right to me.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

End of the day it happened and i hope it never happens again. It has been pointed out that we are not the only company that has made this mistake and i am sure we will not be the last.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

These things happen l am afraid as nothing is perfect in life.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

When I was sorting out my fathers affairs, HMRC did something similar. I didn't feel the need to post it on FB - just gave them a call and it was sorted there and then, along with what I considered was a sincere apology. Most large organisations have special teams to deal with bereavements, and from my own experience most get it right (including VM by the way). I'm sure if I could be bothered to dig around I could find examples of the beloved Sky cocking up the odd account or two.

Cheers

Grim

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

It's not the first time and won't be the last.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Nice of you to repeat what everyone else has already said.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Thing is though not every company makes this particular mistake, how come others can handle this sensitively and properly and others can't, hoping it doesn't happen again isn't good enough imo.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Indeed that is your opinion and has been said above plus i have not said it will NOT happen again i said i would hope it never happens again. I personaly have no control over it and can only say what is my opinion.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

:confused: I never said you did say it will NOT happen again, just that hoping it won't isn't good enough, if the procedures in place are looked at in light of this then the company will deserve the kicking it gets when it happens again and I never said you did have any control over it either for the record

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I have had this sort of situation with both my parents. One was a phone company the second was a utility company. Both had been contacted by telephone and in writing with a copy of the death certificate. The telephone compay had even set up a new account for my mother. In the end only a letter from the probate solicitor solved the issue. The phone company sent a letter of apology , hand written from the CEO. The utility company did not even apologize. Hope Vm repeat the former in this case. Suffice to say neither my mother or me used that utility company again once competition provided the opportunity.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I had this when mother died in 2005.

Barclaycard just wrote off her outstanding debt of over 2k, upon reciept of her death certificate.

NTL as they were known back then, still sent her final bill of (if memory serves) £60ish to collections, despite me sending them a copy of her death cert. twice. It took a letter from my lawyers to get them to back down.

I don't blame any particular persons, but it just shows that they have never changed their systems, since errors like this have been happening for so long.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

This seems to be a problem bought about by the highly automated system that most companies use these days .It seems to me that customer service reps have very little control over what can be done and what can't ,only high level management have any degree of control ,and these systems are in place because ,we the customer demand low prices which means automation is required hence automated letters like these are sent out by mistake .If we want a personal service we will have to pay for it

It should be pointed out that VM have cancelled the bill and any charges and also donated a sum of money to the hospital that cared for the customer in his dying days

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I once got a big red FINAL REMINDER for -£14, so it's not like anyone is checking what their systems are doing.

Also VM's explanation that a DD refusal reason shouldn't appear on a bill seems to be beyond the point. I'd actually prefer to see the reason my DD didn't go through, because god knows getting India to tell me would be like pulling teeth. It just smacks of a face saving exercise rather than an apology.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Some years ago, whilst my late uncles affairs were being sorted out, all utilities were promptly dealt with...

Apart from NTL who wanted to see the death certificate before agreeing to close the account. None of the other places required this.

To get round automated systems and to prevent letters going to a deceased person, causing possible distress, I always make sure that an alternative address is input...of my own office. That way, if any erroneous letters do go out, it is my office that receives them!

Things do go wrong in all organisations, but to not deal with errors involving issues such as a bereavement immediately is totally unacceptable.

Also, I agree with the comments about social media. The internet has given dissatisfied customers unprecedented oportunity to air their grievences in public. Companies ignore this at their peril.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

In the field where I work, we have a procedure where someone dies, you suppress the letters when you make alterations to the account, so that nothing goes out. However, it is a manual process, and occasionally one gets out. Does that mean that the procedure is wrong, or that the company should be publicly lambasted? No.

When my uncle died 18 months ago, I phoned VM to cancel his account. The stupid rep asked me what his password was. When I said I didn't know because he was dead, he said "Well he might have told you before he died!"

However, other than that, everything else went OK. I cannot say the same for any of the banks, or one of the insurance companies that I had dealings with, who all displayed ineptness beyond capability...

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Well it's not only VM that make mistakes or have policies that cause grief

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sc...rtless-1050655

I think that most companies have made a mistake or two along the way

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Had to dig deep to find that 3 year old article :rolleyes:

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

As you said earlier, she's just providing facts. Or are facts only ok when they fit your agenda? :rolleyes:

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I thought the conversation had gone towards people posting that VM has been doing this for years yet it is still happening, so I don't see how a single article from another supplier proves anything or detracts from VM's failures.

What was the BBC's agenda for running this story? :rolleyes:

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Most big companies have done this at one time or another, sometimes repeatedly. Stories like this kept Esther Ranzen busy on Sunday nights for more than a decade. It's bad process management, but it happens, and it happens at companies you like as well as ones you don't. Get over it.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Was though the BBC's original story about the bill or about the story going viral?, just read the headline (same as the subject heading on this thread)

Yes my story was 3 years old (found by a simple 10 second search) and I'm sure that if it happened today there would be a high possibility of it going viral as well..

So what is the actual story? In my eyes it's about social media dictating what is newsworthy whether it be newsworthy or not..

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

You will find that this will be raised relentlessly on this forum by those who have an axe to grind with VM and take pleasure in using the story of a deceased person and there bill in a way that furthers that axe grinding ;)

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I don't really care about this sky/vm argument, VM gives me a good service which I'm sure that Sky would give me if they could give me the same speed in this area (no FTTC/P) so they're onto a lost cause trying to use me with that argument.

This story does though show the way that the news is starting to react more and more to social media..

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

As will those that will defend vm blindly, even when they hassle the bereaved. As will those who will try and turn a story about virgin in to an attack on sky.

Hypocrisy is such a nice word ;) Assumptions and bias are also nice words.

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

Sky was the first one that popped up, it could have been BT/plusnet/Talktalk..etc

Not my fault that you seem to be paranoid about people attacking Sky as much as you seem to attack VM..

Re: Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook
 

I don't care if people attack sky. You could have pulled up a plusnet or whoever link and I would have said the same. You know what they say about assuming. ..

---------- Post added at 22:59 ---------- Previous post was at 21:22 ----------

It was news about Virgin Media, deceased customer and social networks. Being that this is the news section of the site and this article is news, from the BBC news website and published in the last week or so, it was posted here.

So what has a 3 year old article about another provider have to do with this? :erm: