Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...les-customers/
Oh dear, VM in the dock again. Always thought it was unfair that they charged customers just because VM can't provide a service at a new property. Its VM that are breaking the contract. They are going to have to review that policy and cough up some compensation.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee is unlawful,
 

The contract is supply to property X, not X, Y and everywhere else.


A new contract will either be a new installation with the associated costs, or a renewal that comes with discounts based upon completing the contract period.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee is unlawful,
 

Well, the telecoms watchdog disagrees and thinks it unfair. Tough luck VM.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee is unlawful,
 

What will happen is that there will be large upfront fees and no discounts for renewal of contract. How is the customer winning?

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee is unlawful,
 

But not illegal/unlawful (yet).

https://amp.theguardian.com/money/20...inate-contract "May have"

---------- Post added at 08:41 ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 ----------

Title changed, as final ruling has not yet been reached.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Symantecs they won't change the decision just have to dot the I's and cross the T's

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Do you work for VM Hugh? :D

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

So take an 18month contract, after discount period is over pretend to move to a non serviceable address...

I think its fair to stop the new customer discount being abused

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

How is it unfair? You sign up to a contract, you would be then breaking said contract. It's not Virgins fault that the person is moving.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Perhaps ofcom should also look at virgin`s policy of putting you on a fresh 12 month contract when you also change your tv/broadband packages etc sky don't do this

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

No - facts are our friends.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

It's totally fair, also not VMs fault if you do actually move home.

Another UK home phone and broadband provider requires you to email evidence that you are moving home and proovethat it's a non serviceable or poorer service. So they then don't charge an early termination fee.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Surely, discounts only work on the basis of the guaranteed length of a contract? Of course VM should charge a termination fee if the customer breaks the agreement.

Do people these days not appreciate the nature of a contract, which places obligations on both sides? If you buy a car on the never-never on a 4 year repayment plan and you crash it in the first year, does anyone really think they would be let off the repayment because the crash wasn't their fault?

Good grief! :p:

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

The issue isn't anything to do with paying to end a contract early, the issue is that people are being forced to pay too much. Of course Virgin eats installation costs, etc. when a user signs up, that's why minimum contract terms exist, but if you end a contract 10 months early, that's 10 months of service Virgin doesn't have to provide you. Charging people for it is wrong.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

But the point is if you agree to the terms and it's an 18 month contract and decide to leave 6 month into it then yes you will pay the remaining 12 months.

Mobile contracts are the same, you took a 24 month contract and know you have to stay for it but why then 9 months in do you call to try and make up an excuse to cancel it free of charge. I hear things like that all the time at my work.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

By whose standard? Nobody made anyone else arbitrator / arbiter of all this.

In fact, it is not even a court that has ruled this, just a regulator with binding power.

Hopefully if this is the way that the decision goes, VM will take this to court.

No minimum terms exist so that you commit to the length and duration of the contract.

The only reason that Virgin doesn't have to provide the service, is because the customer cancelled the contract!

They agreed to the fees when they took out the contract though. (Early termination fees etc). They shouldn't have taken the contract if they couldn't honor it, should they?

---------- Post added at 21:54 ---------- Previous post was at 20:53 ----------

Could be even worse - as it is VM charge for installation and keep equipment, right?

In the end, they could make you pay 6 to 12 months up front (just to be on the safe side) and then guarantee service for that time period. Even BT allow for upfront plans to pay line rental - VM will start doing the same.

---------- Post added at 21:59 ---------- Previous post was at 21:54 ----------

Not quite - they said the fees were excessive. A simple way for VM to get round this, is only charge the entire amount of duration for the remainder of the contract, which you agree to in the T&C. They may need to make them clearer though, like Telefonica does. (You are being this amount of credit etc etc - though it does work slightly different for phones, as you get to keep them).

The 240 sounds like a summary / default sum and that seems to be what Ofcom says is going too far but even at that they say that the terms are unclear. If VM spells it out a lot better than things will be difficult to dispute.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

The 240 figure is a cap.
The actual number is based on the number of months left and which services you have. It is well documented.
http://www.virginmedia.com/shop/the-...tion-fees.html

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

People move house, it happens. If they move house just to get out of a VM contract I would call that a bit extreme. As far as I'm concerned the contract is with the customer, as long as they are staying in the UK, and VM can't provide a service at a new location, then its VM that are breaking the contract. The telecoms watchdog obviously agrees and looks like VM will have to change their ways. I've been a customer for 22 years, I'd be a bit miffed if VM charged me an early disconnection fee, which they could do with the current set up !

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

That’s an "interesting" viewpoint.

The contract states they are providing a service to the customer at that specific location, and also states if the customer terminates the contract early (for whatever reason) there will be a penalty charge (depending on the time left on the contract). There is an upfront cost to the supplier for the equipment and installation, which is amortised over the contract period - if this ruling is upheld, I would expect the up-front costs to increase.

If you rent accommodation on a fixed term lease and decide to leave early, you have to pay the remaining rent - what’s the difference?

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

That's an "interesting" post Hugh ;)

There obviously is a problem or VM wouldn't be in trouble with the watchdog.

Its not VMs interest anyway, if customers feel unfairly treated they could lose their custom for life (not temporarily) and that of anyone they tell. This issue has been raised a few times now in consumer columns/programmes, all bad publicity.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-an...ovide-service/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/53615...h-no-coverage/
https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...ncellation-fee

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

So why don’t the customers do what VM suggested in the article? Because OFCOM made it clear it wasn’t about people moving home, it was about switching providers. People want the best of both worlds without paying for it.

btw, OFCOM haven’t said the Early Termination Charges are unfair, just that they are too high.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom...cases/cw_01198

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Well....by OFCOM's standard, apparently.


And? That doesn't detract from the fact that Virgin no longer has to supply anything to the property - the customer no longer "costs" them anything, so why should the customer pay the full amount for the service?

The point is if you're going to have to pay the full amount, why bother to cancel the contract at all? In both cases, the supplier can supply service to another person in your place, the accommodation can be rented out. I am not saying contracts should be worthless, I am simply saying there has to be a limit on penalty exit fees. If that means higher sign-up fees then so be it.

Not everyone knows their circumstances 18 months from now.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

As said earlier, there is a limit on the penalty of £240.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

You create a contract with the supplier for services to that address for a minimum term. Likelihood is that the company will only start making money off you after so many months. There for if you break that for any reason you are liable for the remaining term. This is the same for Sky or BT or añy mobile contract.

I've heard people calling to try and get out of paying after trying to break a contract early. IE no or poor signal, broke their phone, not being allowed fixed services in rented accommodation. Fire that means they won't be staying at the property for months.

Yes there are sometime really valid reasons but it's something that may be considered whether the early termination charges will be charged or not.

At least VM set limits. Mobile ETFs can be very expensive, as there is no limit and the cost of a handset will need to be recovered.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Because the customer agreed to do so, in the first place...(for the duration of the contract).

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

All 18 Month contracts should be banned across all devices and platforms a 12 month rule should be the norm.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

They don't put you on a fresh 12 month contract when you change packages.i went from Vivid200 to Vivid350 and i never had to re-contract with VM.The only thing that changed was the increase in £ each mnth with the tier upgrade.



.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

That should have been free

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

I would like to jump in this conversation.

When my wife and l joined cable TV many years ago. I accepted what the sales advisor told me and my wife.
The Cable Corperation came down out street. We fell for the sucker punch. We were told that we would get 500 channels plus radio channels. Got it installed. And found out that we would NOT get that amount of channels and the sales advisor should not have said that. Cable Corps was gone within 24 hours. They told me that we were in breach of contract - l stated that l would go to court. They stopped from there.

We then went onto Telewest. We were told nearer enough the same about channels etc. They then started to take off channels that we watched. We got told that they can do that. I cancelled the contract. As they failed to supply me those channels that we watched.

Niow with VM. We have the same problem. Despite the sales staff, and there silly town centre sales staff. I have spoken with them several times about what is coming up. They have told me that we will get new channels this year. Where ? I read on this forum that new channels will ONLY appear when deals are up.

We now only have the basic channels, because of the cheap phone system on VM. Because we were told they were cheaper.

The contract l get told about - l keep the company to it. If they don't live up to that contract, l will cancel it. And we are legal entitled to do it.

I have don't this several time before, and l will do it again.

If a VM sales rep tells me that l will get (for example - 700 channels, top BB and FREE phone. FREE BT sport) and l don't get it - that is a breach of contract as it has been verbally given.

Even if you sign a contract, l would suggest that people read there contracts. As in the contract, as we get it in all the literature we get through the door. Such as VM supply top quality channels and BT Sport. And you don't get it. That is a breach of contract.

So just read the contract properly. Even an installation connection. This is just a way of making money. As the live cables are still there, whether its Sky, VM or any other supplier.

Re: Virgin Media's £240 early exit fee may be unlawful,
 

Why? That seems like one of those rather "plucked out of _____" (insert your own word here), kind of comment.

So let's say "thin air" are the words. Why does thin air = 12 months, only?

Why is that the standard bearer?

---------- Post added at 01:50 ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 ----------

Are you sure that it wasn't?

---------- Post added at 01:51 ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 ----------

If you get an introductory offer, Sky absolutely do. Minimum 12 to 18 (to take advantage of the offer, for the period of the contract you signed up for).

---------- Post added at 02:00 ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 ----------

Even if it is just a promise on the phone, calls are recorded so I would say that is a way to hold an advisor / sales Rep to the deal.

Though my advice would be to notify them of your intent, ask for the playback / copy of the call first, and see what they offer you. Usually they can work something out for you - but as the lender they have an easy option to mark a default (even if in dispute) on your credit file if you don't pay for the following months, so be careful. Not to mention, at the moment Telecoms don't mark the equipment down as credit but soon they may start saying that not only are you in breach of contract but there are goods of theirs that you now possess illegally.

This is not necessarily the case. The house we just moved into had a BT line so we can use Sky just fine but the wires are so antiquated and out of date that an engineer had to come round (Open reach) and install a new master socket and redo the line from the exchange. As we had moved in first and reported the fault it was at no cost to us. The installation / move / fix (whatever you want to call it), did cost someone though. (In time, labor / parts etc).

---------- Post added at 02:07 ---------- Previous post was at 02:00 ----------

Okay I am not coming at it from a know-it-all perspective of being sure of everything for the next 18 months but why should I have to pay more to sign up because of the potential risk of other customers who have a greater liability not to stay the course? I mean if I stick it out for 18 months, am I not just paying more for the install for no reason then?

If you sign up to a contract and break it then you are responsible for the early termination fees, not everyone. Collective responsibility is not for situations like this and there is no good reason for new potential customers to have to pay more for no reason - though they will likely factor that in when they make their decision anyway.