Oh yes, VM are very good at agreeing to something and not doing it.
When it doesn't happen, you are made out to be a liar as "there's no notes on the account to verify what you are saying".
So a member of staff agrees to do something, doesn't do it or make any notes and then you are effectively called a liar.
I had this the other day about a refer a friend incentive from
five years ago.
The Indian call centre told me that it had finally been sorted out, yet when I rang to see where the credit was, well....you can guess the rest.
This is the second time that i've referred a friend and the second time that i've had a problem taking years to resolve. I won't be doing it again and urge others not to bother.
They seem to take on the new customer and then not want to pay the incentive.
This goes directly against the WEEE directive:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/waste-electrical.htm
There are plenty of places that will recycle old electrical equipment if you wish to do so.
IIRC this 'activation fee' nonsense started when mobile phone companies started doing it.
Sky then cottoned on, followed by Virgin Media.
It's simply a way to extract money for nothing from customers.