[Mr K]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...from-cancelli/

Virgin Media has been hit with a record £28m fine for repeatedly blocking customers from cancelling their broadband contracts.

Ofcom, the industry regulator, said the company had put customers through “unreasonable effort, hassle and difficulty” when trying to switch to a different supplier.

An investigation by the regulator found that millions of calls made by customers between January 2022 and September 2024 were likely to have been mishandled by call agents to delay or prevent customers from cancelling.

It found that the company’s tactics included “deliberate call-dropping” and putting customers repeatedly on hold for no reason.

Ofcom received almost 2,000 complaints from customers who reported experiencing difficulties when trying to cancel their contracts.

In addition to deliberate mishandling of calls, the regulator took aim at Virgin Media for its “two-tier” system of call agents.

Only agents in the second tier were able to process cancellations, meaning more than a million callers were forced to repeat their request to at least one further agent to stand any chance of having their cancellation processed.

Some frustrated customers resorted to cancelling their direct debits, which led to further difficulties such as missed payments that impacted their credit scores.

The regulator said Virgin Media effectively encouraged the use of mishandling tactics by agents by financially rewarding them through its commission scheme.

About time.