£28 Million fine for VM

[Jaymoss]

Not sure where to put this as it is breaking news as well as VM but they are finally held to account . Loads of us I am sure have suffered this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/..._eStxpLFZDQ-6A

[1701-e]

This big fine should give them all a warning about such tactics.

[damien c]

I said to my dad, it's hardly surprising to find out this, even after working there.

They would do anything they could to delay and stop someone cancelling, but I know things have changed because of when I dealt my grandads account.

What you want to do is try cancelling a Three account or an EE one, then you will have some fun if you count banging your head against a wall over and over and having them try to charge you £500 for kit, that you have returned!

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by damien c

I said to my dad, it's hardly surprising to find out this, even after working there.

They would do anything they could to delay and stop someone cancelling, but I know things have changed because of when I dealt my grandads account.

What you want to do is try cancelling a Three account or an EE one, then you will have some fun if you count banging your head against a wall over and over and having them try to charge you £500 for kit, that you have returned!

I was missold a contract by EE. Did not open the sim told them I want to cancel in my cooling off period and made a formal complaint . Had to keep hassling because I kept getting communications .

[damien c]

I signed up to a Three "5g Home Broadband" system which came with a modem, eero router etc, only to find out after 2 weeks that you don't keep the items at the end of the contract.

I cancelled it within the 30 day cancellation period, sent the kit back via DPD and they tried to charge £500 for it, because they "couldn't find it" and were essentially trying to say I hacked DPD to fake tracking information, emails, and their systems to generate confirmation of receipt of the items.

It didn't work out for them because I told them that I would take them to court if they charged me, and low and behold 3 days late they magically found the items with the serial numbers matching what I had recorded of the kit that I sent back.

EE tried to cancel my Gamepass Ultimate which I have paid for because they charged for the full length of the contract in order for me to cancel, the direct debits (xbox console and gamepass), when I complained about it, it took them nearly 2 months to sort it out.

Now I have gamepass ultimate but I don't know when it's going to end as I don't know if they are going to monitor it.

[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.

[SnoopZ]

Sending back my VM kit was a nightmare, it took over 1 month for them to acknowledge they had received the kit and even billed me for it..... I'll never return to VM as long as I have FTTP options.

[Taf]

I had to return a faulty modem to VM on receipt and installation of a new one. The code on the packaging was rejected at 3 locations.

In the end a tech visiting a neighbour took it and booked it as returned on the device he had. 2 weeks later I received a replacement modem which is still here because they won't give me a code to return it!

I wonder how much our bills will rise to cover this fine?

TBH, I have not had these issues.

I cancelled my VM using the online chat, no issue.
Someone came and picked up my return (modem).

I placed a switch order with EE last month.
A week later I decided against a move (for now).
I contacted EE and cancelled it, again no issues at all.

---------- Post added at 14:55 ---------- Previous post was at 14:51 ----------

(Two threads Merged).

[jem]

Originally Posted by Paul

TBH, I have not had these issues.

I cancelled my VM using the online chat, no issue.
Someone came and picked up my return (modem).

I placed a switch order with EE last month.
A week later I decided against a move (for now).
I contacted EE and cancelled it, again no issues at all.

---------- Post added at 14:55 ---------- Previous post was at 14:51 ----------

(Two threads Merged).

Which is fine, the process worked for you. But, I’m sure you would agree that just because it worked for you, doesn't mean that anyone claiming otherwise is lying?

The, now defunct, probably never to return, VM forum had multiple posts claiming similar examples, difficulties in leaving. The fact that OFCOM has fined VM must indicate the truth of said claims.

I suspect that. like you, the majority of leave requests are honoured. The issue is when not all goes ‘Pete Tong’.

Originally Posted by jem

I’m sure you would agree that just because it worked for you, doesn't mean that anyone claiming otherwise is lying?

Why do people feel the need to make things up, at no point did I claim/state/imply that anyone is lying.