£28 Million fine for VM

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by Mr K

They only admitted it to get the fine reduced. It would have been £40 million otherwise.

They claim to have changed their ways, but that doesnt ring true given the amount of people that still have the same experience. How many managers in CS have been sacked as a result? Are they abandoning overseas call centres? Are they totally removing incentives for staff to stop cancellations?

They may well think the fine worthwhile and carry on as usual. I"m sure this is why they closed their CS forum, so the amount of issues and complaints about their practices is hidden.

Dunno why you feel the need to ask me all them questions. You are more likely to have the answers than me because I think you care more

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Jaymoss

Dunno why you feel the need to ask me all them questions. You are more likely to have the answers than me because I think you care more

They were questions for VM, not yourself. Since the closure of their forum they are not open to questions. They only respond when embarassed in the media, or fined.

[jem]

I recall a fair number of people posting on the, now, defunct VM forum, claiming that the phone had been put down on them when attempting to cancel. The forum team members (VM employees) were quite vociferous in stating that ‘this just doesn’t happen, no call centre worker would do this, it was just a technical error for that call’. Did seem to be surprisingly common for these ‘technical issues’ to happen just when someone wanted to cancel.

And now we have an admission from VM that not only did this happen, but their call centre staff were actually incentivised to do it. Wow, just f***ing, wow.

Now I wonder who was lying, was it the forum staff, who knew but lied anyway, or their bosses who simply lied to them? It’s not really a good look either way, is it?

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by jem

I recall a fair number of people posting on the, now, defunct VM forum, claiming that the phone had been put down on them when attempting to cancel. The forum team members (VM employees) were quite vociferous in stating that ‘this just doesn’t happen, no call centre worker would do this, it was just a technical error for that call’. Did seem to be surprisingly common for these ‘technical issues’ to happen just when someone wanted to cancel.

And now we have an admission from VM that not only did this happen, but their call centre staff were actually incentivised to do it. Wow, just f***ing, wow.

Now I wonder who was lying, was it the forum staff, who knew but lied anyway, or their bosses who simply lied to them? It’s not really a good look either way, is it?

Have had this happen, anyone yet had anything reversed because of it. Somehow I doubt it.

[jem]

Originally Posted by Itshim

Have had this happen, anyone yet had anything reversed because of it. Somehow I doubt it.

Although there will always be some people who will claim that ‘I called up to cancel and it was processed immediately’, it does seem to depend on who you get.

By far the most effective (and legally arguable) method is my letter, quaint, yes I know. VM publish an address in Sunderland to send it to, in this letter make it absolutely clear that you want to cancel as of xyz date (bear in mind the 30 day notice period), include your name, address and account number.

But most importantly, keep a copy of the letter and send it by recorded delivery, signed for, post.

Now this doesn’t guarantee that VM will cancel your contract as requested, but, if they don’t then you will absolutely win the case when you escalate it to the AiDR service - currently CISAS. And, naturally you also request that they order VM to pay you an additional £100 for the inconvenience.