Virgin Media
Reviews and Complaints

Fault with home phone. Started on Sunday and was not fixed after the time that the website said it would be fixed. Had to call a premium rate number on my cell phone to be told an engineer would not come for five days. That would mean six days without an essential service. The call centre are unhelpful and there is no one to complain to in the UK. The company are always bad but this is the worst they have been. Have lodged formal complaint with them and written to the parent company in the US stating that they are contravening their own corporate responsibility pledge something that will not go down well with NASDAQ. As for getting the phone to work I actually think having a competitor put in a line would be quicker.

Virgin media should not be trading as their service is virtually no existent, they recently worked on my neighbors property and managed to break my broad band connection. A shared line! After many phone calls, and much time listening to the horrible on hold music, I am sure it is a deterrent, arrangements were made for them to gain access to the property, for which they did not turn up to, costing me loss of earnings, when they did finally turn up, it turned out that the fault was totally outside the property. I am still waiting for compensation. In frustration I have turned to another supplier which turned out to be both cheaper, and faster. I look forward to VM last day of trading, it is a shame that Sir Richard does not kick this lot into touch, and kick A. for all the naive greedy managers for suggesting talking on this dead duck.

I AM ABSOLUTLY APPAULED WITH THE LEVEL OF SERVICE I HAVE RECIEVED FROM VIRGIN.
I WAS RECCOMENDED BY A FRIEND IN DECEMBER 07, I HAD MY SERVICES INSTALLED 18TH DECEMBER 07, AND HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS, MY TV DIDNT WORK NOR MY INTERNET OR HOUSE PHONE. I MANAGED TO SORT THE INTERNET AND TV OUT WITH MINIMUM HELP FROM VIRGIN.
TO THIS DAY MY HOUSE PHONE STILL DOES NOT WORK 5 WEEKS ON, I HAVE SENT NUMOUROUS LETTERS AND MADE LOTS OF CALLS TO THEM BUT STILL I GET NO FURTHER, U SPEAK TO SOMEBODY AND THEY SEEM TO HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT THERE DOING..I AM ABSOLUTLY ASTONISHED THAT YOU CAN NOT EVER SPEAK TO SOMEBODY HIGHER IN THE COMPANY, AND I AM FED UP WITH EXCUSES.
TO TOP IT OFF I HAD MY 1ST BILL THROUGH SAYING I HAD MADE A PHONE CALL TO SOUTH AFRICA! I WOULD LOVE TO NO SOMEBODY WHO LIVES THERE AND ALSO I WOULD LOVE TO JUST BE ABLE TO CALL FAMILY LET ALONE SOUTH AFRICA AS MY PHONE HAS NOT BEEN WORKIN SINCE THE INSTALLATION. I AM JUST ANNOYED THERE SEEMS TO BE SUCH A LOW LEVEL OF COMMINICATION WITH IN THERE COMPANY

Our cable television broke over two seeks ago. We rang up and was told that there would be no engineer around our area (Cambridge) for another 2 weeks. They said it would be fixed 16th July. Nobody came.

We rang last night. After waiting to get through for 20 minutes, were told computers were down.
Rand again told to ring back at Midnight as they were very busy. I have since found out that they are closed at midnight. We rang back again at 10.00 pm after 15 minutes, the phone was answered by yet another Indian gentleman and was told he would put us through to someone who could help, yet again another 10 minutes on the phone waiting. Finally another Indian man told us that our Post code did not exist and he couldn't help us!

What sort of service is this? I can find no other access for complaining to them other than 151 number, at least its free so will have to sit and wait when I get home yet again. Perhaps I had better give my notice in writing.

Plus they still expect us to pay for a service we are not receiving.

As usual virgin media continue to drag down the standards provided to former telewest customers. Allegedly, their 25p a minute number for support has changed as of today December 10th, but several pages on their website still contain the old number which is not recognised when you call it. An the new number? Unavailable. Brilliant.
I have just moved house, broadband at old address disconnected and new broadband connection due to go live 5 days later. In the meantime, virgin suspends my email account. I am self employed and use it for work. Can I speak to anyone about it? No. Why suspend my email account in the first place?
Bye bye virgin, hello tiscali I think.

I am a Virgin Media customer; recently I changed address, and as I was moving from one billing area to another I was told that I would have to end my contract and start another. I was keeping the same package, so it was arranged that I would pay the remainder of the contract at the old billing area, and when I started paying in the new billing area the ammount would be refunded; as I was not leaving and taking my custom elsewhere. This has not happened, they have taken the money and they have not refunded it. The ammount that was taken did not show on my e-bill and they also did not send a printed bill for this money, the ammount was found upon checking bank statements. Complaints have been made by phone and form, but after two months the money has not shown up.

I am telling people this so they do not fall victim to these people, as soon as my contract ends I will move to another internet provider.

I have recently phoned Virgin Media about their pricing differences between new customers and existing customers. However this staff member from their "Retention Department" kept on telling my self to "hold on a minute" in order to let her explain, she frequently did not want me to finish my sentence so that she can start explaining. Is this really appropriate, she could have at least said please or wait till Im finish rather than interrupting.

I do appreciate it is not her fault about the pricing. However, I feel as though she is treating me like a 10 year kid because she said "im not going to argue over these silly points" with all the words in the english dictionary, she could have chosen more appropriate words. She is basically trying to say that I'm silly. I said I am going to cancel the subscription and she seem to didn't care at all because she said she can do it now and also referred me to the virgin website. Looks like Richard Branson's Virgin ethos of "good customer service" isn't living up to it standards, as staff aren't able to address customers properly. I wasn't being abusive nor nasty, Virgin can always check back on their call records. I suppose this is only a minor problem but I don't appreciate being treated like a kid.

Swapped ISP from AOL to Virgin Media. I cannot tell you how much I regret that decision. The connection is so slow and is lagging so much that even simple web browsing is impossible! I have seen dial-up connections working better than my broadband connection. And they do not seem to be in hurry to reply to my emails. They did reply to my first complaint quickly saying that it takes up to 15 days for the connection to stabilize and all and working. But we are running towards the end of the month since my transfer and nothing has changed. So wrote to them an email but no reply. Called they 0870 number and was politely told I should call their technical service that, surprise surprise, has premium 09 number. ### them, I'd rather be calling bloody AOL help line where no one seems to be speaking english one could understand than be charged premium rate. I'm going to cancel direct debit and they can kiss my a** rather than taking 50 quid cancellation fee.

I have been being billed by virgin media since August last year even though I told them to disconnect me as I had switched to Sky. They did disconnect my services but continued to charge me for these services monthly. I have just rang again to complain and have been told that there is nothing they can do and I have to pay them?The debt for the bill has also gone to a dect collection agency who are harassing me by ringing me at work! The most disgusting and absolutely unbelievable thing about this is that 'TABS' the rep that I spoke to (well thats the name he gave me and refused to give me his surname.He said it was virgin media's policy that staff don't give there names out over the phone! Although he did tell me when I last rang to complain I spoke to Debbie Heslop?) Anyway, he said that if I had returned to them for my services before 22/01/09 I would have been credited the amount due on my bill as I hadn't actually received any services?!

I changed to Sky because of the awful service I had from Virgin when I was with them, but have suffered an awful lot worse treatment since! I'm a single mum and do not need the hassle especially this time of year when money's tight anyway.

Since i have started with virgin media i have had nothing but problems. Firstly my bills have always been wrong from day one. I have called virgin media customer services over 30 times and on most of the occasions have received wrong information or extremely unhelpful or rude agents. Also i have since been told they have started me on a new contract which i know nothing about. No one seems to want to help me and that includes the managers that i have also spoke with. They keep promising this will be sorted.

I can understand why your so frustrated and angry with regards to your problems with virgin... however as an employee myself I can see that in your case this agent Cyril Daz has made up utter rubbish and given you completely wrong information. yes payment handling charges of £5 were added for any customer not paying by direct debit, also bill merges were created, but it wasn't to gain money from customers, obvisouly they could earn money this way but they would be breaking the law, and theywould've had watchdog or ofcom or any one of the media regulators on their case straight away. I mean in your case from an employees perspective i really do agree your cust experience has been god awful which is one of the reasons why I should hate the job... some many problems are because of human error... and lack of knowledge about the compaines procedures and policies and part of our job would be keeping upto date which changes... they should've firstly taken a payment for the full bill then refunded the charges applied as you would have had a good payment history as a d.d paying cust, then obvisould they should've set up your d.d details properly it really not hard considering all thats needed is sort code account number... when the 'collections' team were calling you if you metioned the balaance was in dispute then they should've checked back account and logged a comapint to escalate further...

one thing i would need to point out though is if at the time the girl explained ebill and you agreed and gavew her those email details then the sending of the bills thereafter is your responsiblity to check them and update us if you change them... but from your story it would be your luck that this probably has n't been the case... really sorry to hear about the problems you have... honestly because there are people working away everyday trying to resolve issues which have been caused by members of staff who basically don't give a f*@k! and the rest of us are left to deal with the flak and digusting abuse and comments from people who they've dealt with... and becasue of this we or well I understand why you would be so mad and coming out with such ridiculous threats etc becasue i know if had happend to me then i would be doing the exact same thing... btw although there is a communication issue i have found that the uk based foreign agents are by far the best in terms of attitude, getting issues resolved and doing whbats needed than some of my english scottish welsh colleagues. by far however the centre in india is the worst for doing everything oposite from what virginmedia considers it s customer care teams to be... usual adjectives helpful etc but mainly human open and accountable.

i apologised with regards to your personal cust experience these issues you faced were resolvable, i loved the company virgin, and what it should stand for... unfortunately this isn't always the case as as usual there as far as my personel knowledge of staff etc and calls still are minority of people who cause the problems or in most cases escalate issues with their lack of care, sympathy and understanding... which is unaccpetable for the job they are or were holding... outwith that some times things go wrong or a discrepency can crop up as alot of automated systems but whe this happens they are and can be and should resolved asap whether it is billing install service affecting disconnecting moving home issues...
again hopefully no-one else will go through your problems.

for others: head office cable

NCLC
Virginmedia Ltd
Matrix Court
PO Box 333
Swansea
SA7 9BB

Vriginmedia national complaints

Virgin Media National
PO BOX 219
Newport
NP10 8UG

Making a complaint or giving feedback
We aim to resolve all written complaints within 28 days and to respond to all e-mails within 48 hours. For information about our Complaints procedure and how to take further then please refer to our Code Of Practice.
code of practice availalbe on the website.
hope that can help anyone els with problems...
Thomas.

Avoid Virgin, BT, Talk Talk and Tiscali, Pipex & Bulldog at all costs.

Some of these companies used to be okay, in fact a couple of them at one time or another I would have classed as good - but now for various reasons they all suck.

Why..? well I need say no more about Virgin... although by visiting this site some of your additional questions my be answered:

http://stopvirgin.movielol.org/

Infact I'd be a little wary of Sky too for the same reasons.

With regard to the others - well... BT and Talk Talk should be avoided for this reason:

http://badphorm.co.uk/page.php?2

Tiscali are quite simply C R A P, and unfortunately Bulldog are now part of Pipex who also own the terrible Tiscali - and what goes for one will generally go for the other... so those 3 are all out too.

So who does that leave...?

LOL! not that many.

From my most recent research I would suggest looking into 2 companies:

BE INTERNET should be considered, and also ZEN INTERNET. Both are a little more expensive, but at the end of the day you do get what you pay for... your connection will not be throttled in the same way as most of the current ISPs (for bit torrent traffic etc), and from what I can tell you should come away with your privacy intact because AFAIK your connection will not be monitored by deep packet sniffing privacy invaders at the telephone exchange for advertising purposes. Also those ISPs offer truly unlimited access and don't hold you to a bogus "Fair Usage Policy".

Sounds like that Joanna King is a right miserable fugly idiot! lol

One day I pick my phone to dial a number and found that some conversation was going on already, I tried to dial number but I could not . then I ask people who are talking to each other about who they are and asked them to disconnect so that I can make my call ( thought may be cross connection ) next day I report to Virgin media about that . VM infomed me that I had so many call in last couple of week for that bill amount is arround GBP 360. I explain them that I never use my phone to call any mobile or outside country. after that they promise me to do investigation . But After completion of thier investigation they start blamming me that I have made those call. I told them that these number was not dialed from my hand set, it may be some fraud or flaw in their system but they are threatening me to pay bill, I am very upset I need advice please come forward. I want to discontinue services but they are asking money for remaining month of contract I am just scared if I paid this and if I got another similer bill. This episode has ruin my peaceful life. do not know what to do

Also, I suggest you read the many many forums on Virgin Media's "performances". I am not alone.

PS. Sky is being installed in January so thankfully I am rid of shoddy customer services, for good. I have also prevented many others from going with Virgin Media when my opinion was asked of their "services".

My career involves a high level of client liaison and I would never dream of treating my companies paying clients this way. I treat others as I wish to be treated.

Work for virgin media by any chance?! You sound very put out by experiences!

Excrement? I think not dear. Miserable? I also beg to differ.

Get a life leo! :-D

Sounds like you AND your partner are excrement to be honest! Joanna King, YOU are a miserable cow!

We have been with Virgin Media for ONE WEEK and already have them cancelling our service as we have not paid, cancelling our direct debit before the bill was even due!

I understand the 2 months billing system but this is outrageous.

Firstly, before we even signed the contract, they sent out a letter confirming our back details.. i was mortified to see they were incorrect and called immediately to change them. We were told that we could pay via paper bills at a paypoint outlet. Great so far..

We had utterly dreadful service in having the phone and tv installed, both on different dates yet our contract begun before either was installed (?)..

6 days after the installation, we call to check when we will be sent the first bill. We were informed it will be 28 days.
THE VERY NEXT DAY, our service has been switched off. So we called to ask why, thinking there was a problem with service or something along those lines. Oh No! Apparently we cancelled our direct debit yesterday (no such conversation took place, we just asked when the bill was due).
A very rude and up himself boy called Adam China spoke to my partner like a piece of smeared excrement on his shoe informing us we need to pay £40 today to resume service because of the inconvenience of cancelling a direct debit. WHAT?!
Obviously reluctant to give bank details over the phone seeing as they buggered it up the previous time we were told that if we fail to do so "right this minute" we will no longer be virgin media customers.
We asked to speak to a manager, this isn't right we thought, Adam China refused at first, then reluctantly said a manager would call between 8 and 10am this morning. When we asked who to expect the call from he exclaimed 'i don't know'! .. guess what, we're still waiting for this call.
I am disgusted at the lack of communication and sheer humanity of these 'people' at Virgin media. I would never in a million years expect anyone so dim to have the priviledge of working during this credit crunch, when there are honest hard workers out there just desperate to work.
I always thought Richard Branson was a man of pride when it came to his business ventures... my my my! I think someone ought to tell him exactly what he puts his name to. Tell you what Sir Richard, I'll come in and sort it out for you. Basic wage will do me fine, I would shame all of your staff. They actually make me sick. I dread coming home from work thinking, what next.. and I have been a customer for a mere WEEK!
Seriously, give me a job. Head of Customer Services. I would ship the lot of existing staff out to the dole and I would hire decent people with manners and common sense. I WILL double your customer numbers, simply by giving a better reputation for customer service.
I will, without a shadow of a doubt, be leaving virgin media, if things do not DRASTICALLY improve.

Yours,
Joanna King

I HAVE BEEN INFORMED BY A VIRGIN MEDIA ADVISOR THAT IN THIS YEAR THEY HAVE CANCELLED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS DIRECT DEBITS IN ORDER TO CHARGE THEM ADMINISTRATION CHARGES UNKNOWN TO THEM.

THERE REASON AND WAY OF HIDING THIS WAS BY CLAIMING TO COMBINING BILLS. YOU WOULD NOW RECIEVE A PAPER BILL WITH A £5 ADMINISTRATION CHARGE...

TENS OF THOUSANDS X £5 = A LOT OF OUR MONEY = NATIONAL SCAM

HERE IS HOW I FOUND OUT

MY LETTER
I am absolutley disgusted in the way i have been spoke to and the way i have been treated, After being a loyal customer for 3 years it is an absolute disgrace, also the infomation that one of your advisors has given has caused utter disbelief in such a big company . I was advised that you cancelled tens of thousands of customers direct debits in order to make more money by charging them administration fees for paper bills. It is totally disgusting, Over the past two weeks i have spent hours on end talking to people who dont seem to understand or speak a word of english yet they can call me a liar.

Like i said i have been a loyal customer for over 3 years, For the first two years i was just using your broadband middle for £18 last september i was contacted by a member of your sales staff who informed me for a 12 month period of a special offer of £2 only i would recieve a phone line with talk unlimited to any landline 01 - or 02 number, Yes thats correct so i would only pay £20 in total for the two services. I agreed- A month later i recieve two bills one for the internet and one for the phone, Yet the phone wasnt £2 it was £11 and they had decided to charge me £7 for the talk unlimited, I phoned and they said they would sort it out, Instead i never heard anything, a month passed, another month passed, then i recieved a threatening letter, It claimed i owed in the region of £100, This was very distessing to me as i had always paid my bill by direct debit and had never missed a payment. Anyway after another couple of hours on the phone we realised that VIRGIN MEDIA had combined both bills and unknown to me they had cancelled my direct debit. I wasnt once informed of these changes. I was also informed that the charges included £10 administration charges because i wasnt paying by direct debit, This really annoyed me as my original contract was direct debit and it was you VIRGIN MEDIA that had cancelled it so how could charge me administration fees, Then i get told £30 is 3 late payment charges, Again this is totaly disgusting as i had never missed a payment, i pressumed the money was coming out by direct debit-one that VIRGIN MEDIA cancelled. So after another hour on the phone i reluctenly pay it on my card and we agree to reset up the direct debit...everythings sorted
3 months pass guess what i recieve another threatening letter, this time sayin g the same thing i havent paid, administration charges, and late payment charges. This now cases me great stress i am absolutly raging another couple of hours on the phone talking to people who dont listen and dont understand, after 2 hours they realise they tried taking the money out of somebody elses account so they once again cancelled the direct debits. This is a joke an absolut joke, they appologise (ha ha ha ) And again i make a payment on my card, this time i say i dont want direct debit, just send me an invoice, they agree...

3 months later...i dont believe this another threatening letter, Is this some kind of sick joke are you really this ignorant, very annoyed i ring virgin straight away, I am put on the phone to an asian speaking man claiming his name is cyril daz, I ask him to spell his name he repeats CYRIL DAZ after about an hour of yet another aggonizing conversation of trying to explain to yet another VIRGIN MEDIA CA He calls me a liar, I say i beg your pardon he explains i am a liar as i am claiming i havent recieved a bill and he can clearley see i have been sent three bills, As he has called me a liar this totaly rages me, this is disgusting how dare he call me a liar, after another 20 minutes of me and him arguing he realises something on his screen that infact i was correct as no bills had been sent because Ebilling had been set up and they had sent the bills to an unused email address, it turns out that when i was last on the phone 3 months prior the woman had set up EBILLING, i vagely remember her explaining it to me but she convinced me my card would be charged automatically- after she took my registered email address and password without my knowlegde or permission she had set up EBILLING cyrill daz was now appologising for calling me a liar he said he was under great stress and he hated the way virgin treated people and that i was being scammed, This is the best bit.

He actually told me that virgin media had cancelled tens of thousands of virgimedias customers direct debits in order for them to be able to charge administration fees.

This is the icing on the cake i am totaly disgusted, i feel sick, you mean to say i am part of a national scam against VIRGIN MEDIAS customers, This is just too much, I phone up to sort out your mess and your troubles and stresses you have caused me and i get this infomation. I demand to speak to his supervisor he then strats appologising and saying no please, I speak to his supervisor who is not interested one bit in a word his colleage had said he couldnt understand what he had done and said that was so wrong, It was like he just couldnt understand how those comments would make me so angry he was more intersted in me making a payment, I demand to speak to a manager, A woman comes to the phone who again is not interested, she appologises for her staffs behaviour but insists i make a payment or i will be swithed off. Over the next few days i am contacted by virgin media staff hounding me, i have spent hours on the phone explaining the same thing over and over and it seems like there is one big communication fault inside VIRGIN MEDIA . I am disgusted.

Anyway after the phone call i decide to visit online forums to ask if anybody had been treated the same, to my amazement it seemed CYRIL daz was correct round about march virgin media had canncelled thousands of peoples direct debits and are now charging them money for administration fees, I couldnt believe it, How disgusted our we now,

I have contacted Ofcom, Trading standars and i have spoken to media and currently awaiting to make an interview with the national press this week, I have been contacted by THE SUN-THE MIRROR-THE STAR all who are more than interested for this story. i hav had to go this far as not once where you interested, i am now awaiting to see how long you take to sort this mess out.
also i would be very grateful to know what you intend to do about...

Charging me administration fees after you cancelled my direct debit.

charging me late payment fees after you cnever sent me any infomation regarding tpayments.

How i ring to complain and i am accused of being a liar.

How you can charge me administration fees for bills you never sent to my house but sent by em, ail.

i await your call

I have recently moved house on the 21st September, the Move was informed 3 weeks before the move date to Virgin and my new account and numbers where provided and an installation date of 28th September was set .
3 days before the installation date a letter was posted through the door that there was an issue for the Monday install by the Construction survey team. i rang as soon as i got the letter and no issue had been logged. i was told that they would call if there was an issue.
I received no such call but called the Construction team again on the Saturday at 4:00pm where i was left waiting 15min on the phone until someone answered, again no issue was found and was told to ignore the letter.
On the Monday no engineer arrived i contacted the construction team and they have told me that the issue was logged late on Saturday .. less than two days before the install and no one contacted us to tell us that an engineer was coming. this was unacceptable as we had taken a day off work to meet the engineer. if we where not in then we would of been charged had he turned up. I was told by the construction team that it would take over 10day to contact the Council to fix the issue ( had the survey been done to fit this time scale this would not been an issue) and that they would try and get a fix as soon as possible.
I contacted the customer care team as i have not heard anything since the Monday and have been told my installation date is not the 10th of November.. this was not checked that we would be available for this day ... also if we are ok for this date and we have received no sorry or discount for our hassle and Inconvenience caused by this complete failure in a move by Virgin, we are now left without Board band and A house phone also a virgin box we can not use for another month. it's been 1 of teh worst experances ever from a media company .. ca complete disregards for there customers...

1. PLEASE STOP SHOUTING!
2. Go to small claims court. You don't need a lawyer. The judge will decide the case on merit.

I HAVE BEEN INFORMED BY A VIRGIN MEDIA ADVISOR THAT IN THIS YEAR THEY HAVE CANCELLED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS DIRECT DEBITS IN ORDER TO CHARGE THEM ADMINISTRATION CHARGES UNKNOWN TO THEM.

THERE REASON AND WAY OF HIDING THIS WAS BY CLAIMING TO COMBINING BILLS. YOU WOULD NOW RECIEVE A PAPER BILL WITH A £5 ADMINISTRATION CHARGE...

TENS OF THOUSANDS X £5 = A LOT OF OUR MONEY = NATIONAL SCAM

HERE IS HOW I FOUND OUT

MY LETTER
I am absolutley disgusted in the way i have been spoke to and the way i have been treated, After being a loyal customer for 3 years it is an absolute disgrace, also the infomation that one of your advisors has given has caused utter disbelief in such a big company . I was advised that you cancelled tens of thousands of customers direct debits in order to make more money by charging them administration fees for paper bills. It is totally disgusting, Over the past two weeks i have spent hours on end talking to people who dont seem to understand or speak a word of english yet they can call me a liar.

Like i said i have been a loyal customer for over 3 years, For the first two years i was just using your broadband middle for £18 last september i was contacted by a member of your sales staff who informed me for a 12 month period of a special offer of £2 only i would recieve a phone line with talk unlimited to any landline 01 - or 02 number, Yes thats correct so i would only pay £20 in total for the two services. I agreed- A month later i recieve two bills one for the internet and one for the phone, Yet the phone wasnt £2 it was £11 and they had decided to charge me £7 for the talk unlimited, I phoned and they said they would sort it out, Instead i never heard anything, a month passed, another month passed, then i recieved a threatening letter, It claimed i owed in the region of £100, This was very distessing to me as i had always paid my bill by direct debit and had never missed a payment. Anyway after another couple of hours on the phone we realised that VIRGIN MEDIA had combined both bills and unknown to me they had cancelled my direct debit. I wasnt once informed of these changes. I was also informed that the charges included £10 administration charges because i wasnt paying by direct debit, This really annoyed me as my original contract was direct debit and it was you VIRGIN MEDIA that had cancelled it so how could charge me administration fees, Then i get told £30 is 3 late payment charges, Again this is totaly disgusting as i had never missed a payment, i pressumed the money was coming out by direct debit-one that VIRGIN MEDIA cancelled. So after another hour on the phone i reluctenly pay it on my card and we agree to reset up the direct debit...everythings sorted
3 months pass guess what i recieve another threatening letter, this time sayin g the same thing i havent paid, administration charges, and late payment charges. This now cases me great stress i am absolutly raging another couple of hours on the phone talking to people who dont listen and dont understand, after 2 hours they realise they tried taking the money out of somebody elses account so they once again cancelled the direct debits. This is a joke an absolut joke, they appologise (ha ha ha ) And again i make a payment on my card, this time i say i dont want direct debit, just send me an invoice, they agree...

3 months later...i dont believe this another threatening letter, Is this some kind of sick joke are you really this ignorant, very annoyed i ring virgin straight away, I am put on the phone to an asian speaking man claiming his name is cyril daz, I ask him to spell his name he repeats CYRIL DAZ after about an hour of yet another aggonizing conversation of trying to explain to yet another VIRGIN MEDIA CA He calls me a liar, I say i beg your pardon he explains i am a liar as i am claiming i havent recieved a bill and he can clearley see i have been sent three bills, As he has called me a liar this totaly rages me, this is disgusting how dare he call me a liar, after another 20 minutes of me and him arguing he realises something on his screen that infact i was correct as no bills had been sent because Ebilling had been set up and they had sent the bills to an unused email address, it turns out that when i was last on the phone 3 months prior the woman had set up EBILLING, i vagely remember her explaining it to me but she convinced me my card would be charged automatically- after she took my registered email address and password without my knowlegde or permission she had set up EBILLING cyrill daz was now appologising for calling me a liar he said he was under great stress and he hated the way virgin treated people and that i was being scammed, This is the best bit.

He actually told me that virgin media had cancelled tens of thousands of virgimedias customers direct debits in order for them to be able to charge administration fees.

This is the icing on the cake i am totaly disgusted, i feel sick, you mean to say i am part of a national scam against VIRGIN MEDIAS customers, This is just too much, I phone up to sort out your mess and your troubles and stresses you have caused me and i get this infomation. I demand to speak to his supervisor he then strats appologising and saying no please, I speak to his supervisor who is not interested one bit in a word his colleage had said he couldnt understand what he had done and said that was so wrong, It was like he just couldnt understand how those comments would make me so angry he was more intersted in me making a payment, I demand to speak to a manager, A woman comes to the phone who again is not interested, she appologises for her staffs behaviour but insists i make a payment or i will be swithed off. Over the next few days i am contacted by virgin media staff hounding me, i have spent hours on the phone explaining the same thing over and over and it seems like there is one big communication fault inside VIRGIN MEDIA . I am disgusted.

Anyway after the phone call i decide to visit online forums to ask if anybody had been treated the same, to my amazement it seemed CYRIL daz was correct round about march virgin media had canncelled thousands of peoples direct debits and are now charging them money for administration fees, I couldnt believe it, How disgusted our we now,

I have contacted Ofcom, Trading standars and i have spoken to media and currently awaiting to make an interview with the national press this week, I have been contacted by THE SUN-THE MIRROR-THE STAR all who are more than interested for this story. i hav had to go this far as not once where you interested, i am now awaiting to see how long you take to sort this mess out.
also i would be very grateful to know what you intend to do about...

Charging me administration fees after you cancelled my direct debit.

charging me late payment fees after you cnever sent me any infomation regarding tpayments.

How i ring to complain and i am accused of being a liar.

How you can charge me administration fees for bills you never sent to my house but sent by em, ail.

i await your call

I have had truly appalling service from Virgin Media following installation of TV, broadband and phone package on 16 July. I wrote to formally notify them that I would like to avail the 30 day money back guarantee and cancel the service with Virgin media. I have tried on numerous occasions to communicate via phone but have either been cut off or have been left waiting on the phone for over 30 mins.

no contracts have been signed so I have the right to get out.

As mentioned in the many phone calls to the Virgin media team, after waiting for 6 hours, the engineer finally turned up at 7pm. He hurriedly installed the connection after complaining bitterly about Virgin Media on a corporate level. We had agreed that our BT no. would be transferred but this was not arranged and we have been connected to a completely different area code. We live in Ash vale and the code we have been connected to is that of Frimley. We were also rather intimidated by the rudeness of the engineer and if I was in the house on my own I would have felt rather unsafe. He also left all his litter behind. To think that there was a £25 installation charge for the pleasure of this awful experience is simply mortifying.

After speaking to the customer dept on 17 July, they arranged for an engineer to visit the following week on 24 July. I took the day off work and spent 6 hrs waiting. No one turned up and there was no apology from Virgin Media.

It has also emerged that our monthly bill is rather more than was agreed. I was expecting to pay £57 for XL package, broadband and phone line but have now been told that this is going to be £69. This is £25 per month in excess of what we were paying for a like for like package from Sky. I also received more channels from Sky for the same price for example all the Asian channels. Once again, Customer services assured me that the problem was fixed and that my bill/month would be for £57 but I have this week received an invoice for £67.

In view of the above, I have now decided to cancel my direct debit at the bank but have not heard a thing from Virgin media.

I have seen millions of complaints on Virgin Media and feel scared that I have signed a 12 month contract. My wife and I moved into a new rented flat just over two weeks ago. The landlord who was living here advised us that due to bad reception in the area, she has been using Virgin Media for TV and had the phone and broadband package. Fair enough I thought, phoned them up and they were even kind enough to give me a discount on the whole package (3 for 30 was offered for 20). But that was the last of the good will I got. On the phone while I was signing up, I was given of an activation date of 3rd of April 2008, when my equipment would be delivered as well.

You guessed it the day had come and gone and not a sign from the lovely people from Virgin Media. On the 4th I called them up asking what was happening and when I would get my equipment. The answer...well they did not know because the equipment was only give for delivery to the delivery company (UPS) on the 3rd. I could call them up if I wanted to they said, to arrange delivery. In fact they said that would not be enough, because they need someone to come to the flat and install it all. When I queried when this would happen I was told 'tomorrow'. At this point I raised a complaint with the call center guy, quoting to him exactly what I was unhappy with. I should have asked for his name and a ref of the complaint, but I was so furious that they were quick to sell me the product, but were so poor at advising what it would entail to install and had in fact lied about the dates. Again, I was told a manager would contact me 'tomorrow' to follow up with the complaint and a letter would be sent to acknowledge it all.

You guessed it, no call nor letter.

6th of April, I called again and was told that installation was scheduled for the 7th of April, without me having scheduled it at all. I rescheduled for Saturday 12th of April, between 1-6pm. I was promised that I would get a call from a manager regarding my complaint, which was visible on the system the time. Same day I went and picked up the equipment from UPS as they could not guarantee a delivery day or time.

The landlord had left her Virgin Media equipment at the flat, but had canceled all services. So faced with a long wait for activation I switched the equipment on and what do you know... broadband was on, without me having to put in a PIN. TV was working for the basic 5 channels and phone was off. I thought, not bad to keep us entertained 'till the activation. I called Virgin Media and told them I get 5 channels, can I get the rest of them please ( I subscribed for over 80)? They told me, you need to wait for the engineer to install it all. For the fun of it, I asked if that means I won't get broadband till then and the lady was adamant that I won't be able to get broadband despite having my landlord's modem. I couldn't argue with her, they had proved their poor, poor service before. I was going to wait for the 12th.

12th of April. No call from a manager. I call to confirm with Virgin Media that they would be coming over to do the installation. This is where i was ready to throw my toys. I was told there is no scheduled visit, and in fact there is no need for a visit because the install is supposed to be a self install. I was blown away by this. I asked to speak to a manager, to follow up on my complaint from the previous week. Wait for it... they could not see anything on the system, no sign of my complaint.
At that time, I asked to speak to a manager straight away. The call center guy told me he could not let me do that as my problem was around a self install and not Customer Service. I insisted, he spoke to his manager, who refused to speak to me.

At this point I am lost as to what I can do. I raised a new complaint and asked for a reference number this time. I asked for the guy’s name and his manager’s name. He did not want to give me his surname nor his manager’s surname. Only after I pushed did he give them to me. I was promised that a manager will call me within 24 – 48 hours. I am not holding my breath.

I phoned faults reporting and after 5 minutes they had all my TV channels connected. The phone is still off and I am scheduled for an engineer to come around on the 14th. The broadband has been working since I initially tried it... despite assurances from Virgin Media that it would not.

I will follow this through and get something for my lost nerves and time. I hope that the rest of you get some proper service from Virgin Media... although from what I have seen so far, they trip over themselves to lie, show their incompetence and turn their customers into babbling fools.

The broadband is fine, it is actually double the speed to what I signed up for, and TV works once activated. Phone is still to happen, but I pray that none of these services develop a fault.

My Virgin Media phone has been out of service since the 13th July. Since then I have had nothing but trouble with incredibly rude customer service reps from the company who've told me lies on several occasions. They have a centre in India and I can't understand what they are saying easily (and I'm Indian). I told them my phone was out of order so they promised to get an engineer round on the 28th July (over 2 weeks later). I phoned back to ask for an earlier appt (I was put through to India) the rep told me they'd get someone round on the 22nd. I was suspiscoius as it sounded like he was just trying to get rid of me. Unbelievably on the 21st July the phone started working again (only for a couple of hours as it turned out) and even more unbelievably there was a message on the answer phone from Virgin Media telling me that the engineer was double booked and I would now have to wait until 4th August to have the line repaired. (This was left on the phone that I'd reported as not working, these people are really thick!). On 4th Aug they were supposed to be here to repair the line between 8am and 1 pm. I was still waiting at 1.30pm so I phone up to find out what was happening (having spent ages on the phone to them already that morning to check that they were coming and being told that they were already working on the cables, which I pointed out they couldn't be because they weren't with me! ) and I was told that they were running late. Why couldn't they have phoned to let me know? I asked. "Oh! That's not our policy! I asked to be put through to a Supervisor who when I told him of the problems simply said "I don't have to listen to this" and he hung up. This was the actions of the Supervisor! It simply beggars belief. The engineers turn up at 3.15pm (no apology or explanation) and tell me they can't do the job as they hadn't brought the right equipment. They'll come back tomorrow. They then disconnect the other phone line to the house and leave. I'm now without any phone services and am still waiting for them to turn up.
What ever you do if you read this DO NOT USE ANY VIRGIN MEDIA PRODUCTS. Their service is simply appalling. It's all ok when things are working but if you need any help from them... forget it. they are absolutely dreadful.

The exact same, they were taking out more than the agreed amount every single month for 9 months, so i cancelled DD and told them to go and rob someone else. Now they say i'm in breach of my agreement and charging (robbing) me for more money. They say they are taking me to court, i cannot wait!

Virgin Media cable broadband is the best on the market. I never had any problems with the service except the occasional day when the whole service for the area i lived in was down. Unfortunately I no longer live in an area with vm cable broadband capability otherwise i would sign up with them straight away. Anyone using a BT landline with any internet service aren't getting true broadband through their copper telephone cables. VM use fibre optic cables and so can offer upto 50mb connection at this time (no other company can offer that)

As for customer services, theirs is no different to any other CS, some guy sitting in a call centre in outer mongolia, BUT I know from experience that if you ask about special deals you can get them, but if you dont ask they wont offer them. I had a 20mb line but never ever paid the full price, after each period of time the special offer was offered for I would phone again and get it renewed

As for getting the 5 normal channels Martin talks about, it is written into the contract that you signed or at least the one I signed that regardless if I continued my contract with VM those 5 channels would be available to the household, even without their box being there.

I am currently stuck with a Vodafone doggle internet service with a max download of 3GB per month (VM cable was unlimited) so if i wanted to watch live streamed TV on my computer my 3GB would run out real fast and this service cost me £15 a month. O2 offer the same 3GB at the same price but dont tell you about the limit until after you use it. I know, my wife uses O2 and we got a bill of £356 after the first month on top of the £15.

If you are using you internet connections to download peer to peer file sharing, don't blame VM cos you're not getting the speed you are paying for, it's got nothing to do with them what speed the senders of the files are uploading for you to download, so moaning that your 20mb connection is cr@p gives the impression you are peer sharing and thought it would be faster with 20mb. most householders do not require more than an 8mb connection so dont bother upgrading, plus the fact you shouldn't be doing it anyway and VM will be monitoring your bandwidth and will disconnect you with or without a warning

yesterday 3.12.08 virgin media advertise in mirror and sun news papers extra large 20mb broadband 10 pound for first 6months 20 pound thereafter .i am paying 37 pound a month for same sirvice from v m when i rang to complain they said for new customers only if they dont sort it out they will loose old customer there 20mb is crapp.

i was away on holiday to come back to find out all my services had being cut as was £2 short when they went into bank and could not get payment so when i got home paid it straight away, i had never being late with payments they were always on time. after i paid them relized my e-mail service was still not up in running but the faults department kept saying not there department and passed my call about, it was 4days later when i got someone to deal with it they gave me a job ref number saying it would be fixed in 72 hours joke i then phoned back up for them to tell me they were 6000 e-mails down i would need to wait, they then put me threw to customer service so i could complain and the young man on the other end said he would get it dealt with and phone back joke still waiting, i have also contacted there complaints department 4 times and guess what still waiting and still no e-mail so i am now looking to end contract with them they are crap and the people they have working for them could not run a menuge they have no people skills and dont no how to communicate with each other . so if you are thinking of joining them think again, ever here the saying stick with the devil you no that goes for the company your with just now as virgin media are rubbish

virgin media broadband. my service has been down since the 12th august until the 18th which i only found out about buy ringing up (151) they say they will put £10 in credit on my next bill we will see. now it is the 19th and my service is hit and miss i pay for 2mbs but when i run a speed test it shows 117kbs the all so say if you download 350mbs a week they say your speed will drop to 1mbps until after 9 pm but that is un true they should have said 12pm at which it work well but who is up then. they are wanting me to go on 4mbs but why should i when i don't get 2 mbs which i pay for. all in all there should be a law against this as it is wrong you can spend ages on the phone to them and get no farther forward virgin media sucks . but after 12pm there broadband is good so why can't they get it right in the day .

I HAVE BEEN INFORMED BY A VIRGIN MEDIA ADVISOR THAT IN THIS YEAR THEY HAVE CANCELLED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS DIRECT DEBITS IN ORDER TO CHARGE THEM ADMINISTRATION CHARGES UNKNOWN TO THEM.

THERE REASON AND WAY OF HIDING THIS WAS BY CLAIMING TO COMBINING BILLS. YOU WOULD NOW RECIEVE A PAPER BILL WITH A £5 ADMINISTRATION CHARGE...

TENS OF THOUSANDS X £5 = A LOT OF OUR MONEY = NATIONAL SCAM

HERE IS HOW I FOUND OUT

MY LETTER
I am absolutley disgusted in the way i have been spoke to and the way i have been treated, After being a loyal customer for 3 years it is an absolute disgrace, also the infomation that one of your advisors has given has caused utter disbelief in such a big company . I was advised that you cancelled tens of thousands of customers direct debits in order to make more money by charging them administration fees for paper bills. It is totally disgusting, Over the past two weeks i have spent hours on end talking to people who dont seem to understand or speak a word of english yet they can call me a liar.

Like i said i have been a loyal customer for over 3 years, For the first two years i was just using your broadband middle for £18 last september i was contacted by a member of your sales staff who informed me for a 12 month period of a special offer of £2 only i would recieve a phone line with talk unlimited to any landline 01 - or 02 number, Yes thats correct so i would only pay £20 in total for the two services. I agreed- A month later i recieve two bills one for the internet and one for the phone, Yet the phone wasnt £2 it was £11 and they had decided to charge me £7 for the talk unlimited, I phoned and they said they would sort it out, Instead i never heard anything, a month passed, another month passed, then i recieved a threatening letter, It claimed i owed in the region of £100, This was very distessing to me as i had always paid my bill by direct debit and had never missed a payment. Anyway after another couple of hours on the phone we realised that VIRGIN MEDIA had combined both bills and unknown to me they had cancelled my direct debit. I wasnt once informed of these changes. I was also informed that the charges included £10 administration charges because i wasnt paying by direct debit, This really annoyed me as my original contract was direct debit and it was you VIRGIN MEDIA that had cancelled it so how could charge me administration fees, Then i get told £30 is 3 late payment charges, Again this is totaly disgusting as i had never missed a payment, i pressumed the money was coming out by direct debit-one that VIRGIN MEDIA cancelled. So after another hour on the phone i reluctenly pay it on my card and we agree to reset up the direct debit...everythings sorted
3 months pass guess what i recieve another threatening letter, this time sayin g the same thing i havent paid, administration charges, and late payment charges. This now cases me great stress i am absolutly raging another couple of hours on the phone talking to people who dont listen and dont understand, after 2 hours they realise they tried taking the money out of somebody elses account so they once again cancelled the direct debits. This is a joke an absolut joke, they appologise (ha ha ha ) And again i make a payment on my card, this time i say i dont want direct debit, just send me an invoice, they agree...

3 months later...i dont believe this another threatening letter, Is this some kind of sick joke are you really this ignorant, very annoyed i ring virgin straight away, I am put on the phone to an asian speaking man claiming his name is cyril daz, I ask him to spell his name he repeats CYRIL DAZ after about an hour of yet another aggonizing conversation of trying to explain to yet another VIRGIN MEDIA CA He calls me a liar, I say i beg your pardon he explains i am a liar as i am claiming i havent recieved a bill and he can clearley see i have been sent three bills, As he has called me a liar this totaly rages me, this is disgusting how dare he call me a liar, after another 20 minutes of me and him arguing he realises something on his screen that infact i was correct as no bills had been sent because Ebilling had been set up and they had sent the bills to an unused email address, it turns out that when i was last on the phone 3 months prior the woman had set up EBILLING, i vagely remember her explaining it to me but she convinced me my card would be charged automatically- after she took my registered email address and password without my knowlegde or permission she had set up EBILLING cyrill daz was now appologising for calling me a liar he said he was under great stress and he hated the way virgin treated people and that i was being scammed, This is the best bit.

He actually told me that virgin media had cancelled tens of thousands of virgimedias customers direct debits in order for them to be able to charge administration fees.

This is the icing on the cake i am totaly disgusted, i feel sick, you mean to say i am part of a national scam against VIRGIN MEDIAS customers, This is just too much, I phone up to sort out your mess and your troubles and stresses you have caused me and i get this infomation. I demand to speak to his supervisor he then strats appologising and saying no please, I speak to his supervisor who is not interested one bit in a word his colleage had said he couldnt understand what he had done and said that was so wrong, It was like he just couldnt understand how those comments would make me so angry he was more intersted in me making a payment, I demand to speak to a manager, A woman comes to the phone who again is not interested, she appologises for her staffs behaviour but insists i make a payment or i will be swithed off. Over the next few days i am contacted by virgin media staff hounding me, i have spent hours on the phone explaining the same thing over and over and it seems like there is one big communication fault inside VIRGIN MEDIA . I am disgusted.

Anyway after the phone call i decide to visit online forums to ask if anybody had been treated the same, to my amazement it seemed CYRIL daz was correct round about march virgin media had canncelled thousands of peoples direct debits and are now charging them money for administration fees, I couldnt believe it, How disgusted our we now,

I have contacted Ofcom, Trading standars and i have spoken to media and currently awaiting to make an interview with the national press this week, I have been contacted by THE SUN-THE MIRROR-THE STAR all who are more than interested for this story. i hav had to go this far as not once where you interested, i am now awaiting to see how long you take to sort this mess out.
also i would be very grateful to know what you intend to do about...

Charging me administration fees after you cancelled my direct debit.

charging me late payment fees after you cnever sent me any infomation regarding tpayments.

How i ring to complain and i am accused of being a liar.

How you can charge me administration fees for bills you never sent to my house but sent by em, ail.

i await your call

Get a contract from a virgin media staff called Andy Hiley coming diretly to my door, and been asked to provide an oringin gas bill as proof of address. After a few weeks, tried to get my oringin bill back but not been able to. Now several months after, still not been able to get my gas bill back. The most annoying thing is when i signed the contract, i have been told that i will still only being charged 21.50 after first 3 months, but i have been charged 27.50 since the 4th month. I get back to Andy Hiley, he said it is just a mistake and he will get it sorted out. Another month past, and the problem is still the problem. I fell like being treated. How can such a big company play their customer. Absolutly down!

In March the 3rd 2011 I signed up to virginmedia for land line telephone broadband and television, the offer was £21.49 for the first six months the £31.49 for twelve months after that. I have never paid £21.49 and I have never paid £32.49 since my six months "offer" expired. When I questioned this with virginmedia I was told that the price was increased a couple of days after I signed my contract. I am currently paying £32.99 which is an increase of price on three occasions since I signed up. My advice to anyone who is thinking of signing up to virginmedia is simple DON'T BE STUPID AND STEER WELL CLEAR. They will rip you off again and again and they will sell your telephone number to a third party. I proved this by agreeing to change my number after a spate of nuisance calls which I traced back to Singapore, within four and a half hours of changing my number the calls started again.

On the 04.12.2007 I had anappointment booked between 8 am and 1 pm in order to have Virginmedia installed. The tech's arrived at 10.45am and procced to inform me that I had only ordered one box, which was incorrect. Once they managed to sort that error out I was informed that there drill had now broken down and was not working and they had to call their Area Manager who happen to be in Raynes Park 20mins away from my home and he would come with one, but during this time they would look at doing the wiring for the phone service that I was having, but the only problem with the phone was they were having some sort of problem with their swtich and they did not know when the phone would be done! but when the manager came he would be able to tell me.
An hour and a half later the Area Manager turns up with the equipment required for the gentlemen to start work he drops the equipment off and drives off, when I ask the tech what did he say about my phone I was told he was to to start the work and the area manager would call me on my mobile when the phone was sorted..strange...
It's now 2.50pm and the techs are still here, I remind them thnat they need to tune in both videos in the rooms with the new equipment for them to look at me with blank faces - funny their booklet that they send prior to you being installed claims these things will be done by techs who know what they are doing..did not happpen as when they left at about 3.30pm neither video was tunes in as they had not plugged a scart lead in! basic or what...
I had still not received a call from the Area Manager wjo drive off but when I went outside I notice exposed cables and wires. I was not happy and therefore called Customer Services after holding for 20mins I explained exactly what had happend all day and that I now no longer wnated their phone service but would like someone to come and cover these exposed wires at the front of my house and to remove the wires for the phone as I was fed up. The lady raised a complaint and informed me someone would call be back. Well some one did to tell me a tech would be around the next day between 8 and 12pm to install my phone; no I said I do not want your phone I waant you to get some here to tidy up your mess. She also said someone would call me back in 24hours. This did not happen so I called them again to wait 20mins again at my expense, only to be told I 'm sorry but you sjould have been inform 48 hours..here we go again.
That night I received a call from a gentleman to ask if I was happy with my service - can you believe this company..NO I told him and yold him to read the notes on my account, he apologised and asked when did I WANT THE PHONE FITTED...No I said I cancelled that I just want someone round here to tidy your mess up once and or all and to inform him that their techs had not turned in my videos and that I had to get my brother round to do it for me.
He them went on to explain that he would cancel the phone off the account and that he could seethe complaint had been passed to the relevant dept and that he would adjust to to so the fact the videos had not been tuned in as requested and that some would call me on the 06.12.2007.
Well it's now 19.12hrs on the 06.12.2007 and still no call from Virginmedia.
I would advise ANYONE who is thinking about going to take out this service DO NOT...

UPDATE:- Since posting this message I have had YET another increase in my subscription. I am now paying £33.90 per month. That is an overall increase of £12.41 since 3rd of March 2011.

Virgin Media have today sent a Default Notice threatening legal access to my uncle who died over 2 months ago. They know he has died, I have personally told them more than half a dozen times over the last 2 months and the reason the bill was unpaid was because Virgin Media couldn't get their act together to send out a final bill. When I have phoned to complain I am told the complaints department has no telephone number or email address to contact them on. This from a communications company, speaks volumes about their service. To add insult to injury, despite receiving the full amount outstanding on the same day the Default Notice was issued my uncle's account remained open. Outstanding service! Thankfully I am not their customer, nor will I be given this experience. Terrible company, terrible service and terrible attitude.

i think virgin is slow at there work and when you want somthink done you have to wait two weeks to get your pc problem sorted.i have now lefted virgin media and im only saying this once to virgin media i dont have your tv boxs and internet box some bloke from virgin media come and picked it up from my house.so please dont ring my mobile phone cause im not your customer anymore and i will pay my bill when im ready like you made me wait for an enginer to come out and look at my tv and also keep us hanging on the phone for hours waiting for help to fix our internet well let me tell you somthink you would not know how to run a piss up in a pub if you had on that is why you dont keep customers cause your so slow and uselass at your work

My family, friends and relatives all have had bad experience

While virgin media offers good internet speed their customer service is very poor and the staff members are unhelpful and impolite. I had to cancel their service in 2007 because of overpayment dispute and unresolved technical problems. Since then I moved to a new property and have been using wireless broadband from T-Mobile which is too slow.

Two weeks ago I decided to try virgin media broadband again - big mistake. I ordered through their website a broadband only package costs £20 per month with self-installation costs one payment of £15. I was sent a confirmation email saying: We've received your order and our team is on the case. We'll be in touch within 48 hours and we'll aim to have you up and running before you know it.

The next day I received another email with subject Sign Up Online. It says they are sending out the installation pack. To my surprise they said I did not give the correct bank details for the set-up of direct debit. Their email says:
But before we go any further, we need to let you know that we weren't able to set up a Direct Debit using the bank details you gave us. To make sure we've use the correct bank details, please call our team on [protected] and we'll do our best to help you get set up. If we can't set you up to pay by Direct Debit, there will be an extra monthly handling charge added your bills – but we'll be happy to talk through this when you call.

In their email there were at least 3 mistakes, 2 with spelling. It indicated to me this is not a professional company! I called the number given in the email and spoke to 3 staff members. They asked for my account number and I told them I wasn't given one. After they took my address they said there isn't any order in my name and they can't recognise the reference number given in their email! I spent £11.76 on a useless phone call. I also emailed them back and still did not receive a reply.

After 6 days from the order date a box arrived containing the modem, cables and router with a self-installation booklet. My husband was keen to connect them the same day but he found out the wall socket that supplies the internet did not exist as it is a new property. I rang them again and told them there is no wall socket. To my surprise they said if there is no socket why did you order broadband in the first place! I told him the website confirms you can supply fibre optic service to my property/postcode and it is virgin media’s responsibility to know whether they have a cable wall socket. I told them before ordering I asked customer service about self-installation and I was told self-installation means the connection from the socket to the modem and pc, which is true. The discussion took too long and included poor language, it was impolite and I found it insulting. I decided I am not phoning them and wasting my time again. My husband tried to help, this time he rang their 0800 number. He gave them my name and address and asked for cable socket manning to the address. He was told he is not authorised to speak to them and they have to maintain my privacy.
I wrote a letter yesterday to virgin media asking them to give me an address to which I can return their box (modem and router). At the same time I have ordered a new phone line with broadband from BT, and I will be monitoring my bank statement in case virgin media who have my account details will charge me for the service which they failed to supply. If they do, this time I will consider contacting the watchdog and media to spread my story even further.

I support the statements given on this website by other customers of virgin media and believe their customer service is very poor, rude, unprofessional and can be insulting. For me the move to popular BT was a wise decision although I sacrificed the speed obtained from fibre optic and I will incur monthly line rental cost, but with quality customer service this time from a well know organisation.

I HAVE BEEN A VIRGIN MEDIA CUSTOMER FOR 3 YEARS AND THE OTHER DAY ONE OF THERE CUSTOMER ADVISORS INFORMED ME TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS HAD BEEN RIPPED OFF IN A NATIONAL SCAM UNKNOWN TO US, .

THE SCAM INVOLVED VIRGIN MEDIA CANCELING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS DIRECT DEBITS...

NEXT STEP WAS BY CHRAGING THEM HIGH ADMINISTRATION FEES FOR NOT PAYING BY DIRECT DEBIT

IMAGINE HOW MUCH MONEY THEY MADE CHARGING EACH CUSTOMER £5 IT A HELL OF A LOT.

THEY USED THE EXCUSE WE ARE COMBINING YOUR BILLS SO YOU WOULDNT NOTICE THEN THEY CANCELLED YOUR DIRECT DEBIT AND SENT A PAPER BILL OR THEY WOULD ASK IF YOU WOULD PREFER EBILLING...ANOTHER SCAM

I FOUND AFTER HAVING NOTHING BUT TROUBLE WITH THEM, THEY MAKE ME SICK, I HOPE WE BRING THEM DOWN FOR THIS

HERE IS A COPY OF MY COMPLAIN I HAVE SENT THEM, PLEASE READ IT TO UNDERSTAND MY ANGER TOWARDS THEM

I am absolutley disgusted in the way i have been spoke to and the way i have been treated, After being a loyal customer for 3 years it is an absolute disgrace, also the infomation that one of your advisors has given has caused utter disbelief in such a big company . I was advised that you cancelled tens of thousands of customers direct debits in order to make more money by charging them administration fees for paper bills. It is totally disgusting, Over the past two weeks i have spent hours on end talking to people who dont seem to understand or speak a word of english yet they can call me a liar.

Like i said i have been a loyal customer for over 3 years, For the first two years i was just using your broadband middle for £18 last september i was contacted by a member of your sales staff who informed me for a 12 month period of a special offer of £2 only i would recieve a phone line with talk unlimited to any landline 01 - or 02 number, Yes thats correct so i would only pay £20 in total for the two services. I agreed- A month later i recieve two bills one for the internet and one for the phone, Yet the phone wasnt £2 it was £11 and they had decided to charge me £7 for the talk unlimited, I phoned and they said they would sort it out, Instead i never heard anything, a month passed, another month passed, then i recieved a threatening letter, It claimed i owed in the region of £100, This was very distessing to me as i had always paid my bill by direct debit and had never missed a payment. Anyway after another couple of hours on the phone we realised that VIRGIN MEDIA had combined both bills and unknown to me they had cancelled my direct debit. I wasnt once informed of these changes. I was also informed that the charges included £10 administration charges because i wasnt paying by direct debit, This really annoyed me as my original contract was direct debit and it was you VIRGIN MEDIA that had cancelled it so how could charge me administration fees, Then i get told £30 is 3 late payment charges, Again this is totaly disgusting as i had never missed a payment, i pressumed the money was coming out by direct debit-one that VIRGIN MEDIA cancelled. So after another hour on the phone i reluctenly pay it on my card and we agree to reset up the direct debit...everythings sorted
3 months pass guess what i recieve another threatening letter, this time sayin g the same thing i havent paid, administration charges, and late payment charges. This now cases me great stress i am absolutly raging another couple of hours on the phone talking to people who dont listen and dont understand, after 2 hours they realise they tried taking the money out of somebody elses account so they once again cancelled the direct debits. This is a joke an absolut joke, they appologise (ha ha ha ) And again i make a payment on my card, this time i say i dont want direct debit, just send me an invoice, they agree...

3 months later...i dont believe this another threatening letter, Is this some kind of sick joke are you really this ignorant, very annoyed i ring virgin straight away, I am put on the phone to an asian speaking man claiming his name is cyril daz, I ask him to spell his name he repeats CYRIL DAZ after about an hour of yet another aggonizing conversation of trying to explain to yet another VIRGIN MEDIA CA He calls me a liar, I say i beg your pardon he explains i am a liar as i am claiming i havent recieved a bill and he can clearley see i have been sent three bills, As he has called me a liar this totaly rages me, this is disgusting how dare he call me a liar, after another 20 minutes of me and him arguing he realises something on his screen that infact i was correct as no bills had been sent because Ebilling had been set up and they had sent the bills to an unused email address, it turns out that when i was last on the phone 3 months prior the woman had set up EBILLING, i vagely remember her explaining it to me but she convinced me my card would be charged automatically- after she took my registered email address and password without my knowlegde or permission she had set up EBILLING cyrill daz was now appologising for calling me a liar he said he was under great stress and he hated the way virgin treated people and that i was being scammed, This is the best bit.

He actually told me that virgin media had cancelled tens of thousands of virgimedias customers direct debits in order for them to be able to charge administration fees.

This is the icing on the cake i am totaly disgusted, i feel sick, you mean to say i am part of a national scam against VIRGIN MEDIAS customers, This is just too much, I phone up to sort out your mess and your troubles and stresses you have caused me and i get this infomation. I demand to speak to his supervisor he then strats appologising and saying no please, I speak to his supervisor who is not interested one bit in a word his colleage had said he couldnt understand what he had done and said that was so wrong, It was like he just couldnt understand how those comments would make me so angry he was more intersted in me making a payment, I demand to speak to a manager, A woman comes to the phone who again is not interested, she appologises for her staffs behaviour but insists i make a payment or i will be swithed off. Over the next few days i am contacted by virgin media staff hounding me, i have spent hours on the phone explaining the same thing over and over and it seems like there is one big communication fault inside VIRGIN MEDIA . I am disgusted.

Anyway after the phone call i decide to visit online forums to ask if anybody had been treated the same, to my amazement it seemed CYRIL daz was correct round about march virgin media had canncelled thousands of peoples direct debits and are now charging them money for administration fees, I couldnt believe it, How disgusted our we now,

I have contacted Ofcom, Trading standars and i have spoken to media and currently awaiting to make an interview with the national press this week, I have been contacted by THE SUN-THE MIRROR-THE STAR all who are more than interested for this story. i hav had to go this far as not once where you interested, i am now awaiting to see how long you take to sort this mess out.
also i would be very grateful to know what you intend to do about...

Charging me administration fees after you cancelled my direct debit.

charging me late payment fees after you cnever sent me any infomation regarding tpayments.

How i ring to complain and i am accused of being a liar.

How you can charge me administration fees for bills you never sent to my house but sent by em, ail.

i await your call

PLEASE DO NOT JOIN VIRGINMEDIA TELL YOUR FRIENDS, IT IS A DISGRACE FUL ENETERPRISE THAT HAS CONNED MILLIONS OF DECENT HARDWORKING CUSTOMERS OUT THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY AND THEY CONTINUE TO GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE WE DO NOTHING. virginmedia is the worst service providing company in the world their customer services staff is rude, ignorant and selfishly unsympathetic. The customer care team is even worse. Virginmedai is an evil empire which should be held accountable for the incompetent mess of a scam it calls a business. WHERE ARE THE MEDIA ORGANISATIONS WHO PRIDE THEM SELVES ON EARNEST JOURNALISM AND INTEGRITY THESE ARE THE STORIES THAY SHOULD BE COVERING

I have Virgin phone and L broadband... Broadband started of at £19.00 now it is £25.00! My phone calls amount to about £4.00 - but I have to pay £11.00 line rental. Oh I forgot to mention I have £8.00 rebate...? and on top of that £28-00 SERVICE CHARGE - WHY AND FOR WHAT.
And that is every month.. The broadband speed is not that brilliant either.. I am looking elsewhere now for a better deal.

I was also lied to by Virgin Sales and have been as successful as you in getting the problem resolved.

I was cold called by Virgin who had an amazing offer for the broadband, tv & phone package. At that time I was perfectly happy with the service I was getting from Sky but I was offered a better, cheaper package by Virgin and of course I could get rid of the dish off the side of the house.

At the end of the call the virgin guy advised that the contract that I would get would not detail the promotional costs but the normal costs but not to worry the bills would reflect the promotion.

Yeh - right. I thought who does the bozo think that I am that I would be signing a contract which had different details to that promised.

Nonetheless, the contract duly arrived and it actually said on it that it did not reflect what was agreed re : special promotions. Now I am a naturally sceptical person and thought that this was particularly odd but hey this was Virgin - a reputable company - and they were actually acknowledging what the salesman had said on the contract.

So I signed (now you know who the bozo is !)

You know it. The service is as good as Sky BUT my phone calls are more expensive, my broadband is more expensive and even without movies (which I had with Sky) my TV is more expensive.

This has been a really expensive mistake for me and to revert to Sky would incur further costs (not only did I remove the dish but I stripped out the BT lines).

I have now spoken to about 12 people at Virgin all of whom have given me the same script (you seem to have been totally deceived by our salesman) and have promised to get back to me. Only one ever has and that was to tell me that they could see no evidence of misselling on their record of the sale (I guess they were expecting the salesman to record that he had lied to me !).

Given the oddness of the contract not reflecting the promotions I can only believe that either Virgin (as a business) are purposely misleading their customers at point of sale or at very least are giving their salesmen the opportunity to do so. Why else would they have such a contract.

I will be writing again to Virgin monday coming and if I do not get a favorable reply this time I will be taking them to court. I am retired and have plenty of time to chase them.

I have had an appalling experience with Virgin Media.

* During the installation by the sub-contractor team that arrived in the late afternoon/early evening on 24 October 2008 it became job was not being completed to a professional standard. The cabling to the telephone and computer in the ground floor dining room was being led through the hall and around the doorway (in such a way to prevent us being able to close the dining room door), this is now evidently a safety risk as well as being unsightly. Despite our requests to correct the work, the contractors informed us “that there is no alternative” to the way ithe cabling was being completed, this also included running cable over the fireplace in the lounge The contractors then informed us that they had connected us to the TV and broadband services and that this would come on in 15 minutes and they left the house. We were not aware that they were leaving us at that point, as they did not confirm the job was fininshed or gave us anything to sign on completion.
* In fact, the only service that worked properly was the phone line, our son in law who came round to our house afterwards was appaled at the standard of work and pointed out how they could have easily gone round the outside of the house instead of through our halls doorways and over the fireplace. We then noticed that the contractors had obviously come in to the property without washing as there were dirty hand prints on the walls which had been painted with unwashable paint. We also noticed that some cash had gome missing (approx £70) from my wallett. This has since been the subject of a police complaint and though they reported back to me was insufficient evidence to arrest the men, no investigation was conducted internally as promised-
* I then phoned their office to complain and to request that the work be inspected and corrected. I was assured ther would be no charge for the TV and broadband services in the meantime. I had been assured that the area manager would come round the mext Saturday but he failed to show up. After various conversations I managed to speak to someone in their complaints team who did try to get through to his manager but had to admit he found it difficult to contact him despite leaving messages for him. A date was agreed in November for a visit, for which I had to take a leave day from work but again no one turned up. A further date was arranged but instead of the manager someone known as "Super Mick" came to say he was being called in to re-connect us and re-do the cabling. I told him I had been expecting his manager as I felt that compensation was owing to us for both the cost of re-painting the stained walls and the time lost to me from my leave and the general disturbance and stress caused. He replied he had no authority to agree compensation which he agreed was owing and he further agreed the cabling was a sloppy job. He would report back to his manager. In the meantime, I had raised another complaint through another complaint because I had not heard from this manager. To be fair, she was obviously concerned at the whole situation and said she would contact his manager.
* Eventually, On 19 December the deputy area manager came to our house I showed him the photographs we had taken in relation to the dirty walls, which had now been painted and he saw for himself and agreed that the cabling work was done in a completely unprofessional way and incorrectly routed. He said he would report back to the area confirming the situation and that she would come back to me with a fair offer. This, however did not happen and the deputy manager went on leave soon afterwards.
* I then raised another complaint, on his return from Christmas leave I phoned him again and he assured me the area manager would come back to me, but again she did not. I then spoke to anoter complaint mnager who confirmed she had spoken to the area manager who now requested I write a letter and enclose photographs, and reciept for the painting work. Saying the deputy was wrong to indicate the matter could be resolved without me posting evidence as he had seen it. He also stated that any charges for the TV and broadband services would not be payable until my outstanding dispute in relation to the installation was resolved. I have now had a bill for these services. I am currently arguing witgh Virgin media regarding this, but intend to take such action as may be required through the small claims court.

This complany is the worst organisation that I have ever dealt with in my life, there is no co-ordination between their teams or within their teams. They seem to have untrained installers who are sub-contractors working for a firm called Kellys.

Stay clear and never get involved with them.

I agree with everything the gentleman said, we should all get together and write a book, or make a film, of coarse it would be a HORROR THRILLER. I have tried to get help through consumer advice, then trading standards. They wrang Virgin Media up, but guess what, they just went along with what Virgin Media said, that i had to contact Virgin Media by phone.The only trouble is i only have a mobile and this has been going on since October 2007. As soon as i put £10 on it and tried to sort things out, i ran out of money, and as you can imagine i didn`t keep this up for very long.Buy the way my my problem was INVALID EMAIL, USER NAME, AND PASSWORD, and still is. A friend told me about hotmail hence this email. I could go on and on, LETTER`S PHONE CALLS, AND EMAILS I HAVE HAD OFF VIRGIN MEDIA. I stumbled across this complaint board when i was looking at the terms&condition`s legal jargon of virgin media, and looking at the post office site for phone and internet servici`es. The time is 5.03 morning. I makes me feel more angry, after reading some of the letter`s, like the gentleman said this has had me right on the bottom, and how i wonder how many people their are, hundreds prob`ably. This firm seems to be fallen apart, and the people incharge know what`s going on, but as long as the money keeps going in some bodies back pocket, they are not bothered until we hear about it on the New`s To tell you the truth i am surprised it has not been headline breaking New`s Anyway i am deter`mined to get away from this so called company from HELL. YOUR`S SINC`ERELY Mr A COTTON.

Hi, I came across this letter when I was looking up the address of my office...at virgin media! I, like many others, haven't been working there long (the turnover appears to be very high) and am employed via an agency. Now I certainly don't see my temporary position here as long term, but I am one of the few 1 in 5 employees. I have had lots of customer service experience and can honestly say that I have never worked anywhere that delivered such poor service. (and that's saying something in the uk!...businesses nowadays only care about getting new customers to keep the share holders happy, and it appears that losing existing customers is a much lower priority. Now although I have never owned or managed a business, being the logical thinker that I am, I would think that providing a good service (for example carrying out the many promises made to customers!) would mean that customers would be loyal and would spend a good sum of money for many years to come and would in turn recommend the service to their friends. This would creat continual business, both new and existing, and would therefore make the company lots of money...surely that would also make the share holders happy?...and of course the customers would be happy also! (unless they died of shock when they asked for something to be fixed/installed etc and it was actually done!)

I can completely understand why customers get so frustrated (some have even been brought to tears!), and when I speak to customers who have been through weeks or even months or bad service, no service and lots of chasing things up at their expense, I endevour to help them as much as I can. To be honest I'm not that hot on the technical side of things, but I'll offer to take all of the customers questions and then investigate the issues and call them back...which often comes as a suprise to them as when many virgin employees say theyll call you back...they don't. I'm also different from a large number of employees in that i'm honest. If I don't know something, I'll say I don't know and will either find out of answer, or point them in the direction of the appropriate department. Now a lot of the time the messenger gets shot, and if when another virgin employee (from one of the hundreds of departments around the country...is gets vert confusing, even for the staff! everyone just passes the buck, saying its not their department!) promises that he is going to call the customer, that's what I tell the customer! I then get understandably frustrated customers calling me again (as i have been the most helpful out of the 20 other employees they have spoken with about the same issue!) I often get shouted at, but I let the customer talk everything out (I've heard some employees continually interupting customers, and then raising their voice and even get argumentative! After the call they then go on to ### about it with the people around them!) But some customers can be really abusive. I'm on a temp's wages (i.e. not very much!), and to be screamed and shouted at for something that isn't your fault when you are actully trying to help isn't particularly nice! all in a days work eh?! But in all fareness, I've got to say I'm good at my job, and like so many companies although I rarely get praise for giving a good service by managers (but they are quick to pick you up on certain issues!) However I go into work and perform to my own work ethic and I get my praise from the individuals I have helped along the way.

Anyway, I thought you'd appreciate a little insite into the crazy world of virgin media! let's hope you get through to me next time you call! ...and no, I won't leave my number! :-)

This poor person like many thousands of others has been subjected to horrendous treatment by Virgin Media.If any one ever tells me that Richard Branson runs well run companies that offer value for money I will throw a fit. I will never buy anything with the Virgin name. WHY CAN NOTHING BE DONE WITH TERRIBLE COMPANIES LIKE THIS.

In 2012/2013 signed a contract with virgin media for internet broadband but I can only say their services are the WORST I have ever subscribed to. Every time, I had a problem with my internet I would call them and then they would say I would be charged to resolve the problem. Not until I would insist that the problem was theirs so they should honour it. For example, sometimes I would have technical problems with a router, signal failure and so on. Very often when I called them no one seemed to take responsibility of my queries only to be transferred from one department to another, put on hold for long times and in some cases they would hung up on me.

In the middle of my contract Virgin media decided to increase my monthly payments without even letting me know about it. I only found out when my bank statements came to my address. I called them and wanted to cancel the contract but they quoted me a figure which was unreasonably so high.
I decided to wait until the end of my contract. As if that was not enough, at the end of my contract they sent me bill which was three times my monthly payment. So I called them again to explain to me why I have to pay all these hidden charges but one of them told me that these figures are generated by computer systems and would not comment on them any further. I deeply regretted why I used Virgin Media.

Unlike for financial institutions where one can complain to financial ombudsman, telecommunication companies get away with all unsatisfactory experiences of their customers that not only cause financial distress to them, but also end up negatively impacting their credit worthiness.

If you are looking for broadband, tv, phone & mobile? Definitely VIRGIN is not the place to go. They claim to be cheaper than any other provider but as prices, their services is cheaper than anything.

If you got problem while with virgin? then it is big problem because they have no one to look after customers problems, what a shame! You will go everywhere with your problem but you won't get solution, that's FACT. Customer care staff, supervisor, manager, installer and all, they are getting well paid for their job which they suppose to do but no one cares really.

It's like too many chefs in kitchen makes cooking worst! same they making ''Virgin'' a total shamble... looser. In short, do not even think to join virgin. better to pay bit more & get hassle free services.

Why I'm giving advise? Because I have personal experience and would not want any one to go where I've been through, it's hell.

I could not agree more! In February 2008 I ordered Virgin broadband which was supposed to be installed within 10 days. When I called to inquire the engineer's visit the person informed me that actually it will be around 3 weeks or more as there is no engineer available in my area. I am sharing a house with friends who are studying and need to use the internet frequently. I discussed it with them and we decided to cancel the order and switch to BT ( internet in 3 days). At this point I thought that everything was right. As you read in Virgin terms and conditions you can cancel the service up to two weeks after the INSTALLATION. I cancelled few days after ordering so nothing ever was installed, I have never received a router, there was no engineer, I have not used a single byte of Virgin broadband but to my surprise my account WAS DEBITED £18 for NOTHING! I was happy to cancel the direct debit ( I even received the letter from Virgin media asking why - WHAT A MESS!) but initial payment was already taken. It was a theft as I paid for something I never used. I started calling Virgin media and bank ( spending around 45 min to get through).
Virging media advised me that I should fill in Indemnity Claim and money will be transferred within few days back into my account. When I called the bank they did not know about the form, wanted the details of the Virgin media customer advisor. I called Virgin media but they said they cannot provide any personal details or extension numbers. Eventually I went to bank in person on 22nd of MAY 2008 where the customer service person called Virgin media on my behalf ( not to mention that he could not find Indemnity Claim in the bank intranet either! but at least tried to be helpful). I occurred that filling the form does not result in a few days' waiting time. In this case I agreed with the Virgin media customer service person that I will be sent a cheque within 28 DAYS. She used this language from customer service courses that makes me sick "Yes, I agree. Yes, it was not correct. I am really sorry (REALLY?). It will be sorted shortly (WILL IT?), etc". IT IS 20th of JULY (TWO MONTHS!) and I have not seen my money...It has been FIVE MONTHS. Now I know how they make a profit. Stealing. Many people give up all the hassle of chasing £18 but I will not. Just because I do not like to be ripped off. NEVER SIGN A DIRECT DEBIT WITH VIRGIN!

Strongly agree with you. Worst service ever!