In June, I initiated a formal complaint with Virgin Media as they came and installed a media cable onto my property without my requesting it (eg they basically came to the wrong address!). In doing so, they drilled several holes in my front garden wall, damaged a plant, etc. Whilst they have since returned (after I brought the mistake to their attention) and removed the cable, I still expect them to restore my front wall (which is fairly new) to its original condition and pay compensation for the inconvenience, recorded delivery, phone calls, etc. Despite an exchange of letters in which they claim to have repaired the wall they have failed to do this and have also said they don't believe they are liable for any of my expenses! I contacted the CAB who advised me to contact the Comms Ombudsmen (which I did), only to be told that Virgin are not covered by them. They put me on to CISAS, but it appears I can only use them if I am a customer of Virgin (which I am not). I'm running out of ideas on how I should proceed now. I even tried raising it with the Police as I believe it constitutes criminal damage, but they didn't seem to share my view. Any advice on how I can get this matter resolved? Is it time to appoint a solicitor?

I have written a complaint on Virgin Media's forum re my recent treatment and service. I originally phoned over my Wi-Fi not working but it's opened a whole can of worms. I don't know whether I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill but I would like to think not. Please take a look and let me know whether it's me that being ridiculous or not.

Hi all, I am after some advice please. I have recently received my credit report from experian and there is a default from VM on there from 2010 which I know nothing about. The amount is only £114, which I don't mind paying if I do owe it, but I don't want a default on my account. I haven't been in contact with VM yet as I wanted some advise first as what approach I should take. Thanks in advance Steve

Hello everyone, I'm writing on behalf of my girlfriend's family here. They signed up for Virgin Media 6 months ago, knowing that they would be buying a house soon but referred to Virgin's Home Mover website which makes moving seem a breeze. They were renting, but bought a house 2.5 miles away from their rented one. When they informed Virgin they had moved, Virgin informed them that they (Virgin) were cancelling the contract as they offered no services in the new area, and that my girlfriend's family must pay the full cancellation charge of £240. I did some reading up (on Broadband Choices) and found that Virgin usually offers their standard broadband service on a smaller contract, so they asked if this was possible, Virgin refused and said cancellation was the only option. They didn't feel this was fair and so wrote a letter to their complaints department. A week later they have received no reply, just a bill for £240. Is this fair? Is there anything they can do to argue/fight this? Thanks very much for your help.

Had no clue where to post this. Anyway through the door this morning debt letter come for 200 pound. From virgin media/debt handed to some company. i actually forgot about this debt.the debt was about 7 years ago now they must of traced me. Am i right in saying debts go away after 6 years or something? I actually have virgin media services in my new property but nothing ever said.

Hi, To try keep this brief I've seen the adverts saying virgin were boosting their broadband speeds to 50Mb. My neighbour told me that he had been upgraded free after having some problems with his bill. So I spoke with an advisor on their web chat service who stated that in order to receive the upgrade we would need a superhub 2, a new modem that could accept the new upgrade, this seemed a bit strange as the equipment we had was more than capable of 50mb speeds. The advisor told me that the bill would remain the same but that we would need to sign a new contract for 12 months. However when we received the contract to sign it stated that the bill was for £52 with a 18 month loyalty discount of £5. This would make the bill the same as we pay now but it would go up by £5 in 18 months. I contacted Virgin and asked them am I paying for the superhub or is this a price rise, the advisor stated it was not a price rise and proceeded to state that we were getting a loyalty bonus for 18 months and avoided the question completely, it was only on the fifth time of asking he stated the £5 pm was indeed for the super hub 2. He offered me another loyalty discount and asked us to call them in 18 months to have it applied to the account, but I am far from confident about this. My concern here is that they have stated we will all get an upgrade and following research it would appear that we pay £20pm for our basic broadband package while new customers now pay £25pm for theirs and automatically receive 50MB connection, this would seem like a attempt to bring other customers in line with new customers receiving the same basic package, bearing in mind they have alreay appklied a price increase this year of about £2. If I return the super hub I will go back to the 20MB connection I received prior to the upgrade a package they no longer offer. Is this legal, is it not misleading, is there anything I can do?? Am I not entitled to the same basic package as everyone else as per the contract. I found this on their website Will my broadband speed upgrade cost any money? Absolutely not! Your speed upgrade will not change the amount you pay for your broadband service each month

Good Morning, I have made a conscious decision to leave my job because there is currently an ongoing issue with comments that appeared on my Face Book time line - I just need some advice. Basically, I have written a letter to work and told them that, based on sessions with C.B.T., it was discussed and agreed that closure is needed from this and due to the fact it may trigger another significant mental health episode, I have asked whether or not work would be willing to agree a severance package or failing that, my letter of resignation. I have spoken to my Human Resources and my Trade Union about the comments and they are both under the same conclusion about at least one of them - they also said it was very important about how the comment was written, according to my H.R. Both my H.R. and T.U. rep said there was no serious intent/threat/violence/sexual advance in that particular comment. Also, I have been informed reliably that if you give an opinion on someone's sexual orientation, which, unfortunately, was another comment which appeared on my time line, this is not harassment as it is an opinion. Is this correct? Basically, I read out the comments to an expert (my T.U. rep) and he said there was nothing there that concerned him - he said he had heard a lot worse and also, my H.R. mirrored that by saying that they had been involved in cases which had worse things said/written than anything which appeared on my time line. Can I have some advice on this and are H.R. and the Trade Union right in what they say? I am so desperate to leave my job - it got to the point at one stage where I even had suicidal thoughts, it was that bad. My life has been ruined because of this. Thanks for your help. Regards.

OK guys I need some guidance please... I have been a Virgin Media National Customer for over 15 years, I have had the same 5 e mail addresses and I have moved once in that time, but remained a VM National customer all that time. When I moved in 2012 I asked if I could transfer to a Cable Customer to get a better broadband speed and the answer was no, then a chap contacts me last week to say he is coming round to survey my area to see if I can be a cable customer. He turns up, confirms I have the infrastructure in my road and offers me a move to Cable service and includes a TV package, the deal is struck and I sign and I'm told that the Cable service will be installed on the 5th April and my existing National Service will cease on the 4th April. I'm having work done on the house so it seems an ideal time for the cable service to be put in so I drill holes for the cable route and sit back and wait for the time to come. Saturday I receive a 'sorry to see you go' letter from VM telling me my service will be disconnected from that day - I check the phone and while I still have dial tone and the internet service is still working I cannot make or receive phone calls. I get straight onto VM Customer Services and after spending most of Saturday on their 0845 service from my mobile I'm told a mistake has been made and my service has been ceased early - I respond that it is still connected but restricted and I'm told the same thing applies and they cannot get it back on, I'm told to call and complain on Monday. I call back today and after 3 hours (I'm not exaggerating) I eventually get told that my National Service has been ceased wrongly and I will have to wait to see if the Cable Service can be provided, when I ask what they mean I'm told that Cable Service may not be available to me and they cannot reconnect my National Service. I have spoken, complained and requested escalation to no avail to many people within VM today, it culminated in me e mailing the CEO Tom Mockridge which resulted in a person from Customer Services contacting me and telling me the above. I have lost my National Service with VM and if they cannot provide the Cable Service (I doubt that they will as my council will not grant wayleave to dig up roads that were only laid last year) they are just going to wave goodbye to me as a Customer as they say they cannot reconnect my National Service. As I write this my dial tone is still present and my internet access is working, as a Telecoms Manager with the NHS I cannot understand how they cannot just reconnect me as a National Customer. Their Customer Service is appalling, at one stage I was put through 3 times to a different Customer Service Agent with no information being passed on and i had to explain the same story 3 times over. The change over has already cost me £25 which I will insist on getting back if they cannot achieve anything, but more importantly I have lost a service that I have had for a number of years. The inconvenience in changing the email addresses alone is huge, especially as the e mail address I had was xxxxxxxxxx which is a very rare thing by today's standards. Has anyone got a senior contact in VM that I could get involved in this to get my National Service reinstated?

I have just moved into my own house, which service is best Sky or Virgin Media?

Hello everyone, new here so sorry if I'm posting in the wrong section. My problem spans across a number of years and also relates to my times as a student. While in my last year in university i took out the 9 month student deal with virgin media for there internet package. I was only at the property 10 months and before i left the property the phoned to make sure that the contract had ended. I believed it had ended, and seeing as it was only a 9 month contract i believed that it would end after that amount of time regardless. That was around 3 years ago, iv recently bought a house with my girlfriend and while sorting our finances out i discovered that they had been taking out £20 a month for the past 3 years! I quickly got on the phone to them to resolve this issue and explained my situation, they said they had no record of me cancelling the contract and that if i didn't phone to cancel it they it would carry on, hence the 3 years of £20 payments. They had trouble finding my details on their system as i didn't have any account numbers or letters off them but eventually found it. They cancelled the contract and told me that no more payments would come out. So far they haven't. Now my girlfriend works for a bank and told me about a direct debit indemnity, i am yet to speak to my own bank about this but was wondering if anyone has any experience with this, or has been in a similar situation and what was the outcome? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Daniel.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83896348/?autoplay=true

Been with Virgin Media for a number of years, but am now concerned. I moved house back in December. The account was cancelled and a new one setup on the 27th December. They billed me from the 27th December up until end of February. Payment was taken from my account on the 6th February; how can the payment be taken before the billing date ends? When I got my bill, they were charging me £140. I objected and kicked up fuss. They basically wanted 2 months in advance. I have not signed a contract with them. I want to cancel, what can anyone advise me to do as I am fed up with how they are charging for 2 months in advance. Can they legall do that?

I don't seem to be able to get through to Virgin that I just want a response by email to my simple query about why I've been charged for two landline calls that were in my allowance (never use it all up these days). I have received no response to this - just keep getting someone phoning me up, from abroad so the signal keeps coming and going, echoing on the line so every word I say is repeated, I cannot understand them half the time because of the poor line quality and that their regional accents are hard to understand. demanding the whole password and security answers, and completely ignoring what I say to them, which is not good enough. I have asked them to stop calling me, but they keep doing it - I've had to turn my phone off to get some peace last night and I don't see why I should pay to call CS to tell them they've made an error and ask for the overcharge to be refunded. And I'd like it in writing - so I have proof that they are going to refund it. Is there a rep here who can sort this out and get the bill corrected?

Hi Guys Would DCA's use social media to trace you?

We are, unsurprisingly as their usage getting a lot of employment problems regarding social media such as Facebook, so I was wondering if we could maybe put together a little stickied guide on the do's and don'ts? My thoughts, based on how I use FB for example would be: Put your Privacy Settings on Maximum. That includes setting it so that your profile does not display in searched by your name or email address. No matter how well you feel you get on, no matter how long you have worked alongside people, do not add them to your Facebook friends list. Especially don't add Managers Don't add the company you are currently working for to your profile, just in case that gives them a way to get even a glimpse of your profile. I have created an album with several screenshots to show what maximum privacy settings look like http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m309/prw2005/Facebook%20Screenshots/ Just to add, this is what my Profile looks like to a non friend - as you can see, my wall, interests, photo's, everything is blank, not even my friends list appears, there is literally nothing to identify who I am, especially as I have an extremely common name, and don't use my middle name on FB Basically all anyone who is not on my friends list can discern (and remember my profile has been set so I do not show up in name OR email addresses) so they wont even find the profile anyway, is that I am Male! Thats it. Thats all your employer should see too.

I am feeling so down right now, downstairs my family are getting ready to settle down to watch the new "exploitation" programme about people on benefits that is on channel 4 tonight at 9pm. It will most like be yet another show pandering to the outrage of "taxpayers" and will portray those on benefits as lazy chancers. I'm on ESA in the Support group although I have an invisible disability. I live with family and they fluctuate between being supportive and resentful of my situation. I find that they main thing that seems to anger them and others about my not working is that they work in jobs they hate and resent the fact that I don't have to (currently) and there anger does seem to vary depending on what they have been exposed to on the TV or in the paper. I just feel sad and depressed about the whole thing.

:-xHi guys im seriously frustrated and angered in which virgin media are handling my end of contract. On September 10th I cancelled my contract with virginmedia as I couldn't afford the £94 which that bill didn't add up in the first place as I just had xl line rental broadband it's normally that with sports so questioned not a straight answer and couldn't understand the person as seemed indian. few days later another bill arrives £184 then another bill a week or two later £220 remember this is cancelled and I know broke contract now 16th October I receive another bill £307.32 which is bill date 10th October bill period 12th September -20th November £10.40 for 12th September to 20th November for whole package but added to this is a package £87 21st October till 20th November Now today I receive yet another bill dated 14th October bill period 11th October to 20th November with a credit of £108.34 but two lots of termination fees £92.75 11th October also £79.50 both dated 11th October also lots of calls and letters inbetween this what can I do I simply cannot afford as I stated to them:-x

Hi there, just looking for advice before I try to take on the delightful virgin media, I have heard they are tricky! Last week i checked my credit report with experian and equifax before I apply for a mortgage. I was surprised to see virgin media on there for my internet contract, I didn't realise they could record data with CRAs for your internet service but I suppose it makes some sense as I had 12month fixed contract. In any event, I was concerned they have recorded 3 late payments entries against me earlier this year and have now been told this will hinder my mortgage app as they are within the last 12months! What i am cross about is that virgin media failed twice to set up my direct debit properly which meant I fell behind with payments! The first time, they took the wrong amount out of my bank account on a direct debit, I had to file an indemnity claim with my bank and Virgin told me to cancel the direct debit and set it back up again! I went to set it back up again a couple of weeks later and this time they wrote down the wrong sort code so the direct debit was never set up correctly! What resulted was late payment fees galore, I had some of these refunded but it seems unbeknown to me they had still marked late payments with the CRAs! What makes me doubly cross is when I settled the account finally a few months later determined to leave them all together . . They talked me stupidly into moving the internet with them to my new address and taking out a new 12month agreement which we are now halfway through, paying on direct debit without drama! I feel so mad I want to ring to cancel the whole thing with them tomorrow! I tried to call them to discuss the whole thing when it materialised on Friday but was on the phone to not terribly helpful agents in India who accepted virgin had made mistakes but refused to remove the late payment markers. Eventually one mildly sensible American agent agreed it should be looked into and gave me an email address for consumer underwriting services... I sent an email that bounced back as a wrong address!! I have now written in to complaints team and raised dispute with experian and equifax . . Any similar experiences or further advice ?? Is there an ombudsman or regulator I can defer to if no satisfactory response?? Thanks S

OK SO I HAVENT PAID VIRGIN FOR 3 MONTHS BUT BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THEM WEEKLY TO ARRANGE A PAY DATE. I HAVENT BEEN USING THEIR EQUIPMENT (BOXED AWAY). Monday I received a card saying somebody had been to pick up the equipment but missed me whilst i was out. Fair dos. However yesterday i received a letter (1st and only from a dca regarding this) from a dca saying i had ignored all previous correspondence and threatening with home visit etc. Obvioulsy i know my first port of call is to send the template regarding visiting my property. Just curious as to what else to include, given i have had zero previous correspondence with the dca. thanks

My last bill was due to be paid on 24th July 2013 all my bills were paid and up to date. I'd had advance warning that my bank were doing system upgrades on 24th july so i decided to pay £60 to virgin via debit card on 18th july 2013. My bill was only £41.90. So i thought "that's paid now plus a bit extra towards next months bill" today i see i've been charged £10 late payment fee plus they still want the £41.90 on top lol. I can see why virgin are struggling to keep customers if this is the norm from them. No doubt my services will be suspended when this months bill is produced as i only have £100 credit limit and this months bill will be produced either today or tomorrow and will be about £57. If i'm suspended as technically i'd already paid my last bill on time surely Virgin would be in breach of contract therefor if i wanted i could cancel without penalty?

Hi all, I’m new to the forum and could use a little advise if anyone can help… Last year virgin media put their voicemail service on my phone line without informing me, I only discovered the service was active after 3 months of it being on my line. A lot of events have occurred during my fight over this and I’m wanting to know how much compensation I should be requesting, please have a read of the complaint and advise if you can… many thanks In april last year I was laid off from work without notice and got behind with bills, vm had restricted my services and when I spoke to them about my outstanding bill they suggested a repayment package, this would retain some of my services and give me a little longer to clear the balance. I spoke with the collections team, made the first payment in july and everything seemed fine. A little later I started to wonder why I’d had no messages of my desktop answering machine but put it down to job applications being unsuccessful. However in early September my girlfriend had vm installed at her house and after telling me about the voicemail service she got the penny dropped. I called my house number and after only 5 rings I was met by virgin medias answering service asking me to leave a message. This meant this voicemail service had been answering my calls without my knowledge for as long as it had been active as my desktop answering machine only picks up after 8 rings. I called vm immediately and the chap I spoke to confirmed this voicemail service had been put on my line in july when I started the repayment package. However he went on to question why it had been put on my line as I was on incoming calls only I wouldn’t have been able to access it. It took three calls to this chap over three days before he finally threw the towel in trying to access it and removed it from my line, thus loosing any messages that had been left on it. I then had to cold call nearly every job application I had sent out the past few months to find out if anyone had left messages for me. I found I’d missed three interviews and more worrying I found a recruitment company had left three messages for me in august as they had a 12 week contract for me starting the following week, as I didn’t respond to their messages they gave the placement to someone else. To try and cut the story short…. I lodged a complaint with vm, had to chase it up several times and after getting nowhere I wrote to the executives office. Got a call back from a chap there who told me he had proof I’d been advised of the voicemail service but he’d credit my account with £20 as a good will gesture. I told him I had not been advised about the voicemail service and that I had only found out it had been put on my line in September, and that the £20 was a joke as I now knew I’d lost out on a job that would have paid over £5000, plus three interviews that I knew of. I escalated the complaint to cisas, and in their defence, vm provided a print out of the account notes entered on the day I made the first payment. The operator had put ‘customer has been advised of the terms and conditions of the agreement and a letter sent out’. I replied to ciasa saying I had not been advised of the voicemail service, the notes do not show that I’d been advised of the voicemail service and nowhere in the t&c’s is there any mention of the voicemail service, further more I had never received a letter and vm did not supply a copy of this alleged letter in their defence, plus they had not provided account notes for the three calls that took place when I discovered the voicemails service in september. Cisas sided with vm, saying that he account notes clearly show that I was advised of the service and that vm are basically free to do what they like. I emailed cisas and asked them to review this decision as it was clearly evident that the adjudicator had not reviewed the vast amount of evidence I had sent her but whilst they admitted that there were discrepancies in how the adjudicator had investigated my complaint I was advised they don’t do appeals. I rejected the decision to give myself time to think things over, then on the advice of a friend I issued vm with a subject access request and asked for copies or transcripts of the calls that took place when I set the agreement up, the week when I discovered the service was on my line, all notes entered on my account for the three month period including times my account notes had been accessed, and a copy of this letter that was supposed to have been sent out to me. Thanks to the joys of the data protection act, three weeks and £10 later I received a nice large envelope from vm. I now have from virgin media’s data protection & privacy department; a letter advising that they can not find a copy or any details of this alleged letter that was supposed to advise me of the voicemails service, a transcript of the call when I set the agreement up that shows that the voicemail service was NOT even mentioned, account entries showing that I spoke to vm on all the occasions that I advised cisas of and not just the one occasion vm claimed in their defence, and full transcripts of two calls that took place on the week I discovered the voicemail service. These conversations document the attempts we made to try and access the voicemail service after discovering it, and the comments made by the operator questioning why it had been put on my line as I wouldn’t have been able to access it. Armed with this evidence I emailed the chap at the executives office and requested he confirm receipt of my email, reassess my complaint and come back to me with a settlement offer. He didn’t reply to my email despite my email provider confirming it had been delivered. I then called his office 3 days later and was advised he was on holiday till the Monday but they would ensure it was brought to his attention first thing. By the Tuesday morning I had still not received a confirmation so I called his office and asked to speak to him but was advised he was on another call so I left a message with my name, my contact number and asked for him to be advised of the urgency to acknowledge my email. By the Friday I still hadn’t received a reply or confirmation so I issued vm with a letter before claim asking they pay a compensation sum that reflects the wages I had lost as their service had without my knowledge or consent, intercepted messages offering me paid work and interviews. I received a grovelling reply to my letter within three days and am waiting on a call back from their head of complaints early next week. Given that the interception of my calls with out my knowledge has cost me a 12 week contract that would have paid £5280 before deductions, at least three other job interviews that I’m aware of plus the issue of employers not entertaining any future applications as I didn’t respond to their replies, the £10 cost of my subject access request and cost of recorded delivery postage on all letters, plus the general stress & inconvenience of having to fight vm to discover the truth…. Any ideas on what a suitable settlement figure would be? Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

My mums laptop is playing up. Windows Media Player keeps starting and giving a message ' Windows Media Player encountered a problem while downloading the file' This is a long with the WMP Window. She doesn't know how she has managed to do it. I have tried opening Malware Bytes to do a scan, but it seems to be opening with WMP because the same pop up keeps comong up. I tries msconfig to stop it from starting up, but the same message keeps appearing with the Media Player. It's as if it is programmed to start up with everything I try to do. I can't even install a program with a flash drive because when I click on 'setup' WMP starts again with the same message. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Guys. ps. Her OS is Windows 7 Home Premium.

I noticed that Amelia Gentleman, a reporter for the Guardian has been asking for people's experience on work programme on Twitter. Here is her tweet which contains her email address. As this is not a verified account here is a link to her Guardian profile. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/ameliagentleman

Hello, On 09.04.2013 I switched over to virgin Media for they tv service (tivo) and phone and broadband and I get my products Installed on 23.04.2013 and just wondering when will I get my first bill. Spoken to a advicer yesturday and she said my first bill will be of £79.98 and it will be produce on 16.05.2013 and payment will be taken out of my direct debit on 03.06.2013 but that can't be right can it? Any help would be great thank you

Hi guys i have just cleared some debt off the past month and am now debt free but vodafone, o2, t mobile etc are declining me credit and im guessing it was related to this debt i have paid up. I have paid my Virgin Media bills every month on time if not before the pay date and keep getting mithered to take out a deal in my virgin media account i want a samsung galaxy s3 on virgin but bit worried they might also decline me