Me vs Moorcroft/Virgin Bleedia!! (Not another one!)

[bootedup]

Hello all,

 

Now forgive me if this has been addressed elsewhere within the four virtual walls of this forum and if so point me in the right direction.

 

I was and have moved in with my GF and in July cancelled my Virgin Media account (who I had been with for 3/4 years) for the following month. When I rang up to cancel the customer service operative assured me that there were no cancellation charges.

 

I queried this because I had changed to a new service in December last year over the phone. The finall bill was sent to my new address for £42.90ish and as a direct debit was in place, I had no issue with paying this. Anyway, about 2/3 weeks later. A further bill arrived with cancellation charges taking the bill to £104.96 and then another bill followed with a reduced sum of £104.78 as they had overcharged on VAT!!!

 

Immediately I rang Virgin and told them that I had not been informed of the cancellation charges when I cancelled and did not wish to pay the cancellation charges added to my bill.

 

The agent agreed I had a dispute and cancelled the direct debit payment there and then and informed me he would get somebody to call me back to resolve the issue. This never happened.

 

About 10 days ago, I received a final demand letter from Virgin and I rang again and explained that they had not told me about the cancellation charges when I cancelled. I was told that if I did not wish to pay it, then they would pass it on to Moorcroft debt recovery (ENTER STAGE LEFT).

 

Bemused by this, even though I have offered to pay the £42.90 and nothing more, thought that it would be some time before moorcroft got in touch (not my first dealing with them). How wrong could I be, just 3 days later, a letter arrived from Moorcroft the usual pre court division letter asking for the money and then lo and behold a phonecall this morning (14th October).

 

Woman/beast on the phone informed me already that I had a credit default on file due to this as soon as it had been passed to them and that I should pay now. She also said that as it was a service that I took out I didn't need to sign a CCA, so there was no point in wasting time in asking for one.

 

Now the big question after all the above blurb, is she right? I want to pay the £42.90 that I owe and not the £104.78.

 

As my agreement was taken out over the phone, can I still ask for a CCA or which route should I go down from here on in.

 

Any help gratefully appreciated. In the past, I paid the blighters at moorcroft when they took on a HSBC debt and I made them a silly offer that they accepted. Shall I do the same again and make then an offer for the £42.90 that I do owe Virgin?

 

Bootedup

Edited October 14, 2009 by bootedup

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Write to VM complaining about these issues, and ask for a copy of their complaints procedure.

Personally I would not waste time making any telephone calls, to either VM or Moorcroft you will be lied too.

 

Andy

[Bazooka Boo]

As Andy has said above phone calls and emails sent to VM who are by far the worst company I have ever come across for customer service, will ignore all of your emails and phone calls.

Tell your bank expressley not to pay VM anything Pay VM the 40 quid odd, then you can be safe in the knowledge that you have legitamately paid what you believe you owe them.

 

The cancellation fee, they should provide you with explicit proof that you were indeed aware of this and that the advisor you rang did in fact admit to you that you would not be charged a cancellation fee.

 

You will normaly have to send them a 'letter' marked 'formal complaint'

To their complaints department.

 

Then once they have suitably ignored that, giving them a healthy 14 days in which to reply to your letter,(not the complaint)

Send your next letter to the 'Customer Loyalty Manager' again giving them 14 days in which to reply to your lette, then when they ignore you, and they will, send out two further letters, both with the same content, but one too the MD Who I believe is still Trevor Elliot, and the other to his CEO @ Customer Support, who used to be Tammy Adler.

 

Then and only then should you expect anyone to fully read your complaint and take any interest in your concern whatsoever.

 

I will never recommend this abysmal company to any of my friends or family, ever!

It took me over eight months to get any coherent response to a simple complaint from these imbeciles, as soon as I can give my money to Sky TV the better.

 

Tell VM you will not under any circumstances deal with Moorcr@p, you will pay them the 40 quid odd and will have nothing else to do with them or anyone they see fit to employ to do their dirty work.

 

Your next complaint, as was mine, against VM should be with CISAS CISAS

[bootedup]

Hi to Andy and Bazooka Boo,

 

Thanks for the advice from both of you. You are so right about the being lied to. The beast at Moorcroft told me that they had bought the debt yet today I have received yet another revised bill off Virgin, which suggests that the debt has not been sold at all.

 

I will pay the £42ish that I owe them and then write formal letters of complaint as suggested.

 

Who would have thought in this day and age, that a company that I have paid money to for over 5 years and never missed a bill, would cause so much agro over a disconnection issue. The really stupid thing is that my gf's house has Virgin Media and due to this we are thinking about disconnecting here also abnd moving to Sky. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot!!!

 

I will keep this thread updated as to what happens.

 

Cheers

 

Bootedup

Edited October 21, 2009 by bootedup
Did not see new reply

[2Grumpy]

And it's worth telling them that in your letters

[Bazooka Boo]

Who would have thought in this day and age, that a company that I have paid money to for over 5 years and never missed a bill, would cause so much agro over a disconnection issue.

 

They do not care about your loyalty whatsoever, all they want is your money, and as long as they get it they are happy, as soon as they don't, then they show you their true colours.

[bootedup]

An Update for you

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Would you adam and eve it. After being told by Moorcroft that they now owned the debt and that if I paid Virgin media anything it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. Yesterday morning in the post I received a litigation letter from Moorcroft and next to it an amended invoice from Virgin Media.

 

The amendment was for only £1.18 due to being overcharged on VAT, but if the debt was now owned by Moorcroft, why would Virgin do this.

 

Pure genius indeed on behalf of the lying scumbags at moorcroft.

 

I am relishing this at the moment and have made the £42 odd payment to Virgin and will wait and see if I still get letters off both companies. Surely, there is something seriously not right with this!!!

 

I will be back

[F_DCAs]

Bazooka Boo is spot on about VM - they referred my account to collections AFTER I gave them switch-of-bank-details. I told them they still trying to take payments from my old account was their problem, and my internet connection was hit and miss anyway - for which I'm paying nothing.

 

It literally took me 5 calls to cancel the b****y thing and there've been tons of junk mail persuading to go back ever since. Not a cat in Hell's chance of that ever happening again.

 

As for Moorcroft, if you're dealing with VM (god help you), then Moorcroft can be cancelled out.

Edited October 27, 2009 by F_DCAs

[Bazooka Boo]

An Update for you

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Would you adam and eve it. After being told by Moorcroft that they now owned the debt and that if I paid Virgin media anything it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

 

Yes I would!

 

Moorcr@p have this knack of making themselves sound really important over the phone, but their feelings of grandeur are short lived when they are put back in the dirty dark hole by a CAGger.

 

I wouldn't worry at all about them, you've paid your dues to those that really matter (VM) and you can start a new hobby with Moorcr@p if you like?--DCA Baiting:D

 

It really is so much fun, but you must record your phone-calls, for that added defence..

 

Boo

[bootedup]

First update for November,

 

Sent Virgin the money that I owe them and not the money they are claiming and then heard off Moorcroft again today with a less threatening letter but one that says that I should propose a regular monthly payment before they are willing to talk.

 

The jokers completely forgot to put on the letter how much was outstanding but they probably don't know now that I have paid Virgin some money. How can you make a proposal if you don't know how mcu is owed, genius!

 

I also sent Virgin the complaint letter at the end of last month giving them 14 days to reply and as of today, nothing, the 14th day.

 

I think a 2nd complaint letter is coming on to Virgin and a leave me alone letter to Moorcroft. I think they are getting a bit bored to be honest. This proposal letter seems to be a bit of a step back and especially now that the debt has fallen under £100.

[bootedup]

A further update for November with some important news!!!!

 

VICTORY, VICTORY and the sweet smell of success is in the air.

 

After yet another complaint letter to the Virgin Media complaints department giving them 7 days to respond or I will consider the matter closed. I received a phone call last night saying that I still owed the money and that was that but Moorcroft had been called off and then this morning the breaktrhough.

 

A jolly nice fellow from the complaints department rang to say that the debt had been wiped clean and that my account balance was now nothing, zilch, nadder and apologised for the way that I had been treated from the off and that Moorcroft were naughty boys and it was a shame that Virgin used them as it gave them a bad name (here here!). The way I had been treated was not the way that a good customer should have been treated.

 

So, the advice given by andy and bazooka boy (much thanks for that by the way) is worth following if you want to get anywhere and the golden rule is definitely definitely never speak to Moorcroft as a) you will lose your rag with them b) they will lie to you unless you tell them that you are recording the conversation and c) just stick to writing to them at all times.

 

Thanks once again for advice given, now how do I put one of those success things under my future posts.

 

[Bazooka Boo]

WELL DONE!!!

 

It never happens overnight, so 'slowly slowly, catchy monkey' is the order of the day with any dispute, especially with the horrendous VM8)

 

Well done though.. Good News..