@virginmedia Virgin unilaterally barred some of my services

[casdix]

We've been with Virgin (home phone) for many years (since they were NTL) - never had an issue with paying on time - always paid by Direct Debit.

 

We had a voicemail message asking us to call 150 last week, but to be honest I thought it might be a sales call, so didn't phone back. On Tuesday my son said he hadn't been able to call me on my mobile phone. I tried and it was giving a discontinued tone, so I called to report it as a fault.

 

I was told I would need to be put through to another department, who told me that mobile phone and international calls had been barred from my phone on 12th April due to the fact we had made £121 of calls last month which was unusually high. The bill had been received and wasn't due for payment until 26th April. They asked me if I'd like to be put through to another department as there were packages which could make my bills cheaper. The bill was high as my mother in law had been ill and we'd made quite a few calls to Australia and Spain. It was by no means the highest bill we've had from Virgin media and, as I've said, we have an exemplary payment record.

 

I said I didn't want to speak to another department and wanted the block removed. The following morning the bar was still in place so I phoned again to complain. I was told it would take 24 hours to remove and so I asked to speak to a manager. My son has learning difficulties and needs to be able to phone me from home if there is a problem. I was told he would call back within the hour.

 

Just over an hour later the manager called and asked whether the bar had been removed. I didn't know as hadn't tried so he said he would hang up and call back in 15 mins. 15 mins later the bar still hadn't been removed - I had to go to work so left the house. No message was left, but the bar had been removed when I got home.

 

I'm pretty sure there is nothing in their terms and conditions to say they can unilaterally bar my account without telling me about it. If there had been an emergency I would've been stuck without being able to call mobiles or overseas.

 

I'm going to switch to BT without a doubt. Meanwhile I've made a formal complaint which has yet to be acknowledged.