I’ve been a Virgin Media customer for more than 20 years but I am at the end of my tether over a £17.99 a month charge for streaming subscriptions that keep on mysteriously appearing on my bill.
Our contract is for TV and broadband at £55 a month. We pay each month by direct debit and never use any extras or charged-for services. We have separate subscriptions for things like Netflix and Amazon Prime and pay for them directly.
In December, when we first received a bill with this extra £17.99, I contacted the firm and was told that I had added it to my package the previous month. I know I didn’t, as we were on holiday.
All my attempts since to get this removed have failed. Despite more than 20 different advisers assuring me this issue has been resolved, the charge keeps appearing on my bills.
I am offered goodwill credits of £12 when I have been overcharged £17.99 a month. I’ve genuinely been shocked at just how many different agents have promised to resolve this for me, but nothing ever happens.
After one five-hour – yes five-hour – chat, I was cut off.
I have had enough.
LP, Kidderminster
What a sorry tale and an incredible waste of everyone’s time – not least yours, and including that of Virgin Media’s staff. Spending five hours on a chat must be some kind of record, especially given the matter was still not resolved.
Happily, Virgin Media has, after Guardian Money’s intervention, finally got its act together and sorted out what had happened.
It has established the Netflix subscription was added to your account by an agent in error – probably by mistyping an account number. It has confirmed that the item will not appear on your bill again, repaid the £144 it had overcharged you, and offered an additional £222 to say sorry.
You are just delighted you won’t have to contact it again.
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