Just Joined VM and they have cheated me

I signed up online to Virgin Media a few weeks ago. They had a special offer that if you take a phone line they give you 2Meg broadband for �4.50 for the first 12 months.

I went through the online sales picked �11 phone line, plus �3.45 for evening and weekends calls and �4.50 for broadband. Total �18.95 per month - not a bad deal I thought.

Now I'm connected and got my papers through they seem to be charging me �24.95 a month.
Spoke to customer services and they told me I was on the 2 for 20 package plus 3.45 for eve/weekends plus 1.50 for talk mobile.
I told them this was wrong and this is NOT what I signed up for. They said theres nothing I or they could do and that was the package I must have picked. One CSR even said they never heard of the �4.50 broadband (it's been advertised in major newpapers etc!)

I very consiously picked the right package as I made a well informed decision and thought it was a great deal, and they seem to imply that I was lying and their system is cannot be wrong in telling them that I picked the 2 for 20 package. I am very angry as I know what I picked and I know their system put me on the wrong package,

I am fuming as I signed up for a super deal and they are not giving me that.

Any ideas what I can do ? The CSR was very rude and refused to believe me and said the only thing I could do was write to customer services or cancel it within 30 days.

I would phone them on 150 and tell them you want to cancel. With any luck they will ask you why and then you can tell them. You might well find that they suddenly can give you the deal you wanted!! Like most companies these days the people you speak to when you cancel seem to have more options than normal CS staff, so I would be amazed if they let a new mug (sorry customer) go so easily!!

One other thing - dont start off all guns blazing as it will get their back up and they might just let you cancel to spite you. Save the shouting etc for if they dont want to know!!

Good luck!!

Cheers Grim

Thanks, Will do that. I don't really want to cancel, as even at �24.95 it's a good deal and it would cost me more to get a new BT line installed (�125) and then take a seperate ADSL provider.

IANAL.

Sounds like Virgin Media entered into a contract with you which they are now backing away from. If they refuse to honour the original deal you may now have a claim against them for "loss of bargain" (which is where someone offers to provide something to you for some price, but then backs out).

In practical terms, unless you were absolutely [censored] sure of yourself, and really wanted lots of hassle you will probably have to settle with either
- cancelling under breach of contract
- cancelling under their 30 day cooling off
- accepting the deal.

As the other chap said, don't go in all guns blazing, but do know exactly what you want to achieve with them and don't let them get away without giving it to you.

Recorded delivery letters to offices of CEOs can often get good results.

Must say censoring bl**dy is a little OTT!

We had the same issue.

We got a call one day from a VM sales rep offering us a whole lot for very little. We accepted, but when the bill came through it ended up being more than what we payed before. After about 6 phone calls, we managed to get through to a manager who said he'd see what he could do. Eventually, we got a call back from him saying that he sorted the issue out and that we'd be getting the deal that was offered.

Thanks guys/gals.

I decided that I was too miffed to stay with them as I had just joined and this is how I was treated. So phoned to cancel and they soon sorted it all out and am now paying 19.95 for the same deal.

Definitely don't pay for a BT line in the hope of getting better deals. I have 'up to 8Mb' from BT and 4Mb from Virgin (cable). My Virgin speed is invariably between 3 and 4 (except at peak times) but the BT is often lower. Depends on line distance, of course, but I'm not that far from the exchange!

Be sure to check your next bill. Also, take down names of staff you speak to (forename and surname) as it can be useful and also dates (and possibly times) when you called.

Fingers crossed it was sorted