Virgin Media

I signed up with virgin media as they were the only supplier in my area. At first I was satisfied; annoying that the service would drop on the evening, but otherwise satisfied.

They kept phoning me to offer an upgrade to my broadband, which I said I didnt need.

Someone then phoned me to offer a speed upgrade and offered to include a free TV box as part of the upgrade. So I accepted.

6 months later the cost shot up to over £150 a month, turns out the free tv box was because a atV package was included in the new package; free for so many months but then charged a lot on contract,

Unhappy, but blaming myself I waited to cancel this new service. Out of contract cancelling the service was HARD, but I eventually managed to do that. Of course they said I had to return the free tv box now or get charged, but not offered a means to return it.

They wanted me to take a new contract to stay with them, and offered me a contract that was all the features Id said I wasnt using, free TV for 6 months then more expensive than I was paying at the moment for 18.

I instructed them I wanted only broadband, so they offered me an expensive price for 6 months and then even more for 18.

I took the more expensive price of £67 as they assured me that I would be free to cancel any time as I wasnt under contract.

So I kept that until installation of a new service that was much cheaper 2 weeks later.

Can I cancel now. Oh no; even though Id repeatedly asked if I could cancel the service I was now told that they needed at least 30 days notice in order to prepare their personnel to fully disconnect my service. So I asked what that meant as I wanted the cancellation to take place at the end of the current billing period.

This was abjectly refused as they needed the notice, and my service would not be cancelled until 10th December. Then the man I was speaking too (said his name was John) offered to do me a favour, he would cancel the last contact Id made with them so as to end all of my services simultaneously on the 10th December.

I pointed out that this was the exact sane date anyway, and the way he was suggesting meant that I would also be paying for the expensive packages Id already cancelled.

He told me he could not confirm that and could not discuss final bill until I had agreed to this.

I obviously did not agree to reversing the cancellation of the expensive packages; and so then he changed his mind again. Said I would have to wait till the 10th December when my expensive package was cancelled and only then could I give my 30 days notice on the broadband package.

This is when I started typing all in caps to say this was not going to happen; which is when my chat experienced a glitch and I could not speak to anyone any more.

Tried phoning; the automatic number and it asked for my mobile number to communicate via text. Text cane through asking for my mobile number to communicate through Watsap. Watsap message then gave me 2 options; 1 do live chat with John; or 2 stay in Watsap, but the stay in Wastsap was just to restart the conversation in an endless loop until I agreed to Live chat.

Eventually I spoke to someone on the phone and they have agreed to cancel my broadband from today as long as I give them the 30 days notice; and that my equipment must be returned or I will be charged.

Asked to trust them that they will be in touch later to provide means of returning equipment. No apologies made for the way I was treated and told it was my fault if false promises had been made as I hadnt arranged for any friends to listen in to the phone calls.

(Not like they dont have recordings or anything)

I have never in my life dealt with such an unpleasant; dishonest company, and their actual service is terrible. They perform updates on the broadband during peak hours of the evening, thereby leaving you without service, and their mobile signal goes completely absent in large parts of Birmingham.

I have been with virgin for over a decade. Where they used to be excellent they are now disgracefully lacking.

I have already cancelled my own subscription and am close to cancelling that of my elderly relative.

All I need to do is order a replacement remote control - so far we are at an hour and counting trying to get through on the chat bot.

Ordinarily I would use the online systems but these do not work and send you round in eternal loops with no other option but to comply with their impossible requests.

I used to recommend them to everyone - now I tell people to steer clear as far as they possibly can.

Only Sky are worse than this shower of sparks!