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VIRGIN MEDIA IS set to pay 100,000 of its customers €3 million in refunds, following an investigation by regulator Comreg into so-called post-cancellation charges.
The probe by Comreg found that Virgin was continuing to charge its customers after services were cancelled.
In a statement, the regulator said Virgin failed to proactively refund customers and instead retained the monies in inactive accounts.
Its investigation concluded that Virgin Media retained these credits contrary to the Communications Regulations Act 2002, sections 45 (1) (a) (ii) and 45 (1) (b).
Comreg informed the company that it intended to seek a High Court restraining order, requiring Virgin Media to cease this practice.
Yesterday, Virgin Media provided formal commitments to Comreg that will see it pay out €3 million to customers that were affected.
Refunds are due to be paid to 100,000 customers by 31 March 2021.
The average refund due to customers is around €33.
Virgin Media will also review all other credits, other than those relating to post-cancellation charges, on any inactive accounts and refund those credits to customers by 30 June 2021.
The company has also established a dedicated helpline in respect of the refund process. It can be reached on 1800 941 770. It will also publish information on the Virgin Media website for customers affected by the issue.
A Virgin Media spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “Virgin Media takes regulatory compliance extremely seriously and it is our position that we are in full compliance with all our regulatory obligations.
“Virgin Media has proactively co-operated with ComReg throughout this entire process and we note the investigation has now concluded.”
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That statement from Virgin is taking the absolute P.
Comreg literally had to force you to refund people and seek a high court injunction yet they’re still maintaining they did nothing wrong.
They should be punished, not just told to undo the damage (because they were caught)- Comreg need to be given more teeth by legislation.
Hopefully Eir next.
@Brian: Eir haven’t paid €2.5m virgin media as against Eir in court
They knew exactly what they were at. You’d tell them you’re leaving, they’d bill you in advance, and when they owed you money, they sit and wait for you to do all the legwork to get the money back
@Life in no motion: Why don’t people just cancel their DD with them AND THEN call them to say “I am outta here”?
@David Corrigan: Because the banks won’t let you as you are in dispute with your supplier and need to show that over time you have tried to engage in “dispute resolution” (emails etc) with your supplier. Only solution is to get new bank card or/and account by saying account compromised or card lost. Mad system….
@mmz: if you cancel a direct debit they can’t take any money. The back doesn’t care about dispute resolution, if you tell them to cancel it they do. Very easy to do on online banking.
@mmz: you can cancel a direct debit online I have done it
@mmz: I’ve cancelled a DD with my bank because of a dispute I was having with a supplier. I had zero issues with the bank when cancelling, they didn’t even ask me the reason. I can’t even see why it’s the business of the bank to know why you are cancelling.
@Jason Ebbs: Agreed, it is your account, not the bank’s. They just manage it. And any dispute with suppliers is between you and them, nothing to do with the bank.
@mmz: never set up a payment with your card number, it’s extremely difficult to cancel. Using your iban and bic is better as you can cancel it easily.
@mmz: not true. I have cancelled DDs on Internet banking a few times over disputes with certain companies.
Believe it or not I have spent more than 6 hours on the phone over the last 6 weeks trying to cancel my virgin media broadband…last call today – which was a very unpleasant conversation- the lady obviously hadn’t had her coffee. I initially called virgin media 12th November to cancel, asked when service would cease, was told 26th Nov. Payment came from my bank account on 11th November so called back again, lady said that it was for service from 28th October to 25th Nov, said that SHE would cancel the account and services would cease 30th November. Called 1st December as didnt receive any email etc re formal cancellation and returning equipment, guy says account hadn’t been cancelled and he would cancel it…still no email etc re formal cancellation. Got text today saying my direct debit didnt go through (I’d cancelled it..only fooking thing that had actually cancelled properly) and to contact them. Called the number and sadly got talking to sheila, she told me hat the account STILL hadn’t been cancelled but on reading the notes I owed 2 weeks as I only gave 2 weeks notice initially(funny really as each time I asked when services would cease it was 14 days from date of call). Told her they wouldn’t be getting anything from me, that it’d cost more for a stamp than the half day I used it on 26th and, if anything, I should bill them for the time I had to spend on the phone trying to get the cancellation done.
@Laura Halpenny: if you haven’t already just cancel your DD. it’s easier to deal with them asking for money from you than it is to try to get money back from them. Keep a log of all your communications with them too. Dates, times and what was said. Oh and ALWAYS get the full name of the person you’re talking to. Do it at the start of the call. You’ll be surprised at how better they’ll treat you once you do this. Make it sound like you’re writing their name down too.
@Ger: Had all that done thank god but sheila got my goat up so I told her they could send me out letters, threaten me with court etc and that’s where the price of a stamp came it. SHE actually slammed the phone down on me lol and it was only over 5weeks not six lol. First time was waiting 42 mins to get to someone…
I know someone who applied for a job in Eir just so he could cancel his own broadband. Said it would be quicker. (Joke)
Eir have been trying to bill me the last 3 months post cancellation. It’s funny because I returned all my equipment via courier and even got credited the first month after I ended the contract. Safe to say that DD was cancelled straight away!
That’s grand but how many millions were they fined for knowingly doing this?
That’s what you get with these large companies, customers are not respected and loyalty is long since forgotten.
Don’t give them an inch when you have to deal with them.
That’s grand but how many millions were they fined for knowingly doing this???
Eir have been trying to bill me constantly the past 3 months post cancellation even though they actually credited me a month after the cancellation. Safe to say, I stopped that direct debit straight away.
They’re also still charging 23%.
Is that right or should it be 21% for the six months beginning September 1st 2020?
These should be thrown out of the country
.
have your say