Clingy Virgin Media fined £28M for refusing to take the hint

UK comms regulator Ofcom has fined Virgin Media 28 million for repeatedly obstructing customers seeking to switch broadband, pay TV, and landline providers, or to cancel their contract with the company. The watchdog says it uncovered deliberate stalling tactics by Virgin Media agents, including dropping calls, repeatedly putting customers on hold for no reason, and excessive and unnecessary call transfers between agents. Millions of calls made by customers between January 1, 2022, and September 11, 2024, were likely to have been mishandled, Ofcom says. Virgin Media encouraged staff to use this tactic to deter customers from canceling by financially rewarding them through its commission scheme, the regulator adds. Complaints about Virgin Media making it difficult for customers to cancel their contracts stretch back years. Ofcom's rules - known as General Conditions - clearly specify that the procedures telecom firms have in place must not act as a disincentive for customers who wish to cancel their contract. "The facts are clear. Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully cooperate with our investigation. As a result, we are leveling our largest ever fine under our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers," said Ofcom group director Natalie Black. The penalty includes a 30 percent reduction on the sum that Virgin Media could have been charged because the company admitted its failings and agreed to settle the case. This is despite Ofcom saying that customers experienced significant harm, the company repeatedly failed to act to correct the situation, and it did not comply with the regulator's information gathering process during its investigation. Worst of all, Virgin Media was previously fined for a breach of the same rules in 2018. "Today, we are sending a clear message that any provider who willfully acts against the interests of their customers will pay a heavy price. And by introducing the One Touch Switch Process, we've put in place further safeguards to prevent this from happening again," Black added. In a statement sent to The Register, Virgin Media said: "We're committed to giving all our customers great service and apologise to the small proportion who experienced an issue when contacting us to agree a new deal or cancel their service in the past." "We have completely redesigned our customer services in recent years, addressing the historic shortfalls identified by Ofcom through a number of improvements, and have resolved all formal customer complaints from this period providing redress where appropriate." Virgin Media claims that current Ofcom data shows that it is now the least complained-about broadband provider. The most recent figures seen by The Register ranked the company as better than EE, TalkTalk, and Vodafone in terms of fixed broadband complaints, and joint with Plusnet for the fewest. This is an improvement over the situation at the start of 2024, when Virgin Media topped Ofcom's customer complaints chart, scoring almost double that of the next worst offender at the time, NOW Broadband. (R)