[aehnorwich]

When VoD started my mother found that she was not being charged for films she purchased. We wrote to CS and - although we never received a reply - the monthly bills did start to show the films she had purchased. They never charged for the earlier ones she had seen which had prompted our letter.

Now we find that last month one film was omitted from the bill and this month only one film was showing on the bill and that was in between other films that were not charged for.

Has anyone else had this experience?

We have spoken to CS and they assure us that no other films are showing on their records. That is to be expected of course. CS have not suggested there is a fault and on the one occasion we spoke to the Faults departmentt they referred us back to CS saying it is an accounts matter.

As with all the modern call centre type operations it is almost impossible to find a person who is willing to take on responsibility for finding out what might be wrong. They simply tell you everything looks fine at their end and thank you for calling. It is extremely frustrating and worrying.

Can anyone suggest what steps we might take. Watching movies for free might sound a good idea but it isn't the right thing to do in the long term. Unfortunately it's only when the following bill arrives that we find out what has and has not been charged for!

Thanks

[intheknow]

I'd carry on watching free after you've informed them once, the new laws on bill collections say that a company can only go back 6 months anyway.

[s9s]

shhhhh!!! thee's been a couple of films that Ive not been charged for, but its not my job to do the billing for Virgin.

[bignoise]

Originally Posted by s9s

shhhhh!!! thee's been a couple of films that Ive not been charged for

Don't worry, they're probably appearing on someone else's bill.

[cabletron]

My god you wrote do VM to tell them you were watching free movies?! your mad! You must have one hell of a concience to do that. Your going to heaven mate!

[aehnorwich]

Originally Posted by cabletron

My god you wrote do VM to tell them you were watching free movies?! your mad! You must have one hell of a concience to do that. Your going to heaven mate!

Aaaahhh! Thanks.

What's more comical is that I suggested to my mother that we write again and her reply was strange to hear coming from an 82 year old! Needless to say we are not pursuing that option!

[cabletron]

Originally Posted by aehnorwich

Aaaahhh! Thanks.

What's more comical is that I suggested to my mother that we write again and her reply was strange to hear coming from an 82 year old! Needless to say we are not pursuing that option!

Dont blame you, it's like you have your very own freeview blockbuster's in your living room! lol

I know they are not VoD movies but I haven't been charged for watching any WWE pay per view since Armageddon last December.

I ordered:
Royal Rumble
WrestleMania
Judgment Day
and Vengeance

[Ginger Nut]

Originally Posted by ryanwilliams479

I know they are not VoD movies but I haven't been charged for watching any WWE pay per view since Armageddon last December.

I ordered:
Royal Rumble
WrestleMania
Judgment Day
and Vengeance

They're probably just embarrassed for you.



Seriously though. If they could get stuff like this right they wouldn't need to charge 25p min for the broadband fault line would they, for example.

I once worked at a very well known building society/bank. Wrote them an application to "find" all the unresolved monies knocking about in just one of their systems. The first run identified over £7m swilling about in the system. They quickly set about recovering the "lost" cash.

Big companies just don't see the "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves"

[aehnorwich]

Originally Posted by ryanwilliams479

I know they are not VoD movies but I haven't been charged for watching any WWE pay per view since Armageddon last December.

I ordered:
Royal Rumble
WrestleMania
Judgment Day
and Vengeance

This has got me wondering whether a significant number of people are having this 'luck' but choosing not to tell CS - and therefore the common problem is not being identified. I wonder what system they have for monitoring the type of issues raised in all the calls they receive. Can they easily identify a new problem? Incredibly they don't really seem to care.

The fact my mother never received a reply to her letter seems to say a lot.
The current system of Call Centres and centralised operations means there is little space or time for consideration of and a personalised response to an individual's problem. It is not just VM that are like this I'm afraid.

[Steven L Hunter]

Are you ex NTL or ex Telewest?

[aehnorwich]

Originally Posted by Steven Gray

Are you ex NTL or ex Telewest?

My mother is ex NTL (ex C&W ex Bell Cablemedia ...)

[zantarous]

Originally Posted by aehnorwich

Aaaahhh! Thanks.

What's more comical is that I suggested to my mother that we write again and her reply was strange to hear coming from an 82 year old! Needless to say we are not pursuing that option!

You have done the right thing informing them, make sure you keep copies of letters that you have sent, keep a note of the time and date that you have call Virgin to inform them and the name of the agent that you have spoken to. If you have the ability of recording a call do that as well.

I am really going to look into recoding calls that I make to call centres as the amount of times they go back on what a agent has told me makes my blood boil. With all this evidence should these charges ever get added to your bill you can provide them with all the times you have tried to contact them.

[jonat8]

I don't buy many VoD movies but I find, on average, it takes at least 2-3 months for them to appear on my bill.

[aehnorwich]

Originally Posted by jonat8

I don't buy many VoD movies but I find, on average, it takes at least 2-3 months for them to appear on my bill.

Thanks for that information. It suggests there is a 'system' but not an easily understandable one!

I am surprised more people haven't said they have had a similar experience to yours.

Originally Posted by aehnorwich

This has got me wondering whether a significant number of people are having this 'luck' but choosing not to tell CS - and therefore the common problem is not being identified. I wonder what system they have for monitoring the type of issues raised in all the calls they receive. Can they easily identify a new problem? Incredibly they don't really seem to care.

The fact my mother never received a reply to her letter seems to say a lot.
The current system of Call Centres and centralised operations means there is little space or time for consideration of and a personalised response to an individual's problem. It is not just VM that are like this I'm afraid.

I have told CS though like 3 times as I know sooner or later I'm gonna end up with a hefty bill and they keep saying it'l be on my next bill but it never is.

Last time they said theres no record of me ordering them or something.

[aehnorwich]

Originally Posted by ryanwilliams479

I have told CS though like 3 times as I know sooner or later I'm gonna end up with a hefty bill and they keep saying it'l be on my next bill but it never is.

Last time they said theres no record of me ordering them or something.

It should be clear to someone somewhere whether this is a fault with a certain type of STB or just part of the accounts software etc. or something else.

I'm pleased to learn that at least one other person has had the same 'problem' and received the same unhelpful response.
You'd think they would want to investigate this for us - but apparently not! And it's all income they are losing as someone else said.

[LocalHero]

I think they ended up on my bill. The June bill landed with a thud on the door mat. There were no less than 6 pages of itemised on-demand movies, music videos etc, totalling £280 !

After speaking to customer services, faults, retentions and then back to customer services it turned out that after I upgraded to V+ last March, whoever inherited my old Samsung box has been having a great time at my expense !

Needless to say CS promised to update the records and not take the £280 from my bank. Will see tomorrow....

[DJ-badboy]

What happens, is you place a PPV/VOD purchase, this is then stored on the card. Virgin Media then place a signal to all boxes (a callback) asking for any PPV purchases to bill this to the customer.

Delays can occur in this process due to numerous reasons, such as no return path, area issues, return path being blocked e.t.c.

If you have been charged for a PPV over 3 months old then this would be refunded (from personal experience).

If your not being billed then faults will pass you back to CS, this should not be the case, if you have purchased and honest enough in admitting (kudos btw) then the faults team should check the return path & send a callback signal to the box.

Customer service can only deal with it, once it becomes an account issue (i.e. you have been billed/incorrectly billed for it).

[aehnorwich]

Originally Posted by DJ-badboy

What happens, is you place a PPV/VOD purchase, this is then stored on the card. Virgin Media then place a signal to all boxes (a callback) asking for any PPV purchases to bill this to the customer.

Delays can occur in this process due to numerous reasons, such as no return path, area issues, return path being blocked e.t.c.

If you have been charged for a PPV over 3 months old then this would be refunded (from personal experience).

If your not being billed then faults will pass you back to CS, this should not be the case, if you have purchased and honest enough in admitting (kudos btw) then the faults team should check the return path & send a callback signal to the box.

Customer service can only deal with it, once it becomes an account issue (i.e. you have been billed/incorrectly billed for it).

Thanks for that - it was very helpful.

I understand CS when they say the bill is correct because from their point of view it is.

But as you say it is very frustrating to be passed from faults back to CS when it is quite clearly a faults matter - and presumably anyone in the faults dept should have enough knowledge to understand what might be happening.
I have spoken to them on her behalf when visiting and have heard the same lack of concern.

Sadly after a number of calls - and a letter - the will to pursue the matter rather dies and one is left in the uncomfortable position of knowing one is receiving a chargeable item for free!
My mother refuses to call them or write again and it is me rather than her who is left feeling distinctly unhappy.

We made our forth call to them today as we got our bill and still no charge and they are still insistant we did not order them and my younger bros watched the repeatsthe next day. I give up its their loss at the end of the day.

[lisa_wolves_1]

Originally Posted by ryanwilliams479

We made our forth call to them today as we got our bill and still no charge and they are still insistant we did not order them and my younger bros watched the repeatsthe next day. I give up its their loss at the end of the day.

if u have already advised them on more than 1 occasion this will show up on your acc tht u have been in contact & told them....if uv told em thn dont worry - like a previous poster said [im no good with names sorry] it can take 3 mnths to come through onto th bill & update the card in your box - anythin after tht - tough - their problem int it! enjoy ur freebies !!!