Regulator fines Virgin Media record US$37.4 million over cancellations

LONDON - British telecoms firm Virgin Media has been fined a record £28 million (US$37.4 million) after regulator Ofcom found the firm stopped or delayed customers from switching to different providers through "widespread" and often deliberate mishandling of calls.

The telecoms regulator said it had imposed its largest-ever consumer protection fine after finding that, over a nearly three-year period from January 2022 to September 2024, Virgin Media had caused customers making millions of calls "unreasonable effort, hassle or undue difficulty" when trying to cancel their services.

This included attempts to pressure customers to stay, unnecessary call transfers to other departments, keeping callers on hold, deliberately dropping calls and failing to process cancellations on the system, according to Ofcom.

It said Virgin Media - which was previously fined in 2018 for breaching the same rule - also repeatedly failed to comply with Ofcom’s information-gathering process in the investigation.

Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director, infrastructure and connectivity, said: "The facts are clear. Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully co-operate with our investigation.

"As a result, we are levelling our largest-ever fine under our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers.”

Ofcom said it launched its probe after receiving nearly 2,000 call complaints from Virgin Media broadband, landline and pay-TV customers reporting difficulties in cancelling their contracts.

It found Virgin Media - which merged with mobile giant O2 in 2021 to form Virgin Media O2 - split its retention team into two "tiers” of agents, with only those in the second tier able to process cancellations, which meant customers had to repeat their request to at least one further agent.

Some frustrated customers resorted to cancelling their direct debits, which then impacted their credit score.

Ofcom said Virgin Media encouraged staff to put customers off from cancelling by rewarding them through its commission scheme.

All affected customers must receive the compensation or remedy they are entitled to within six months.

Virgin Media has since overhauled its customer services operation, including improving its commission scheme, training and quality assurance and monitoring.

A Virgin Media spokesperson 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.” - BERNAMA

TAGS: UK, Virgin Media, fine