We've all been there, hitting a brick wall when dealing with a big company and a customer service department that doesn't work. But for Virgin Media customers this couldn't have happened at a worse time.
We spoke to three customers who tried to make simple changes to contracts with the company after the death of a parent, but instead became embroiled in lengthy battles. So using the power of the internet, Watchdog helped them cause a stir at the top.
Watchdog received more complaints about Virgin Media than any other when it came to problems concerning the death of a contract holder. In many cases, Virgin Media had sent letters and bills to people they knew had died.
When Tom Holland's dad died, his mum wanted to keep the Virgin Media package that was in his dad's name. But he says Virgin cut off the service after hearing about the death without telling anyone, leaving his mum to organise a funeral without a landline phone or broadband.
Tom said: "We felt really angry.. we feel victimised. You can't treat customers like this. You can't kick them when they're down. We had to go through the trauma of losing our dad."
Peter Whitmarsh suffered in a similar way. When his dad died, he also wanted to transfer the contract, so his step mum could keep the Virgin service. But the company cancelled the direct debit instead of transferring it, and didn't tell the family. Virgin then chased the outstanding bills which his step mother thought were being paid.
Peter said: "Virgin Media kept sending letters and making phone calls threatening to cut her off. It was very upsetting for her."
The saga with Virgin lasted four months and involved numerous phone calls and letters.
"The final letters that came were sent to my dad who'd died three months previous. It's a horror story," he added.
When Cindy Mills' mother died, she was in credit with Virgin Media. But Cindy had to battle for three months to get back around £11 that her mum was owed.
Cindy said it was like they were trying to steal from her mum. "I would say half of the calls I made to Virgin were with me in tears. Of all the companies I had to deal with, Virgin was the worse," she said.
They all tried writing to Richard Branson: high-profile figure head of the entire Virgin Group. More than 200 companies worldwide bear the Virgin name and though Branson doesn't run them all, the whole brand relies on his reputation and a commitment to customer service.
That's why he's the man our trio want to get to. Although Branson only plays a minor role in the company, they wanted him to get the message. Their cases have now been resolved but they want Richard Branson to hear their complaints, and make sure nobody else is treated in the way they were.
Our trio met advertising guru Chris Arnold who told them that the way to make a big company listen is to get your message on line "in the old days you'd just tell a few friends. Now you can use the internet and tell millions".
So musician Mitch Benn has created this song, and we have released it on You Tube.
Virgin Media have told us:
"Bereavement can be an extremely difficult time and Virgin Media does all it can to ensure the process of cancelling or transferring the account of someone who has passed away is as sympathetic as possible. However, in order to comply with privacy and data protection laws the cancellation process requires us to receive documentation and, where necessary, to run credit checks on new account holders, both of which can take time to complete.
Whilst all three cases presented by Watchdog were unique, unfortunately some elements of the process were not fully communicated to the relatives which resulted in delays. We understand how this may have been upsetting during this emotional time and have undertaken a process and training review to ensure we are able to manage these cases more effectively in future. We can confirm that all the cases brought to our attention were resolved some time ago and we apologise again for any upset and inconvenience which we may have caused.
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Virgin Media 'bills dead people'
We spoke to three customers who tried to make simple changes to contracts with the company after the death of a parent, but instead became embroiled in lengthy battles. So using the power of the internet, Watchdog helped them cause a stir at the top.
Watchdog received more complaints about Virgin Media than any other when it came to problems concerning the death of a contract holder. In many cases, Virgin Media had sent letters and bills to people they knew had died.
When Tom Holland's dad died, his mum wanted to keep the Virgin Media package that was in his dad's name. But he says Virgin cut off the service after hearing about the death without telling anyone, leaving his mum to organise a funeral without a landline phone or broadband.
Tom said: "We felt really angry.. we feel victimised. You can't treat customers like this. You can't kick them when they're down. We had to go through the trauma of losing our dad."
Peter Whitmarsh suffered in a similar way. When his dad died, he also wanted to transfer the contract, so his step mum could keep the Virgin service. But the company cancelled the direct debit instead of transferring it, and didn't tell the family. Virgin then chased the outstanding bills which his step mother thought were being paid.
Peter said: "Virgin Media kept sending letters and making phone calls threatening to cut her off. It was very upsetting for her."
The saga with Virgin lasted four months and involved numerous phone calls and letters.
"The final letters that came were sent to my dad who'd died three months previous. It's a horror story," he added.
When Cindy Mills' mother died, she was in credit with Virgin Media. But Cindy had to battle for three months to get back around £11 that her mum was owed.
Cindy said it was like they were trying to steal from her mum. "I would say half of the calls I made to Virgin were with me in tears. Of all the companies I had to deal with, Virgin was the worse," she said.
They all tried writing to Richard Branson: high-profile figure head of the entire Virgin Group. More than 200 companies worldwide bear the Virgin name and though Branson doesn't run them all, the whole brand relies on his reputation and a commitment to customer service.
That's why he's the man our trio want to get to. Although Branson only plays a minor role in the company, they wanted him to get the message. Their cases have now been resolved but they want Richard Branson to hear their complaints, and make sure nobody else is treated in the way they were.
Our trio met advertising guru Chris Arnold who told them that the way to make a big company listen is to get your message on line "in the old days you'd just tell a few friends. Now you can use the internet and tell millions".
So musician Mitch Benn has created this song, and we have released it on You Tube.
Virgin Media have told us:
"Bereavement can be an extremely difficult time and Virgin Media does all it can to ensure the process of cancelling or transferring the account of someone who has passed away is as sympathetic as possible. However, in order to comply with privacy and data protection laws the cancellation process requires us to receive documentation and, where necessary, to run credit checks on new account holders, both of which can take time to complete.
Whilst all three cases presented by Watchdog were unique, unfortunately some elements of the process were not fully communicated to the relatives which resulted in delays. We understand how this may have been upsetting during this emotional time and have undertaken a process and training review to ensure we are able to manage these cases more effectively in future. We can confirm that all the cases brought to our attention were resolved some time ago and we apologise again for any upset and inconvenience which we may have caused.
Leave your comments below.
Virgin Media 'bills dead people'