𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Ofcom has fined Virgin Media a record £28 million for preventing or delaying customers from switching to another provider.

The regulator said that the telecoms firm had mishandled calls over a near three-year period.

Its “widespread” and deliberate mishandling had caused customers on millions of calls “unreasonable effort, hassle or undue difficulty” when trying to cancel, Ofcom said.

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.

Virgin Media was previously fined in 2018 for breaching the same rule.

The telecoms giant also repeatedly failed to comply with Ofcom’s information-gathering process in the investigation, the regulator 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,” Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director, infrastructure and connectivity, said.

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

“Today, we are sending a clear message that any provider who wilfully acts against the interests of their customers will pay a heavy price.”

Ofcom said that 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.

The fine, which must be made within the next two months, will be passed on to the Treasury.

All affected customers must also have received compensation or the 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.”

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