ASK TONY: Virgin charged me £355 for a TiVo box I never had - but they refuse to believe me and won't refund my cash
I have had an account with Virgin Media for broadband for a number of years.
While doing a financial check on the services and utilities we receive, I discovered Virgin Media has been charging us for supplying TV channels via a TiVo box.
I have never had a Virgin Media TiVo box. Virgin Media insists it installed one last year, but I receive my TV channels from Sky.
I asked Virgin to inspect my property so it could see I did not have a TiVo box, but it refused, arguing I could hide it!
The only way to stop them charging us for TV was to cancel the contract and take out a new one for the supply of broadband, which we have done.
They will not discuss a refund for the overpayment for a service we never had.
J. W., London.
Accused: Virgin charged one reader £355 for a TiVo box which they never ordered or received
Your letter would be funny were it not so serious. In a nutshell, you tell me Virgin claimed to provide a service, charged you for it, forced you to cancel and restart your contract, then refused a refund.
This really sounds like a big company bullying a consumer.
Plus, their staff basically accused you of lying by suggesting you might have the TiVo box and be prepared to disconnect and hide it.
Once I made contact, Virgin apologised and returned the £355 in charges. But it made no mention of any compensation. This is something I feel you deserve given the way you have been treated.
When I pressed, Virgin still insisted its records ‘show very clearly that TiVo was installed in 2013 and still active in April this year . . . and we feel our offer of a full refund is more than fair’.
So if Virgin makes an error on its records - as you maintain it did - and takes your money, it won’t even pay enough restitution to cover your lost interest.
Incidentally, others should take a leaf out of your book and do periodic financial checks. You never know what anomalies it might turn up.
I had a pension policy with Aviva that was supposed to pay a monthly pension from 2009, but I have not received anything.
I’ve asked them to send me details of the pension and what has happened, but have heard nothing.
M. D., Crewe, Cheshire.
Sometimes there’s a simple explanation for problems and this is one such case.
You have not been receiving a monthly pension because you took the whole amount as a lump sum!
Aviva says you had a defined benefit pension - the sort that guarantees how much you will receive rather than being linked to the stock market.
You were given two options. The first was an income of £614 a year guaranteed for a minimum of five years, even if you died, plus a spouse’s pension after your death.
The second was a tax-free lump sum payment of £5,526 plus a spouse’s pension after your death. You opted for the latter.
Your money was paid, but keep a record because the spouse’s pension is active and will be paid to your wife if you die before her. Aviva admits it has let you down on the customer service side by not providing a written explanation when you asked for it.
For this it is making a generous goodwill payment of £150.
In terms of goodwill payments, the financial services sector can teach the energy and telecoms sectors a thing or two. Squeezing any sort of goodwill payment out of telecoms firms in particular, even for appalling service failures, can be like getting blood from a stone, as shown by today’s Virgin Media letter.
An Aviva spokesman says: ‘Our customer had been in touch with us a number of times to request clarification in writing. We apologise that we did not do this sooner and for the inconvenience caused.’
I took AA breakdown cover last year on a promotion, setting up a direct debit. When the renewal arrived, the cost had gone up substantially, to £188.30.
This was unattractive not least because I was covering a Suzuki Burgman 650cc maxi scooter that hardly comes out of the garage.
I phoned the AA and was offered a reduced renewal figure for a contract without the unrequired elements of cover (such as Home Start), but I said I wouldn’t decide there and then.
I was told the revised offer would stand, but if I wished to take it up I would have to phone as I had already said I wasn’t going to renew. I arranged cover via my motorcycle brokers and didn’t phone the AA again.
Some weeks later, the AA took £188.30 from my account. Despite sending them several messages, I have still not received a refund.
J. B., Chesterfield, Derbys.
One reason many organisations offer a first-year discount if we sign up to a direct debit is that they hope we won’t make the effort to cancel.
AA has looked at your case and confirms that when you bought your motorcycle, it included free AA cover. After this ended, you bought an extension at the introductory rate.
Then when you called to query the second year premium, AA found a way to reduce the price - as so many organisations do if we make the effort to call.
However, this is where your version of events and that of the AA differs.
AA says its call handler advised you that you would need to call back to cancel the cover or to take up the offer.
It is possible you misunderstood and you didn’t call back, which triggered the direct debit at the original premium. However, AA has now cancelled the cover and refunded the premium.
A spokesman says: ‘We are very sorry to lose Mr B as a customer and to hear he is disappointed with the way his complaint has been handled.’
The lesson here is that if you want to cancel, make 100 per cent sure your message cannot be misunderstood. That’s particularly important when an offer to renew is left in limbo.
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