Contracts must be honoured by Virgin customers
Following an investigation by Ofcom over the loss of Sky channels from Virgin Media's television package, the regulatory body stated that customers had to be given a chance to leave the Virgin service without any additional penalties being imposed for doing so – this was due to the reduced service being provided through the reduction in available channels. Virgin Media agreed that it would let customer leave without penalty providing they did so by the end of March this year.
With the deadline past, the company now states that existing customers must honour their contracts or face the standard fees and penalties. However, the company has also pointed out that it does not want to lose customers as a result of the loss of a few Sky channels, and although customers are now being made to stick to their contracts, those ringing Virgin Media to complain about the reduced service are being offered various deals, improved services, and freebies. The move by Virgin is a bid to try and retain its customer base following the major row with Sky over payment for certain Sky channels.
Those calling Virgin and expressing a wish to leave due to the removal of the Sky channels are being offered a range of options in a bid to make them stay. This includes upgrades on broadband speeds and upgraded television packages. Virgin has also promised that the speed of its top Internet package – which is current 10MB – will be doubling to 20MB in May, which could also help the company to keep hold of some customers that may otherwise have thought about leaving.
Various sky channels, including Sky News and Sky One, were removed from Virgin Media television packages after the row over the cost of these channels erupted.
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