'A Virgin Media error left us without broadband for six weeks'

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Dear Which?,

We were recently in the process of selling our house. The prospective buyer used Virgin Media’s ‘Gone Away’ process to arrange for their broadband to be transferred to our property.

This service involves Virgin Media contacting the existing occupier to confirm we want to terminate our contract. If there's no response, a 14-day suspension is applied before the termination goes ahead.

Unfortunately, when the house sale fell through, Virgin Media disconnected our service, despite having received instructions to the contrary.

We ended up having to pay a hefty disconnection charge and the cost of arranging a third-party internet connection, which ran to £150. We were left without service for a total of 44 days. 

We have made in excess of 30 phone calls and spent around six hours at a time on Virgin Media's online chat services to try and resolve the issue. Could you please help?

Carol and David Hill*, location withheld

Put to Rights

Daljinder Nagra, Which? senior researcher, says:

It’s disconcerting to think that a stranger could interfere with your broadband simply by contacting your service provider.

Virgin Media’s service is supposed to make it easier for people moving home to transfer their broadband, but in this instance things clearly didn’t go to plan.

When we approached Virgin Media, it initially claimed it hadn’t heard from you during the suspension period. It said it considered the matter resolved as the service had been reconnected and all costs incurred had been refunded as a goodwill gesture.

However, as Virgin Media is signed up to the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme, you were entitled to £8.40 for each day you were disconnected. It failed to inform you of this.

Virgin Media told us that the compensation hadn’t been applied in your case due to an individual call handler not following processes correctly. It apologised for the error and confirmed it would credit you with the full amount owed - a total of £310.80.

Need to know:

• If you’ve been affected by a loss of telephone or broadband service, see if your supplier is signed up to the automatic compensation scheme at Ofcom.org.uk.
• If you're concerned about the speed of your broadband, use our speed checker to see how your service compares and get advice on improving your connection.

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This article originally appeared in Which? Computing magazine as part of our Put to Rights series that investigates readers' problems.

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*Not their real names.