Virgin Media has been fined £28m after making it difficult for customers to cancel their TV and broadband contracts.
Media regulator Ofcom says “millions of calls” were likely mishandled over nearly a three-year period after the company split its retention team into two tiers, only one of which could actually process cancellations.
After receiving “significant volumes of complaints” from affected customers, Ofcom launched an investigation which revealed “systemic and repeated failings” in the firm’s procedures.
It says “millions of calls made by customers between 1 January 2022 to 11 September 2024 were likely to have been mishandled by call agents in order to delay or prevent customers from cancelling and switching to a competitor.”
The decision to split the teams forced “over a million” customers “to repeat their request to at least one further agent to stand any chance of having their cancellation processed.”
Even when they did reach the correct team, customers’ requests were subject to “widespread and, in many cases, deliberate mishandling” by retention team agents.
Behaviours and tactics identified by Ofcom include “repeated attempts to pressure customers to stay, even when they had made it clear they wanted to cancel; unnecessary or excessive call transfers to other departments; excessively, unnecessarily and repeatedly keeping customers on hold; deliberately dropping calls; and failing to process cancellations on the system.”
The regulator claims “Virgin Media effectively encouraged the use of these behaviours to deter customers from cancelling by financially rewarding them through its commission scheme.”
It adds that “training and guidance for agents also failed to prevent these behaviours while inadequate quality assurance and monitoring meant they were often overlooked.”
“Additionally, the company did not have proper oversight of its third-party call centres or quality monitoring.”
The penalty includes a 30% reduction after Virgin Media admitted its failing and agreed to settle the case.
It’s since made improvements to its procedures and processes and must carry out a review within the next 6 months to ensure all affected customers who complained “received the compensation or other remedies they were entitled to.”
Natalie Black, Ofcom’s Group Director, Infrastructure and Connectivity, said: “The facts are clear. Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully cooperate with our investigation.
“As a result, we are levelling our largest ever fine under our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers.”