Good thing that in the US we hold capitalism in high regard so no ISP would ever make it hard to cancel.
[dead]
I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
51–60 of 153 posts
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#52Nothing is harder than cancelling internet service, with the possible exception of cancelling a gym membership. In order to cancel Mediacom's 'service,' I had to send a letter[1] to them, with copies to their general counsel, threatening 99 kinds of lawsuit. I made the letter intentionally deranged, complete with footnotes about financial BDSM, to give them the impression that I would actually do it. They cancelled t…
That whole ordeal sounds horrifying. What is it about cable/internet companies that seems to make them awful across the board?
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#53Nothing is harder than cancelling internet service, with the possible exception of cancelling a gym membership. In order to cancel Mediacom's 'service,' I had to send a letter[1] to them, with copies to their general counsel, threatening 99 kinds of lawsuit. I made the letter intentionally deranged, complete with footnotes about financial BDSM, to give them the impression that I would actually do it. They cancelled t…
The last time I changed my mobile phone number I did it to get away from the incessant harrassment from a gym after I canceled my membership (canceling was itself extremely difficult).
This sort of stuff should be regulated and outlawed out of existence.
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#54Abuses such as this infuriate me, and I typically have a very low tolerance for them now. Any business that is causing trouble at my expense still gets one polite attempt to contact them via their preferred means and a reasonable chance to respond, but usually only one. I'm not hanging around on the phone for more than a few minutes or waiting more than a couple of working days for a substantial response to an online…
So, this didn't help me with Virgin Media in the past (though I did get it sorted by finding someone relatively senior and bothering them until they got it sorted), but it usually does, as you say. In general, I don't allow companies messing me around to profit from it. Even if it takes longer than it is worth, I make a point of principle that I somehow get more back from them than I was cheated out of or they neglec…
Litigating on principle can be a losing proposition, at least if you value your time and money more than your moral satisfaction. However, in my experience it's true that if you don't take any nonsense but stand your ground and are willing to take legal action if it really does come to that, you often end up with some token compensation in addition to getting the problem fixed.
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#55I’m not sure what that fuss is about. I just stop paying whenever I run into these kind of issues. It’s easier than what people think. I wanted to cancel my gym membership and they wouldn’t let me before I finished my year membership. So I just stopped paying. Some numbers were calling me but I never answer unknown numbers.
Have you checked your credit rating recently?
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
The last time I changed my mobile phone number I did it to get away from the incessant harrassment from a gym after I canceled my membership (canceling was itself extremely difficult).
This sort of stuff should be regulated and outlawed out of existence.
It's already illegal, potentially for multiple reasons, at least here in England.
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once downgraded my Virgin package, the online support was helpful and let me know which department to ask for and exactly what to request. Once on the phone I think I was forwarded on about 3 times before I got the right person. From that point on it was really painless. I think it took about 20 minutes in total? All I wanted to do was drop down to the lowest speed package and stop paying for the landline phone ser…
It's sad that 20 minutes out of your day is what qualifies as painless in this regard. The phone companies/ISPs are like cats training their owners to just accept the way things are.
Compared to what they could have put me through, yeah it was painless. I should be able to completely manage my account on-line, including changing packages or updating payment details.
I imagine they don't offer such functionality because they're making quite a bit of money off of people who would downgrade or quit if they had an easier way of doing it. Outside of regulation forcing their hand, I don't ever see a company making this sort of thing easier.
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#58Looking for fiber in London next month. I guess VM won't be it. Reddit seems to think Hyperoptic is where it's at. With VM as second. That's on raw speed front. So if VM can't be trusted I guess I need to apartment hunt by Hyper...sigh.
HyperOptic or G.Network I’ve used both currently on the latter.
However you have little to no choice in the UK.
FTTP is only absolve in specific buildings if your building isn’t connected it’s virgin or xDSL via Openreach (pick your ISP at that point however they are pretty much all the same unless you pick Tesco Broadband or some other small scale crap like that so for DSL I would got with Zen or well BT).
The other alternative is a leased FTTP line but you’ll be looking at high 4 to low to mid 5 figures for connecting you plus a hefty monthly fee.
So if you want good fiber for cheap you need to look for properties which are already connected to HO or GN.
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#59I had the opposite experience with BE when I left the UK. I found out there the account wasn’t cancelled properly and there was an outstanding debt on the account.
I emailed, then they replied and admitted fault, apologised, and refunded me. No sitting in phone queues, no treating me like a criminal.
Unfortunately looks like they got bought and shut down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Un_Limited
Seems like the good guys lose in this business.
Re: I tried to cancel Virgin Media broadband contract
#60In the UK, use this: https://www.aa.net.uk/ I'm not affiliated with them in any way. They just have a great reputation for good technical knowledge, privacy, and support.
Thanks, I wasn't aware aa existed. What kind of speed are you getting out of it on average?