Virgin Media has been fined a record £28 million by Ofcom after the regulator found the company deliberately stopped or delayed customers from switching to other providers through widespread mishandling of calls. The fine is the largest ever levied by Ofcom under its consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers.
Widespread Mishandling of Cancellation Calls
Ofcom said that over a nearly three-year period from January 2022 to September 2024, Virgin Media caused customers on millions of calls “unreasonable effort, hassle or undue difficulty” when trying to cancel. This included pressuring customers to stay, unnecessary transfers to other departments, keeping callers on hold, deliberately dropping calls, and failing to process cancellations in the system.
The regulator launched its investigation after receiving nearly 2,000 complaints from Virgin Media broadband, landline, and pay-TV customers reporting difficulties in cancelling their contracts.
Retention Team Structure and Commission Scheme
Ofcom found that Virgin Media split its retention team into two “tiers” of agents, with only those in the second tier able to process cancellations. This meant customers had to repeat their request to at least one further agent. The company also encouraged staff to discourage cancellations by rewarding them through its commission scheme.
Some frustrated customers resorted to cancelling their direct debits, which in turn affected their credit scores.
Previous Breach and Lack of Cooperation
Virgin Media was previously fined in 2018 for breaching the same rule. Ofcom said the company also repeatedly failed to comply with its information-gathering process during the investigation.
Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director for infrastructure and connectivity, said: “The facts are clear. Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully co-operate with our investigation. As a result, we are levelling our largest-ever fine under our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers.”
Compensation and Remedial Actions
The fine must be paid within two months and will be passed on to the Treasury. All affected customers must receive compensation or the remedy to which they are entitled within six months. Virgin Media has since overhauled its customer service operation, including improving its commission scheme, training, quality assurance, and monitoring.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We’re committed to giving all our customers great service and apologise to the small proportion who experienced an issue when contacting us to agree a new deal or cancel their service in the past. We have completely redesigned our customer services in recent years, addressing the historic shortfalls identified by Ofcom through a number of improvements, and have resolved all formal customer complaints from this period, providing redress where appropriate.”
