Virgin Media O2 UK Scraps Exit Charges for Off Net Home Movers

Customers of gigabit-capable broadband ISP Virgin Media UK (VMO2) will be pleased to know that the operator has today finally moved to scrap one of their most irritating policies, which charged early exit fees when subscribers moved house into a location that was outside the operator’s existing network area (off-net).

The operator’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) based fixed broadband and TV network is currently available to over 15.5 million premises (around 50% of the UK), albeit predominantly inside urban areas. Obviously, that can create a problem when customers need to move house into an area that Virgin Media cannot serve.

Until now the operator has tended to hit such off-net home movers with Early Disconnection Fees (EDF), which are based off the remaining months of your existing contract term and can add up to hundreds of pounds in additional charges (e.g. if you take their 1Gbps broadband-only plan at £62 per month, then the EDF for a single month of that would be equivalent to £50.07).

The situation can be frustrating for customers too, since they may often desire to retain Virgin Media’s service, but end up with no choice if they need to move into an area where the operator simply isn’t present (half of the entire country).

All of this was raised back in 2018 after Ofcom found fault with the operator’s EDF / ETCs and hit them with a £7m fine for overcharging (here). At the time Virgin Media responded by making such charges much clearer to customers, as well as updating their training processes and promoting 30-day rolling contracts as an alternative option. But they did not scrap the EDFs for home movers, until now.

The operator today said that they would “now waive the charge for customers who are unable to take their services with them,” which marks a major shift in their approach.

Jeff Dodds, COO of VMO2, said:

“We’re committed to putting customers at the heart of what we do and regularly review our policies and processes to give our customers the best service at the best possible price. We know moving home can be a stressful time, so we’re giving our customers one less thing to worry about.

We’re also continuing to invest heavily in the UK to expand our footprint, meaning more of our customers will be able to take their services with them when they move home, enjoying speeds that are four times faster than national average.”

Virgin said the hugely welcome move could save customers “up to £240“, which is nothing to sniff about, particularly as it occurs during a time when the cost of moving has just hit a record high. Unless, of course, you were hit with this charge just before today’s announcement – that’s no doubt going to be annoying, but somebody somewhere will always get caught out like that.

The only catch is that customers will need to provide proof of their new address with a wide range of readily-available documents accepted, including mortgage and rental agreements, utility bills, bank statements and driving licenses. Otherwise, any old person could fake a house move in order to exit their contract early and penalty-free (we suspect some individuals may still try to abuse this).