Sponsored Links

1/5 speed - can I end contract now without penalty?

RedTomato

Casual Member
I'm paying for 350/36 from VM, and only getting 65/35 for the past 6 months. That's 1/5 of the speed I'm paying for. I put up with it as 65mbps isn't too bad and I appreciated the 35 up. Now Community Fibre have finally activated my street - apparently only a few days ago.

I'd like to end VM asap & go with Community Fibre who are offering 500/500 for a lot less than my current payment to VM. I still have about 4 months left on my contract so ending it now would cost me £120-£150 in termination fees, which of course I don't want to pay.

What's the best way of using 65/35 to end my my contract with VM asap?

(By the way, Community Fibre have a Black Friday offer of 6 months free which expires end of day on Thurs, so if I can get a clear indication of VM end date by Thurs, I'll be able to grab that CF offer with both hands.)

Thanks!
 
Have you made speed complaints to VM already? If not that's where you need to start.

The terms of the speed guarantee allow them 30 days to resolve a reported speed issue before you are allowed to leave without penalty.
 
Have you made speed complaints to VM already? If not that's where you need to start.

The terms of the speed guarantee allow them 30 days to resolve a reported speed issue before you are allowed to leave without penalty.
Yes, several times, but the last one was a couple of months ago.

I just came off a 45 min call with their retentions team, where I was polite but firm. They basically said £65 termination fee - which is better than the £150 I was expecting.

When I said I didn't want to pay it because I wasn't getting the service I was paying for, they said their rule is if there's 3 technician call outs within 30 days I can leave without termination fee. Slightly different from what you said but still workable.

Oddly they said I'd already triggered a technician callout that same day. All I'd done was: a few hours earlier today I pressed the 'test my line' button on their website, and it came up with 'temporary issue, please give us 24 hours to resolve'.

So apparently I can wait 24 hours, then press that button again or complain in some other way, then do it a third time, and if it's not back to roughly 350mb by that point I can terminate without fee.
 
Sponsored Links
Yeah, I don't see anything like that in Ofcom's Speed Code, which they're signed-up to. Nothing about x number of technical call-outs. Assuming this isn't an issue with slow WiFi performance, and it is definitely on the broadband side.



Ofcom is pretty clear, on this one:

If you think your broadband is slower than it should be, contact your provider to diagnose the problem. If the problem lies within their network, and they can’t fix it within 30 days, they must offer you the right to exit your contract without being penalised.

This right to exit also applies to ‘bundled’ products, such as landline services on the same line, or pay-TV services purchased at the same time as the broadband service.

I did delve into the detail, and the only exceptions to this rule are as follows (I doubt any of these caveats apply to your situation):
The customer must be offered the right to exit within 30 calendar days from the point at which they reported the speed problem, unless the following exceptional circumstances apply:

a) If the customer cancels engineer visits, the ISP may extend the deadline by areasonable period. If a customer is unable to take steps for diagnosis/resolution at the time of reporting the problem because they have (for instance) reported it while not at the affected premises, the deadline may also be reasonably extended.

b) Where a customer repeatedly misses engineer appointments or otherwise does not take reasonable steps as requested by the ISP to the point that the diagnosis or solution process cannot continue, the ISP may cease the right to exit process. In such cases, the customer should be informed that this has happened, and an explanation should be given.

c) If there are other exceptional circumstances beyond the ISP’s control, which lead to a technical inability to resolve the speed problem, the ISP may request further time from the customer to remedy the problem. These may include a missed or delayed Openreach appointment or the need to obtain street-works permissions.


When such exceptional circumstances occur, the ISP must explain the reasons for the delay to the customer, and keep the customer informed of progress. Ofcom expects ISPs to work within the spirit of this Residential Code, and make progress as speedily as possible.

ISPs must log instances of the right to exit being offered, any exceptional circumstances that delayed offering the right to exit, and whether the customer has chosen to exercise it or has accepted another remedy, in a manner that

So I'd ask Virgin Media to show where their refusal is supported by Ofcom's latest Broadband Speed Code, since I can't see it. In my mind you have a cast iron case for being able to exit your contract without penalty and, given the time that has elapsed, you'd be well within your rights to take this straight to the ADR complaints handler (ombudsman).

 
If you can get 6 months free with Community Fibre and want to leave Virgin you could bite the bullet and pay Virgin the £65 and still be ahead. You could state you are paying it under protest and take it further afterwards.
 
If you can get 6 months free with Community Fibre and want to leave Virgin you could bite the bullet and pay Virgin the £65 and still be ahead. You could state you are paying it under protest and take it further afterwards.
You won't really have a leg to stand on though, if you didn't report the problem *and* give them 30 days to resolve it, before paying the termination fee.

TBH, if the new fibre service has only just become available to order, it could take several weeks to get it installed anyway. So it depends how impatient you are. Maybe in 30 days VM *will* have fixed the problem, in which case you can ride out the contract and order CF a few weeks before it ends. And if they can't fix it, then you can order CF and walk.

If you want the CF service as soon as possible, then order it now, and gamble either that VM can't fix their problem, or that you may end up paying the termination fee.
 
Thanks for everyone's responses. @candlerb CF offered an installation date of this Friday so obviously it's ready to roll immediately.

I think I will split the difference and book CF right now for an installation date of roughly halfway between now and the end of my VM contract. Means I can grab the Black Friday offer, and depending on what happens with VM I can always ask CF to bring it forwards or postpone it. Will ask them before booking it if that's possible.

If CF can't move the install date, never mind, it's healthy to have some overlap as we WFH over Zoom and cant afford a break in internet connection.
 
Sponsored Links
Have virgin media confirmed they can see the issue as well? If so there should be no reason to pay an early exit fee. If they are saying its all fine they might try to argue its a Wi-Fi issue or other issue in the home.
 
Do VM offer a 50% speed garuantuee? I was told on signup to gig1 550mbps if they failed to meet it 3 nights in a row I was waived from early exit fees, I assume this applies to the lower tiers also, but you are going to have to report it, and keep reporting it so its on your file.
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Vodafone UK ISP Logo
Vodafone £24.00 - 26.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
NOW UK ISP Logo
NOW £24.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £25.99
145Mbps
Gift: £50 Reward Card
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £17.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Youfibre UK ISP Logo
Youfibre £23.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (6024)
  2. BT (3638)
  3. Politics (2720)
  4. Business (2439)
  5. Openreach (2405)
  6. Building Digital UK (2330)
  7. Mobile Broadband (2143)
  8. FTTC (2083)
  9. Statistics (1899)
  10. 4G (1813)
  11. Virgin Media (1762)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1582)
  13. Fibre Optic (1467)
  14. Wireless Internet (1462)
  15. 5G (1404)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules