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Housemate moved out, Virgin say have to take new 12 mth contract to change name!!

Me and my housemates have been with Virgin since Nov 2006 (when they were still NTL). We signed a new yr long contract in May 2008 and so are tied down until May 2009.

However, the person who's name it is under has left the house and understandably wants us to remove his name. When I asked Virgin how to do this they told me that when we do this we start a new contract and so tie ourselves down for another 12 months. None of us want to put our name down for this as none of us can see ourselves there for that long, and the landlady doesn't want to put hers down either (incase new occupants don't want Virgin).

Is this legal? We don't want to change any aspects of the deal we have and as far as I am concerned it is for the house, not the person who's name it was under, I can't see how it's fair that we have to tie ourselves to a new contract just because someone has moved out.

The fact is we are currently breaking the law by opening post marked under his name, which I feel they are pushing us to do, and obviously my ex housemate is getting a bit aggitated that his name is still on it! But Virgin do not allow you to break the 12 month contract so no one wants to put their name down for a new contract until 2010!

Anyone know about this?
 
From what you have said your former housemate is contractually liable for the connection and as such it is up to him to either terminate early or keep paying the bills which does not help you in this situation. Personally I would stop opening his mail and take one of two actions. One is return all post to sender 'no longer at this address' or pass the mail on to him to deal. Who is paying the bills?

In neither case does this help your situation for a continuous internet connection until May 2009. The thing to be clear about is that the contract is between Virgin and your housemate to provide services to the specified house. Unless you have some legal connection with your housemate I would be very surprised if Virgin (or for that matter quite a lot of companies) would not try to tie you in to some extended deal.
 
I agree, the contract is between Virgin and your housemate.
It has nothing to do with you or the other occupants.
It is up to him to sort it out, he cannot just leave and wash his hands of it.

Lets assume its a Bank Loan, you wouldnt think of taking on his debt, just because he decides to leave ?
 
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as far as I am concerned it is for the house, not the person who's name it was under,

You can't have a contract with a house. How would a house sign a contract? The contract is between Virgin and whoever signed up for it.

The fact is we are currently breaking the law by opening post marked under his name, which I feel they are pushing us to do, and obviously my ex housemate is getting a bit aggitated that his name is still on it!

Your ex-housemate is the only one who can do anything about it. Virgin are not allowed to deal with anyone except the customer, so you shouldn't be speaking to Virgin about that contract anyway - just like I wouldn't be allowed to speak to your bank about your accounts.


But Virgin do not allow you to break the 12 month contract so no one wants to put their name down for a new contract until 2010!

Technically, you aren't asking to break an existing contract. Effectively, you are asking to end one contract (under your ex-housemates name), which since it is long past the initial 12-month contract should be fine.

They want you to sign a new contract because they want the 12 month lock-in, but also because you are effectively asking to start a new contract under someone else's name.
 
It may be worth pointing out that Virgin Media are not alone in taking this sort of action, BT behave in a similar way if the name on the contract changes - at least that's what happened to me once before. So it's not unusual and one of the many reasons why contract length has to be given a good deal of pre-consideration.
 
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