Cancelling a Volt O₂ sim as a result of Virgin Media Price Rises - 02 want to charge me! Grrrr

[swattz]

As a result of the changes to my terms & conditions, I was given the opportunity to cancel my Virgin Media and Volt O₂ sim.
They claimed that there would be no cancellation fees:
"you can change or cancel your package, including your Volt O₂ sim, any time before 4th April 2023, without paying any cancellation fees".

However, when I contacted O₂ today, they were adamant that they would change me, even though the words "without paying any cancellation fees" were clearly stated in the Email from Virgin \ O₂.

Now, like most people who have a mobile phone, I want to take my phone number with me and this is apparently what they are charging me for. So, in effect, they have completely mislead customers, because "any" means "any" - except if you're O₂.

I believe that O₂ must honour their statement and allow customers, like me, who have been given the opportunity to leave "without any cancellation fees" to do so. It could be claimed that they are in-fact advertising a fraud, as they clear are charging a fee for cancelling.

How can I get Virgin / O₂ to honour their own statement?
What is my next move?

[Richard1987]

Hi @O2Emma and @O2Sarah- 

i frustratingly find myself in the exact same position as @swattz . Virgin are utterly hopeless. My wife is indeed with o2 as well. Was such a relief to see this thread and in fact that people from o2 understand this issue (albeit fully instigated by virgin and no fault of o2). 

would you kindly be able to help me too?

thanks 

Richard 

[O2Sarah-]

Good morning @Richard1987 

Sorry to hear you have had issues here. I will send you a private message so we can check your account. 

[MichaelR2]

Good evening,

I'm having the same problem as described by everyone else on this thread. Received the email from Virgin Media that clearly states: "If you're not happy with any of the changes announced in this email, including those to our out of home WiFi hotspots and pricing terms and conditions, you can change or cancel your package, including your Volt O₂ sim, any time before 4th April 2023, without paying any cancellation fees."

Called Virgin to do just that. Negotiated new Broadband Solus contract that I am happy with and was assured that pricing on this is completely independent of what happens with o2 and that I should call o2 to cancel the unwanted SIM (which I only ever took in order to get a discount on my broadband - I've never actually used the SIM).

Upon calling o2, was told by Customer Service Agent that there would be an early termination fee and that they don't know why Virgin Media are telling their customers that there won't be. I told the agent to leave things alone for now while I tried to sort matters out with VM. I've since opened a complaint with Virgin Media and asked them to resolve from their end.

Would be grateful if someone from O2 Support could also take a look into this for me.  

[sdcrichy]

hi my wife and i are in the same boat as MichaelR2. we haven't yet canceled anything but was going to ring virgin media today to cancel our volt package. if we do that will we be able to cancel our volt O2 sim without charge after? never used the sim or data. but been paying the bill for the last year as we did the same took it as made the bundle cheaper by taking the volt sim. thanks and will wait for reply

[Enlli]

@sdcrichy  This was put out by the team here earlier in the thread

Customers who have taken a bundled Volt Sim package through Virgin Media do have Right to Cancel due to the Cable price increases. In this scenario the only way that the O2 SIM can be cancelled without cost is if the VM package is fully cancelled first. The VM team should pass the customer into the relevant O2 channel to then process the O2 cancellation.

Since you have done this process, please reach out to O2 on social media so that they can take a look from there Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB), Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG).

[sdcrichy]

ok i will try this today, i'm sure though lastnight when speaking to virginmedia over whatsapp that they said they can't cancel my package unless i cancel my O2 sim first. or was this a ploy just to try send me in circles from them?

[Enlli]

Sorry to say Virgin Custom Service will lie through their back teeth.

You have always been able to cancel one part of the package without cancelling the other.

Don't mention O2 just say you are cancelling the Broadband because of the price hike.

[sdcrichy]

ok cheers will do this today

[sdcrichy]

ok i have put in notice to cancel my virgin media package so ends 07/04/23. do i need to contact O2 now to cancel or after i have been cut off by virginmedia? as they didn't put me through to the O2 site because i cancelled over whatsapp.

[Enlli]

OK. You will have to ring O2 on 202 or 0344 809 0202 to speak to an advisor.

Hopefully they will know the score, but if not come back here