[bizzybee]

In 2005, I was a Virgin dial-up customer. When I got a new pc, I gave my old one to my disabled younger brother – who lives 100+ miles away. He can’t work, lives on disability allowances, etc, and has two carers with him each day to help him. I rang Virgin to ask how I could arrange for him to get Virgin broadband. I explained that I would be paying and managing the account as so doing was beyond the scope of his capabilities. I was advised that the service would need to be taken out in his name, since the BT line at his address was in his name and the necessary broadband setup could not be completed if the names were different. I therefore took this advice and set up a new broadband account in his name. I gave his address and my card details, set up the security information on the account, the service was installed and I paid each month via direct debit using my debit card.

In February 2006, I logged into the account and tried to update my card details as it was due to expire at the end of that month. However, this was not possible because upon entry of my cardholder address, a presumption was made that the broadband service was to be discontinued at my brother’s address and transferred instead to my address.

I e-mailed Virgin’s Support Team for advice. An exchange of e-mails followed, the outcome of which was that I should telephone Customer Services “… to arrange to have the bill sent out to your home address or any other available option.”

I telephoned on four separate occasions between the 14th and 20th February 2006 and on every such occasion, was advised that “someone” would need to call me back; though a note was taken of my telephone number, no call came. (I should say that we have had an answering machine and BT’s call waiting for several years now so it is not easy to miss a call.)

When my brother mentioned around this time that his computer was not working very well and that he therefore rarely switched it on as he was able to access his hotmail account and the internet from a college pc, you can probably imagine how much less urgent it became to me to communicate my new card information to Virgin Net, particularly as we had also suspended our home dial up account in favour of a new broadband account via another provider during 2005. He had stopped using the Virgin account so I imagined that, rather like an unpaid telephone or utility bill, delivery of the service would not continue once payments had stopped — which they surely would, in the absence of current card information — and sent a final e-mail stating that if they did not want my new card details, then we did not want the service and to cancel it.

How wrong I was. I was horrified when my brother mentioned in December that he had received a telephone call “… saying I owe Virgin £300 or something…” Of course, he had no name or contact details of the person from whom this call came, nor (he assured me) had he received any written communication about it.

I e-mailed Virgin and included the previous e-mail correspondence and a brief outline of the history, and requested information about the status of his account. They replied saying that no information could be disclosed since the account is not held in my name and I should telephone Customer Support… I continue to await the return of my call made on 27th December 2007.

In January, my brother received a letter from Garlands Debt Collection and Credit Management Services which stated that he owed £329.78 in respect of his Virgin Media Account. I immediately telephoned Garlands and, after confirming the account security information, and explaining the circumstances, was told that the current situation is nobody’s fault but mine and was offered a discount of 50% on the sum owing if I would settle immediately via credit card. I declined.

Once again, I telephoned Virgin’s Customer Support and explained all of the above. The chap listened patiently, then advised me that he could not discuss any aspect of this account with me since it is not held in my name. He put my call through to a more senior member of staff who further confirmed that although I am the person who set up this account, I am the only person who has ever made payments in respect of it, and I am the only person who is in a position to settle it, it was “…more than my life is worth to discuss it with anyone other than the named account holder.”

Whilst I understand that the terms of the Data Protection Act exist to protect both the privacy and property of the individual, I cannot see how my attempts at resolution could jeopardise either in my brother’s case. Indeed, if its terms have been applied appropriately and consistently in this case, how was the person from Garlands in a position to not only discuss, but to also offer to discount the sum outstanding by 50%? Is she not similarly bound by the terms of the Data Protection Act?

In the meantime, my brother’s debt has continued to escalate, despite my assertion to Virgin that the service be stopped because, of course, such instruction cannot be accepted from me, since I am not the account holder! If Garlands was happy to discuss the account and take payment from me at that time, I do not understand why it was not suspended or put on hold pending resolution of the disputed outstanding sum.

Today, Virgin has at last responded to my letter of 11th January, some three months after I wrote to them — and it has taken many telephone calls and e-mails to get this response. The letter contains the same 50% settlement offer, but the sum outstanding is now £374.75 — £44.97 more than it was three months ago. Why is this charge being passed on to me when it is hardly my fault that it has taken Virgin three months to reply?

Furthermore, when I sought advice from customer services in 2005, explaining in some detail that, out of necessity, I would be funding and managing this account on my brother’s behalf, why was I instructed to set it up in his name if, by so doing, the account would become inaccessible to me?

Finally, if I failed to pay my utility bills, delivery of the service would not continue once payments had stopped; in such circumstances, at what point would Virgin Media suspend delivery of service or, rather, for how long or to what extent would it allow an outstanding bill to increase and escalate without customer contact?

As you can imagine, I am at a loss to know how I can progress this situation to a satisfactory conclusion. I feel particularly aggrieved because a) I sought and followed Virgin’s advice prior to setup and b) I made determined efforts to continue this broadband service when my card expired in 2006, but no-one from Virgin would return my calls. I do not want to pay even 50% of such a high price for a service that has not been used.

I should be so grateful for any advice.