Virgin Media has landed in serious trouble after receiving a £28 million fine from Ofcom. The regulator said the company made it very difficult for customers to cancel their broadband, TV, and landline contracts. Instead of making the process easy, many callers faced endless transfers, long waiting times, and even sudden call disconnections.
According to Ofcom, these actions affected millions of customer calls between January 2022 and September 2024. The regulator described the company’s behaviour as a major breach of consumer protection rules. During its investigation, Ofcom discovered several worrying practices. Some agents reportedly hung up on customers who wanted to leave. Others placed callers on hold without any reason or transferred them several times. Customers were also pressured to remain with the company instead of cancelling.
Ofcom said Virgin Media’s commission system rewarded staff for stopping customers from leaving. Natalie Black, Ofcom’s Group Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity, called the company’s actions “pretty shocking” and described the behaviour as “poor”. She also said,
“Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully cooperate with our investigation.”
Many customers shared frustrating experiences. Anthony, a customer from Brighton, said he tried to cancel his TV package before renewal. However, his call dropped after several “garbled” automated messages. “I never got to speak to a person,” he said. “Basically I gave up.” His subscription later renewed automatically. As a result, he now pays £90 more every month. Ofcom received 1,881 similar complaints. Some customers even cancelled their direct debits because they could not end their contracts. Unfortunately, that created payment problems and damaged some customers’ credit records.
Virgin Media admitted its mistakes and apologised to customers affected by the issue. The company said it has completely redesigned its customer service, improved staff training, and changed its commission system. It also claimed complaints about customers struggling to leave dropped by 89% in 2024.
Meanwhile, Ofcom has ordered Virgin Media to compensate every eligible customer within six months. The regulator also introduced its “One Touch Switch” system to make switching providers much easier. Virgin Media must pay the fine within two months, making it the biggest penalty ever issued under Ofcom’s consumer protection rules
