Virgin sent bills to the wrong address. Now I've a debt collector after me.

EasierCompany

I had a Virgin media account under my name for two years in a house I shared with two others. Last November I moved to Dublin so I closed the account, the two lads staying at the house set up their own account, and I started a new account under my name in my new place. All very simple right?

Well yesterday I got a call from a debt collection agency informing me there was 40 euro outstanding on the old Virgin account. This was the first myself or any of my old housemates heard of this - we checked emails, old letters... nothing. Why was this? Because after a call to Virgin it turns out they had the wrong address and the bills were going to the wrong house. In summary I lived in a house beside a large apartment complex, and because of one incorrect number the letters were going inside the building which we dont have access to. In fairness to the Virgin rep I spoke to was apologetic, but he wasnt budging on me paying the balance through the collectors. A couple of points...

Im in my late 20s and hope to apply for a mortgage in the coming years. Now, because of an administrational error by Virgin my name is now associated with a debt collector, which will undoubtedly harm my credit rating. I have no problem paying the outstanding balance (40 quid isnt the end of the world), my issue is paying that money to the agency.

I will admit one mistake on my part. In the call to Virgin they told me of an email they sent me in November during the 30 day notice period, which included that final bill. The reason I didnt do anything about it was I assumed it was a bill for my *new* account (the email only includes an account number, not an address). Because the bill is paid via direct debit I didnt do anything about it.

So one bill emailed 4 months ago, subsequent notices posted to the wrong address (without any other contact via phone or email), and now the debt collection agency is involved. Virgin have "escalated" the complaint and theyre calling me back in a few days. Where do I stand in all this?

L1011

This type of debt collector cannot affect your ICB credit rating.

If Virgin won't take the money, I would consider that their problem. They will not have sold the debt legally.

nava

Say to Virgin you will not deal with the collection agency as the money you owe was to them.

Virgin Ireland have a section here on the Talk to:, they are quite good, if you prefer to deal with them get a moderator to move it over. Just click the report icon.

A debt collection agency I don't think can affect your credit rating.

daheff

I'm a little confused on this, so bear with me.

1- you had an account at X address. (was this account paid by DD)?
2-You told virgin you were closing this account at X address.
3-Virgin sent you an email advising 40eur owed on this account.
4-Virgin sent letters to Y address (not the address on their system for where services were provided)?


If this account was paid by DD, then why didnt Virgin take the 40eur by DD?
Why do Virgin have the wrong address on their system for the service (surely service location & service address & account address should all be linked in their system??)


Either way, if you owe the money pay it directly to Virgin. Ignore the debt collector -don't even acknowledge the debt to them (hell dont even acknowledge them).

And dont worry about this...its Virgin's mistake, not yours. They would have a very hard time affecting your credit record based off their mistake (even if they could affect it).

srsly78

It gets even better, Virgin like to charge people for the month AFTER they close their accounts. It's up to the customer to then request a refund for this.

So hilariously, they set a debt collector on you for money that you don't even owe

Daysha

daheff wrote: »

I'm a little confused on this, so bear with me.

1- you had an account at X address. (was this account paid by DD)?
2-You told virgin you were closing this account at X address.
3-Virgin sent you an email advising 40eur owed on this account.
4-Virgin sent letters to Y address (not the address on their system for where services were provided)?


If this account was paid by DD, then why didnt Virgin take the 40eur by DD?
Why do Virgin have the wrong address on their system for the service (surely service location & service address & account address should all be linked in their system??)


Either way, if you owe the money pay it directly to Virgin. Ignore the debt collector -don't even acknowledge the debt to them (hell dont even acknowledge them).

And dont worry about this...its Virgin's mistake, not yours. They would have a very hard time affecting your credit record based off their mistake (even if they could affect it).

1. Yes, by DD
2. Yep
3. Yep
4. Yep, it seems the address was always listed incorrectly on the account. It's not the first time it's happened, the address is also wrong on Google Maps so there can be the odd confusion. It never affected our service and the account was set up to receive bills electronically so we never got post from them anyway.

The reason they didn't take the money out via DD was because when I gave them the 30 days notice at the start of November, I cancelled the DD myself at the bank a few days later. So I'm pretty certain I do owe the money as this seems to be the bill that covers that final month.

daheff

Daysha wrote: »

The reason they didn't take the money out via DD was because when I gave them the 30 days notice at the start of November, I cancelled the DD myself at the bank a few days later. So I'm pretty certain I do owe the money as this seems to be the bill that covers that final month.

ok..so if you knew the address was always listed incorrectly AND cancelled the DD knowing money due, then this is your mistake.


that said, talk with Virgin -explain letters going to wrong address and that you are more than happy to pay up to Virgin and this will be easily resolved.

JimsAlterEgo

if you still have the account details you could try and pay online