Virgin Media to refund €3m to customers for cancelled services

Virgin Media has agreed to refund 100,000 customers a total of €3 million after continuing to charge them for services that had been cancelled.

The average refund amount due to customers is €33.

The refunds come after an investigation by the communications regulator ComReg concluded that Virgin continued to charge customers for cancelled services and failed to issue refunds with money retained in inactive accounts .

Customer refunds

ComReg’s investigation concluded that Virgin retained credits contrary to sections 45(1)(a)(ii) and 45(1)(b) of the Communications Regulation Act 2002.

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Following the conclusion of its investigation, ComReg warned Virgin it would seek a High Court restraining order requiring the company to cease retaining money from customers. However the company on Wednesday committed to refunding affected customers, and to reviewing other possible credits on inactive accounts and refunding these.

Dedicated helpline

Virgin has said it will not allow credit to remain on closed or inactive accounts in future and has set up a dedicated helpline for customers seeking refunds, at 1800 941 770.

A spokeswoman for Virgin said the company takes regulatory compliance “extremely seriously”.

“It is our position that we are in full compliance with all our regulatory obligations,” she said. “Virgin Media has proactively co-operated with ComReg throughout this entire process and we note the investigation has now concluded,” the spokeswoman added.