Virgin Promises To Cancel Subs For Unhappy Customers

Virgin Media has said that it will give its customers until the end of the month to cancel their agreements after the transmission of Sky’s basic channels was stopped for Virgin cable customers last week.

However, Sir Richard Branson’s company insists that not offering the channels, which includes flagship Sky One, does not constitute a breach of contract.

Virgin Media chief executive officer, Steve Burch, said the firm wanted to do the right thing by its customers and resolve the dispute.

“We think our customers will quickly recognise the improvements we’ve recently made to our TV service, together with other exciting enhancements we’ve got in the pipeline,” he said.

“However, if they don’t agree over the next month we will not use technical legalities to stand in the way of them switching to another service.”

Customers will not be charged for cancelling as long as TV is part of their ‘bundle’. The cable operator also said that the decision to let customers cancel their contract for free would not impact on its contractual rights to recover outstanding arrears owing at the time of cancellation.

Last week, BSkyB and Virgin Media’s increasingly public spat came to a head, when talks between the two companies broke down and Virgin Media customers lost transmission of Sky’s basic channel package (see Sky Anytime? Not For Virgin Media Cable Homes).

Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com