Virgin Media fined £28m for preventing customers from cancelling contracts | Virgin Media

Virgin Media has been fined £28 million by the UK telecommunications watchdog for repeatedly preventing customers from canceling their contracts over a period of nearly three years.

Ofcom found Virgin Media “probably mishandled” millions of phone calls between the beginning of 2022 and autumn 2024 through deliberate call drop tactics, unnecessary call transfers and putting customers on hold “for no reason”.

The watchdog investigated the company after receiving nearly 2,000 complaints from Virgin Media broadband, landline and pay-TV customers struggling to cancel their contracts.

The £28 million fine, which was reduced by 30% after Virgin Media admitted its failure and agreed to settle the case, is Ofcom’s largest ever fine under consumer protection rules.

The regulator’s investigation found that millions of calls made by customers between January 2022 and September 2024 were likely mishandled by call agents “in an attempt to delay or prevent customers from canceling and switching to a competitor”. Customers can save hundreds of dollars by switching to a new deal.

It also uncovered evidence of “deliberate mishandling of calls by retention team representatives” with a kickback scheme that “effectively incentivized” and financially rewarded representatives “for behaving in this way.”

Ofcom executive Natalie Black said Virgin Media had initially “failed to co-operate fully with our investigation”.

“As a result, we are leveling our largest ever fine under our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers,” he said.

“Today we are sending a clear message that any provider who knowingly acts against the interests of their customers will pay a heavy price.”

The regulator added that Virgin Media has since made “a number of significant changes”, including improvements to its commission scheme, training, quality assurance and monitoring.

Ofcom also ordered Virgin Media to check whether every affected customer who made a complaint has received compensation or other remedies to which they may be entitled within the next six months.

A spokesperson for Virgin Media said: “We are committed to providing excellent service to all our customers and we apologize to the small proportion who have experienced problems in the past when they have contacted us to negotiate a new deal or cancel their service.

“We have completely redesigned our customer services in recent years, addressing historic deficiencies identified by Ofcom with a range of improvements and resolving all formal customer complaints during this period, providing redress where appropriate.”

The company added that Ofcom’s latest data shows Virgin Media now has the fewest complaints among broadband providers.

The penalty announced on Wednesday follows a separate £23.8 million fine from Ofcom last December after finding it left thousands of vulnerable people “at risk of harm” when switching from analogue to digital landline.