Wanted to transfer to EE but Virgin say im stuck with them.

[DaveM0151]

I'd not been getting good service from virgin for a long time so on the 7th Dec I called them up and despite what they setup I decided I still wasn't happy. So I started looking for a new internet provider and settled on EE, I went through the whole process with thier online chatbot assistant which all seemed pretty straightforward. It asked me who I was with currently and the end result was that I was all setup to tranfer over to EE got my install date, was looking forward to it and thought nothing more of it.

Once the engineer came out I sat down to have a play with my new service and was really pleased! Virgins stuff haddnt been switched off yet so I called them wanting to know when I send thier equipment back and how to go about it. They told me that there had been no mention of a cancellation on thier system and seeing as there were changes made to my account when I called them up i'm now stuck in a contract with them for 18 months or pay a very large fee as it's now 2 days past my chance to cancel for free. I explained the situation to them and they told me to call EE and see if they can do anything about it.

EE told me that their systems only do transfers or account takeovers with BT partners and I should have been informed that I had to contact virgin, well I wasn't informed. The online chat bot system lead me to believe everything was sorted, now EE were lovely over the phone about it despite not being able to tell me more than I have to call virgin as they can't due to data protection act. With how pleasent they were over the phone I felt uninclined to argue with them. However thinking about it, I feel it's very unfair for me to be put in this position because their chat bot mislead me and no one wants to take accountability for what a computer said (strange times).

I can't be the first person to be in this position for sure though, this has to have happened before and I really don't want the end result to be me being forced to cancel with EE because virgin don't accept transfers from BT partners and want to be brutal with fees if I want to cancel and EE's chat system lead me to believe everything was all well and right.

If anyone has any insights or information that might help me keep EE's services I'd be ever so greatful.
Thank you all! 

[Katie_B]

Good morning @DaveM0151. 

Welcome to the EE Community. 

I am so sorry to hear this has happened.

When a line is taken over from a BT partner this will automatically notify the provider of your cancellation. 

In this case the team are right and no notification would be provided as Virgin use their own network for fixed Home Broadband. 

To remain with EE it would be down to your current provider to provide you with your cancellation terms. 

Should you wish to open a complaint with EE please give our customer care team a call or fill out this form HERE.

Katie

[DaveM0151]

Thank you kindly for your reply Katie!

As I mentiioned Virgin spoke of a hefty fee now that those 14 days have past, £800+ which seems incredibly unfair to me.

I see little point in making a complaint that it was not made clear to me that no notification would be provided, would anyone be able to do anything about it beyond saying we're sorry if I did?

What i'm hoping for before spending another hour on the phone is as much information as I can get from anyone who might have some experience in these matters. Are these fee's ever negotiable with a misunderstanding like this? 

While I know EE can't contact Virgin, can they offer any information I can use when I next contact Virgin?

I really appreciate your time, thank you.

[Katie_B]

Thanks for getting back to me @DaveM0151. 

Are you outside your 14 days with EE or just Virgin?

We are unable to discuss fees from other providers. 

If you wish to request some information to use when you next speak with Virgin our customer care team would be the best people to contact.

Speak soon, 

Katie

[XRaySpeX]

@DaveM0151 : The current OFCOM procedure for migrating BB services from VM (& a few others) to a BT based ISP like EE requires the user themselves to directly cancel their contract with VM. This is because VM & BT based systems use diff infrastructure of cabling & kit for BB. You should have been informed of this by EE when you signed up with them.