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Old 29-12-2016, 11:45   #2
BenMcr
Virgin Media Staff
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Manchester
Services: 360 x2, Maxit TV, Sky Sports and Sky Cinema. Gig1
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Re: Seeking Karen Ingham's Email

The restriction you talk about would have been part of the unknown usage / fraud prevention processes that are in place to monitor out of pattern usage on either your Phone or TV services (as applicable).

When a high number of unusual calls that might be unauthorised or fraudulent, or a high number of PPV / VoD paid ordering events happen, then a restriction can be placed on to the account in order to stop anything happening until Virgin Media can talk to the customer and ensure they the calls or event orders were authorised by them.

There can then be a need to pay for an amount towards the usage in question to ensure that the overall balance of the account remains manageable, and to ensure that it isn't call fraud. By call fraud I mean someone taking out or gaining access to a Virgin Media landline, and then using it to dial foreign or premium numbers without paying Virgin Media for the calls. Virgin Media have to pay the originating network and so are defrauded of the payment due to them.

I don't believe it's usually the full amount of usage in question that needs to be paid, as some will then be added to the next bill as expected.

I do agree that you shouldn't really have to had to call twice to get the service restored (although as you don't say when you used the automated payment service, it could have been outside the time you needed to speak to someone that could explain the restriction), but apart from that the situation seems valid to me - the restriction was due to a high number of foreign calls, and so Virgin Media would want to ensure these were authorised.

One thing to note is that if you have TV, then you're on a residential service, and the guarantee of service availability is not the same as if on a business connection.

If working from home is as critical as you suggest, then you should be on a dedicate business service for Phone and Broadband from Virgin Media Business, which would come with different terms and processes appropriate to a business level service.
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Last edited by BenMcr; 29-12-2016 at 12:05.
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