Virgin Media fined £28m over cancellation tactics

Ofcom has fined Virgin Media £28 million after finding that the company repeatedly prevented or delayed customers from cancelling contracts. The penalty, covering behaviour between 1 January 2022 and 11 September 2024, is described as the regulator’s largest issued under its consumer protection rules and one of its largest fines overall.

The investigation concluded that millions of customer calls made during this near three-year period were likely mishandled. The fine was reduced by 30% because Virgin Media admitted the failings and agreed to settle the case.

Regulators uncovered a pattern of behaviour in Virgin Media’s call centres that made it harder for customers to cancel services. Identified tactics included deliberate call-dropping, excessive and unnecessary transfers between agents, and keeping callers on hold without justification.

Investigators also found repeated attempts to pressure customers to stay with Virgin Media and failures to process cancellation requests once they were made. These practices affected a large number of customers trying to end their contracts or switch to another provider.

Ofcom determined that Virgin Media’s commission scheme for call centre agents effectively encouraged the problematic behaviour. Financial incentives were linked to retaining customers, which supported tactics that delayed or obstructed cancellations.

Virgin Media also operated a two-tier retention structure in which only second-tier agents were able to complete cancellations. This design meant that over a million callers had to repeat their cancellation request to at least one additional agent before it could be processed.

Ofcom stated that the facts of the case showed Virgin Media had made it more difficult for customers to cancel and had not fully cooperated with the investigation until it later admitted failings. The size of the penalty reflects both the scale of the issues and the regulator’s focus on consumer protection in the telecoms sector.

In response to the wider problem of switching barriers, Ofcom has introduced additional safeguards to support customers moving between providers. These include a One Touch Switch process launched in 2024, intended to make changing broadband or landline providers easier and to help prevent similar issues with cancellations in future.