Virgin Media fined £28m by Ofcom after the regulator found it had repeatedly made it harder for customers to cancel contracts. Ofcom said millions of calls were likely mishandled between 1 January 2022 and 11 September 2024, affecting customers trying to leave or switch deals.
The penalty was cut by 30% after Virgin Media admitted the failing and agreed to settle. Ofcom said it had received complaints from 1,881 customers and that the case involved direct harm to consumers who were trying to agree a new deal or cancel service.
Natalie Black on Today
Natalie Black, Ofcom's group director for infrastructure and connectivity, described the actions as “pretty shocking” and “poor behaviour” on the 's Today programme. In a statement, she said: “The facts are clear. Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully cooperate with our investigation.”
She added: “As a result, we are levelling our largest ever fine under our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers.” Ofcom said the £28m penalty was its largest ever under consumer protection rules and its third largest overall.
Virgin Media O2 and One Touch Switch
Ofcom said its investigation found deliberate call-dropping tactics and customers being put on hold for no reason. It also said Virgin Media's commission scheme effectively encouraged and financially rewarded call centre agents for behaving in that way, which explains why the problem reached far beyond isolated complaints.
The regulator said it had tried to resolve the problem informally at the beginning of 2022. It said further safeguards have now been introduced, including One Touch Switch launched in 2024, to make changing broadband or landline providers hassle-free.
Virgin Media apologised to the small proportion of customers who experienced an issue when contacting the company, but Ofcom said the company did not fully cooperate with the investigation. The remaining question is how many individual customers were actually stopped from cancelling or switching because of the call-handling tactics, a figure Ofcom did not give.
