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Ofcom fines Virgin Media £28m for repeatedly preventing customers from cancelling contracts
Ofcom fined Virgin Media £28 million for systematically obstructing customer contract cancellations through deliberate call-dropping, excessive transfers, and unnecessary holds between January 2022 and September 2024. The regulator found Virgin Media's two-tier agent structure and commission scheme incentivised retention staff to delay or prevent cancellations, affecting millions of calls.
The Wire takeaway
If you sell to UK telecom customers trying to switch providers, your sales cycle and win rate just moved. Ofcom has now set a £28m precedent for locking customers into cancellation friction - every competitor to Virgin Media now has legal cover to audit and advertise effortless exit, and the regulatory bar for contract termination is irreversibly lower.
Read the full story at wired-gov.net →
Topics: customer-churn · switching-barriers · regulatory-enforcement · telecom-compliance · contract-cancellation