Virgin Media leaves couple cut off for three months

A couple in their 80s were left with no internet, phone or TV service for more than three months while Virgin Media continued to bill them.

Michelle and Nigel Parry from Bursledon, Hampshire, were eventually reconnected after a neighbour took up their case with the firm and the BBC.

Vanessa Alderton said the company repeatedly cancelled appointments and originally offered no repair until July.

In a statement, Virgin apologised for the delay and said it had resolved the issue and offered compensation.

An emotional Mrs Parry told Radio 4's You and Yours programme: "It's actually preventing us from living a normal life.

"I think our mental health is being affected because we're being cut off from communicating with anyone, with the world."

She said Virgin had agreed to give them a replacement phone which could only be used to dial 999 or 111.

Vanessa Alderton said the service was lost on 5 January and restored on 8 April.

She said: "I've telephoned, raised escalations and each time I've had a date given to me, that mysteriously gets cancelled without any knowledge.

"They've said: 'Oh well, we tried telephoning Mr and Mrs Parry.' And it's like, well how can you telephone them because they've got no service.

"I kept going round and round like in eternal groundhog day."

Alderton said a Virgin engineer reconnected the couple's broken cable, bound it with black tape and left it in an open hole.

She said the firm had offered the statutory minimum compensation of £951.28, which she was contesting.

Lisa Webb from consumer group Which? said the case was "really extreme, but sadly not as rare as people think".

"We see time and time again, particularly with Virgin Media, people complaining about the absolutely appalling service that they receive," she said.

"They're paying for a service that they're not receiving and frankly that sounds to me like a breach of contract.

"I would definitely be pushing for further compensation here."

Virgin Media admitted the length of time taken and its communications were not up to standard.

It said: "We apologise to Mr and Mrs Parry for the delay in restoring their services following third party damage to a cable to their property.

"Our engineers have now resolved this issue and we've provided compensation."

The firm said it did not pause bills during outages, but instead offered compensation in line with the regulator Ofcom's rules.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.