Virgin Media has been fined £28 million for repeatedly preventing customers from canceling contracts, Ofcom said.
It said millions of phone calls from customers were “likely to have been mishandled” over a nearly three-year period, preventing or delaying customers from upgrading to a better deal.
The telecom regulator said it had discovered “deliberate call dropping” tactics as well as call suspension “without reason”.
The fine was reduced by 30% because Virgin Media admitted its insolvency and agreed to settle the case, Ofcom added. Virgin Media apologized to “the small number of people who have had problems contacting us in the past to negotiate a new deal or cancel a service.”
Ofcom said the fine was the largest it had imposed under consumer protection rules and the third largest ever.
The largest fine of £50 million was issued to Royal Mail in 2018 for breaching competition law, while the second largest fine of £42 million was issued to BT in 2017.
Ofcom said an investigation into Virgin Media found that millions of customer calls between 1 January 2022 and 11 September 2024 were likely mishandled by call agents “in to delay or prevent customers from canceling their order and switching to a competitor.”
The investigation uncovered tactics such as: excessive and unnecessary call transfers, deliberately disconnecting calls, repeated attempts to force customers to stay, and unjustifiably and repeatedly placing customers on hold.
Ofcom said Virgin’s commission scheme “effectively rewards” and financially rewards call center agents for “similar behavior.”
Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director for infrastructure and communications, told the BBC’s Today program that Virgin Media’s actions were “quite shocking” and showed “bad behaviour”.
“At the very beginning of this problem, several years ago, in 2022, we tried to solve it informally. There was no desire to do it,” she said.
She added in her statement: “The facts are obvious. Virgin Media made it difficult for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully cooperate with our investigation.
“As a result, we are issuing the largest penalty in the history of our consumer protection rules for direct harm to consumers.”
She added: “Today we are sending a clear message that any supplier that deliberately acts against the interests of its customers will pay a heavy price.”