Broadband

How do I cancel Virgin Media without paying cancellation fees?

Cancel on a typewriter
Get out: find out how to leave Virgin Media

Fed up with Virgin Media? Want to move to another broadband provider? There are circumstances under which you can switch broadband provider without paying exit fees. We’ll show you how to cancel Virgin Media, when you can do this without paying exit fees and who you need to contact.

Click the links below to jump straight to the relevant section:

Is Virgin Media down?

How long’s left on my Virgin Media contract?

If you’re thinking of leaving, the first thing you’ll need to establish is how long is left on your Virgin Media contract.

To find this out:

  1. Go to the Virgin Media website and sign in the top-right corner
  2. On the right-hand side, under Latest Bill, you should see a link to ‘view contract’
  3. On the following page, look for a box on the right-hand side that states your minimum contract period – the contract expiry date should be below that in very small print, as shown below!

Note that even if you are now out of contract, you still need to give Virgin Media 30 days’ notice if you intend to leave and they may charge you for that period if you decide to quit beforehand.

Virgin Media cancellation fees

As you might have seen from the image above, if you’re trying to leave before your contract is up, Virgin Media may attempt to charge you a cancellation fee – or Early Disconnection Fee, as they call it. There are some circumstances where you can leave without paying these fees, which we’ll come to shortly.

However, if you haven’t got any major broadband performance/service issues and you’re trying to switch provider before the contract is up, you’ll likely have to pay the Early Disconnection Fee. At the time of writing in March 2022, these fees are as follows:

Broadband packageEarly Disconnection Fee (per month remaining)
M50£30.61
M100£35.39
M200£40.58
M350£45.56
M500£50.54
Gig1£50.07
Volt M200£35.39
Volt M350£40.58

Further cancellation fees may apply to products such as TV packages and telephone lines. The full details of Virgin Media’s Early Disconnection Fees can be found here.

It’s also worth noting here that the 30 days’ notice still applies, even if you’re in contract. So if you want to leave with three months remaining on your deal, you’ll need to pay the full price for the first month and then two months of Early Disconnection Fees.

How to cancel Virgin Media without paying cancellation fees

There are some scenarios where you can leave Virgin Media without paying exit fees, even if you’re still under contract. These are:

Inflation-busting price increases

If Virgin Media puts up the price of your package above the rate of inflation, you’re entitled to leave your contract without penalty. In this situation, Virgin Media will write to you stating the new price and giving you the option to cancel by a certain deadline. If you’re planning to do that, make sure you’ve got another provider lined up to take over to avoid any loss of service.

Broadband speeds not matching your speed promise

Virgin Media has signed up to regulator Ofcom’s voluntary Broadband Code of Practice. Part of that compels Virgin Media to release customers from their contract in the following circumstances:

“If your service doesn’t deliver the speeds you were promised by your provider, get in touch with them. If the problem is on their network and they can’t fix it within 30 days, they must let you leave your contract without having to pay an early exit fee.

Your minimum guaranteed download speed will be stated in your contract, which you can download from the Virgin Media website, via the same page that we accessed above. Note: Virgin states both ‘normally available speed’ and ‘minimum guaranteed speed’ – it’s the minimum that is the key speed here.

Jumping out of your contract, penalty-free, is not simply a case of taking an internet speed test that scores below the minimum guarantee and pinging the results to Virgin Media. For example, if you take a speed test in a room distant from your router, it’s highly likely you’ll get a speed below the minimum. It will boil down to how Virgin Media measures the speed coming into the home, not every room in your house, as Wi-Fi has far too many variables.

In short, that means you’re going to need to talk to Virgin Media’s technical support team and let them try and resolve any speed issues before you can even think about pulling the plug on a contract.

If you get nowhere with Virgin Media’s support team and you still feel you’re not getting the minimum speeds promised, put your case to the dispute-resolution service CISAS. Unfortunately, this process can take months.

A change in circumstances

This is largely anecdotal, so please don’t take it as gospel, but I’ve heard of more than one situation where someone under a Virgin Media contract has had a change of personal circumstances – for example, losing their job – and Virgin Media has been prepared to rip up the contract without penalty.

I suspect such cases are handled on a case-by-case basis. If you’re having trouble meeting the bills, it’s definitely best to talk to the company in advance, instead of letting bills pile up, as you may face penalty charges and being disconnected. Give Virgin Media a ring on 0345 6000 789 if you’re struggling to make ends meet.

Cancel Virgin Media because you’re moving home

If you’re moving home and Virgin Media is available in the new home, you can simply transfer your service. There’s a cheeky one-off charge of £20 to transfer your service to the new place.

If you’re moving to an area that doesn’t have Virgin Media, they will surely just rip up your contract, right? Seemingly not. There are many reported cases of Virgin Media charging people the aforementioned Early Disconnection Fees for any remaining term on their contract. Frankly, this should be outlawed by Ofcom. Customers shouldn’t be penalised for moving to an area that Virgin doesn’t cover. So, if you’re thinking of moving, don’t tie yourself down to a long-term Virgin Media contract or you could face a big bill.

The same applies even if you’re moving abroad. Virgin Media’s moving home page says: “You’ll be charged for the 30-day notice period, and you may also have to pay a cancellation fee if you’re still within your contracted period.”

What’s the Virgin Media cancellation number?

If you want to cancel your Virgin Media account you should:

  • Call 0345 454 1111 or dial 150 from a Virgin Media landline or mobile phone
  • Select the option ‘If you’re thinking of leaving Virgin Media’

If you do cancel your contract over the phone, be sure to get confirmation via email or in writing, in case any problems over unpaid bills or cancellation fees arise at a later date.

Did we solve your problem? If not, get instant help from our AI Assistant!

About the author

Barry Collins

Barry has scribbled about tech for almost 20 years for The Sunday Times, PC Pro, WebUser, Which? and many others. He was once Deputy Editor of Mail Online and remains in therapy to this day. Email Barry at barry@bigtechquestion.com.

4 Comments

Click here to post a comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • I am clearly lucky to be living in Finland. Here contracts with the three main vendors can be cancelled with a month’s notice. You pay for that month but that’s it. The only thing remotely resembling a fixed contract for x months is the usual offer when you have cancelled a contract and started a new one. Typically then there is a reduced price per month that is valid for 12 (or 24) months after which (if not cancelled) service continues at a higher rate. [These are not major increases – often from €24,95 to €29,95]. Again these can be cancelled at a month’s notice even during the lower charge period.

    There’s often a charge for starting a new deal but that’s typically between €5 and €10.

  • Hi we recently signed for a m200 virgin broadband, we were told that this would solve the issues we were having with packet loss and lag while my son was gaming. Not long after the cooling off period we started to have the same issues we had on m100, packet loss and lag. I rang Virgin and despite telling them that I was on a wired connection they repeatedly tried to sell to me a wifi extender. I explained that this issue had been reported many, many times and seeing as it was the same issue can we leave our contract with out paying the penalties. I was told that unless we were experiencing total loss of connection then the free exit was not applicable. is this correct? Thanks’

    • Hi, Darren. First, I’m not overly-surprised you’ve hit a brick wall with Virgin’s support team. Finding someone who knows what they’re talking about there can be a challenge.

      Alas, the clauses that allow you to leave a contract without penalty only concern speed, as far as I’m aware, not packet loss and ping. A speed upgrade would always be unlikely to solve those issues, so whoever told you that was misinformed or trying to up their commission.

      If I were you, I’d speak to the retention department and explain why you’re not happy. At the very least, they should put you back on the M100 plan. Let us know how you get on.

Advert

Advert

Advert