Will they ever let me go?

Today I had the great misfortune to have to telephone an old-style Insurance company. As anticipated, I was put through to a robotic assistant, which attempted to funnel me down its built-in filter. Despite numerous attempts at reading out the client policy number, it continued to loop back on itself; requesting I repeat the policy number, each time citing the same information, until eventually it gave up and put me through to Fiona, a human – phew! Who was able to quickly help.

I’m familiar with this company and know that their staff are actually rather good, but their telecoms are a challenge. It reminded me that one of the many reasons we move clients over to a modern high-tech platform is due to the burden of tedious administration and companies forgetting (or at least do their best to appear to) whose money it is… yours. Getting your money back, or a regular income in a timely, efficient manner is often overlooked by advisers, something that I believe to be a serious error of judgement.

This in mind, I was curious to spot an article about Virgin Media, who were recently found guilty of deliberately irritating their customers with ‘telephone tag’ as they tried to cancel their contracts. The constant pushing the call to someone else or being put on hold or simply cut off finally caught up with their commission-driven sales and servicing teams to the tune of a fine of £28m, which was discounted by 30% for admission of fault.

This was on the back of a £23.8m fine in December 2025 for disconnecting vulnerable telecare customers during the swap from analogue to digital. It’s not quite as substantial as BT’s £42m fine in 2017 for delays in providing ethernet lines. Ofcom hasn’t really issued that many fines, indeed since its inception at the end of 2003 one might consider it a little toothless. It can only fine a company up to 10% of its relevant turnover for ‘critical breaches’. Virgin Media reported 2025 revenue of £10,113.1m (so the latest £23m fine was 0.27% of revenue). Consider this in relation to the FCA (a watchdog with teeth) who levied fines of £124m last year alone, the fines issued by OFCOM are puny and clearly not a deterrent. OFCOM have come under increasing criticism for their lack of action on bias from “news channels”.

It is reported that the matter is now resolved (for calls between January 2022 and September 2024). Ofcom were “outraged” and hence took Virgin Media to task. You can read the statement for yourself. The UK telecom market now (2025 data) generates around £36bn of revenue across fixed, mobile and wholesale services. The average monthly mobile voice and phone spend has fallen from £74.03 in 2007 to £41.70 in 2025. Fixed line voice and data fell from £55.41 to £43.82 during the same period. You may find this helpful in your next negotiation about your own contract with one of the telecom providers. Ofcom also publish some tips to securing a better deal and cutting mobile costs.

References:

Ofcom statement about Virgin Media: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/vulnerable-customers/ofcom-fines-virgin-media-23.8-million-for-putting-vulnerable-customers-at-risk-of-harm

Ofcom – saving money tips: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/saving-money

Virgin Media financials: https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/2026-financial-results/q1-2026-financial-results/

FCA fines covered in Spotlight: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/0271a02671.html#page/34