July 08, 2026
Ofcom Fines Virgin Media £28m for Deterring Customers from Cancelling
Ofcom has fined Virgin Media £28 million after finding the company made it far too hard for customers to cancel their contracts and move to a rival. The regulator said millions of calls were likely mishandled over almost three years, delaying or stopping people from switching to a better deal.
It is the largest fine Ofcom has ever handed out under its consumer protection rules for direct harm to customers.
What Ofcom found
The investigation looked at calls made between 1 January 2022 and 11 September 2024. Ofcom said Virgin Media split its retention team into two tiers, and only agents in the second tier could actually process a cancellation. That setup forced more than a million callers to repeat their request to at least one further agent before they could leave.
Ofcom also found a run of tactics used to keep people from cancelling. Agents pressured customers to stay after they had already asked to go. They transferred callers between departments without good reason. They also kept people on hold over and over. In some cases they dropped calls on purpose or simply failed to log the cancellation on the system.
Some customers gave up and cancelled their direct debits instead, which led to missed payments and, for some, damage to their credit score.
Agents Were Paid to Keep Customers
Ofcom said Virgin Media’s commission scheme rewarded agents financially for this behaviour, which encouraged them to talk customers out of leaving. Training and guidance did little to stop it, and weak quality checks meant the conduct often went unnoticed. The company also lacked proper oversight of its third-party call centres.
The regulator concluded that the two-tier process and the agents’ conduct caused customers real effort, hassle and difficulty when they tried to cancel. Those hurdles likely put people off switching, which goes against the rules telecoms firms must follow.
The ability to shop around and switch is one of the strongest tools customers have, and complaints paired with rising channel-switching are among the earliest signs a customer is about to leave. Many firms now use voice-of-the-customer tools to catch this kind of friction before it turns into lost trust.
The Penalty
In setting the amount, Ofcom weighed the harm to customers, Virgin Media’s repeated failure to fix the problem, the money the company likely gained, and its failure to fully cooperate with the investigation. Ofcom also noted that the company was fined for breaking the same rule back in 2018.
The penalty already includes a 30% reduction because Virgin Media admitted the failing and agreed to settle.
Natalie Black, Ofcom’s Group Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity, said Virgin Media “made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts” and then did not fully cooperate. She added that any provider acting against its customers’ interests will pay a heavy price, and pointed to the new One Touch Switch process as a further safeguard against this happening again.
Ofcom is also requiring Virgin Media to check that every affected customer who complained has received the compensation or remedy they were owed. The company has six months to finish that work.
Virgin Media’s response
A Virgin Media spokesperson apologised to the “small proportion” of customers who had trouble cancelling or agreeing a new deal, and said the failings were historic. The company said it has redesigned its customer service in recent years and resolved the formal complaints from that period. It pointed to Ofcom data showing it is now among the least-complained-about broadband providers, with complaints about difficulties leaving down sharply on 2023.
