Virgin Media fined record £28m for blocking customer cancellations
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has hit Virgin Media with a record £28m fine for systematically obstructing contract cancellations, a punitive move that highlights the growing regulatory risks for telecoms firms using aggressive retention tactics.
Virgin Media has been fined £28m by Ofcom for preventing customers from cancelling contracts between January 2022 and September 2024. The penalty, reduced by 30% after the company admitted fault and settled, is the largest ever issued by the watchdog under its consumer protection rules.
The regulator found that millions of calls were likely mishandled through deliberate call-dropping, unnecessary transfers and prolonged holds. Virgin Media structured its retention team so customers had to repeat cancellation requests to a second tier of agents. Crucially, a commission scheme financially rewarded staff for obstructing these departures.
These practices carried direct economic consequences for households. By trapping customers, the provider prevented them from switching to competitors where they could save hundreds of pounds. Some frustrated consumers resorted to cancelling direct debits, inadvertently damaging their credit scores during a period of severe cost-of-living pressures.
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer group Which?, said: "It’s shocking that Virgin Media was deliberately making it harder for customers to leave for a better deal. This was a deeply cynical tactic at a time when so many households were struggling with cost-of-living pressures."
Natalie Black, a director at Ofcom, said: "The facts are clear. Virgin Media made it harder for customers to cancel their contracts and then did not fully cooperate with our investigation." She added: "Today, we are sending a clear message that any provider who wilfully acts against the interests of their customers will pay a heavy price."
A Virgin Media spokesperson apologised to the "small proportion who experienced an issue", stating the company has "completely redesigned our customer services in recent years" and resolved all formal complaints. The company noted that recent Ofcom data shows it now has the fewest complaints among broadband providers.
For investors and the wider telecoms sector, the scale of the fine underscores the mounting financial and reputational risks of aggressive retention models. Virgin Media, which merged with mobile giant O2 in 2021 to form Virgin Media O2, has now been penalised multiple times for similar consumer rule breaches, including a fine in 2018.
The latest penalty follows a separate £23.8m fine issued last December for putting vulnerable people at risk during a landline switch. Ofcom has ordered Virgin Media to verify that every affected customer who complained receives due compensation within the next six months.
