Ofcom received complaints from 1,881 customers who reported difficulties cancelling.
It added that some customers resorted to having to cancel their direct debits, which led to further difficulties such as missed payments impacting their credit score.
Black said Ofcom had introduced “further safeguards to prevent this from happening again”, including its “One Touch Switch” process launched in 2024, intended to make changing broadband or landline providers hassle-free.
The regulator found that Virgin Media had two-tier system of retention agents, and only agents in the second tier were able to process cancellations.
This resulted in over a million callers being made to repeat their request to at least one further agent, it said.
It said Virgin Media has made some important changes, including to improve its commission scheme, training and quality assurance and monitoring.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said it had “completely redesigned” its customer service in recent years and addressed the “historic shortfalls” through a number of improvements.
“Our customer service turnaround strategy, underpinned by significant investment, has been transformational.
“Ofcom’s latest data shows that Virgin Media is now the least-complained-about broadband provider with complaints at record lows, and complaints specifically relating to ‘difficulties leaving’ were 89% lower last year than in 2023,” the spokesperson added.
Virgin Media must pay the fine within two months and the money will be passed on to the Treasury.
The regulator said its fine was the largest it had issued under its consumer protection rules, and its third largest ever in general.
Its biggest fine of £50m was issued to Royal Mail in 2018 for breaking competition law, and its second biggest fine of £42m was for BT in 2017.
Virgin Media was fined £23.8m by Ofcom in 2025 for leaving thousands of customers without access to lifesaving telecare alarms during the digital switchover.
Additional reporting by Bernadette McCague.
Source:
www.bbc.co.uk
