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Ofcom has slapped Virgin Media with a £28m fine for intentionally mishandling customers who tried to cancel their contract or switch providers.
The fine – which is one of the largest in Ofcom’s history, and the largest issued under its consumer protection rules – was issued after the regulatory body undertook an investigation of Virgin Media’s customer support between 2022 and 2024.
What Ofcom’s report found
Ofcom discovered a pretty alarming pattern: Virgin had been encouraging call centre staff to deliberately delay or frustrate customers by hanging up; transferring or keeping customers on hold needlessly; and repeatedly pressuring customers to stay.
Worse still, Ofcom said the commission scheme put in place by Virgin Media was designed to reward this kind of behaviour from call centre agents.
Virgin Media was quick to respond: speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson said the telecoms giant’s “customer service turnaround strategy, underpinned by significant investment, has been transformational.” In the years following 2024, Virgin Media says it has become the provider with the lowest volume of complaints through Ofcom – this is true, although it’s worth me noting that even in Q1 2025, Virgin Media Broadband’s complaint levels were higher than almost any other provider in the UK.
In our 2026 Broadband Awards survey, Virgin Media came in second-to-last for customer service, beating only TalkTalk. As a whole, scores were largely healthy compared to 2025 – 73% of customers were Satisfied or Very Satisfied with Virgin’s customer support, and 10% Dissatisfied or Very Dissatisfied – but our verdict is cautionary: customer service is definitely still a sore point.
Ofcom reduced the size of the fine by 30% to £28m after Virgin Media admitted its error and agreed to settle the case. Virgin apologised to what it described as a “small proportion” of affected customers – but Ofcom reports that millions of customers were likely met by the delay tactics, and almost 2,000 levelled a complaint at Virgin via the regulator itself.
It wasn’t that long ago that Virgin Media was being handed a similarly enormous fine from Ofcom – in December 2025, Virgin failed to prepare and manage Telecare customers for the switch from copper cabling to VoIP (the Digital Switchover), leaving thousands without access to their panic buttons or bedside alarms. Ofcom charged Virgin £23.8m for the offence.
So how do I cancel my Virgin Media contract?
If you’re worried about battling with call centre agents when leaving Virgin Media, be sure to make good use of One Touch Switch – a new-ish stipulation forcing all major broadband providers to offer pain-free switching.
In other words, make sure you’ve shopped around for the best broadband deals BEFORE you try to cancel your Virgin Media contract, as One Touch Switch should automatically trigger once you reach checkout with your new package. It’ll spare you from having to contact your existing provider to cancel.
