Virgin: changing from ebilling to paper statements

So for some stupid reason without my consent, virgin have changed me to ebilling even though I specifically told them over the phone to never change me to ebilling (immigration stuff, we're all in the same boat eh?). So after they changed me I called three times to be told that they'll change me back but they haven't and when I log in I'm still scheduled for ebilling every month.

Has anyone else had this issue? What should I do?

Also, all of a sudden they took DH's name off the bill which is very important to me right now since we hardly have any mail coming to us. Everything counts for ILR. Any way to get his name back on?

Any help is much appreciated.

I think you need to go bitchy on them. Phone up and say you want to speak to a supervisor. Explain the situation, saying you never requested e-billing and you wanted to have both names on the bill, and you are very angry that they have done both of these things without your consent and in fact against your stated wishes. Tell the supervisor that you want to see the bill change straight away.

That said, you only need a few things for ILR, so if you already have 2 bills from them with both names on, further bills won't be any better. When we applied we just made sure we had at least one document per season with either both or one of our names (eg autumn of year 1, credit card bills for each of us; winter of year 1, joint savings account statement; spring of year 1, council tax bill; summer of year 1, gas bill, etc.). Having 12 Virgin statements won't make your application any stronger than having 1.

We had the same problem.  IIRC, we resolved it with our online account sign in to change it, but I may have actually done the supervisor route.  The single name thing is their policy, unfortunately.  We had the same problem with them, and I am 100% sure even a supervisor won't put it in both of your names.

Remember, you can use things that some people don't realise:
Council communications/bills
Letters from MPs
NHS/private doctors/dentists bills, notices, etc
Bank statements
water bills
TV tax licence
Gas
Electric
Loan statements
credit card bills
Mobile bills

Write to your MP a couple of times and (if you're lucky) you will get a letter addressed to your house.  I think I used one of mine from our old address for ILR. I wrote to my MP here once and didn't receive anything back.  You could write to the council and ask them to send you information on stuff.  Or write a question and get a letter back.  Not that I recommend using those stupid pay on the never never catalogues, but I am pretty sure if you charged something cheap, you could use one of those statements for evidence.

Also, people should keep collecting evidence until they get citizenship.  If you have to replace your ILR if you lose your passport, you will need to show letters to replace it.

Only things we had for ILR with both our names on were the council tax bill and home insurance.
Rest of the things we sent were addressed to either one of us.

Only things we had for ILR with both our names on were the council tax bill and home insurance.
Rest of the things we sent were addressed to either one of us.

Yup. I actually had no mail at all with both names on it. Just evenly spaced mail addressed to either one of us at the same address. Got my ILR at the Sheffield PEO last October with no issues at all.

ah thanks guys. What would I do without you?

That's cleared a lot up.

Dr super I know that 12 is no better than one but after getting my flr, I haven't recieved a single paper statement from virgin so they changed it at the stupidest time! I don't really get much else that's official and not junk mail.

Legs thanks for that list that's very helpful . What are these catalogues you speak of? I'm curious. Might as well get some mandatory cute shoes  .

Oh, right, that's different! Definitely go bitchy on them then! But don't worry too much about things in joint names, a lot of people only have 1 or 2 things in joint names.

I will ask Mr A when he gets home. My MiL uses them.  I think they are the same sort of idea as Fingerhut in the States.  A total rip off and easy for people without a lot of money to get into trouble, but for one it two things, it should be ok.

I will ask Mr A when he gets home. My MiL uses them.  I think they are the same sort of idea as Fingerhut in the States.  A total rip off and easy for people without a lot of money to get into trouble, but for one it two things, it should be ok.

Yeah or Spiegels and the like, except more dodgier.
If you are tempted, read the small print on the sites. Apparently when you place an initial order they open a credit account on your behalf, whether or not you need it.

Yeah or Spiegels and the like, except more dodgier.
If you are tempted, read the small print on the sites. Apparently when you place an initial order they open a credit account on your behalf, whether or not you need it.

Oh so is it like having a credit card but buying things like household items? Sounds fishy but they sure do draw me in with £2/week deals . I'm in that much debt though that I'd rather not have any more credit related things open.

This is the catalogue my MiL uses:

http://www.littlewoods.com/

I don't know the legalities of it, and I don't suggest you buy anything you couldn't afford outright and to look over the conditions.  I know the markup is crazy on the credit things.  But it makes me wonder if any sort of invoice sent in the post would do.  Say you ordered something online with a credit card and asked for an invoice.

Also, if you are paying something like water rates or TV licence, and you haven't been getting a paper bill, arrange for this to change.  I think that we weren't getting a paper bill for council tax, water rates, or something, and we contacted them, explained we needed it for id purposes, and had the paper bill.  So many companies want to go paperless, but if you contact them, they will send you a bill.  Also, we were able to get our water bill in both of our names.  It barely fits in the address box, but we're both on there.

Ah thanks Legs! Very helpful.

Just in case anyone wants to know, Virgin does have a policy that says they can't add anyone else to your account but you can ask them to send the paper statement with two names on. We settled for mr. and mrs. gibby. So if you keep complaining eventually they'll do that for you!