Ofcom dishes out £28 million fine to Virgin Media for allegedly preventing customers from cancelling their contracts — but it says that's all in the past

• Ofcom issues £28 million fine to Virgin Media over cancellation worries
• Millions of customers had to jump through hoops to cancel their contracts
• Virgin admitted fault and cooperated, reducing the value of the fine

Ofcom has issued Virgin Media to pay a £28 million fine after an investigation found it repeatedly made it "unreasonabl[y]" difficult for customers to cancel their broadband, TV and phone contracts.

The investigation covered nearly two years between January 1, 2022 and September 11, 2024, making it the largest fine Ofcom has ever imposted under its consumer protection rules.

According to the announcement, millions of customer calls likely faced delayed or were prevented from switching to rival providers – a figure Virgin Media largely disputes, arguing the data was extrapolated from 649 core complaints.

Virgin Media fined for blocking customer cancellations

Ofcom found that Virgin Media deliberately disconnected customers, made excessive and unnecessary transfers between departments, kept customers on hold and forced them to make multiple cancellation requests before action was taken.

These hurdles were likely caused by the company's two-tier retention system – with frontline workers unable to process cancellations, customers have to be transferred to specialist teams – however this applies to a previous customer service setup that has since been improved.

Since the 2022-2024 period, the company has gone on to secure the top spot, receiving half the number of broadband complaints that TalkTalk received in the fourth quarter of 2025 (per Ofcom data). Those record-low complaint levels also mark a major 89% reduction compared with 2023.

"We have completely redesigned our customer services in recent years, addressing the historic shortfalls identified by Ofcom through a number of improvements, and have resolved all formal customer complaints from this period providing redress where appropriate," a Virgin Media spokesperson told us.

Under last year's turnaround plan, the company reduced the number of call transfers by more than 1.3 in 2025.

"Today, we are sending a clear message that any provider who wilfully acts against the interests of their customers will pay a heavy price," Group Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity Natalie Black said. "And by introducing the One Touch Switch Process, we‘ve put in place further safeguards to prevent this from happening again."

Virgin Media admitted fault and cooperated with Ofcom, granting it access to a 30% discount on the fine. The company also noted that all formal complaints from this period have since been resolved.

It is the second fine it's received within 12 months, having received a £23.8 million hit in December 2025 for "putting vulnerable customers at risk" during its landline migration program.