Virgin Media in email gaffe to customers

Virgin Media customers thought they were in for a treat yesterday, when the company emailed them promising them an upgrade to a faster package. Customers on the 30Mbps tariff were told they'd get a whopping speed boost up to 120Mbps. The company said it was what was known as a Virgin Media tickle, "nice little extras we do to make you smile".

The catch? Virgin Media sent a follow-up email almost immediately, saying the 120Mbps email was meant for customers already on a faster package. Seems customers weren't quite as tickled as Virgin Media intended.

The email -- sent from Mark Davidson, executive director, customer care -- was meant for customers on the 100Mbps package, who will get an upgrade to 120Mbps. But it's not all bad news: those on the 30Mbps package will still get a boost to 60Mbps in the coming months.

Mark Wilkin, forum manager at Virgin Media posted an apology on the forum. "We understand that some of you have received an email tonight mentioning that you currently receive 100Mb broadband, when you don't," he wrote. "We're sorry but we sent this email in error to some of our customers and we apologise for the gremlins in our email system."

He went on to say the company would boost all customers' broadband speeds in the coming months, and it would be in touch with details nearer the time.

The Virgin Media forums are quiet on the issue at the moment, though the apologetic post was only put up last night. Still, quite annoying if you saw the email headline and got your hopes up.

This email blunder comes just a few days after Virgin Media announced it was doubling and tripling speeds for customers (just not quadrupling, as the email fail promised). The upgrades start next month and should be finished by the middle of next year.

Were you hoodwinked by the email? Let us know in the comments below, or over on our Facebook page.

Update 16 January: A Virgin spokesperson told us today, "We're sorry for any misunderstanding and will be writing to customers again soon to clarify how the upgrade will affect them.

"In the meantime, as part of our double speed programme we are delighted to confirm that 50Mb customers will actually be upgraded to 120Mb, meaning even more Virgin Media customers will be able to take advantage of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK."

Some customers will initially see their speeds double to 100Mbps before moving on up to 120Mbps when the hardware in their area is upgraded.