Phone company asks dying man for £288 'early cancellation fee'

Mr Standley, aged 65, was told this year he had inoperable pancreatic cancer, and has been forced to give up his plumbing business following his diagnosis.

He said he had spent the past few weeks putting his affairs in order to minimise the distress to his wife, but could barely believe the response when he telephoned the Virgin helpline.

"I spoke to the handler in the call centre, and he was very nice, but he then put me on hold and spoke to his manager," he says.

"He came back and told me there would be a £288 fee for ending the contract early, and I would then have to open a new account in my wife's name."

The man suggested that if Mr Standley was suffering financial hardship, he might be eligible for a £150 refund from that fee, leaving him with £138 to pay.

Aside from having to pay for the account to be transferred, he said he was dependent on his email to keep up to date with his medical information. He said he could not afford the disruption of closing his account and opening another one in his wife's name.

"In the end I decided I would just let it run, and when I die, and it stops being paid, they won't be able to come after me because I'm dead," he said.

"The young man was very nice, but when I asked if I could speak to his manager, he said he was in a meeting. I asked him if the manager was scared to speak to me.

"I've had a terrible time this year, I've had to give up work, get rid of all my tools, I really don't need this."

A spokeswoman for Virgin Media said it appeared that the call agent had given the wrong information.

“We apologise to Mr Standley for the poor customer experience after the correct process wasn’t followed by one of our agents," she said.

"We’ve now arranged for his account to be transferred into his wife’s name free of charge.”