Changing your name with Virgin Media

How do I change my name with Virgin Media?#

Virgin Media's help page sets out three steps, and they cover a change of name, title or gender on the account.

1. Download the Change of Details Form, a Word document, and fill it in.
2. Make a copy of one of three documents: a marriage certificate, a civil partnership certificate, or what Virgin Media calls "deed poll documentation".
3. Send the form and the copy by email to namechange@virginmedia.co.uk, or by post.

For post, the help page gives the address as Virgin Media, Sunderland, SR43 4AA. The form itself prints a different one, a PO Box in Swansea. Both give the same email address, so email avoids the question.

The page asks for a copy of the document, not a certified copy, and it does not ask for an enrolled deed poll, although GOV.UK warns that some organisations, mobile phone companies among them, may accept only an enrolled one. Enrolled and unenrolled deed polls explains the difference.

What the form asks for#

The Change of Details Form is short. It asks:

• whether the request is for Virgin Media, Virgin Mobile or both;
• your Virgin Media account number, and any Virgin Mobile numbers;
• your address and your date of birth;
• your previous name, your new name and the reason for the change, such as marriage;
• a new email address, and whether Virgin Media may email you updates on the change.

You finish by typing your name as it appears on your account today, with the date, to confirm it. The form says to scan the completed form and your document if you email them, and to send only copies, not originals, because Virgin Media is not able to return them. Keep the original deed poll at home: will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? explains who does want one.

If you have a Virgin Mobile device loan#

The help page asks for one more copy with the form: a utility bill, a tenancy or mortgage agreement, or a council tax bill, dated within the last six months. The form also has a section for mobile customers whose address has changed, which asks Freestyle customers for their loan account number.

What happens next#

Virgin Media says it aims to change the name on the account within 48 hours of receiving the completed form and documents, and that your services remain unaffected while it updates your account. If the name has not changed after that, contact Virgin Media.

The same form puts right a mistake in how your name is spelt on the account: include the details of what needs correcting.

Changing who holds the account#

Moving the account into someone else's name is a separate process, and Virgin Media's page covers it in these cases.

• The account holder has moved out and you want to keep the services: Virgin Media asks you to chat to it. It says it will try to contact the account holder to confirm whether they need the services moved to their new address. If they do not, you will need to send their old equipment back, and you can choose from its current deals, with new equipment.
• The account holder has moved into full-time care, or has died: Virgin Media has a transfer form, linked from the same help page, for moving the existing services into another person's name without other changes. You email it back, and it says it updates the accounts within 7 days.

Virgin Media and O2 households#

Virgin Media's section on Volt packages and O2 accounts says that if your household is with both Virgin Media and O2, you follow O2's own change of name steps. Its link to them no longer works, and O2's current process is an upload in My O2 rather than a form: changing your name with O2 sets it out. If you are a Virgin Media customer with Volt benefits because you live with someone who has an O2 Pay Monthly account, the three steps above are the ones to follow.

For everyone else to tell, and in what order, see who to notify after changing your name, and energy, water, phone and broadband for the other providers.