steve_moore
08-05-2007, 22:27
In the beginning this all made sense; consolidate my TV, Broadband, phone and mobile to one provider and save money and hassle.
Now I wish I hadn’t bothered!
The process for signing up to Virginmedia was smooth and straight forward all carried out over the phone with no glitches or problems and an installation date of Tuesday 24th April between 08:00 - 13:00 arranged.
I duly took the day off work and sat at home waiting for the engineer to attend and carry out the installation. At 13:15 I gathered they weren’t coming and called Customer Services.
The lady I spoke to could not explain why nobody had turned up but informed me she had left a message on the area manager’s voicemail to call me and he had to respond to that message within 30 mins.
30 mins later and no return call I called customer services again and this time was put through to the installs department.
I was informed by them that the installation had not been carried out due to some construction work that was required. This was highlighted during a pre installation visit which occurred on Thursday 19th April.
When I asked why nobody had contacted me to say the installation would not be carried out they informed me they did not have my telephone number. When I pointed out that they were transferring my telephone number from BT he quickly retracted his comment and had no explanation. At this point I asked to speak with his manager to try and progress the issue.
Following the response of "What have I done! What have I done!!" I was eventually told that he was on the other line at the moment and I insisted on holding until he was free. Several minutes later I was told he was to busy to talk with me but he would try and get hold of the area manager Lee Collins who was supposed to call me previously.
After several minutes I was told that he had spoke with Lee Collins and he would be calling me in 10 minutes.
30 mins later I had still not received a call so back on the phone to customer services. I was eventually told that all the managers were in a meeting and she had no idea when they would be available. The lady told me she would keep persisting in trying to get in contact with Lee Collins and phone me to keep me updated (that was my suggestion!). Unfortunately I received no updates so an hour or so later I was back on the phone again.
This time I was told exactly same thing again but eventually received a call from Lee Collins explaining he was investigating what the issue was.
30 mins later I got another call from Lee Collins saying some construction work was necessary, I believed this involved pulling a cable to a T box? He informed me that the construction work would be carried out before Friday when the installation had been rescheduled for between 13:00 and 18:00. He also apologised for the inconvenience and service I had received and suggested that once the installation had been completed then we could discuss compensation. He informed me he would call me on Friday to see how the installation had gone.
I couldn’t be at home on the Friday 27th so my wife arranged to be there for the installation. The three man crew from virgin turned up and began the installation, for the duration of there visit they were aggressive and constantly moaning about how mis treated they were by Virgin, how they hadn’t been paid by them ect. My wife wasn’t particular happy with the installation but felt very intimidated by the installers and wanted to get them out the house as soon as possible. Once they had "finished" they left still moaning and even left me some of there tools behind!
When I arrived home on Friday and inspected the work, I was shocked. I have attached pictures with this posting of the condition that they left my installation in.
I basically had been left with the following;
= Unsafe installation - in my opinion an unsafe installation carried out by intimidating cowboys as shown in the photos.
= Broadband not working - no details on how to get this connected had been sent to me but a very helpful lady in India assisted me in getting this working.
= TV - Interactive portion of the TV installation not working. Spoke to India and another visit from an engineer was required, was told if I was not in when the engineer called I would be charged £10! My response to this was polite and to the point!
= No phone call from Lee Collins
After I had calmed down I called customer services and explained my concerns regarding the installation and the attitude of the installers. The man I spoke with was extremely helpful and emailed both Lee Collins and his boss to inform them about the issue. He informed me that one of them would call me either on Saturday but more likely Monday 30th April.
Monday arrived and no call was received so at 12:30 I gave Lee Collins a call, (the wonders of caller ID!). Lee Collins was completely unaware of the issues I had experienced on Friday and initially thought that I wanted to discuss compensation with him after he had failed to call me. After I explained what had happened Lee Collins said he would visit me on Friday 4th May 09:30 and resolve any issues with the installation, he told me that the engineer scheduled to attend by India would be cancelled.
Friday 4th May 08:30, a knock at my front door and the engineer who was scheduled by India turned up, I informed him that Lee Collins was attending at 09:30 and he turned around and left. 09:30 arrived and no sign of Lee Collins, as 10:00 approached with no sign of Lee Collins and no phone call to apologise for being late I picked up the phone to Mr Collins.
Lee Collins answered and informed me that he was unable to attend site today because the regional manager was not in and a couple of other managers were out and he was covering them also. He told me that Martin Hackney would be coming to see me though in his absence. At that point he said he would try to call him and call me back in 2 minutes to provide me an update. Guess what happened next???
Yes he didn’t return my call until 11:30 when Martin Hackney was on my doorstep. Lee informed me that Martin would discuss getting the problem with the installation sorted out and also discuss compensation with me.
I had a long chat with Martin and initially he suggested that the guys who carried out the work return that afternoon to redo the job. I informed him that I didn’t want the same people redoing the job due to there attitude and obvious lack of workmanship. Martin then suggested that he and another team would visit me on Tuesday 8th May between 10:30 and 11:00 to redo the work. We also discussed some compensation for the inconvenience that had been caused.
When Martin left I finally felt that I had got somewhere, he had taken ownership of my problem provided me with his contact details and had restored some of my faith in that this issue was going to be resolved.
Well today was the day that everything was meant to be sorted Tuesday 8th May, my Virginmedia installation saga would surely be over by lunchtime. Having not gone into work because my wife didn’t want to deal with any of the engineers again I waited at home.
I kept waiting and waiting until eventually 11:00 came and went. I had received no call from Martin Hackney to let me know he wasn’t coming. Since he had provided me with his details I called him, straight through to voice mail. I left him a message and left it for about an hour or so before I tried again. Still no answer and again straight through to voicemail, another message left. I tried Lee Collins now to see if he knew what was happening but there was no reply on his number.
I tried roughly 30 mins to get in contact with either Martin or Lee but by 15:00 I had given up.
I called Customer Service with the vague hope that I was going to get through to someone who could help me either get in contact with Martin or Lee via a different channel or escalate the problem to someone in there team.
Initially I got through to someone in India, I explained my situation and again was told that there were no notes on the system indicating anybody would be visiting or that there was any problems. He suggested that I talk to someone in installs and put me through to the installs department.
I explained my issue all over again and was then told they would try and put me in touch with someone in Lees team. However I ended up back in the customer services queue!
Back to India again and explaining the whole situation again, again they put me back through to installs but this time told me they could not contact anyone in Lees team but would put me back through to customer services in Glasgow where they could help. I spoke to a guy there and again explained the situation, he kept repeating “Looking into it now for you sir†every two seconds before placing me on hold why he made some calls. He came back on the line after about 5 mins and told me he was dropping someone an email to contact me and would continue to try the numbers he had. He said if I would like to drop off the call he would call me back when he had spoke to someone.
Since I had been on the phone for about 40 mins I suggested that I may as well hang on why he continued to try. He then put me back on hold and about a minute later I was put through to someone’s voicemail without him even telling me who it was and that he was going to transfer me!!
So after nearly an hour on the phone I was none the wiser, still no call from Martin or Lee and no help from Customer Services.
Determined I tried them again, I got through to a lady called Christine McMillan, who was extremely helpful. She filled out an incident form for me which she said would assist me in escalating the incident to a incident management team who didn’t speak to anybody without a reference number.
Having logged this for me she then tried contacting Lee Collins and Martin Hackney. Lee Collins was on holiday and from what she said was livid that nobody had turned up and that he would call me tomorrow when he was back in the office. Martin Hackney was not contactable but she had managed to speak to Mark Salford (his boss??) and apparently Martin Hackney was not in the office today.
Christine told me that she was sending all my details to Mark Salford and someone would contact me to let me know what was happening. Christine also ensured that I had her name and informed me that if I had any more problems then to contact customer service and ask to be transferred to her or to get someone to email her and she would contact me directly.
More people at Virginmedia should have this attitude.
At 17:35 today I received a call from Matt Southard who works with Martin Hackney. Apparently he had gone away for the weekend and his flight had been delayed so he was not back in the country. I explained this was not my issue and Matt has now rearranged that someone visits me tomorrow after 18:30 to sort everything out.
I shall let you know if this happens or not!
Now I wish I hadn’t bothered!
The process for signing up to Virginmedia was smooth and straight forward all carried out over the phone with no glitches or problems and an installation date of Tuesday 24th April between 08:00 - 13:00 arranged.
I duly took the day off work and sat at home waiting for the engineer to attend and carry out the installation. At 13:15 I gathered they weren’t coming and called Customer Services.
The lady I spoke to could not explain why nobody had turned up but informed me she had left a message on the area manager’s voicemail to call me and he had to respond to that message within 30 mins.
30 mins later and no return call I called customer services again and this time was put through to the installs department.
I was informed by them that the installation had not been carried out due to some construction work that was required. This was highlighted during a pre installation visit which occurred on Thursday 19th April.
When I asked why nobody had contacted me to say the installation would not be carried out they informed me they did not have my telephone number. When I pointed out that they were transferring my telephone number from BT he quickly retracted his comment and had no explanation. At this point I asked to speak with his manager to try and progress the issue.
Following the response of "What have I done! What have I done!!" I was eventually told that he was on the other line at the moment and I insisted on holding until he was free. Several minutes later I was told he was to busy to talk with me but he would try and get hold of the area manager Lee Collins who was supposed to call me previously.
After several minutes I was told that he had spoke with Lee Collins and he would be calling me in 10 minutes.
30 mins later I had still not received a call so back on the phone to customer services. I was eventually told that all the managers were in a meeting and she had no idea when they would be available. The lady told me she would keep persisting in trying to get in contact with Lee Collins and phone me to keep me updated (that was my suggestion!). Unfortunately I received no updates so an hour or so later I was back on the phone again.
This time I was told exactly same thing again but eventually received a call from Lee Collins explaining he was investigating what the issue was.
30 mins later I got another call from Lee Collins saying some construction work was necessary, I believed this involved pulling a cable to a T box? He informed me that the construction work would be carried out before Friday when the installation had been rescheduled for between 13:00 and 18:00. He also apologised for the inconvenience and service I had received and suggested that once the installation had been completed then we could discuss compensation. He informed me he would call me on Friday to see how the installation had gone.
I couldn’t be at home on the Friday 27th so my wife arranged to be there for the installation. The three man crew from virgin turned up and began the installation, for the duration of there visit they were aggressive and constantly moaning about how mis treated they were by Virgin, how they hadn’t been paid by them ect. My wife wasn’t particular happy with the installation but felt very intimidated by the installers and wanted to get them out the house as soon as possible. Once they had "finished" they left still moaning and even left me some of there tools behind!
When I arrived home on Friday and inspected the work, I was shocked. I have attached pictures with this posting of the condition that they left my installation in.
I basically had been left with the following;
= Unsafe installation - in my opinion an unsafe installation carried out by intimidating cowboys as shown in the photos.
= Broadband not working - no details on how to get this connected had been sent to me but a very helpful lady in India assisted me in getting this working.
= TV - Interactive portion of the TV installation not working. Spoke to India and another visit from an engineer was required, was told if I was not in when the engineer called I would be charged £10! My response to this was polite and to the point!
= No phone call from Lee Collins
After I had calmed down I called customer services and explained my concerns regarding the installation and the attitude of the installers. The man I spoke with was extremely helpful and emailed both Lee Collins and his boss to inform them about the issue. He informed me that one of them would call me either on Saturday but more likely Monday 30th April.
Monday arrived and no call was received so at 12:30 I gave Lee Collins a call, (the wonders of caller ID!). Lee Collins was completely unaware of the issues I had experienced on Friday and initially thought that I wanted to discuss compensation with him after he had failed to call me. After I explained what had happened Lee Collins said he would visit me on Friday 4th May 09:30 and resolve any issues with the installation, he told me that the engineer scheduled to attend by India would be cancelled.
Friday 4th May 08:30, a knock at my front door and the engineer who was scheduled by India turned up, I informed him that Lee Collins was attending at 09:30 and he turned around and left. 09:30 arrived and no sign of Lee Collins, as 10:00 approached with no sign of Lee Collins and no phone call to apologise for being late I picked up the phone to Mr Collins.
Lee Collins answered and informed me that he was unable to attend site today because the regional manager was not in and a couple of other managers were out and he was covering them also. He told me that Martin Hackney would be coming to see me though in his absence. At that point he said he would try to call him and call me back in 2 minutes to provide me an update. Guess what happened next???
Yes he didn’t return my call until 11:30 when Martin Hackney was on my doorstep. Lee informed me that Martin would discuss getting the problem with the installation sorted out and also discuss compensation with me.
I had a long chat with Martin and initially he suggested that the guys who carried out the work return that afternoon to redo the job. I informed him that I didn’t want the same people redoing the job due to there attitude and obvious lack of workmanship. Martin then suggested that he and another team would visit me on Tuesday 8th May between 10:30 and 11:00 to redo the work. We also discussed some compensation for the inconvenience that had been caused.
When Martin left I finally felt that I had got somewhere, he had taken ownership of my problem provided me with his contact details and had restored some of my faith in that this issue was going to be resolved.
Well today was the day that everything was meant to be sorted Tuesday 8th May, my Virginmedia installation saga would surely be over by lunchtime. Having not gone into work because my wife didn’t want to deal with any of the engineers again I waited at home.
I kept waiting and waiting until eventually 11:00 came and went. I had received no call from Martin Hackney to let me know he wasn’t coming. Since he had provided me with his details I called him, straight through to voice mail. I left him a message and left it for about an hour or so before I tried again. Still no answer and again straight through to voicemail, another message left. I tried Lee Collins now to see if he knew what was happening but there was no reply on his number.
I tried roughly 30 mins to get in contact with either Martin or Lee but by 15:00 I had given up.
I called Customer Service with the vague hope that I was going to get through to someone who could help me either get in contact with Martin or Lee via a different channel or escalate the problem to someone in there team.
Initially I got through to someone in India, I explained my situation and again was told that there were no notes on the system indicating anybody would be visiting or that there was any problems. He suggested that I talk to someone in installs and put me through to the installs department.
I explained my issue all over again and was then told they would try and put me in touch with someone in Lees team. However I ended up back in the customer services queue!
Back to India again and explaining the whole situation again, again they put me back through to installs but this time told me they could not contact anyone in Lees team but would put me back through to customer services in Glasgow where they could help. I spoke to a guy there and again explained the situation, he kept repeating “Looking into it now for you sir†every two seconds before placing me on hold why he made some calls. He came back on the line after about 5 mins and told me he was dropping someone an email to contact me and would continue to try the numbers he had. He said if I would like to drop off the call he would call me back when he had spoke to someone.
Since I had been on the phone for about 40 mins I suggested that I may as well hang on why he continued to try. He then put me back on hold and about a minute later I was put through to someone’s voicemail without him even telling me who it was and that he was going to transfer me!!
So after nearly an hour on the phone I was none the wiser, still no call from Martin or Lee and no help from Customer Services.
Determined I tried them again, I got through to a lady called Christine McMillan, who was extremely helpful. She filled out an incident form for me which she said would assist me in escalating the incident to a incident management team who didn’t speak to anybody without a reference number.
Having logged this for me she then tried contacting Lee Collins and Martin Hackney. Lee Collins was on holiday and from what she said was livid that nobody had turned up and that he would call me tomorrow when he was back in the office. Martin Hackney was not contactable but she had managed to speak to Mark Salford (his boss??) and apparently Martin Hackney was not in the office today.
Christine told me that she was sending all my details to Mark Salford and someone would contact me to let me know what was happening. Christine also ensured that I had her name and informed me that if I had any more problems then to contact customer service and ask to be transferred to her or to get someone to email her and she would contact me directly.
More people at Virginmedia should have this attitude.
At 17:35 today I received a call from Matt Southard who works with Martin Hackney. Apparently he had gone away for the weekend and his flight had been delayed so he was not back in the country. I explained this was not my issue and Matt has now rearranged that someone visits me tomorrow after 18:30 to sort everything out.
I shall let you know if this happens or not!