Virgin Media Shocking Customer Services! My Experience! Worst ever seen?

[sitalchauhan]

I am absolutely fuming with Virgin Media. Here is what has happened so far, you seriously wont believe how badly I am being treated:


~ 3rd April : Phone line went dead completely out of the blue. They said no engineer available for about 2/3 days. After complaining that I needed the phone line for important calls that I am expecting over the next few days, they agreed to send an engineer for next day.
~ 4th April : The engineer came and fitted the temporary phone line hanging over my wall at the front of the house. I told him that some kids are going to pull it and rip it because its right next to the footpath, but he refused to move it. The engineer said that the next available appointment to fit the permanent line was not until 11th May and I had no other choice!
~ 23rd April : Phone line goes dead again. I check and guess what... somebody had ripped out the temporary phone line with their hands and completely ripped it into 2 pieces. I phone VM and they say no engineer available for 2 days so I decided to fix the phone line myself and laid it down properly so that it couldnt be ripped up, just as the engineer should have done in the first place!
11th May : Engineer was supposed to arrive between 8am and 1pm, so I had booked the morning off work. The engineer didnt arrive until 2pm so I had to take the afternoon off aswell. The engineer fitted the permanent phone line straight through the middle of my lawn, ripping up half of the grass and leaving my front lawn in an awful state! He was obviously in a rush and left quickly leaving the garden in a right state. I checked the phone to test and it was working fine. However, I then went to watch TV and there was nothing coming through, and then noticed that my broadband was down aswell. I phone VM back up and they say that no engineer can be sent for 3 days! So I am left with no TV or internet over the whole weekend! I complain and they manage to get an engineer to come the next day.
12th May : Engineer arrives on time and I explained what had happened. He was absolutely shocked by how badly the telephone line had been fitted straight through the middle of my lawn and explained that the previous guy should have checked all of my services before leaving as part of standard procedure. He identified that the engineer had damaged my broadband/tv cable somehow and so needed to be replaced. He fitted a temporary tv/broadband cable properly fixed around the wall like the telephone line should have been fitted, instead of straight through the middle. This engineer was very understanding and shocked by how I had been treated so far. He booked an engineer appointment for me for the 21st May for both the telephone line to be re-laid properly instead of through the lawn, and for the permanent tv/broadband line to be fitted.
21st May : No engineer turns up all day after I had taken the whole day off from work and they didnt phone me to warn me that the engineer could no longer come. I phone and complain, and they booked the next appointment for the engineer to come on the 24th
24th May : No engineer turns up all day again after I had booked another whole day off from work! Understandably I was very angry and had a right go at the guy on the end of the phone. He booked an engineer for the 26th and put me through to some senior guy from customer services to talk about how I have been treated. I explain what has happened to the senior person and he said that he will discuss what they can offer me and phone me back tomorrow with some kind of discount or someting as an appology
25th May : Even the senior management customer services guy doesnt bother phoning back!! I was absolutely appauled by that after considering he is in such a high end position, was appauled by how I had been treated and promised to phone back, and then he treats me in exactly the same way himself!
26th May : No engineer turns up and still no phone call either from the senior guy! I have taken so many days off from work now that I am falling seriously behind and my work are not very pleased at all. Phone customer services again and they put me through to a different senior guy. This guy promised to give me this months bill completely free and have got another engineer booked for tomorrow



Now lets see if they actually put the discount through for the month (I bet they will mess this up aswell) and if an engineer actually turns up tomorrow (doubt this aswell considering they have had so many chances)!

I have been a customer since 2003, thats 4 years, and I pay roughly £41 a month every time by direct debit! I had absolutely no problems whatsoever with Telewest and Blueyonder, whenever I had a problem they sent out engineers on time as promised and were excellent. However, since Virgin Media took over Telewest I have had nothing but appauling service!

I cant believe that they can mess up so many times with one simple task!

What would you do if you were in this position?

Where should I complain to?

[Nedkelly]

They have booked a tech for tomorrow if you temp fix is still working he will book it for a repull crew to come and repull the cable .It is very poor service you have recieved :td:

[Nikesh]

Wow that is shocking. :mad: :td:

Hope they finally fix it tomorrow.

[Nedkelly]

When a customer has a fault we will try and put a temp fix to get them back on .Then we arrage for installs to replace the cable we will get them a date that they are happy with .Then its upto installs .to do the work .But sometimes this process goes wrong as this customer has found out :)

[sitalchauhan]

Thanks for the responses. I really do hope they are sending the repull crew tomorrow, and not just a regular engineer that is just going to say "yep, you need the repull guys and I will book you yet another appointment!"

Will post back tomorrow, with hopefully some good news...

[Nedkelly]

It will be a tech as the repull crews do not work on a Sunday and faults can not book a repull crew over the phone to a customer sorry

[vbnmu]

Call retentions. Ask for more than a month's worth of free services.
Absolutely appalling!!!

[arcamalpha2004]

My first port of call would be the police station to ask for a crime number relating to criminal damage to your lawn.
Having done that, the rest should fall into place rather quickly.
Another example of cowboy installation.

[on in an hour!]

My first port of call would be the police station to ask for a crime number relating to criminal damage to your lawn.
Having done that, the rest should fall into place rather quickly.
Another example of cowboy installation.
:LOL:

[sitalchauhan]

My first port of call would be the police station to ask for a crime number relating to criminal damage to your lawn.
Having done that, the rest should fall into place rather quickly.
Another example of cowboy installation.

That would definately get them quickly sorting it all out for me! However, I dont really want to take it that far if I can avoid it :)

My lawn is slowly getting better but it has taken its time. It has been a few weeks now and the lawn is looking better. However, there is still the line of dead yellow grass from the bottom-right to the top-left:
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4895/dsc00390xf2.jpg

[Nedkelly]

Years ago in this aera some techs used to water the grass where they gone through and advise the custmer to keep doing this .To stop the grass going Yellow :)

[NTLVictim]

I love the way these <REMOVED> are called "engineers" and "technicians" when they quite clearly are nothing better than <REMOVED>

I have cleaned up your post - plese refrain from referring to people in this way in future.


Thanks, Jefferson T

[cybernetic_tiger]

<offensive comments removed - Chris T>


I think that's a little strong but do observe that this is your oppinion. I deal with engineers on a daily basis and have a very good relatinship with them, most infact know every inch of the network and work hard to maintain them in increasingly dificult circumstances.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

Hi Sitalchaunham, What l would do is to write to Sir Richard or Steve Burch, and give them 28 days to rectify the problem, and threaten them with legal action in the county court, for loss of earnings and a breach of contract, as l can assure you that is what l would do, you have lost money through taking time off work, which is about £60.00 per day, and they have failed to fulfilled there part of the bargain, if you read the small print in your contract, and they should give you a couple of months FREE, otherwise take all your equipment up to there head office, and say your service is total crap, and this is why VM is getting such a bad name, l get so angry when l hear about things that happens to fellow forum members, and yet VM don't give a damn, agh.:mad:

[NTLVictim]

I love the way these <REMOVED> are called "engineers" and "technicians" when they quite clearly are nothing better than <REMOVED>

I have cleaned up your post - plese refrain from referring to people in this way in future.


Thanks, Jefferson T


My apologies, I merely used the same language that a VM employee used on me in another thread, which was allowed to stand..I assumed it was a level playing field.

[MrChef]

We were left without a phone service for 6 weeks earlier this year.Various visits from different techs and engineers who seem to find it difficult to communicate with the correct departments.I agree the service has gone totally pear shaped since the days of Telewest.Also there seems to be no end to the problems with internet speeds and connections inYorkshire.If it goes on like this they will end up with no customers at all

[Nedkelly]

One off the biggist problems i find is once i have found the fault and it needs a repull i book the repull with despatch if the system is running ok .Then its in the hands of installs .What we find is that some of the 2 man crews think they know better and join the cable or do nothing but close the job as complete then we go round again its like a big circle .What happens to these techs not much they get there hands slapped :mad:This means poor service to the customer .I kow leave my number with the customer incase they have a problem on the day and to catch them out :tu:

[on in an hour!]

One off the biggist problems i find is once i have found the fault and it needs a repull i book the repull with despatch if the system is running ok .Then its in the hands of installs .What we find is that some of the 2 man crews think they know better and join the cable or do nothing but close the job as complete then we go round again its like a big circle .What happens to these techs not much they get there hands slapped :mad:This means poor service to the customer .I kow leave my number with the customer incase they have a problem on the day and to catch them out :tu:
we have a sheet ned that we fill in with the details of the work booked,the sub keeps this to give to the crew when they visit,no chance then of them not doing whats been booked as sub knows exactly what to expect.;)

[Nedkelly]

Good idea :)

[on in an hour!]

Good idea :)
why not suggest it for your area ned,they might think its like a new concept and put you in a draw for an lcd tv!!! :D :D :D

[zedrest]

Great. I'm the latest in the line of people to have their phone line go dead. Can't get dial tone at all but funnily enough anyone calling in gets a ringing tone so noone would know the difference. Not entirely sure who's phone is ringing at that point but its not our's! Had to call from neighbours cable phone and was told someone would come out this friday. Unfortunately they then sent me a text message to my mobile after I had hung up quoting 27th june! Replied to it requiring clarification, heard nothing so far. From what I've seen there's a few other people with long delays for this problem. Just hope I don't experience the service you received or my patience might just run out!

Its the latest in a long line of problems we have had first with ntl now VM inc billing, accidental disconnection... botched reconnection(!), poor customer service... I still refuse to move to sky, mainly because VM have a good product and I really want them to have a chance, (plus I'm really not fussed about Lost and all that) but it does make me a little tired of being loyal! ;)

[on in an hour!]

Great. I'm the latest in the line of people to have their phone line go dead. Can't get dial tone at all but funnily enough anyone calling in gets a ringing tone so noone would know the difference. Not entirely sure who's phone is ringing at that point but its not our's! Had to call from neighbours cable phone and was told someone would come out this friday. Unfortunately they then sent me a text message to my mobile after I had hung up quoting 27th june! Replied to it requiring clarification, heard nothing so far. From what I've seen there's a few other people with long delays for this problem. Just hope I don't experience the service you received or my patience might just run out!

Its the latest in a long line of problems we have had first with ntl now VM inc billing, accidental disconnection... botched reconnection(!), poor customer service... I still refuse to move to sky, mainly because VM have a good product and I really want them to have a chance, (plus I'm really not fussed about Lost and all that) but it does make me a little tired of being loyal! ;)
just to clarify for you,when the people hear the phone ringing after dialling your number its ringing on the switch but not (obviously) connecting through to your house,this would point to a physical disconnection of your cable at either the mux (local exchange,big box on the street) or at the street cabinet itself.simple to find,frustrating for you i know.:(

[cynicalsob]

I have a similar story. I have had no service since MAy 10 and I have been told it will now be June 12 before I get a Techie to come and repair the cable that has apparently decayed under my lawn - the third date delay in as many weeks, I have had NO TV or broadband since then, and as an IT consultant with 3 children this is unfunny. NO pleading or beging has worked, they will not move my date back. I KNOW it is because New Customers get priority, but this is flatly denied. As a result I have taken out a 12 month contract with sky and had a dish put in, just so my family can watch TV. All I got wsa profuse apologies from the faceless phone jockey, and two months free rent - but since Most of may and half June is dead, that's hardly compensation I have not been offered any other inducements to stay, so I will be leaving VM. It is an utter disgrace.

[on in an hour!]

I have a similar story. I have had no service since MAy 10 and I have been told it will now be June 12 before I get a Techie to come and repair the cable that has apparently decayed under my lawn - the third date delay in as many weeks, I have had NO TV or broadband since then, and as an IT consultant with 3 children this is unfunny. NO pleading or beging has worked, they will not move my date back. I KNOW it is because New Customers get priority, but this is flatly denied. As a result I have taken out a 12 month contract with sky and had a dish put in, just so my family can watch TV. All I got wsa profuse apologies from the faceless phone jockey, and two months free rent - but since Most of may and half June is dead, that's hardly compensation I have not been offered any other inducements to stay, so I will be leaving VM. It is an utter disgrace.
sorry to hear about your atrocious treatment :( single men install techs(which i presume you had to visit, must endeavour to restore service,all be it temporarily) they can either find a good point on the cable in the garden and temp from there or if your neighbours have cable and its possible to temp off theirs without cable left being a hazard,then it should be done.bit late i know,but another example of contract partners not giving a ****e about the companys reputation.:mad:

[cynicalsob]

Thanks for the comments and advice; The cable (like many others I have found by reading these forums) is buried close to the surface, and is not in a conduit. The engineer did point out where he believed the break was to my wife, but when I tried to repair it by cutting back to behind this point and fitting cable ends (a desperate temporary fix attempt of my own I know) the line is still dead. It appears the break is elsewhere, under the garden where I am disinclined to dig.
Question: If water ingresses into the cable, can it / does it cause a short at the CATV box end ? I.e is it just a case of a new cable, or do the engineers have to repair any circuitry ?

In the interim, is it possible that VM could have offered to send an engineer out to attempt a temporary fix - by splicing as you suggest? HAve the Customer Services missed a trick here?

Ta for any responses ...

One good thing - BB8 start tonight on C4. "It's an Ill wind ...":mad:

[zedrest]

just to clarify for you,when the people hear the phone ringing after dialling your number its ringing on the switch but not (obviously) connecting through to your house,this would point to a physical disconnection of your cable at either the mux (local exchange,big box on the street) or at the street cabinet itself.simple to find,frustrating for you i know.:(

Thanks for that info, shouldn't be too hard for them to sort out then. Thank god for mobile phones in the meantime eh! I'm just glad our tv and BB are working fine unlike some of the other poor people I've read about

[on in an hour!]

Thanks for the comments and advice; The cable (like many others I have found by reading these forums) is buried close to the surface, and is not in a conduit. The engineer did point out where he believed the break was to my wife, but when I tried to repair it by cutting back to behind this point and fitting cable ends (a desperate temporary fix attempt of my own I know) the line is still dead. It appears the break is elsewhere, under the garden where I am disinclined to dig.
Question: If water ingresses into the cable, can it / does it cause a short at the CATV box end ? I.e is it just a case of a new cable, or do the engineers have to repair any circuitry ?

In the interim, is it possible that VM could have offered to send an engineer out to attempt a temporary fix - by splicing as you suggest? HAve the Customer Services missed a trick here?

Ta for any responses ...

One good thing - BB8 start tonight on C4. "It's an Ill wind ...":mad:
pure and simple a new cable pulled through the ducting,ducting in your garden to protect the cable,terminate at the street cab,terminate in external box on your wall,job done.(sorry to make it sound so easy considering how long you'll have to wait for a repull),and yes they should have sent a fault tech in the interim to see if he can temp it.;)

[cynicalsob]

pure and simple a new cable pulled through the ducting,ducting in your garden to protect the cable,terminate at the street cab,terminate in external box on your wall,job done.(sorry to make it sound so easy considering how long you'll have to wait for a repull),and yes they should have sent a fault tech in the interim to see if he can temp it.;)

- Just can't see how a repull can take so long to organise. I just can't understand why VM are basically resigned to losing long-term customers without trying to rectify the situation - Cus. Services were unable to sway the situation my way at all with the engineering dept., and weren't aware of the possibility of attempting a temporary fix. Or that they didn't event try to 'bribe' me to stay on with extended free contracts or free upgrades etc. When you have spent over 100gbp a month on the full package, for three years or so, you would reasonably think you were regarded as a valuable cash-cow. But not so.
Platitudes only serve to annoy the disgruntled VM victim, not placate them. It is the frustration of being unable to affect the situation, to effect an improvement, that really grinds. My only 'revenge' is to publish this forum website to all the other VM guys I know, and tell 'em what's happened to me.
Like it says elsewhere on these pages - "like it, tell one: hate it, tell nine."

If anyone from VM Management reads this - hang your heads in shame.

Rant over. For now.

[on in an hour!]

- Just can't see how a repull can take so long to organise. I just can't understand why VM are basically resigned to losing long-term customers without trying to rectify the situation - Cus. Services were unable to sway the situation my way at all with the engineering dept., and weren't aware of the possibility of attempting a temporary fix. Or that they didn't event try to 'bribe' me to stay on with extended free contracts or free upgrades etc. When you have spent over 100gbp a month on the full package, for three years or so, you would reasonably think you were regarded as a valuable cash-cow. But not so.
Platitudes only serve to annoy the disgruntled VM victim, not placate them. It is the frustration of being unable to affect the situation, to effect an improvement, that really grinds. My only 'revenge' is to publish this forum website to all the other VM guys I know, and tell 'em what's happened to me.
Like it says elsewhere on these pages - "like it, tell one: hate it, tell nine."

If anyone from VM Management reads this - hang your heads in shame.

Rant over. For now.
i dont know where you live,but in the north west the 2man crew points are only very liberraly loaded on to the system,if you had a tech out he,or his despatch colleague can contact installations and ask them to load some points for an earlier date :tu:

[NTLVictim]

Points?? new one on me, points as in priority, I presume?

And is isn't calling a "contract partner" a "technician" (bearing in mind the evidence) a breach of the trades description act?

I put myself through night school over a number of years so I could call my self a technician, when these simian-related bodgers get called by the same title, it gets right up my nose!

[papa smurf]

And is isn't calling a "contract partner" a "technician" (bearing in mind the evidence) a breach of the trades description act?[quote]
100 points for the cynical gent ,spot on analysis,a cowboy with a tool kit is just a dangerous cowboy:D:D:D

[on in an hour!]

Points?? new one on me, points as in priority, I presume?

And is isn't calling a "contract partner" a "technician" (bearing in mind the evidence) a breach of the trades description act?

I put myself through night school over a number of years so I could call my self a technician, when these simian-related bodgers get called by the same title, it gets right up my nose!
points are No of jobs available on a given day i.e. how many 'contractor partner' crews VM forecast they are going to need depending on sales targets and forecast for in-bound sales,when a fault tech then books any remedial work (rewires/repulls etc) we are given the next available points depending on whats sold.when there arent a lot of 2man points loaded (as the demand for 'new,full installs wains) the wait is longer than for a 1 man crew.;)
agree about the trades descrition though..he he.

[bigeddie]

I had my services reinstalled at my new house yesterday, they drilled a hole in the wrong place and instead of going in to the living room they went in to the garage and then into the brand new 2 day old freezer.

After reporting this three times I finally got a call from quite an agressive chap on his mobile asking if anyone was going to be in today so they could have a look at the damage, I said "Yes around lunchtime", he put the phone down without saying anything else.

I assume VM are liable to pay for a new freezer, I wouldn't mind so much if they had just made a mark on it or even a hole, but the thing had gas pouring out of it and is now not fit for purpose.

[NTLVictim]

I had my services reinstalled at my new house yesterday, they drilled a hole in the wrong place and instead of going in to the living room they went in to the garage and then into the brand new 2 day old freezer.

After reporting this three times I finally got a call from quite an agressive chap on his mobile asking if anyone was going to be in today so they could have a look at the damage, I said "Yes around lunchtime", he put the phone down without saying anything else.

I assume VM are liable to pay for a new freezer, I wouldn't mind so much if they had just made a mark on it or even a hole, but the thing had gas pouring out of it and is now not fit for purpose.

Get a lawyer.

[papa smurf]

sounds like butch and sundance are back in town

[on in an hour!]

sounds like butch and sundance are back in town
they never left papa :D

[papa smurf]

well on the upside they missed the dog this time

[on in an hour!]

well on the upside they missed the dog this time
:LOL: cant believe you remembered that :D :D :D

[NTLVictim]

I thought it was a tortoise?

[Nedkelly]

Its amazing what the contractors get up to and the mess they leave and get away with it :mad:

[papa smurf]

I thought it was a tortoise?

allways with the tortoise they never let you forget the tortoise,one measly tortoise[any way it commited suicide,or torticide if want to get technical];)

[beemamad]

Its amazing what the contractors get up to and the mess they leave and get away with it :mad:

Not a very fair comment IMO, I have seen "inhouse" staff leave a lot worse mess than any "contractor" I have done a site visit on. In fact the only time I have seen anyone drill POE through anything other than just the wall it was an "inhouse" business engineer who took out all the power to a pub cellar !!:dunce:

Obviously everyone has their own horror stories but please don't paint all contractors in all areas with the same brush, we are not all bad.......:angel:

[Nedkelly]

Yes not all contractors are bad .When we had inhouse installers they were always on there toes as the supervisor was very strict with them .We have some great techs here but all to often its the bad apples we hear about .We have the wall of shame in the office and at the contractors office we name and shame them here .This goes for service as well :)

[NTLVictim]

I want a hi-res piccy of that wall....

[papa smurf]

I want a hi-res piccy of that wall....

unfortunatly they dont make sd cards with a big enough memory for the wall o shame:Yikes:

[NTLVictim]

OK, break it down...:D:D

[Nedkelly]

There are some great pics on it .But you have to look at in a view that this is what the customer has had to put up with :)

[zedrest]

just to clarify for you,when the people hear the phone ringing after dialling your number its ringing on the switch but not (obviously) connecting through to your house,this would point to a physical disconnection of your cable at either the mux (local exchange,big box on the street) or at the street cabinet itself.simple to find,frustrating for you i know.:(

Just as an update to this, bloke came yesterday out of the blue and was out again within 3 minutes! And yes, it was exactly as you said, sorted very quick and a nice chirpy guy as well. What a relief :)

[Nedkelly]

Glad to hear its sorted :)

[NTLVictim]

Cracking!

[on in an hour!]

Just as an update to this, bloke came yesterday out of the blue and was out again within 3 minutes! And yes, it was exactly as you said, sorted very quick and a nice chirpy guy as well. What a relief :)
all that needless worrying eh!!!! :D