Slow Speeds Finally The Truth

[The PIT]

From Virgin Cable News group
>
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> our latest data shows that uplift was due to take place months ago. There
> has been no new relief date published as yet. I'm very sorry, this fault has
> been ongoing for over 15 months now and that is an unacceptable length of
> time by anyone's standards.
>

So I was sold the product despite Virgin knowing they couldn't provide the service.

Customer services refused to refund Novembers bill lying about the fact that I had contacted them before and that I had a marker on my account.

The service was supposed to have an upgrade on 4/12/08 which clearly has lapsed once again. So it's time to get back on the phone and I certainly need to downgrade the service as I'm never going to get 20 meg for the foreseable future.

Overall a disgraceful malpractice by Virgin.

Customer services had better be nice when I speak to them or theres going to some brown and smelly stuff heading there way.

[jkenney]

save a copy of that, it will be useful if you decide to make a claim in the small claims court.

[General Maximus]

yup, i would definitely send it to trading standards as well because there is no way they should even be allowed to say "up to 20mbit" if they know for definite that that you cannot achieve. If it is alright for them to say it, they had might as well say "up to 100mbit" although we know we can't get that either.

[Kursk]

But surely, when you were sold the service you were advised that there was an uplift planned? Planned doesn't mean will. Things have changed globally on the financial markets in a few weeks; noone could have predicted that but I'm sure it impacted on VM's plans.

They are sympathetic (as am I) couldn't you ask for a refund again before court proceedings to force a refund? The bull in a china shop approach is usually the least effective way to get what you want (and deserve).

[broadbandking]

But surely, when you were sold the service you were advised that there was an uplift planned? Planned doesn't mean will. Things have changed globally on the financial markets in a few weeks; noone could have predicted that but I'm sure it impacted on VM's plans.

They are sympathetic (as am I) couldn't you ask for a refund again before court proceedings to force a refund? The bull in a china shop approach is usually the least effective way to get what you want (and deserve).

Totally agree but your stuck with the "UPTO" clause

[Ignitionnet]

But surely, when you were sold the service you were advised that there was an uplift planned? Planned doesn't mean will. Things have changed globally on the financial markets in a few weeks; noone could have predicted that but I'm sure it impacted on VM's plans.

They are sympathetic (as am I) couldn't you ask for a refund again before court proceedings to force a refund? The bull in a china shop approach is usually the least effective way to get what you want (and deserve).

If the changes to the world financial markets meant that VM couldn't spend a few grand on a resegmentation I would be very, very concerned. I doubt it has impacted in any way on VM's relief work especially as they refinanced a few months ago.

I think the point is that they sold the service to him knowing that it was a congested area and that he was unlikely to see good performance.

I'd say that definitely asking again, and perhaps an email to the CEO's office would be in order. This is the kind of thing that could create some pretty bad PR for Virgin Media very quickly.

[jkenney]

court proceedings should only ever be used as a last resort, but it is always useful to be prepared for that possibility. the small claims court is designed for cases like this, I believe the Sales of Goods act applies to services & it could be argued there have been major defects with those services, but I'm not a lawyer, so don't trust me.

you should certainly ask for a substantial refund, get a new isp (if there isn't a fix planned very soon) & be prepared to take further action to get your refund if necessary.

first thing to do, after you've exhausted tech support options, is send a complaint in writing to their complaints department and/or head office, recorded delivery & keep a copy of it. detail the problems you've had, dates, and any contact you've had with tech support. ask for a refund & if the problem is likely to be fixed & when.

get a receipt for the postage, you might as well get virgin to refund that too, while you're at it.

[Noggo]

Virgin Media's code of practice: http://allyours.virginmedia.com/pdf/code_of_practice_0607.pdf

Info from Page 10:-

What to do if you are dissatisfied:
If you are unhappy we need to know about it as quickly as possible. To avoid delay please contact us by:

Contacting Customer Care call 0845 454 1111 and our customer care representatives will be able to assist you.

Writing to Customer Concern. The address is shown below and on your bill. Your letter will be acknowledged within 48 hours of receipt.

Email using the on-line form found on our web-site. Messages received are responded to by a dedicated team. To avoid any delay, please do not send correspondence to individual representatives’ email addresses. Your email will be acknowledged and dealt with promptly.


If you remain dissatisfied:
If a complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction you can ask to escalate the issue to a manager. As it may be necessary for the manager to call you back, please provide daytime and evening contact numbers.

Or you can write to:

Customer Loyalty Manager
Customer Concern
Concord House
Concord Business Park
Threapwood Road
Wythenshawe
Manchester M22 0EY

Independent Adjudication:
If we have not reached an agreed settlement within three months of receiving your complaint or we agree before the three months is up in writing, that the dispute should be settled by independent adjudication, you have the option of referring your complaint for independent consideration to CISAS (the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme) of which Virgin Media is a member. CISAS will take evidence from both you and Virgin Media, and will make an independent decision based purely on the merits of the case.
Please note that the CISAS scheme only applies to telecoms services (telephony and internet access), and not to TV services. Contact details for CISAS are as follows:

CISAS
24 Angel Gate
City Road
London
EC1V 2PT
Tel: 0845 1308 170

E-mail info@cisas.org.uk
Web www.cisas.org.uk

Further help and advice can be obtained from your local Citizens Advice Bureau but please note this is not part of the formal complaint process.

I think you're done the first bit `What to do if you are dissatisfied', time for you to move onto the `If you remain dissatisfied' section and get in touch with a Customer Loyalty Manager. Ring customer services and ask for it to be escalated up. Ringing would save you a few days on sending a recorded delivery letter. If you are going to ring, I would sit down and write pointers out ready for the conversation.

EG:

Date of installation: xx/xx/xx
Date and description of fault when first reported to VM:
Virgin Media's action on reporting fault: e.g sent engineer out; ran some basic PC tests
Date of engineers visit: What did they say on the matter?
Contacted newsgroup support: date xx/xx/xx

Just keep the list going with until you have a date + breif description, for each time you had contact with VM.


Obviously if you don't get any joy from the Customer Loyalty Manager, move onto the next step and get in touch with CISAS.

Hope this helps you out a little,

Noggo

[cook1984]

What area are you in?

[Kursk]

Well there you go thanks to Noggo and VM itself, there's a procedure to follow. Don't forget to report back on the outcome. Things look promising.

I'm very sorry, this fault has been ongoing for over 15 months now and that is an unacceptable length of time by anyone's standards.

[cook1984]

If they refuse to do anything, mention to them that you are going to use Small Claims Court to recover the cost of their undelivered service.

I mentioned that in a letter I wrote to them a couple of years back regarding the return of payments taken for TV service after I cancelled it, and they called me after a couple of days and sorted it out.

[Magilla]

Totally agree but your stuck with the "UPTO" clause

Not if you're getting less than the tarrif below yours.