davepenny
13-12-2009, 15:03
Are there any corporate lawyers on board who can give advice? I have an ongoing problem with Virgin Media that I think should be investigated, as I believe Virgin Media are stealing from me and many people in my area due to a faulty cable installation.
After encountering severe problems with my former BT installation, I transferred all my services to Virgin in May 2009 and decided to pay £25 per month for their 10mb broadband service and the extra for their HD Virgin+ TV pack. I was surprised that the service didn't appear to improve on my old 2mb service despite Virgin advertising "lightning fast" broadband - but I was still able to connect easily and so I let any complaints go. Last month the service seemed to go very wrong. I was barely able to connect to the internet at all, and when I did it was very slow - even radio shows on the BBCi player were impossible to play (I didn't have enough bandwidth!). I contacted technical support and they confirmed my findings, so they sent out an engineer who told me the installation had been faulty, but even when he had rectified this, and retested it, he was still getting less than 1mb speed from my connection. He told me he thought I had been receiving only a 2mb service, even though they had been taking the money for a 10mb service. He also said that, because of this problem, I wasn't getting the HD service I had been paying for, either!
I called the help-desk again on Wednesday and it was confirmed that my connection was only 2mb, but I was assured that the service would be boosted to 10mb that evening at 9pm. On Thursday the service was as poor as ever, so I called the help-desk again and was told that there was, now, nothing wrong with my installation or connection, so their opinion was that my router was at fault. I went out and bought a new router for £50 and installed it to find the same problem with slow connection speed and frequent drop-out. This time, I posted a formal complaint on-line to Virgin and, this time, I received a telephone call from someone who seemed to know what they were talking about; I was told that since November there had been a problem with the main cable that serviced this area of London but it wouldn't be rectified this side of Christmas. I was then, at my request, put through to the Customer Service rep who sympathised with my long lack of service and being given the wrong information but could only offer a goodwill gesture of £10!
If this was a known problem since November, why had I been told to buy a new router? I have been charged £25 per month for a 10mb service since May, which I wasn't getting; I have been receiving virtually no service for the last month (for which they are still taking £25 per month) and I was told by their help-desk to buy an unneccesary router for £50 - and now they offer only £10 as compensation. Apparently, they regard most of this as my fault, because I should have reported my speed discrepancy sooner, but I took them at their word that they were supplying a 10mb service, so surely what they have done since May is tantamount to stealing from me. Their records must show what my service was set at and what they have been charging me! Also, they are still charging me and who knows how many others of my neighbours for a full service without currently being able to supply it...and offering only a refund of £10 as a "goodwill" gesture. Surely this is unsound business practice at best even if it isn't illegal - and it should be! In my view, I should also be able to claim a proportion of the services I have subscribed to (Spotify, Rapidshare, etc.) that I haven't been able to use because of the fault - Virgin's fault.
Needless to say, I will be changing to another supplier at the end of this contract.
After encountering severe problems with my former BT installation, I transferred all my services to Virgin in May 2009 and decided to pay £25 per month for their 10mb broadband service and the extra for their HD Virgin+ TV pack. I was surprised that the service didn't appear to improve on my old 2mb service despite Virgin advertising "lightning fast" broadband - but I was still able to connect easily and so I let any complaints go. Last month the service seemed to go very wrong. I was barely able to connect to the internet at all, and when I did it was very slow - even radio shows on the BBCi player were impossible to play (I didn't have enough bandwidth!). I contacted technical support and they confirmed my findings, so they sent out an engineer who told me the installation had been faulty, but even when he had rectified this, and retested it, he was still getting less than 1mb speed from my connection. He told me he thought I had been receiving only a 2mb service, even though they had been taking the money for a 10mb service. He also said that, because of this problem, I wasn't getting the HD service I had been paying for, either!
I called the help-desk again on Wednesday and it was confirmed that my connection was only 2mb, but I was assured that the service would be boosted to 10mb that evening at 9pm. On Thursday the service was as poor as ever, so I called the help-desk again and was told that there was, now, nothing wrong with my installation or connection, so their opinion was that my router was at fault. I went out and bought a new router for £50 and installed it to find the same problem with slow connection speed and frequent drop-out. This time, I posted a formal complaint on-line to Virgin and, this time, I received a telephone call from someone who seemed to know what they were talking about; I was told that since November there had been a problem with the main cable that serviced this area of London but it wouldn't be rectified this side of Christmas. I was then, at my request, put through to the Customer Service rep who sympathised with my long lack of service and being given the wrong information but could only offer a goodwill gesture of £10!
If this was a known problem since November, why had I been told to buy a new router? I have been charged £25 per month for a 10mb service since May, which I wasn't getting; I have been receiving virtually no service for the last month (for which they are still taking £25 per month) and I was told by their help-desk to buy an unneccesary router for £50 - and now they offer only £10 as compensation. Apparently, they regard most of this as my fault, because I should have reported my speed discrepancy sooner, but I took them at their word that they were supplying a 10mb service, so surely what they have done since May is tantamount to stealing from me. Their records must show what my service was set at and what they have been charging me! Also, they are still charging me and who knows how many others of my neighbours for a full service without currently being able to supply it...and offering only a refund of £10 as a "goodwill" gesture. Surely this is unsound business practice at best even if it isn't illegal - and it should be! In my view, I should also be able to claim a proportion of the services I have subscribed to (Spotify, Rapidshare, etc.) that I haven't been able to use because of the fault - Virgin's fault.
Needless to say, I will be changing to another supplier at the end of this contract.